Today, my guest is Magnetic Fields frontman, Stephin Merritt.
The Magnetic Fields, with Merritt as its lead singer and musical mastermind, has been making smart, funny, haunting, lovely, totally brilliant pop music for the best part of 40 years.
What Merritt brings to the band is very particular. As a lyricist, he’s playful, nimble, witty, writing songs that often owe just as much to classic musicals and the literary spirit of the Algonquin Hotel as they do any contemporary peers. As a vocalist, his deep, rumbling bass is a perfect fit for songs that can, in a heartbeat, go from wry to achingly sad.
Merritt is not someone who mines his personal life for creative inspiration, but seems to approach songwriting more like a great short story writer. And for the past 30 years or so, he’s frequently used the concept album as a way of sharpening his musical focus, on records such as the band’s monumental career-defining 69 Love Songs, and the subsequent LPs i, Distortion and 50 Song Memoir (which was, in fact, deeply autobiographical!).
The Magnetic Fields is not only one of my favorite bands, but Stephin Merritt’s music has also been a genuinely important part of my life, in a way that I think is true for many of the band’s fans.
The first Magnetic Fields song I ever heard was “Two Characters in Search of a Country Song,” which was featured in the 1997 movie I Went Down.
“Lonely Days”, a song by The Future Bible Heroes, one of Merritt’s side projects, was the soundtrack to my first ever heartbreak.
“I Don’t Want to Get Over You” and “You’re My Only Home,” both from 69 Love Songs, summon flashbacks to a bad breakup in my early 20s.
And the day I realized I was in love with my now wife, I woke up with “Kiss Me Like You Mean It” – also from 69 Love Songs – in my head.
In the time since my wife and I became parents, the Magnetic Fields are the only band we’ve seen live twice. Once was in a concert hall, once in a tiny club, and both were very special, life-affirming experiences.
Getting to talk to Stephin Merritt for Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That was honestly a joy, and he was a thoughtful, generous and incredibly fun interviewee. Over the course of a sprightly, wide-ranging conversation, we talked about Brian Wilson’s warning about caffeine and creativity, falling asleep at the movies, the hilarious reason why Ang Lee has beef with his Westchester neighbors, Stephin’s hatred of biopics, his genius plan for a series of soporific audiobooks, dreaming Divine’s death years before it actually happened, and much, much more.
The Magnetic Fields’ music is out there in all its magnificence on your platform of choice, and you can buy merch at the band’s official website. Oh, and Stephin Merritt’s excellent book 101 Two-Letter Words, illustrated by Roz Chast, is out now too.
This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and the theme music is by The Range.
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Next week on Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, my guest is legendary filmmaker Abel Ferrara ...
