Weezer
I haven't written about my favorite band yet. This is mostly because I'm dissatisfied with almost everything they've done since the year 2000. It's depressing when that's how you feel about your favorite band, but hey, what can I do?
Most people know Weezer by their pop-rock radio hits (e.g. "Buddy Holly," "Hash Pipe," "Beverly Hills," etc.). While much of the appeal of the band is its ability to create some incredibly catchy songs, the major reason they have such a hardcore following is that Rivers Cuomo has the ability to write some immensely emotional (yet still shockingly clever) songs. The album that perhaps showcases this talent best is Pinkerton. The band's second (and most under-the-radar) album is its masterpiece. I personally would argue that their debut self-titled album is their most solid effort, but Pinkerton has some moments that are unrivaled by the vast majority of alternative rock bands.
Pinkerton never hit it big. It debuted outside Billboard's Top Ten and fell off the Billboard 200 very rapidly. Much of this is blamed on the lack of a clear standout hit single. At the time, rock radio was rejecting the post-grunge movement and heading away from distorted guitars as quickly as it could. Though "El Scorcho," the first single from the album, was wildly catchy and didn't contain much distortion, it failed commercially for many small reasons. The lyrics in the verses are personal and quirky. The song begins with the words "God damn," which didn't help the song's success on radio stations in the Bible Belt. And the music video (which I find incredibly humorous) was a flop, as Cuomo's melodramatic facial expressions didn't mesh well with the rest of the band's antics or a set that looked like it belonged in a Salvation Army.
With the commercial failure of "El Scorcho" and the subsequent single, "The Good Life," the album lost momentum very quickly. It didn't help that later that year, Rolling Stone's readers ranked it the second worst album of the year. If that couldn't put a damper on the band's prospects for the future, I don't know what could. The band drifted into anonymity and didn't release another album for five years.
Since then, the album has become one of the most widely respected of the 1990s. Spin Magazine ranked it in the Top 100 albums of the past 20 years in an issue released earlier this year. Rolling Stone wrote a Hall of Fame review about it and revised its rating from three stars to five stars. Many Weezer fans rank it as their favorite album.
What could explain all this sudden acceptance of an album that was such a commercial failure? First of all, as I mentioned, the modern rock culture of 1996 was not willing to accept an album like Pinkerton. Secondly, the band's hiatus (and the consistent success of "The Blue Album") piqued many people's interests. When the band came back with their 2001 self-titled release, many were exposed to the band's first two excellent albums. Since then, the cult of Pinkerton has grown rapidly. And for good reason.
If you haven't heard Pinkerton, do it now. The singles from the album are fan favorites, of course, but the real heart of the album is in "Across the Sea," "Pink Triangle," and "Falling For You." "Across the Sea," originally panned heartlessly by the original RS review, is about a real letter that Rivers Cuomo received from a Japanese fan. As the song goes, "You are 18-year-old girl who live in small city in Japan." The song somehow perfectly captures the feelings of a lonely man with no one to love. The speaker longs for a girl he's never even met and will never meet. But his description of the paper on which the letter is written mirrors his feelings towards the girl he yearns for: "So fragile, so refined / So I sniff and I lick / Your envelope and fall to little pieces every time." He wants something perfect and innocent.
The song goes into an extended bridge, containing a guitar solo that somehow pulls back and forth. You can feel the speaker debating in his head what he wants is right. But then the solo ends, coming to a calm. The speaker recalls his childhood and how he's always done everything he could to reach this perfect love--and how it's never worked out the way it did in his head. He angrily sings, "Goddamn, this business is really lame" and lets out an agonizing lamentation, "I gotta live on an island to find the juice / So you send me your love / From around the world / As if I could live on / Words and dreams and a million screams / Oh, how I need a hand in mine to feel." I find myself unable to sing the last line because my entire body goes into pins and needles by the time I get to it. It's so powerful, the combination of a gorgeous melody and possibly the best lyrics Rivers Cuomo has ever written. This is a guy who, in his prime, could have been considered the next Brian Wilson. "Across the Sea" could make a grown man cry.
Somehow, a gem like this escapes the ears of most who have ever heard a Weezer song. Sad to say, "Beverly Hills" doesn't give you the emotional power that "Across the Sea" does. Sure, it's a fun song and all. That's what a lot of people think about Weezer. Yeah, they have that song with the Happy Days video and that "Beverly Hills" song. They're a really fun band. I love listening to them. Don't get me wrong, I don't take offense when people who listen to Top 40 music only know them by one song. But it's gotten to the point where I won't even wear my Weezer t-shirts anymore because I'm embarrassed to wear them. I don't want someone to think I like "Beverly Hills." I'll go see the band when they come around on tour, because most people in that building will know how great Weezer really is. It's just so bizarre that a band so great could be seen as something so different in the mainstream's eye. I could even talk about their B-Sides, which even a lot of casual Weezer fans haven't heard. But I think "Across the Sea" gets the job done. Just imagine, that's just one song and look at the power it has. Now think about two whole albums full of stuff like that. Then think about b-sides and unreleased material with that power. Now think of the stuff that most people think of when they think Weezer.
Weezer is not Playboy bunnies and simple pop songs and Muppets and metal riffs and Sumo wrestlers. Sure, that's part of their identity and it always has been. But since 2001, the band has been a parody of themselves. They used to have melodies that rivaled the Beach Boys' and quirkiness up there with the Talking Heads and some indie cred coming from a heavy Pixies influence. Now they're like a high-class version of the Bloodhound Gang. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
As I write this last paragraph, I'm listening to "This Is Such a Pity." How fitting.
Most people know Weezer by their pop-rock radio hits (e.g. "Buddy Holly," "Hash Pipe," "Beverly Hills," etc.). While much of the appeal of the band is its ability to create some incredibly catchy songs, the major reason they have such a hardcore following is that Rivers Cuomo has the ability to write some immensely emotional (yet still shockingly clever) songs. The album that perhaps showcases this talent best is Pinkerton. The band's second (and most under-the-radar) album is its masterpiece. I personally would argue that their debut self-titled album is their most solid effort, but Pinkerton has some moments that are unrivaled by the vast majority of alternative rock bands.
Pinkerton never hit it big. It debuted outside Billboard's Top Ten and fell off the Billboard 200 very rapidly. Much of this is blamed on the lack of a clear standout hit single. At the time, rock radio was rejecting the post-grunge movement and heading away from distorted guitars as quickly as it could. Though "El Scorcho," the first single from the album, was wildly catchy and didn't contain much distortion, it failed commercially for many small reasons. The lyrics in the verses are personal and quirky. The song begins with the words "God damn," which didn't help the song's success on radio stations in the Bible Belt. And the music video (which I find incredibly humorous) was a flop, as Cuomo's melodramatic facial expressions didn't mesh well with the rest of the band's antics or a set that looked like it belonged in a Salvation Army.
With the commercial failure of "El Scorcho" and the subsequent single, "The Good Life," the album lost momentum very quickly. It didn't help that later that year, Rolling Stone's readers ranked it the second worst album of the year. If that couldn't put a damper on the band's prospects for the future, I don't know what could. The band drifted into anonymity and didn't release another album for five years.
Since then, the album has become one of the most widely respected of the 1990s. Spin Magazine ranked it in the Top 100 albums of the past 20 years in an issue released earlier this year. Rolling Stone wrote a Hall of Fame review about it and revised its rating from three stars to five stars. Many Weezer fans rank it as their favorite album.
What could explain all this sudden acceptance of an album that was such a commercial failure? First of all, as I mentioned, the modern rock culture of 1996 was not willing to accept an album like Pinkerton. Secondly, the band's hiatus (and the consistent success of "The Blue Album") piqued many people's interests. When the band came back with their 2001 self-titled release, many were exposed to the band's first two excellent albums. Since then, the cult of Pinkerton has grown rapidly. And for good reason.
If you haven't heard Pinkerton, do it now. The singles from the album are fan favorites, of course, but the real heart of the album is in "Across the Sea," "Pink Triangle," and "Falling For You." "Across the Sea," originally panned heartlessly by the original RS review, is about a real letter that Rivers Cuomo received from a Japanese fan. As the song goes, "You are 18-year-old girl who live in small city in Japan." The song somehow perfectly captures the feelings of a lonely man with no one to love. The speaker longs for a girl he's never even met and will never meet. But his description of the paper on which the letter is written mirrors his feelings towards the girl he yearns for: "So fragile, so refined / So I sniff and I lick / Your envelope and fall to little pieces every time." He wants something perfect and innocent.
The song goes into an extended bridge, containing a guitar solo that somehow pulls back and forth. You can feel the speaker debating in his head what he wants is right. But then the solo ends, coming to a calm. The speaker recalls his childhood and how he's always done everything he could to reach this perfect love--and how it's never worked out the way it did in his head. He angrily sings, "Goddamn, this business is really lame" and lets out an agonizing lamentation, "I gotta live on an island to find the juice / So you send me your love / From around the world / As if I could live on / Words and dreams and a million screams / Oh, how I need a hand in mine to feel." I find myself unable to sing the last line because my entire body goes into pins and needles by the time I get to it. It's so powerful, the combination of a gorgeous melody and possibly the best lyrics Rivers Cuomo has ever written. This is a guy who, in his prime, could have been considered the next Brian Wilson. "Across the Sea" could make a grown man cry.
Somehow, a gem like this escapes the ears of most who have ever heard a Weezer song. Sad to say, "Beverly Hills" doesn't give you the emotional power that "Across the Sea" does. Sure, it's a fun song and all. That's what a lot of people think about Weezer. Yeah, they have that song with the Happy Days video and that "Beverly Hills" song. They're a really fun band. I love listening to them. Don't get me wrong, I don't take offense when people who listen to Top 40 music only know them by one song. But it's gotten to the point where I won't even wear my Weezer t-shirts anymore because I'm embarrassed to wear them. I don't want someone to think I like "Beverly Hills." I'll go see the band when they come around on tour, because most people in that building will know how great Weezer really is. It's just so bizarre that a band so great could be seen as something so different in the mainstream's eye. I could even talk about their B-Sides, which even a lot of casual Weezer fans haven't heard. But I think "Across the Sea" gets the job done. Just imagine, that's just one song and look at the power it has. Now think about two whole albums full of stuff like that. Then think about b-sides and unreleased material with that power. Now think of the stuff that most people think of when they think Weezer.
Weezer is not Playboy bunnies and simple pop songs and Muppets and metal riffs and Sumo wrestlers. Sure, that's part of their identity and it always has been. But since 2001, the band has been a parody of themselves. They used to have melodies that rivaled the Beach Boys' and quirkiness up there with the Talking Heads and some indie cred coming from a heavy Pixies influence. Now they're like a high-class version of the Bloodhound Gang. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
As I write this last paragraph, I'm listening to "This Is Such a Pity." How fitting.
posted by Kevin A. Doran at 1:01 PM
1 Comments:
this sucks
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