Guys with Glasses Make Great Albums: Pinkerton

Weezer - Pinkerton
"A long time ago, in an era long forgotten, there was a plague that spread across the land called Grunge. Waves of flannel-clad warlocks trudged throughout the airwaves, their impossibly ripped jeans fluttering in the winds of the worst kind of change. Their battle cries were all the same droning, sandpapery wail, and yet the kings and queens of radio bowed to these audio-marauders.

When all seemed lost in the three-chord void that was left, four noble young beta-males stepped up, a history of rejection and Slayer behind and banner of proud pop-rock shimmering over their terrible haircuts. They called themselves Weezer." - John Wallingford, Music Historian.

Okay, so I wrote that, but whatever, it's true. I imagine when Weezer burst onto the dreary MTV scene in '94 with Weezer, more commonly known as the Blue Album, it was a breath of fresh air so sweet even a pack-a-day smoker could have smelled it. I'm sure there are others who were sick of the grunge scene and what it had degraded into, and Weezer, armed with nothing but angsty pop songs, were the injection of fun that music needed. Remember fun?

But, after inspiring the millions of nerd bands that we have today and giving the A.V. Club an album of anthems, frontman Rivers Cuomo pulled a Sallinger and decided to go into exile at Harvard. While there, he wrote dozens of songs; created, recorded, and discarded a sci-fi concept album that is still yet to see the light of day, and when the insecurities and forlorness went up in smoke and cleared, Pinkerton was recorded.

This is the album that would define Weezer for me - it's melancholy, full of promises to girls that don't know you exist, self-loathing, love letters and all the great riffs and catchy choruses Weezer is known for. The album is essentially where modern emo started (and then got shitty very quickly) and showed that pop sensations could still have feelings, and hurt feelings at that. But wouldn't you know it, the album was a commercial failure.

There is a four-song section in the middle of the album that I can never stop listening to when hearing it. It starts off as a sweet tribute to a Japanese fan and her love letters to Cuomo, him wishing he could meet her one day, even though he never will ("Across the Sea") The next track ("The Good Life") focuses on Cuomo's desires to stop being a dirtbag and get back to the life he once knew, presumably so he can get with the girl he admires from afar on ("El Scorcho") - but wouldn't you know it, she's a lesbian! ("Pink Triangle")

after Pinkerton and all its wonder, Rivers went into exile again, for five years this time. in 2001, The Green Album came out, and it's been a losing battle for Weezer ever since.

But we'll always have Pinkerton, Rivers - and I can't thank you enough for that.

-Thom