Weezer Appreciation/Hate Thread

[BlackSwan]

Being a fan of Weezer has been a bumpy road since I first saw the 'Buddy Holly' video on MTV when I was just a wee lad. I was really excited when I finally got to see them live a couple weeks ago, and they totally blew me away. Great set list, a ton of energy, and an all around good time. After that show I was even more excited to see them again, and that they had a new album coming out which meant they would have to tour.

My excitement greatly diminished as I read more about the album. First, it's called Raditude. Pretty retarded, but if the band came up with it just to fuck with people that would be slightly amusing, but...

As for the album's title, "Raditude," Cuomo got the idea from a new friend, Rainn Wilson from the television series "The Office." "He has a super-rock persona," Cuomo explains. "When it came time to find a title for the Weezer album, I asked him what he thought the ultimate album title would be and he said 'Raditude.'"

Fine, the guy from The Office came up with the name for your album, but what about the album cover?...

We always knew that Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo was into things like glaciers and volcanoes, so it's really no surprise that he should find the band's new album cover while flipping through the pages of a National Geographic. The magazine sponsors a reader-submitted photo contest in each issue. Nominees are selected by a photo editor and then featured on the website for open voting.

A couple months ago, one winning entry in particular caught Cuomo's eye. It's a shot of a dog named Sidney in mid-flight across a living room. Weezer thought, for some reason, it would make the perfect cover for their new disc, 'Raditude.' When the band got in touch with the winning photographer, Jason Neely of Middletown, Conn., to seek his permission, not only did he give his blessing, he also revealed something surprising: according to him, "Sidney is a big Weezer fan."

Ok ok, so you could come up with an album title, or cover art, but you are going to write all of your own songs right? Apparently not...

These are the names of the songs that have been confirmed to appear on the album, however the order in which they will appear on the album has yet to be announced. This track list is not complete.

* “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” (Co-written with Butch Walker)
* “The Girl Got Hot” (Co-written with Butch Walker)
* “I’m Your Daddy” (Co-written with Dr Luke)
* “Can’t Stop Partying” (Co-written with Jermaine Dupri)
* “Let It All Hang Out” (Co-written with Jermaine Dupri)
* “Put Me Back Together” (Co-written with Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler of All-American Rejects)
* “Trippin’ Down the Freeway”
* “Run Over by a Truck”
* “The Prettiest Girl” (re-recording of “The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World” adapted from Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo)
* “In the Mall” (Written by Patrick Wilson)
* “Sheila Can Do (It)” (re-recording of 1997 song written by Rivers Cuomo, originally intended for his side-project at the time, Homie.
* “Island in the Sun (Live)” Japanese/UK Bonus Track

I am still excited about seeing them live again, but I think this may be a new level of creative laziness, or has Rivers Cuomo just lost faith in himself and his band?

[faxman75]

I have a thread in the rumors/gossip section all about the love for Blue and Pinkerton Weezer.

Anything post Matt Sharpe is a giant fucking fail both live and in the studio. I get it the muppets are cute. Raditude, worst fucking name for an album ever.

So, post Matt Sharpe Weezer sucks ass. The Rentals are far greater. Blue and Pinkerton are still great albums.

[menikmati]

Weezer stopped being relevant over 10 years ago.

[TallGuyCM]

I usually defend Weezer when people hate on their material of the past decade. It seems like people took the Blue Album and Pinkerton too seriously, and then when the Green Album came out and was just fluff 2:30 pop songs they all abandoned ship.

If there's one band from the '90s who I didn't take seriously, it was Weezer. I always viewed them as a fun band who made great sing-along songs and nothing more. Therefore, when the Green Album came out I felt it was them doing what they're good at, and I loved it.

They've always been a tongue-in-cheek band, and anyone who put them on any higher of a pedestal is mistaken I'm afraid.

[hawkingvsreeve]

Fuck this band.

2nd worst show I've ever seen.

[BlackSwan]

I agree with TallGuy on this one. I've never really taken Weezer seriously, and thus liked most of their albums, even some from the newest album, but Jermaine Dupri? Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler of All-American Rejects? What the fuck is this?

[BlackSwan]

Fuck this band.

2nd worst show I've ever seen.

What tour? They were really great when I saw them.

[faxman75]

I usually defend Weezer when people hate on their material of the past decade. It seems like people took the Blue Album and Pinkerton too seriously, and then when the Green Album came out and was just fluff 2:30 pop songs they all abandoned ship.

Too seriously? No, it's in direct correlation with the edge aka Matt Sharpe leaving the band. I don't even know what seriously means. They aren't some epic art rock band though Pinkerton was a bit of a journal, heart and sould poured into lyrics but 5-6 concerts I saw of them on the Blue tour were anything but serious. They were a fucking blast loaded with fun and energy. Nothing close to what I saw on the Make Beleive tour.

If there's one band from the '90s who I didn't take seriously, it was Weezer. I always viewed them as a fun band who made great sing-along songs and nothing more. Therefore, when the Green Album came out I felt it was them doing what they're good at, and I loved it.

They've always been a tongue-in-cheek band, and anyone who put them on any higher of a pedestal is mistaken I'm afraid.

Sing along? Sure. I will sing along to everything on Blue and Pinkerton because they are great songs. The newer stuff is more poppy, lacks any deep emotional lyrical confessionals and can be packaged up and shelved next to "generic". They have become a caracature of themselves. My very first impression of weezer when I saw them was they wanted to be arena rock really bad. I wasn't wrong about Rivers intentions. It doesn't work though.

[TallGuyCM]

The edge leaving the band? What edge? Weezer was never edgy. After all that typing you didn't really say anything that disagreed with what I said.

I mean Getchoo had some fire to it, but even when Matt was there they weren't edgy. "You take your car to work, I'll take my board". Not a whole lot different from the meaningless pop they're writing now.

[rskapcat]

Regardless whether or not you take Weezer seriously, Rivers takes Weezer very seriously. TallGuy, have you listened to Pinkerton?! Listening to that record is like watching Rivers simultaneously cry & masturbate.
Great for Weezer to be able to get their arena rock on. But they will never be as interesting as they were when I saw them in a tiny sweaty club back when Matt Sharp was still with them. Rivers needs someone to balance his ego.

[paulb]

I loved Weezer's set in Irvine a few days ago, good energy, fun, still sounded great. Ive heard bad things about their live show, but this was far from awful.

The blue album was a key album that got me into music in the first place, its flawless...

setlist from the secret show today:

[MuseRadio]

I have a thread in the rumors/gossip section all about the love for Blue and Pinkerton Weezer.

Anything post Matt Sharpe is a giant fucking fail both live and in the studio. I get it the muppets are cute. Raditude, worst fucking name for an album ever.

So, post Matt Sharpe Weezer sucks ass. The Rentals are far greater. Blue and Pinkerton are still great albums.

Couldnt agree with this more. Blue and Pinkerton are phenomenal. Everything since then is just terrible and getting worse.

[JustSteve]

I loved Weezer's set in Irvine a few days ago, good energy, fun, still sounded great. Ive heard bad things about their live show, but this was far from awful.

The blue album was a key album that got me into music in the first place, its flawless...

setlist from the secret show today:

was this like one of the nissan live sets tapings? went to one for foo fighters and it was amazing, couple hundred people in a studio and a nice 10 song or so set with dave's excellent humor during the question and answer portion.

[BlackSwan]

What's with the hate for The Green Album? There are a couple good songs on that one--'Photograph' comes to mind.

[obzen]

Blue and Pinkerton are still great albums.

Qft.

[obzen]

The Green Album is okay-I liked Photograph alot.

Saw them twice-enjoyed the shows very much.

[obzen]

The Greatest Man That Ever Lived is just ridiculous though.


What the fuck was Rivers thinking?

[hawkingvsreeve]

What's with the hate for The Green Album? There are a couple good songs on that one--'Photograph' comes to mind.

10 songs, 28 minutes.

Bullshit.

[faxman75]

What's with the hate for The Green Album? There are a couple good songs on that one--'Photograph' comes to mind.

Maladroit is better than Green. Slob is the greatest post Matt Sharpe song done to date.

[faxman75]

Regardless whether or not you take Weezer seriously, Rivers takes Weezer very seriously. TallGuy, have you listened to Pinkerton?! Listening to that record is like watching Rivers simultaneously cry & masturbate.
Great for Weezer to be able to get their arena rock on. But they will never be as interesting as they were when I saw them in a tiny sweaty club back when Matt Sharp was still with them. Rivers needs someone to balance his ego.

We will always have this understanding. I think a lot of people didn't like Pinkerton, so they skipped it. Then when they heard "Green" was coming out they thought hmm Blue was good, a new color yay and then those people ate that up too.

The question remains TG, have you listened to Pinkerton and more than once or twice? Also did you see Weezer on the Blue or Pinkerton tours?

[whynotsmile99]

their last album was a colossal failure. One of the worst things i've heard in years. we'll see how this one is. with song titles like "can't stop partying" im not so sure

[slurpee]

Blue was cool.

[Cdubby]

They were stellar live. I would love to see them again on their own tour as well. Hopefully a Fresno date.

[dorkfish]

I'd say that they haven't released a good album since Pinkerton, but it's more realistic to say that they haven't released a tolerable album since Pinkerton.

While they've always been somewhat playful, it seems that around that after Pinkerton, Rivers started to get younger and younger as a song writer, which directly conflicts with his original fans getting older. Occasionally, you'll get some kind of middle-aged thoughts in the lyrics, but it's mostly just garbage track after track (i.e. every single since "Pink Triangle").

It's pointless to stay with Weezer any longer. They gave up more than a decade ago on being anything more than a fun band. It's fine for them. They can crank out the Kidz Bop hits with the best of them.

[psycobetabuckdown]

The Greatest Man That Ever Lived is just ridiculous though.


What the fuck was Rivers thinking?

I like that song

[MuseRadio]

I saw Weezer on the summer 2000 tour several times where they pretty much played blue/pinkerton songs and then a handful of new ones. The shows were great! Then I saw them in 2001 after the Green Album came out, significant downgrade!

Every album post-pinkerton is either decent or terrible. take your pick.

[suprefan]

Josh Freese drumming now makes it better for them.

[obzen]

I like that song

Yeah,but what a wank.
The man was doing too much.

[MuseRadio]

Josh Freese drumming now makes it better for them.

Very true, Freese is totally the man!

[TallGuyCM]

The question remains TG, have you listened to Pinkerton and more than once or twice? Also did you see Weezer on the Blue or Pinkerton tours?

I've listened to Pinkerton a great many times...I actually remember purchasing it the first week of its release when most of my friends didn't even realize that Weezer was putting out a new album.

And, like many, I didn't really appreciate it until a few years later.

And no, I didn't see the band on the Blue Album or Pinkerton tours. The first and only time that I've seen them was last year at the Forum. So make of that what you will.

I just don't see how "Why Bother?" is >>>>>>> of a song than some of the songs on the Green Album.