“The Sweater Song” conveyed the (soon to be proven very false) impression that Weezer was sort of a deadpan indie-rock parody band with a sense of humor about themselves; which was a somewhat appealing notion in that early moment.
I would agree that there is nothing wrong with Undone or really the first album at all (as far as it goes). The band quickly became an embarrassment that recorded several of the most annoying songs of all time (as much as I sort of respect the shamelessness of Rivers), but this first album was harmless fun, with good songs and good videos.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 13:10 (five years ago) link
it's an adolescent album, like all power pop aspires to be. The novelties were what sold, and what they continued to pursue later, but the non hits still warrant a listen now and then. I'm only talking about the first record of course; Pinkerton was disappointing / horrifying and that was enough: no new musical or lyrical tricks. Besides, the band had a quick influence on alt radio and there were blue album novelties everywhere for a while. If that was to be the formula then it was easy enough for others to follow it well too. That the band are careerists: well, the Raspberries would have been too if styles stagnated then as much as they do today.
― L'assie (Euler), Thursday, 24 January 2019 13:24 (five years ago) link
I could totally imagine Weezer covering "Hungry Eyes."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 13:29 (five years ago) link
creepy song though.
― peace, man, Thursday, January 24, 2019 7:53 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
P sure that's the point. He's playing the character of a possessive lover
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 24 January 2019 13:38 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I guess. But I think it's too easy to empathize with it for the wrong reasons. I did when I was younger, I know that. Partly because I was a dumbass kid who didn't know how to have relationships with girls. Partly because musically it is so catchy. Really a perfect slice of power pop. Later I really grew to hate the lyrics, even though you could probably say it's a character. I certainly don't hate every song where the singer expresses misogynist views, character or not, but this one really sticks in my craw for some reason. It's complicated, at least.
I didn't even realize they released an album yesterday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weezer_(January_2019_album)
― peace, man, Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:01 (five years ago) link
They should have titled the album "On the Nose."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:07 (five years ago) link
― peace, man, Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:01 AM (five minutes ago)
sorry, guys, I didn't mean for this to happen!
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:08 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/FepHKAT.gif
― calumy (rip van wanko), Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:20 (five years ago) link
As if cover albums weren't already a strange idea to begin with, the sheer audacity of doing a whole album of faithful-to-the-original covers in the streaming era when all of these songs are so very easily available and so incredibly famous, and then self-titling the album...I mean, it's kind of brilliant and stupid and hilarious all at the same time.
― triggercut, Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:29 (five years ago) link
yeah I figured I'd give it a listen because what the hell, and its baffling, the songs pretty much sound just like the originals (even "No Scrubs"!) and all the originals are so well known, it's like they wanted to make the least essential album of all time
― frogbs, Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:37 (five years ago) link
maybe weezer are big fans of Weird Al’s band and decided to try to replicate their replications but not the funny part
― L'assie (Euler), Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:53 (five years ago) link
It appears we won’t be free of Weezer until they run out of colors.
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:15 (five years ago) link
that campaign that got them to cover africa has a lot to answer for
― ufo, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:17 (five years ago) link
What's gonna be on The Brown album
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:19 (five years ago) link
bunch of Ween covers hopefully
― frogbs, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:22 (five years ago) link
A greatest-hits comp, obv
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:25 (five years ago) link
surprised bohemian rhapsody missed the cut
― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:26 (five years ago) link
My friend in high school used to scream about how stupid "Surf Wax America" was because he for some reason thought it was about a guy trying to ride a surfboard on the sidewalk to like...a corporate job.
But he also told me Billy Corgan was Chinese so
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:28 (five years ago) link
forget Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm surprised they haven't done Baby Shark
― frogbs, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:30 (five years ago) link
Neanderthal please invite him to ILM
― calumy (rip van wanko), Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:39 (five years ago) link
xp to frogbs I made that joke in the other thread, but I realize that if enough of us make it, it will surely happen, so let's stop here
― Vinnie, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:42 (five years ago) link
move thread to 77 so Rivers can't see it
― frogbs, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:49 (five years ago) link
I think I'd still go with Holiday, but Surf Wax America is an easy runner up for me. And they both got last in 2007 along with No One Else, lol.
― peace, man, Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:52 (five years ago) link
Checking out "The Teal Album" now (bored at work)... holy shit, these takes are INDISTINGUISHABLE from the originals.
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Thursday, 24 January 2019 23:34 (five years ago) link
except, like, worse drumming
except, like, no soul
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 January 2019 23:46 (five years ago) link
except bland white boy singing
Cuomo should've worn blackface so we can hate him with the abandon that he coursts.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 January 2019 23:47 (five years ago) link
*courts
my thought was 'except worse synths' when i skimmed a few tracks
― ufo, Thursday, 24 January 2019 23:51 (five years ago) link
It’s hard to imagine even the biggest Weezer fan listening it for pleasure.
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Friday, 25 January 2019 00:05 (five years ago) link
It's the Weezer album for people who hate Weezer but love Classic Albums Live
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Friday, 25 January 2019 00:34 (five years ago) link
man, this teal album thing is just so *pathetic*
― alpine static, Friday, 25 January 2019 01:22 (five years ago) link
There's a subset of Weezer fans who came on board around 2005 with Beverly Hills and then like, the Pork and Beans video who this kind of thing appeals to greatly. These people also really like the show Scrubs and saw Bohemian Rhapsody five times in cinemas.
― triggercut, Friday, 25 January 2019 03:20 (five years ago) link
No doubt that subset is sizable enough that in a few years Weezer will play half-time at the Super Bowl and close their set with "Africa".
― Sam Weller, Friday, 25 January 2019 08:02 (five years ago) link
I don't dislike covers albums -- they can be great! -- but this one is so joyless and uninteresting.
― Sam Weller, Friday, 25 January 2019 08:06 (five years ago) link
Listen we can joke about Weezer covers but nothing will ever be as funny as when Rivers Cuomo went on MySpace and cataloged each of his songs by race of woman... pic.twitter.com/GmIGaZnUo0— Tommy McNamara (@TommyMcNam) January 24, 2019
― Number None, Friday, 25 January 2019 11:16 (five years ago) link
If he's counting half-caucasian half-asian as asians, that's 38%. But if he's only counting each half-asian girl as half an asian, he ends up with 26%. Neither of these are exactly "small minorities."
― peace, man, Friday, 25 January 2019 11:32 (five years ago) link
Hm, if the covers are actually as painstakingly close to the originals are the covers on Todd Rundgren's Faithful, this might actually be... impressive and interesting, albeit not something I'd want to listen to a lot. The Toto covers don't lead me to expect this, though.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, 25 January 2019 11:41 (five years ago) link
xp Tbf, it might be a small minority if you consider the total number of songs he has written, as opposed to songs about women. Either way, total wtf @ that list.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, 25 January 2019 11:43 (five years ago) link
The tweet also crops off the post, so we miss out on the racial breakdown for Tired of Sex:
http://gloriousnoise.com/2007/weezer_riviers_cuomo_on_asian
― peace, man, Friday, 25 January 2019 11:51 (five years ago) link
xp Tbf, it might be a small minority if you consider the total number of songs he has written, as opposed to songs about women. Either way, total wtf @ that list.― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, January 25, 2019 11:43 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, January 25, 2019 11:43 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Still ends up being almost 10%!
― peace, man, Friday, 25 January 2019 11:52 (five years ago) link
Honestly the fact that people are still paying attention to Weezer, a band whose natural lifespan should have been about six glorious months in 1995, is entirely unedifying for everyone concerned, including the band themselves.
― Matt DC, Friday, 25 January 2019 11:52 (five years ago) link
these covers are certainly not painstakingly close, just close enough to make them entirely pointless
weezer put more energy and passion into their cover of the state farm jingle than every cover on the new album and some of their actual songs— D🌑CFUTURE (@topherflorence) January 24, 2019
― ufo, Friday, 25 January 2019 11:53 (five years ago) link
Haha
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, 25 January 2019 12:18 (five years ago) link
a band whose natural lifespan should have been about six glorious months in 1995
'glorious' is v much pushing it imo but otherwise otm
― “I'm the sexy gorilla and I'm going to hell“ (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 25 January 2019 13:57 (five years ago) link
Weezer was slipping out of the public consciousness by '97 or early '98. Then, as I understand (and experienced) it, there was a huge resurgence in their popularity among a new, younger emo crowd, almost a cult thing, but it grew into a full on movement
― calumy (rip van wanko), Friday, 25 January 2019 14:35 (five years ago) link
I thought of Faithful too but it's not quite like that - they're more like karaoke versions, you can practically see the [Intro - 8 bars] on the screen. They're note-for-note covers but there are a lot of moments where they just go, "eh, close enough". Granted I've only listened to about 30 seconds of every song
― frogbs, Friday, 25 January 2019 14:54 (five years ago) link
Todd at least bothered to make half of his record (really good) originals too
― Number None, Friday, 25 January 2019 14:56 (five years ago) link
"Love of the Common Man" is one of my favourites.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, 25 January 2019 15:11 (five years ago) link