“I always wanted to have hit singles. I thought the hit single was the highest manifestation of rock as an art form”: Marshall Crenshaw on his Karen Carpenter tribute, why collecting is “infantile” and how he was made in Detroit

Marshall Crenshaw wears a skip cap and plays a red Gretsch electric guitar.

Marshall Crenshaw is a bit of a Felix Ungar when it comes to songs. Throughout his five-decade career, he’s specialized in tidy, impeccably crafted guitar-driven pop rock songs brimming with hooks and devoid of so much as a hint of clutter.

In his everyday life, however, he’s an Oscar Madison. His latest album – a collection of tracks culled from six EPs that he sold direct to fans via a subscription service – is called From the Hellhole, so named for his home studio in upstate New York that was, in his words, “a giant mess.”