Their first album is them at their best - before anyone knew who they were, and before Rivers knew he was a genius. These songs top anything else they've released, from the nerd-rockiness of "Buddy Holly" to full out rock ballad "Say It Ain't So" this album was so revelatory. It showed me how fun rock music can be. There is earnestness here, and the best kind, the honest kind. You can just tell these guys are being who they really are; Rivers embodied everything that wasn't popular at the time, the anti-Nirvana. From start to finish, perfection.
For me, as a new fan, this album was a nice continuation to Blue. There was no 2nd album anticipation, so I didn't have the chance to be disappointed as a lot of fans were at the time. Weezer dropped off after this album "flopped"in 1996. But what diehard fans realized, as I did, is that Pinkerton is freaking brilliant. "Why Bother" and "Falling For You" should have been huge alt rock hits, but Weezer faded away as Rivers became depressed over his failure.
So as I ate up Weezer's first two albums, they were quietly planning a new millennium comeback. The Green Album came out in 2001, my Senior year of high school. And let me say that this album was more memorable than my entire four years of high school. I will never forget blasting this as I parked my crappy VW every morning in the Sanger high parking lot. Although this album is a tad more formulaic (every guitar solo is just the melody of the verse hook), it is nonetheless enjoyable. "Hash Pipe" ushered in Rivers' new usage of random lyrics that don't really make sense. No one or two tracks stick out to me; it's one of those albums that you know every lyric to every song, but you don't remember the titles of individual songs. A great return to Weezer form.
Maladroit is my least favorite Weezer album. This album came out in April of '02, and I was on choir tour at the time. I actually bought this album for the crazy price of $20 in Portland, because it was the only CD store I could find, and of course, I HAD to have this CD to listen to on the trip back home. This CD was pretty disappointing, partly because Weezer had posted these songs, along with numerous others, on their website, and I'd heard a lot of them already, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. Since I'd discovered them I'd taken to the internet (and napster!) to get my hands on everything Weezer in mp3-land. So I was hyping this release in my mind so much, and it ended up not living living up to the hype. I do like "Take Control" and "Dope Nose" (weird lyrics vol2); the best part about this album tho was the "Keep Fishin'" video that had the Muppets in it! Also that year for Christmas my cousin Laura brought me back the "Keep Fishin" single from Europe that had Kermit on the front, fishing, with a =w= t-shirt. Awesome.
My brother, cousin and me let out a collective "HOLY CRAP!!" when we heard that Weezer was coming out with a new album in 2005, Make Believe. This was my Senior year of College and my Weezer circle was completed. This album was everything that Maladroit wasn't. Rivers and the band finally made something so 00's, yet so true to what they did back on Blue and Pinkerton. Sean and I were just so proud of them, because they did what they wanted to do, yet they pleased their fans at the same time. This is another one of those sing-ever-track-forget-the-titles album, but standouts include "This I Such A Pity", "Hold Me", "We Are All On Drugs" and "My Best Friend" (to which my wife and I would walk out on on our wedding day in march of 06). That year I saw them twice, once in Coachella and again when they headlined here in Fresno. Brian and I were literally screaming all the words during the show, it was the best.
Below are some of my favorite Weezer tracks
"You Gave Your Love To Me Softly" (B-Side)
"The Good Life"
"My Best Friend"
1 comment:
I've gotta admit that I was never much of a Weezer fan until Make Believe (although I saw the video for Buddy Holly in Jr. High and thought I was super cool...) I like your blog--keep up the good work!
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