Rediscovering Weezer Pre-Maladroit

[Proudiddy]

I felt compelled to make this thread. Weezer was one of my favorite bands as a kid, as far as rock goes, and for some reason after the Blue Album I sort of lost track of them. It seemed to me as though there was a gap between the Blue Album and then the next time I remember them being visible was when they came back with the "Hash Pipe" single. Well, I was recently listening to the Blue Album again heavily and it got me inspired to look into anything I may have missed earlier on.

I remember one of the posters here actually had the username "Pinkerton" for awhile, with their avatar being the cover art from the album. So, that was where I started. Reading back through the timeline of events and how all of it unfolded dating back to their debut and subsequent releases up through the 2000s was fascinating. I read how Pinkerton was an intentional shift away from the Blue Album and consequently, critics panned it and considered Weezer an aberration.

Personally, I always considered Cuomo to be an extremely subtle musical genius. But, to read about how he enrolled in Harvard after their initial success and then wrote this extremely personal and depressing album documenting his difficulties in coming to grips with celebrity was amazing. So, I gave it a listen. I was blown away from the jump with "Tired of Sex." It was raw and angry, yet still catchy. I went through and I thoriughly enjoyed all of it, but "The Good Life" proabably comes off as the most appealing to me because of its simple yet, poignant content.

Anyway, I went through the subsequent releases and found so much stuff I had missed and it felt like, "where were these songs all of this time?" I remembered some vaguely from the Green Album, such as the aforementioned, "Hash Pipe," which I was never a big fan of, I just remember the video getting hyped on MTV and I thought that was their first album since their debut. "Island In The Sun" I remember hearing somewhere but, for some reason I didn't recognize it as them at the time. But, for some reason, "Smile" is my favorite on the entire album. It's just dope.

But, after the Green Album, I feel like there was a huge drop off in something. Maybe sincerity? Idk, it seems like they just lost that hunger after that. There's a very few songs I like after the Green Album, but for the most part, I can listen to those first three albums start to finish on repeat everyday for the rest of my life. I haven't really paid attention to them since they started churning out crap like "Pork and Beans" and "Beverly Hills." To be honest, looking st what they've done post-2001, I feel like Cuomo is pulling off an epic troll job and being very successful at it. But yeah, based on their first three albums I put them pretty high up there on the rock group totem pole.

Anyway, if you read all of this, I'm sorry and you're welcome at the same time.

[Chimera]

I thought Beverly Hills was awesome.

Otherwise I agree with most of what you say.

Nirvana's In Utero was a troll job and I bet Weezer has had the same thing in mind for a while.

[Proudiddy]

Perhaps I shouldn't have called Beverly Hills crap... It wasn't crap, but it wasn't what they were putting out in those first three albums. It was much more "poppy" and less edgy. It felt formulaic and as though it lacked creativity but, rather was just made purely for radio play.

What's disappointing in all of this though is that I've spent all these years thinking everyone viewed them as the geniuses that I thought they were... Yet, apparently some people have put them on the same footing as crap bands like Nickelback and they have received scores like a 0.4 out of 10 on reputable review sites for recent albums, lol. I don't care what they do, there is no way they could ever make something that bad. And off reputation from their early stuff alone, they deserve some all-time love.

Oh, I also found that I really like "The Angel and The One" off of The Red Album.

[Chimera]

Yeah Beverly Hills definitely didn't have deep meanings behind it like Say It Ain't So or Buddy Holly, but it does show off Rivers' uncanny ability to make just about any musical/lyrical combination work.

Now I'm gonna have to listen to Weezer for the next week.

[PhillyB]

blue album and pinkerton >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything else

[PhillyB]

also the green album is probably their most underrated. the last half of the tracklist is the oddest, most bizarrely beautiful synthesis of melancholy and happiness i've ever heard from any band ever. but the duality of it fit my life perfectly at the turbulent time in my life when i absolutely wore it out in my truck's cd player, which i think is the sort of thing that endows music with its transcendent power to begin with.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Beverly hills was crap... Go with the first instinct..

If on radio I change it.. If on Pandora I skip it. Hash pipe by comparison is Stairway to Heaven.

[PhillyB]

make believe got all kinds of poo from the original weezer fans as it supposedly marked a departure from previous work, but as someone who's listened to it for closing in on a decade i've realized it's actually not that far from their original stuff. the difference is beverly hills ended up higher on the pop charts than any of their older stuff, and it was more accessible to pop dumbshits than some of their more angsty older singles, so all of a sudden everyone decided it was a sell-out.

 

my only beef with the entire album, if you could call it that at all, is that it sounds too polished, over-produced almost.

 

the follow-up red album was really rivers cuomo doing the same thing he's done since the blue album, lyrically and musically (and musically it probably contains some of the most incredibly composed songs they've ever put together, which is largely a result of cuomo studying at a music academy for a year leading up to it to perfect his craft.) i just didn't like that the last half of the album was brian freakin bell singing. weezer isn't weezer without rivers leading vocals. honestly if they'd stayed away from rotating lead vocals that album might have ranked up there as one of their best.

 

the last two have disappointed me.

[Hotsauce]

Weezer is playing midtown music festival in Atlanta next weekend

So are red hot chili peppers, janes addiction, journey, queens of the Stone Age, and a bunch more.....best $90 you can spend!

[Chimera]

Weezer's newer albums are less of a departure from their earlier music than what Green Day, Metallica or The Offspring went through.

Those guys are sellouts.

Weezer just seemed to stay current. They popped up during the later half of the grunge era sounding like a grunge band. Then they went with the post-grunge modern rock sound for a bit. I think Beverly Hills wasn't written to be a pop hit, but just a realization that they're losers living a dream.

[PhillyB]

Weezer's newer albums are less of a departure from their earlier music than what Green Day, Metallica or The Offspring went through.

Those guys are sellouts.

Weezer just seemed to stay current. They popped up during the later half of the grunge era sounding like a grunge band. Then they went with the post-grunge modern rock sound for a bit. I think Beverly Hills wasn't written to be a pop hit, but just a realization that they're losers living a dream.

 

when weezer stops using over-the-top self-promotion as a vehicle for self-deprication as a lyrical device they'll have sold out

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Weezer is playing midtown music festival in Atlanta next weekend

So are red hot chili peppers, janes addiction, journey, queens of the Stone Age, and a bunch more.....best $90 you can spend!

QOTSA is a personal fave of mine

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[Proudiddy]

Agreed with pretty much everything you've said here Philly. Idk what it is man, all of their early work just seems so timeless and transcendent. It just seems Cuomo has a way of communicating some extremely elaborate ideas and theme in a very concise way yet, it still is catchier than anything out there. Just genius...

Excuse me for my giddiness, but I actually got so inspired in this "rediscovery" that I plan on starting guitar lessons and finally figuring this thing out so I can do some Weezer covers, lol.

It's just crazy... My kids have been dancing to The Blue Album practically since birth, and now I feel like there is so much good stuff sprinkled throughout the rest of their catalogue that they have so much more to grow up on.

Oh and I actually went and looked up their tour stuff and saw that Atlanta show. I'm actually gonna see if one of my friends feels like making the trip for that Saturday at least. Although Phoenix is playing on Friday IIRC, whom I really like as well.

[PhillyB]

Agreed with pretty much everything you've said here Philly. Idk what it is man, all of their early work just seems so timeless and transcendent. It just seems Cuomo has a way of communicating some extremely elaborate ideas and theme in a very concise way yet, it still is catchier than anything out there. Just genius...

Excuse me for my giddiness, but I actually got so inspired in this "rediscovery" that I plan on starting guitar lessons and finally figuring this thing out so I can do some Weezer covers, lol.

It's just crazy... My kids have been dancing to The Blue Album practically since birth, and now I feel like there is so much good stuff sprinkled throughout the rest of their catalogue that they have so much more to grow up on.

Oh and I actually went and looked up their tour stuff and saw that Atlanta show. I'm actually gonna see if one of my friends feels like making the trip for that Saturday at least. Although Phoenix is playing on Friday IIRC, whom I really like as well.

 

i've been wanting to start a weezer cover band for a decade, so PM me when you get a dozen or so songs down ;)