By Jae-Ha Kim
Illinois Entertainer
July 1989
When singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet was preparing for his tour earlier this year, he went to Zion to rehearse at Jeff Murphy’s studio. While there, a friend picked up a copy of the Illinois Entertainer and noticed a review of Sweet’s LP Earth. Instead of running over to read the review and gloat, he panicked.
“I’m one of those rare people who admits to reading everything written about me,” Sweet says, laughing. “And I get really embarrassed if someone reads something about me and it’s not favorable. Luckily, the review was really nice. It was a nice introduction for me to the Illinois Entertainer as well.
The review was a nice one indeed. I should know. I wrote it. But Sweet says while he’s flattered by the generally favorable press he has received, he also realizes that in the big realm of things. he’s not as important as, say, a scientist.
“I love music and it makes me very happy, which he why I do it,” he says. “But I’m also not working on a cure for cancer here. That’s not to say what I do isn’t important. It is. Because even scientists need to relax and listen to music.”
Sweet’s music sounds better than it ever has. His unusual voice is stronger than it’s ever been and his whimsical lyrics have an oddly poetic feel to them. With his freshly scrubbed good looks, Sweet looks like he’s been preparing for stardom all his life. But unlike many musicians who’ve daydreamed about being in the limelight from an early age, Sweet says he always assumed he would remain behind the scenes as a session player.
He made a name for himself as a bass player and recorded and toured with groups such as Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and the Golden Palominos. But when it was suggested that his melodic voice and innocent lyrics would do well with listeners, Sweet accepted a recording contract with CBS Records. At 20, he released his debut album Inside.
Sweet was less surprised at being given a recording contract than the fact that the moguls encouraged him to keep his real name. Although mothers like the name, Sweet believes his surname may deter potential fans.
“I think a lot of hipper music buyers who may have gotten into my music might look at the name and think my music would be kind of poppy, syrupy,” he says. “My name has a sweet connotation, and I don’t want people to have too much of a cute image of my music.”
Inside was a critical success and Sweet was hailed as the undiscovered pop treasure of 1985, but he didn’t garner a large following of record buyers. Unlike many artists who claim they’re glad they weren’t overnight successes, Sweet said he often wonders how his life would have changed if he had hit it big his first time out.”
“It probably would have been great to have had a major hit record when I was 20,” Sweet says. “People have told me it’s probably better to let things build slowly, and that’s probably true. But there’s always that part of you that thinks, ‘What if?’ What sort of things would have gone along with that fame?”
Sweet grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, listening to songs by The Beatles and Yes. Although he was a relatively shy kid, punk rock jolted him into playing bass with local bands. By the time he enrolled at the University of Georgia in Athens, Sweet was fixated on music and worked out some of his own compositions on a 4-track recorder.
At Georgia, he fell in love with an art student three years his senior. They married when he was 19. Today, Matthew and Susan Sweet live in Princeton, NJ., where she works on her paintings and he works on his songs.
“I would live in New York, but both Susan and I need a lot of space for our work,” he says. “So for the same price of one room in New York, we’re able to have a whole house in a really nice area. It’s not like we’re totally tranquil, though. We end up in the city a lot, since New York is only an hour away. But our arrangement is like having the best of both worlds.”
And, if Earth garners Sweet the success he deserves. he’s better equipped to handle the fame at the ripe old age of 24.
