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BeeTL wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 5:52 am

I understand that people get upset when something they believe in goes off the rails, but I just don't have the same kind of emotional investment into music like some (or like I once did). A little while before the pandemic I saw the Pixies and Weezer and the Pixies opened.

Talking about going off the rails, why did you have to mention the Pixies? "I'm in love with your daughter". No Frank, I don't think I want to know...

Oh, holy shit, that was fantastic. Everything perfect. And then the part where his mom calls out the Beach Boys for Kokomo?

I was in college, working at a record store when the Blue Album came out, and I really liked it. We played the shit out of it. I liked their 'weird' album Pinkerton too-- which had to do with me being a lonely horny white guy or something. I liked the Rentals too.

Weezer aged like stale beer; they got so bad to my ears that it made me question why I ever liked them in the first place. Usually with art that has more to do with the person. Like I used to be a fan of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski (notice the horny white guy theme again), but finding out what terrible people they were has soured that considerably. In the case of Weezer, it's mostly just their music turning into complete garbage. Breaking down how and why a song is terrible is a somewhat interesting exercise, but it's something most of us already knew.

Kokomo, as horrible as it is, didn't cheapen the Beach Boy's older stuff because it is distilled from Mike Love's taint.

I was never into Weezer, or Pinkerton, like I say. It got a lot of passionate reviews back in the day, good and bad, but when I listened to it I didn't hear anything. It is what it is.

The reason I mention this is because I read a lot about Weezer lately for whatever reason. What I have come to gather is, Pinkerton really revealed who Cuomo is as a person, and after getting to know him better, people didn't like that person.

Which is what it is, but what is interesting is that he seemed to know that, and so he never revealed who he is as a person ever again. And people were happy with that.

Larry Mal wrote: ↑

Thu May 20, 2021 2:14 pm

I was never into Weezer, or Pinkerton, like I say. It got a lot of passionate reviews back in the day, good and bad, but when I listened to it I didn't hear anything. It is what it is.

The reason I mention this is because I read a lot about Weezer lately for whatever reason. What I have come to gather is, Pinkerton really revealed who Cuomo is as a person, and after getting to know him better, people didn't like that person.

Which is what it is, but what is interesting is that he seemed to know that, and so he never revealed who he is as a person ever again. And people were happy with that.

For a long time he wouldn't play much off Pinkerton live as he was so embarrassed. I think I saw them 2001. Green album was out and they were ready to release Malidroit. I heard Dope Nose and Keep Fishin for the first time at that show. Anyway, they played everything off Blue except Holiday and only played Tired of Sex off Pinkerton. A few years ago they were doing shows where they played Blue or Pinkerton straight through. Neither are long albums, but each album was a separate show. So I have to pay $50 or whatever for each 45 minute show? I would have gladly payed that if they played both albums in one show. I think that was the first time that Weezer really played Pinkerton songs since Matt Sharp's departure.

Another disappointing thing about Weezer is they used to play with such great gear. Their guitar sounds were incredible. When I saw them they were using Line 6 Pods and it sounded like shit. They had an Ampeg 8x10 on stage so they could feel bass in the stage but no other speakers were on stage.

Pepe Silvia wrote: ↑

Thu May 20, 2021 5:34 pm

Another disappointing thing about Weezer is they used to play with such great gear. Their guitar sounds were incredible. When I saw them they were using Line 6 Pods and it sounded like shit. They had an Ampeg 8x10 on stage so they could feel bass in the stage but no other speakers were on stage.

That sucks, when I saw them about a dozen years ago they were still using real amps, and sounding good. Pat played guitar on a couple songs using a Charvel, but everything else was cool.

When I think of Weezer, and especially when I hear about "people not liking that person" w/r/t Rivers Cuomo, I think of a story Mark Arm told me once, about when Mudhoney played on a bill at a show called "End it", which was kind of a big fundraiser thing in memory of Mia Zapata. It was 1994, and the lineup apart from mudhoney included such luminaries as 311, hole, and green day... at any rate, Weezer was one of the earlier acts. I was there in the audience with a couple of friends. When Weezer came on after 311, I was glad 311 was done. Then the drummer never waved his butt around like he did in the video, so Weezer duly went in the "pass" column in my mental spreadsheet.

But backstage, apparently Rivers Cuomo had this "I'm a big deal" attitude, according to Mr. Arm, and boasted about the teen girls who loved him, and apparently had a couple of girls who looked to be about 13 with him backstage, oohing and aahing and stroking his ego (and hopefully that's all they stroked). So when I heard about that, Weezer went from being another band I didn't care for to a cash cow for the kind of scumbag I'd happily run over with a car. That's my secondhand "Rivers Cuomo is a shitbag" story, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Jaguar018 wrote: ↑

Thu May 20, 2021 8:19 am

Kokomo, as horrible as it is, didn't cheapen the Beach Boy's older stuff because it is distilled from Mike Love's taint.

I mean, The Beach Boys have a tremendous legacy of incredible songs and musicianship, in spite of Mike Love dedicating himself to essentially suicide bombing the band for 60 years straight. That the worst he could muster was Kokomo says a lot about everyone else in the band, except Bruce Johnston who's apparently just Mike Love's appendix in human form from what I've been able to gather.

Anyway, Weezer are no Beach Boys, that's for sure.

that's not the first second-hand anecdote (...first..second... ) i've heard about cuomo being gross and creepy- i had a number of friends that met him/weezer at warped tour and had similar stories of seeing him hanging out with mostly teenage girls, inviting them to the tour bus, being inappropriately flirty, etc.

there's also the whole japanese fetish thing...

mackerelmint wrote: ↑

Sat May 22, 2021 9:10 am

I was glad 311 was done.

I know you were.

noisepunk wrote: ↑

Sat May 22, 2021 3:25 pm

there's also the whole japanese fetish thing...

Ah, I'd forgotten about that. Just one more garbage bag in the dumpster fire that is his personality, I guess.

If you liked this you might like Todd in the Shadows. Usually a lot less personal, but his One Hit Wonderland and Train Wreckords videos are fun dives.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaTSjm ... HmtVW3t7sA

It took me years to understand that the first mistake with a Weezer is to take them seriously. It was a hard lesson as a die hard blue/Pinkerton fan from my formative years.

Rivers will follow any idea through to conclusion. Sometimes it’s gold, often it’s trash. I don’t think he’s any different from any other musician in that respect, just that whilst he takes himself seriously, I don’t think he always expects the output to be taken seriously. As some people have mentioned, he’s also an eccentric guy, often described as not a nice guy either. And plenty of stories around about massive cocaine use.

A good example is their live show- in the last 10 years they’ve rarely played more than a couple of songs from the latest album. Until recently they were often unprepared, too. Almost like they hadn’t practised since the last tour. Kinda funny when you’re selling out arenas. And the drummer, I don’t quite get how he never got better (a bit like the Drummer from Ash). One thing that’s always impressed me with Weezer live- only ever guitar changes for different turnings. So like Foo fighters they only really change once or twice in a 2 hour set. Unlike loads of bloated bands who seem to swap guitars every song.

I just listen to what I like & ignore what I don’t. That works for me. Whoever mentioned the singles: if every Weezer album (well apart from the black album) were an ep, you get a lot of good releases. I made a playlist of all the singles from green onwards & it’s pure joy (if you take my very first sentence above into account).