That Thing You Do
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
When Adam Schlesinger—bass player of the band Fountains of Wayne—heard that songwriters around the country were invited to write and submit a song for a new movie being made about musicians in the early 1960s, he figured “Why not?” It would be fun to give it a try. He loved 1960s pop music. So, he wrote a catchy, British-invasion style song, with a dash of The Monkees thrown in, and submitted his tape. A few months passed, and then word came that his song had been picked out of 300 submissions to be the title song for That Thing You Do, a new movie written and directed by none other than Tom Hanks. And the making of a wonderful American film was off and running.
Produced in 1997, That Thing You Do is about a pop band in Erie, Pennsylvania who call themselves The Wonders, yet spell the first syllable of their name with an o-n-e because they think it’s a clever play on words. Much to their frustration, instead of The Wonders, people call them The O-nee-ders. But the good news is they have a song called “That Thing You Do” that is catching on. It wins them a talent contest. It gets them a regular gig playing at a pizza joint out near the Erie airport. And when the band decides to make a recording of the song to sell at their shows, it’s not long before the song is playing on the radio, and The Wonders get signed to Playtone Records.
Soon, they’re performing on a big national tour with other Playtone recording stars. And while that rocket to stardom is taking off, their song is flying even higher, shooting fast up the Billboard charts. For The Wonders—or The O-nee-ders—overnight success is breathlessly exciting. But true to stories like this, the loss of that success can happen overnight as well. Just ask any real-life one hit wonders, such as Question Mark and the Mysterians, Norman Greenbaum, or The Knack.
The up-and-down fairy tale drama is told with breezy joy and fun.
Fortunately, the up-and-down fairy tale drama of this story is told with such breezy joy and fun that The Wonders’ inevitable tumble from the limelight is cushioned by a tender, slow simmering love story and by a heart-warming cast of characters.
I give That Thing You Do four out of four stars. It’s delightful from first note to last, a love letter to a dreamy, bygone time, and we have Adam Schlesinger to thank for putting it to such perfect words and music.
