But while ‘Why Bother?’, ‘Across The Sea’ and ‘Tired Of Sex’ could all slot into the top end of a Weezer Top Ten as the mood takes you, the ragged-ass rap rock slouch of ‘El Scorcho’ is the one that most consistently thrills.
‘Pinkerton’ was such a blistering array of high points that it’s tough for any one track to stand out.
It remains an evergreen anthem to geek rock specs appeal.īased around Cuomo’s childhood memories of alcohol tearing his family apart, this quasi-reggae emotional centrepiece of ‘The Blue Album’ is still amongst Weezer’s most moving and hard-hitting tracks, particularly when Rivers pens an open letter to his deadbeat dad who’s “cleaned up, found Jesus” in the middle eight. Still their calling card tune, this playful stormer instantly tagged them the grunge Beach Boys, retro right down to the Spike Jonze video that put them inside an episode of Happy Days.
The result is by far the most soul-wrenching singalong emo tune ever written about cock-blocking yourself.Įbullient self-deprecation – that was the tone Weezer set with their first major hit ‘Buddy Holly’, and it’s stuck ever since. ‘Pinkerton’’s most frivolous grunge pop moment had Rivers unwittingly falling in love with a lesbian – the inevitable fate of anyone, of any persuasion, who happens to watch an Ellen Page film. The Bad Life is over the let the booty shaking and 24-hour sweet love recommence. Often taken as one of Cuomo’s most brutal lyrics – “broken, beaten down/Can’t even get around without an old man cane… I’m bitter and alone… I should have no feeling, ‘cause feeling is pain” – ‘The Good Life’ actually bristles with determination and resolve. In which Cuomo looks in the mirror during his time at Harvard, sees a decrepit “old man” in a leg brace (to correct a long-standing issue) getting shunned by the keg kids, and vows to get himself back on the party train. Weezer’s finest electro-pop song by several light years, this stand-out from 2005’s ‘Make Believe’ nodded to later-era ELO with its retro sci-fi synth throbs and slick pop chorus. Here, monstrous and ragged riff paeans like ‘No Other One’ amplified all of the angst and fire of ‘My Name Is Jonas’, ‘Surf Wax America’ and ‘In The Garage’ into a desperate, screaming waltz. The Moog Cookbook recorded a tongue-in-cheek synthesizer version for their self-titled 1995 debut.Following the success of Weezer’s debut ‘Blue Album’, Rivers Cuomo fled from the limelight to study at Harvard, pouring all of the lovelorn dislocation and isolation he felt there into dark, gritty and seminal second album ‘Pinkerton’, Weezer’s undoubted masterpiece. What's odd is that a song with such a peculiar structure (the opening, with Cuomo singing over a roar of guitars, sounds like the CD has started reading the disc several seconds into the song, and the ending is equally abrupt) could immediately become so popular, testament to Cuomo's under-acknowledged gift for writing smart, funny, and catchy pop songs. The ultra-crunchy, distorted guitars clash agreeably with the bubblegummy melody, giving the song a feel akin to a classic T. Frontman Rivers Cuomo's lyrics, as always, don't actually make a lot of sense and the singalong chorus has absolutely nothing to do with the nonsensical verses really, the song is as much about hooks like the "hoo-hoo" backing vocals and bassist Matt Sharp's falsetto lead-in to each chorus as anything else. The most immediately infectious song on Weezer's debut album (as well as their biggest hit, thanks in no small part to Spike Jonze's hilarious and inventive video, which inserted the band into an episode of Happy Days), "Buddy Holly" is short, brash, incredibly catchy, and utterly charming.
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