Weezer – The Blue album
Despite having just under 14-million monthly listeners on Spotify, I met a 20-something from California this week who had never heard of Weezer. I didn’t have to respond. One of his friends chimed in with, “They’re a rock band.” I am Weezer fan. My favorite album is Pinkerton. It is only 34 minutes, but it one of my, “On a dessert island” choices. It came out in 1996, and took 20 years to go Platinum.
I expect this song to resurface like one of Queen’s songs like Bohemian Rhapsody or Don’t Stop me Now. This song will be played before other concerts to get the crowd excited for the show.
The world was first introduced to Weezer in 1994 with there, eponymously titled, but forever referred to as the Blue album. The cover is a simple photo of the band Patrick Wilson (Drums), Rivers Cuomo (Vocals, Guitar), Matt Sharp (Bass), and Brian Bell (Guitar). The image is a perfect attempt at accompanying the garbage, nerd rock of the ‘90s. It’s hard to believe I’m old enough to live through something that can be considered a class, but the Blue album starts off with a classic tune from Weezer – My Name is Jonas. I know all the lyrics. People I know that I wouldn’t expect to have listened to Weezer in the 90s know ever lyric. I expect this song to resurface like one of Queen’s songs like Bohemian Rhapsody or Don’t Stop me Now. This song will be played before other concerts to get the crowd excited for the show.
Buddy Holly is almost as much a classic at My Name is Jonas. They still play it for the finale of their shows. The light hearted-lyrics, guitar riffs and timing embrace the heart of pop rock music. While Say It Ain’t So seems like a drunken frat song that everyone can sing along to, In the Garage is the most underrated song on the disk. It is full of pop culture and musical references that a lot of kids could relate to even today. I mean KISS is still touring (And may never stop saying farewell), and the X-Men are soon-to-be part of Disney’s MCU.
I’ve never surfed, but I love the idea of surfing while others have run out of gas. This album has some of the most fun lyrics Weezer has to offer. Very likely because Rivers Cuomo uses algorithm now to create songs. In some cases, he can’t tell you what the song is about.
The World Has Turned and Left me Here and No One Else are good relationship missing tunes. No One Else, isn’t a track I can relate to much anymore, but I am not going to skip past it on any playlist. A song about troubled youth who can’t seem to find the right relationship might have spoken to me at one point, but only in nostalgia now. Still every lyric is easy to hit if you know the song, and you will find yourself singing along without regard to where you are.
Undone – The Sweater Song drones a little and I’m baffled at how it got such notoriety. The conversational pieces of the party scene and any high-pitched, perfectly placed high pitched note that Weezer does so well is nearly enough to make it a favorite, but the droning chorus has me skipping it a third of the time. Something else Weezer was well known for is the feedback of their guitars at the end of some songs, and this one is the epitome of it. Only in Dreams finishes off the album and goes on for too long, unless you’re listening to the full album and you hope it never ends.
This album is primarily made up of music that people would ask, “Do you remember that song?” Do I remember it? I’m still listening to it!
9/10 Would highly recommend anyone who wants more guitar and less autotune.
Harry Acosta is a professional photographer who started out shooting concerts. He is an avid concertgoer and loves to capture his favorite musicians and unseen moments we take for granted in everyday life.
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