Weezer

By gaiJen, stranger in a strange land

I love confessional memoir. Autobiography may seem crass and self-serving to some, but I find it a titillating look behind the curtain, a long hard stare into the black box of an emotional inner universe. Whereas much of “serious” literature seems called into being with the expressed purpose of being ignored by the masses, celebrated only by the intellectual elite, memoir exists for the lowest common denominator. Trucking in gossip, finger pointing, name-dropping, family secrets, broken promises, and the occasional settling of old scores, memoir appeals to the deep-rooted nosiness that keeps a society twittering.

When Weezer released Pinkerton, the LiveJournal-loving side of me swooned. A follow-up to the Blue album, Pinkerton was a found Cuomo diary full of pop songs detailing the displeasures of empty, meaningless one night stands, the angsty yearning for a cello-playing, half-Japanese girl, the vagaries of aging, the unrequited love for the perfect girl (who is also looking for the perfect girl), and the general unfairness of life. It’s brilliant. I could never pick a favorite track off of Pinkerton, but “Across the Sea” embodies the ethos of this 1996 album.

(As an aside - the album concept is loosely based on Madame Butterfly with obvious nods to the opera throughout. However, a lack of familiarity with Puccini won’t detract from the listening experience.)

Pinkerton was not a commercial success and Rivers Cuomo hasn’t done a Weezer album as deeply personal since. Weezer released the Green album in 2001 and Maladroit followed a year later. For the longest time, I thought that the title of the first single off of the Green album was “Half Pipe”. I wasn’t sure what gravity extreme sports had to do with transvestite prostitutes, but I chalked it up to some California skate culture thing that I just didn’t get. The Green album was a return to the punk-pop sound that categorized their debut, and while it lacked the heart and soul of Pinkerton, it got it’s catchy hooks in you on the first listen. You only need to hear the first few bars of “Photograph” or “Island in the Sun” before you find your foot tapping out the beat.

Of all of the Weezer albums, I am the least familiar with Maladroit. It was released the summer I was applying to graduate schools and moving across country so perhaps it just didn’t ping on my radar. Well, other than Muppets. The Muppets song was definitely on heavy rotation ("Keep Fishin"), cause seriously, who doesn’t love Muppets?

Some people say that Maladroit was the last "good" Weezer album. I don’t necessarily agree. Make Believe, the Red album, and Raditude just represent a different kind of Weezer; a shift from punk-pop-alternative to strict pop. This isn’t the end of the world. Weezer still produces catchy songs that are fun to throw on a mix-tape. The post-Maladroit albums will never achieve the emotional connection that the other albums managed but I’m not too bothered by it. “Perfect Situation” and “The Damage in Your Heart” (Make Believe), “The Greatest Man that Ever Lived” and “Heart Songs” (Red album), and “I Want You To” (Raditude) still have that core Weezer thing that makes you want to sing along. Not every album can be a Blue album or an autobiographical Pinkerton. But after almost twenty years of Weezer, I’m content to sit back and just listen to what they want to divulge this time around.