Matthew Sweet

As a high school student in 1980, Sweet wrote songs and recorded them on four-track cassettes. He joined the band The Specs and released his first recording on a battle of bands LP produced by a local radio station,[7] and fronted his own local band called The Dialtones.[8] After graduating, Sweet traveled to Athens, Georgia, to attend college during the vibrant Athens music scene. That same year, Sweet, who had met the band R.E.M. when they played a show in his hometown the previous year, collaborated with frontman Michael Stipe in a duo group under the name Community Trolls, as well as played guitar in Stipe's sister Lynda Stipe's band, Oh-OK. In addition, he formed another duo, The Buzz of Delight, with Oh-OK drummer David Pierce, releasing an EP, Sound Castles, in 1984 on DB Records.[9] On the strength of this 12" vinyl, Sweet was signed to a solo recording contract with Columbia Records.[6]

In 1986, he released Inside, his debut album, to good reviews but little commercial success. In 1989, he released Earth after signing with A&M Records; likewise, it was well-received critically, yet not commercially. This marked a personal and professional low period as his record company lost interest and his marriage failed.

In 1990, A&M released Sweet from his contract, and he signed with rival Zoo Entertainment, which evolved into Volcano Entertainment. Sweet formed a new band (which included Richard Lloyd, Robert Quine, Greg Leisz, Lloyd Cole, and Fred Maher), and together they spent that year assembling his next work, originally titled Nothing Lasts.[10]

In 1991, Sweet released Girlfriend, the re-titled pop-rock album which was widely considered an artistic breakthrough. It quickly garnered impressive U.S. sales, spawning a Top 10 single with the title track. The music video for "Girlfriend" (heavily aired on MTV, MuchMusic and Night Tracks) featured clips from the anime film, Space Adventure Cobra, while the video for "I've Been Waiting" used clips of the Urusei Yatsura character, Lum Invader.

In 1993, Sweet released Altered Beast, a harder rock album which drew mixed reactions with its intense and brooding tracks (such as "Someone to Pull the Trigger" and "Knowing People"). The music video for the single "The Ugly Truth" (directed by Sweet) featured the singer being chased in the desert by police while driving his own 1970 Dodge Challenger, while the video for "Time Capsule" was a literary homage to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

In 1995, Sweet released 100% Fun, an alt-rock album best known for its lead-off track, the self-deprecating "Sick of Myself". The album itself fared better commercially, and even made it onto Entertainment Weekly critic David Browne's year's-best list.

In 1997, Sweet released Blue Sky on Mars, a new-wave album which featured the synth-laden singles "Where You Get Love" and "Come to California". The music video for the former featured Sweet as an astronaut traveling through outer space.

In 1998 his version of Walter Egan's Magnet and Steel was recorded on the Sabrina The Teenage Witch album with Lindsey Buckingham on guitar.

In 1999, Sweet released In Reverse, a psychedelic album which featured Wall of Sound singles "What Matters" and "Trade Places". The album is noteworthy for its 10-minute closing track, "Thunderstorm", a combination of several demos.

Sweet in 2006

In 2000, Sweet released Time Capsule: Best of 90/00, a retrospective compilation which featured two new tracks.

In 2001, Sweet and Darius Rucker performed The Beach Boys song "Sail On, Sailor" on the special A Tribute to Brian Wilson; the musicians later performed the same song with Brian Wilson himself on Late Show with David Letterman.

In 2002, Sweet released To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet, a retrospective compilation which featured unreleased material.[11] Also that year, he formed supergroup The Thorns w/ Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge.[12]

In 2003, Sweet released Kimi Ga Suki, a garage-rock album initially released in Japan, where Sweet has a following.

In 2004, he released Living Things, an acoustic album mainly consisted of material he wrote while recording w/ The Thorns.

In 2006, Sweet and Susanna Hoffs released Under the Covers, Vol. 1, which featured covers of popular 1960s songs.

In 2008, Sweet released Sunshine Lies, his 10th studio album, which also incorporated a 2-LP set featuring 4 bonus tracks.[13]

In 2009, Sweet and Hoffs released Under the Covers, Vol. 2, which featured covers of popular 1970s songs.

In 2010, the musical Girlfriend, using songs from Sweet's eponymous album, was staged by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.[14][15]

In 2011, Sweet released Modern Art, a labyrinthine album which featured the single, "She Walks the Night".

In 2012, Sweet celebrated the 20th anniversary of Girlfriend with a tour performing the entire album from start to finish.[16]

In 2013, Sweet and Susanna Hoffs released Under the Covers, Vol. 3, which features covers of popular 1980s songs.[17][18][19]

In 2014, Sweet was featured on The Simpsons, the longest-running American sitcom. He wrote "Hopin' for a Dream", a song by fictitious 1980s band SunGazer, in the episode.[20][21] Sweet and his wife Lisa were also research consultants for the Tim Burton film Big Eyes, a biography on painter Margaret Keane.[22][23][24]

In 2015, Sweet and Susanna Hoffs released Completely Under the Covers, a limited 4-disc box set of all three Under the Covers albums, with 15 bonus tracks.[25]

In 2017, Sweet released Tomorrow Forever,[26][1] a rootsy album funded entirely by fans on Kickstarter; over the course of one month in 2014, the project exceeded its $32,000 goal by 75% from fewer than 800 backers.[27]

In 2018, Sweet released Tomorrow's Daughter on May 18,[28] a companion album to Tomorrow Forever. Also that year, Sweet was paid tribute in the compilation album, "Altered Sweet", which included artists such as Lisa Mychols, Andy Reed, Greg Pope, Nick Bertling, Fireking, Chris Richards & The Subtractions, simple friend, Michael Simmons, Gretchen's Wheel, The Well Wishers, Elvyn, Pop Co-Op, Stabby Robot, Lannie Flowers, Stereo Tiger, Michael Carpenter, Phil Ajjarapu, CokeRoque, Donny Brown, Nick Piunti, Paranoid Lovesick, Trolley, Keith Klingensmith, Arvidson & Butterflies, Robyn Gibson and Popdudes.[29][30] Also that year, independent vinyl reissue label Intervention Records announced it would release Artist-Approved 2 LP Expanded Editions of 100% Fun, Altered Beast, and Girlfriend on vinyl and CD/SACD, along with a vinyl reissue of Son of Altered Beast. On Record Store Day's Black Friday, he released Wicked System of Things,[31] a tribute to midwestern power pop, and a 3-inch colored vinyl of a live 1997 recording from Disney Orlando's Pleasure Island for Record Store Day in 2019.[32][33]

In 2021, Sweet released Catspaw, his 15th studio album which also marks his first solo effort on lead guitar.[4][5]