In the Earbuds: 100% Fun by Matthew Sweet

Rarely has there been an album title that better describes the contents. Matthew Sweet’s 100% Fun is a classic 90s guitar pop album, brimming over with head-bobbing catchiness.

There is something sublime to me about the lead track and radio hit, “Sick of Myself” – something about the catchy melody, bare-bones garage rock, and the grungy power chords perfectly aligns to make it one of my favorite songs ever. I can’t really explain it. The manic, zany guitar soloing causes facial ignition. The ending is really a pseudo-ending – just when you think it’s over (and maybe the band in the studio really thought it was over), Sweet starts it back up again. And again.

Here is my tribute to Sick of Myself:

Producer Brendan O’Brien brought some alternative rock heaviness to the album, especially on songs like Super Baby, Giving It Back, and Lost My Mind. While Sweet loves to rock, he primarily wants to craft personal, emotive songs, and this is apparent on the calmer ballads I Almost Forgot and Fog Moon. Sure, there’s a time to vent our angst and frustration with life as on O’Brien’s other producing work from that era: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, etc. Thanks, though, to Matthew Sweet for having some fun. In the middle of the alternative/grunge age of despair, he found a moment of brightness.