After spending the 80s as an up and coming jangle pop guitarist with Oh-OK, Lloyd Cole, the Golden Palominos and in his own band, Buzz of Delight, Matthew Sweet emerged in 1991 as the leading figure of the American power pop revival with hit song 'Girlfriend.'
Like his British counterparts Teenage Fanclub, Sweet adhered to traditional songcraft, yet subverted the form by adding noisy post-punk guitar and flourishes of country-rock, resulting in an amalgam of the Beatles, Big Star, R.E.M., and Neil Young.