matthew sweet
Matthew Sweet on Girlfriend Turning 30: ‘I Still Feel It Very Strongly’
The late 1980s were rough on Matthew Sweet. After cutting his teeth in the Athens, Georgia college radio scene, playing in a ton of bands including Community Trolls with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Oh-OK with Stipe’s sister Lynda, and the Buzz of Delight with Oh-OK drummer David Pierce, Sweet left the indie underground to sign with a major label, Columbia Records, as a solo artist. But his first two full-lengths, 1986’s Inside and 1989’s Earth, received mixed reviews and failed to meet commercial expectations. By the end of the decade, his career was in jeopardy and he was getting divorced. Then, out of that professional and personal tumult, came Girlfriend, an instant classic that redefined the breakup album. “It’s not just breakup,” Sweet told SPIN over the phone. “It’s also looking fo...
