Experienced, hardened music fans will always tell you that a band’s earliest material tends to be its best. Sometimes this is quite true, and the best example remain the prolific, if not always good, Weezer.
You all remember Weezer. Famous for 4-chord songs famed for unassailably catchy melodies and a biting melancholy that summed up teenage angst and insecurity more succinctly than any band ever could. The unashamed geekiness of ‘In The Garage’ and the aspirational ‘Buddy Holly’ are anthems for an awkward generation. Now, it seems the four-piece have significantly lost their way.
Most would pin-point ‘The Green Album’ as the time that the rear wheels went loose. There are some fantastic tracks on there – ‘Photograph’ and ‘Don’t Let Go’ particularly, but the confusing ‘Hash Pipe’ seemed like a parting gift for hardcore fans, it was for many, the song where Weezer stopped being relevant and true.
Their work rate has always been impressive – ‘Raditude’ is their second album in as many years – but there’s no other way around the issue than to highlight it directly: Weezer just aren’t good anymore.
‘The Girl Got Hot’ picks up where the ridiculous, lazy ‘Beverly Hills’ left off, a stupid ballad to misogyny, where Cuomo used to write gushing poetry he now seems to get his lyrics and guide to feminine imagery from Peter Stringfellow. This is followed up by the inexplicable ‘Can’t Stop Partying’, an electro-mindfuck that either fails to be adequately ironic or shows a ridiculous middle-age crisis lyrical hook that sounds a bit like yr Dad singing something by Timbaland.
Where the irresistible melodies used to be, there’s now idiotic, shallow imagery and hopeless lyricism without any trace of the song writing ability from ‘Pinkerton’ or ‘The Blue Album’. The way Weezer have gone, it’s fair to say they’re the worst band I’ve ever heard to make two fantastic records. And yes, it’s probably unfair to base a record review on comparisons to the band’s back catalogue, it’s impossible to avoid this when Weezer’s drop in quality has been so vast.
- Errors - 15 March 2010
- Los Campesinos! - 29 January 2010
- Weezer - 14 January 2010