Weezer - Pinkerton

[The Curmudgeon]

For the LAST time! Things The Curmudgeon actually LIKES: Part Five

Well, it's been a good run, friends. Instead of picking the corn from the very worst pieces of excrement on Amazon, I've been treating myself with 5 reviews of joyous, great and super stuff. So this is my last trip down the Yellow Brick Road before I head back into the Haunted Forest once again. I'd turn back if I were you.

For a time, at least for The Curmudgeon, Weezer were some mythical force of nature to be spoken of in hushed tones, a band almost made entirely of pre-internet legend. The first record was good, of course, great in places, but it was THIS record, 1996's Pinkerton, that saw them become cult figures in The Curmudgeon's eyes. Maybe it's the stark contrast in tone and style from the first record? Gone are the catchy pop songs about ooh wee oooh looking like Buddy Holly, and instead we really get to see inside Rivers Cuomo's troubled soul, against a barrier of feedback and noise. Maybe it's that cold and barren artwork that sums up the mood of the album? Maybe all of that and more?

If you've not heard the record, I'm in danger of making it sound like some unlistenable grind, an anti-commercial buzz kill or a record like Lou Reed's "challenging" Metal Machine Music. It's not. There's moments of sly humour buried in there (taking delight that a girl had never heard of Green Day) and some of the songs are really quite beautiful. The closing track, Butterfly, eschews the "Epic Last Song" rock cliche and instead finds River at his most broken, singing a child-like lament and ending with a repetition of "I'm sorry" against a barely there acoustic backing. Equally heartbreaking is "Across the Sea", River's ode to a Japanese schoolgirl fan, and the fact he'll never meet her and even if he did it "wouldn't be right." It's a desperately sad listen, as far removed from the first record's goony "Sweater Song" as anything you could ever find.

Please note: this is no tedious, woe-is-me record. Far from it. Other tracks like the yelpy, juttering lead single "El Scorcho", quite possibly the most baffling choice of first single from a record ever, are loads of fun, "Why Bother" and "The Good Life" are nods to their poppier, more commercial sound and "Getchoo" has, quite simply, one of the most bad-ass sounding guitar riffs in the last 20 years. Like the best albums, it's a short and snappy listen, just over 30 minutes and there isn't an ounce of fat that needs trimming. Every track works and yet, for it's shortness, you often find yourself coming away with something new each time, a new favourite song, a new key melody or a lyric that just hits you.

And here's where the legend status kicks in. After this fantastic record, Weezer sort of.. vanished, and it would be five long years before they would return. And here's the sad part - they would never reach the depth, emotion or connection that they achieved with "Pinkerton". Back then, a new Weezer single from the Pinkerton record (WITH TWO NEW SONGS!!) was like finding a Willy Wonka golden ticket. I bought the third album the day it was released, and even though it's not a patch on Pinkerton, it's still a good rock and roll record. But that's when the magic died, and Weezer just became another band. There were still gems here and there, but it's when they started releasing records with some truly awful songs, teaming up with Lil Wayne, appearing in videos in the Playboy mansion and with internet "celebrities" that, yeah - they were pretty much done for me.

Not that any of that takes away from the lightning in a bottle genius they'd captured with Pinkerton, a record that divided and alienated a lot of fans and listeners at the time (and judging by some knuckle chewing comments on this site, still does) but, like the best records, time has been kind to Weezer's second album. It's now widely considered their best work.

If you only know of Weezer from MTV and their zany sumo wrestler, Muppet and Leave Britney Alone Guy video's and enjoy rock music with heart, intelligence and a fractured soul, Pinkerton is the next record on your purchase list.

And with that, I now return to business as normal. The worst of the worst, rated and slated. Who's first on The Curmudgeon's chopping block? Only one way to find out...

[trashcanman]

Well, when this album was released, it tanked BIG TIME. People hated the new style. Cuomo claims to have went into a severe depression after putting so much of himself into Pinkerton and having it utterly rejected by the world at large, leading to Weezer's extended hiatus. When they came back, it was strictly for commercial appeal. That is to say, the Weezer you loved was killed by mainstream music fans and Cuomo's lack of an artistic backbone.

I've never heard Pinkerton. Never bought a Weezer album at all actually, though my wife got the Green Album and it was pretty good. One of these days, I may pick this one up. I like Weezer, but they're never really at the top of my list.

[The Curmudgeon]

See, I'd heard that as well but I didn't want to get bogged down in details in the review (and I wasn't 100% sure if it was true or not).

Seeing Weezer now is fucking heartbreaking, man. I mean, they're.. OK.. but Pinkerton is a genuine masterpiece. It certainly explains why they've never done another album like Pinkerton if the stories about Rivers being so dismayed by it's negative reaction. Fuck. What a shame.

I really wouldn't recommend any Weezer record, although I really enjoyed the Green album when it came out (haven't heard it in a LONG time, though). I would heartily recommend Pinkerton, though. Brilliant album.

Take a listen to "Getchoo", the song I mentioned in the review. Man, this gets me pumped every time I hear it.

[trashcanman]

I actually watched a Guitar Center Sessions performance/interview session with Weezer a while back where Cuomo discussed some of this stuff and he said that Pinkerton has actually become a pretty big cult success over the years and that they were playing it in it's entirety on tour, which is really cool. That song is pretty damn good too. Dude is a really weird interview and comes across as either utterly clueless or a god-tier troll. He said their original music was like super-technical progressive rock like Rush, but since nobody liked it they pretty much just wrote the simplest, dumbest stuff they could, and just like that they were huge.