Rivers Cuomo, My Friend and Yours....

Well friends, it has been nearly 9 months since my last post. Life's just been so busy between grad school, work, and having a crazy toddler... but I'm back, and I'm going to start writing again. Besides, there are so many great albums, or at least albums by great bands that are on the horizon. There is no reason why I shouldn't be listening and writing... Enough blabber though, let's discuss the topic at hand.

A few months ago, a good friend of mine made a comment that disturbed me... The situation stemmed from a discussion about the great (in my opinion) and not-so-great (his opinion) band Weezer. My friend informed me that I am not a true Weezer fan because I enjoy their four (soon to be five, hence finally writing about this incident) albums post Pinkerton.

I've thought about this statement of me "not being a true Weezer fan," quite a bit since there seems to be an attitude among many that anything post Pinkerton is worthless teeny-bop-pop-crapola...

I think the best way to address this comment is by creating our own analogy of a friendship... Imagine being in 8th grade back in 1994 (since that's where I was), and you and I make a new friend by the name of Rivers Cuomo... He's kind of a shy, obscure guy, wears Buddy Holly glasses, plays Dungeons and Dragons, loves KISS, has relationship issues, and invites you to destroy his sweater. Somehow this awkwardness/nerdyness becomes cool and suddenly everyone loves Rivers. He rides this trip for a few years, but deep down inside he's really Blue.

Not knowing how to deal with this coolness, in 1997 Rivers tries to open up to all of his friends and show us what's really going on inside. Now instead of dwelling on all the awkward things of '94, he talks about pointless/failed relationships, popularity, half Japanese girls, pink triangles, more Japanese girls and butterflies. After seeing and hearing all of the things that are really going on inside of Rivers, most of you rejected him. Suddenly he wasn't cool anymore. Because of this, our pal Rivers goes into seclusion, sells all his belongings, paints his walls black, and then goes off to Harvard to study.

After a few years, our pal Rivers comes back. Now it's 2001 and we all greet him with open arms. All of his old friends are so happy that he's back in our lives. This time around Rivers is all about hash pipes, tropical islands, photographs, girl friends, etc. Ulike the dark depressed Rivers of '97 that so many friends rejected, the new '01 Rivers is light hearted, and having fun. So what did you do? You sat around and complained that this new happy Rivers isn't as good as the open, depressed Rivers. Yeah, that's right four years ago you didn't like Rivers being open and dark and now you're complaining that he isn't like that anymore... Our good friend Rivers just can't seem to please some of you. The fact is, and you are all going to hate me for this, but the Green album is very similar to the Blue album, a little bit more poppy, but very similar.

Although you, and many like you are still complaining about Rivers, he gains a bunch of new friends with his new-found happy attitude. Just for the fun of it, less then a year later in 2002 he decides to do whatever he wants. He says things like, "Sit down and quiet everybody,
you got a long way to go," yeah Rivers is taking control now, he continues, "If you want me, you can't have me," and so on. Essentially Rivers has figured you out, you're never going to be happy, all you're going to do is complain about him and hope he goes back to being depressed, even though you didn't like him when he was that way... Some friend you are. As a side note, I have more than once heard Maladroit referred to as 80's hair-rock... and all I have to say is, are you kidding me? Do you know what 80's rock is? Go listen to some Poison, White Lion, Cinderella, or Bon Jovi... then you tell me if this is the same. Sure Maladroit is Weezer's most guitar heavy album to date, but it is by no means 80's hair-rock. It does happen to be a brilliant album though.

Anyway back to our friend Rivers. In 2005, with or without you, Rivers has become more popular than ever, but now he's enjoying life. He starts singing about things ranging from Beverly Hills, to spiders, drugs, and he even apologizes for not being so nice in his earlier days. What do you do, instead of giving him a chance now, you don't even listen what he has to say, instead you hear one radio hit (sorry I'm straying from the analogy) and you decide it just isn't as good as the good ol' days.

In '08 Rivers is back again, having more fun than ever. He's now into making trouble, dreaming, being the greatest, and of course pork and beans, and like '05 without even giving him a chance you dis the fact that he's now happily married, has a kid and is enjoying life and ask for the guy who lived in an all black apt. 10 or so years ago.

Here's the point, how can you call yourself a "true" Weezer fan, when all you care about is depressed Rivers... Come on, instead of dwelling on '97 why don't you actually give the new four/five albums a chance. You might surprise yourself.

Below I have listed several tracks that are as good as, if not better than a good deal of material on both Blue and Pinkerton.

Green:
Hash Pipe - Sure it was on the radio too much, but it is a great track!
Island in the Sun - Not my favorite track, but is honestly like Holiday part II.
Glorious Day - Love it, love it, love it.

Maladroit:
American Gigolo - I love this track because it really addresses exactly what I'm ranting about today.
Take Control - Great guitar work, particularly the solo, and all around an awesome track!
Fall Together - Can you tell that I really like the heavy tracks?

Make Believe:
Perfect Situation - This one is totally in the top 10 best Weezer tracks ever.
Hold Me - You're looking for the vulnerability of '97, just found it.
Damage to Your Heart - Another honest and emotional song... I read somewhere that Weezer gets less mature with each album, but I'm just not seeing it.

Red:
Pork and Beans - I just have to bring this one up, because musically you know this would have fit perfectly on Pinkerton.
Dreaming - Now we're jumping back to the '94 sound. Very retro Blue-ish track.
The Angel and the One - Forget top 10 ever, this song deserves top 5 of all Weezer songs.

There you go, it's time to get over the hate, get over your wanting to dwell in the depressing past of '97. It's time to grow up like Rivers and embrace him with open arms... At the end of the day, aside from all your complaints, you know that Weezer is still putting out some of the best alt-rock songs on the radio.



***please don't take this too seriously, if you're a Weezer fan I consider you a friend regardless of which albums you preference. And just for the record I love both Blue and Pinkerton, and am anxiously awaiting Pinkerton's Deluxe release.