This is just a spur of the moment post inspired by a Stereogum tweet giving us a glimpse of Weezer’s recent musical derailment. Well, you could dismiss it as such or you could take it in the absurdly idealist way that I’m about to. Your choice.
I was once a loyal Weezer fan. Like you I enjoyed their priceless “older stuff” and let that new crap slide (“Make Believe,” etc.). But it got to the point, in my mind, where I was letting so much slide that Rivers and I just grew apart. He had lost sight of the dream and I was stuck in my old-fashioned ways. I missed the good old days of Pinkerton and the Blue Album. The days of the mid-90s? Really? Was it (not) that long ago?
Come to think of it, compared to other bands that have been around as long as they have, Weezer has not produced that many albums. However, they have definitely done 180s in all different directions with every new release.
Which leads me to this. Please watch all three videos and then continue reading. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
What did you think? It was awful right? Well, compared to this, I would say yes. However, let’s play along with this band that filled our ears with lovely tunes like “Buddy Holly” and “El Scorcho” for just a second.
Is it possible that Rivers and the crew have some sort of ulterior motive with this new album, “Raditude?” (The name of the album was suggested to Rivers by Rainn Wilson — brothers from another mother?) The Kenny G video is an enjoyable, poppy hoot, granted, but in listening to the lyrics of “Can’t Stop Partying” I had a flash of “They can’t be serious:”
“I can’t stop partying, partying,
I can’t stop partying, partying,
I gotta have Patron, I gotta have the beat
I gotta have a lot of pretty girls around me”
So, are they?
I remember when I first started listening to Weezer and how impressed I was that they got their name out so quickly. Rumors spread that Rivers Cuomo was a Harvard genius and had found some perfect musical recipe that could get anyone’s mouth watering and, after hearing the Green and Blue albums, even I thought it could be true.
What happened? Did Rivers run out of the secret ingredient?
It is a fact that with fame comes brainwashing. Just like with any government job there is conspiracy. But is it possible that after having been exposed to the glitz and glam of celebrity living, they’re just the same old Weezer? Only in million-dollar Gucci suits?
I want to give Weezer the benefit of the doubt and tout them as having infiltrated the system. They are a famous pop group writing pop songs about the pop world in which the live, but where did they start? From the same place all those other bands on Pitchfork’s lists did. I don’t want to go so far as to say this is an indie uprising in mainstream music, but Weezer may have made it to the top and they don’t seem to care.
In the case of “Can’t Stop Partying” they enlist the help of Chamillionaire, Lil Wayne and Jermaine Dupri just to show the world how (not) serious they are about their partying. They have sopped up everything about the lives of celebrities who take themselves too seriously and spit it right back in their famous faces — ironically, of course.
All in all, I think Weezer likes asking people “Why so serious?” So, just play along. Throw away your hipster mentality and let Weezer do its thing — whatever that may be these days. Or, in the words of August Brown from the Los Angeles Times, “Maybe just relax and order a double.”
