Blue Album by Weezer

God, another album Pitchfork rated high, and this time it’s a perfect score of 10! Weezer is a band that I’ve always been cautious to approach, with its high popularity and at the same time, the amount of negative comments I’ve seen dismissing the band (and I know, we shouldn’t avoid bands just because of “overrated” comments from random anonymous accounts on the internet), so I went in “Blue Album” completely blind. This 1994 debut album was made and released in the midst of a grunge wave where every band on the block would’ve caused your grandma to shake her head in disapproval. While that gave the members then: Rivers Cuomo, Brian Bell, Matt Sharp, and Patrick Wilson (and former guitarist Jason Cropper) a difficult start, it was and still is their difference that makes Weezer who they are.

Weezer drives its storytelling with rhymes and relatability, turning the typical rockstar persona of the time into something like a friendly neighborhood band. The simplicity and pop-formulated melodies draw audiences in for the one thing music does best: karaoke time. Easy to sing and repeatable, Weezer is something that people will never get tired of. They’re the kind of band that you remember singing aloud in the car with close friends during summer holiday and raving over because, really, they’re just like you! With their cheerful, major key tones and Cuomo’s clean, bright-spirited vocals, I am reminded of energies from Taking Back Sunday or Simple Plan with an almost toned-down, tighter production. The album is short, snappy, but most importantly, effective. Each song is catchy and fun, where songs like “Buddy Holly” have satisfying choruses in both syllable and lyric, “Ooh-wee-woo, I look just like Buddy Holly. Oh oh! You’re like Mary Tyler Moore”. I bet that you just sang the song in your head because that’s the most singable lyric I’ve ever heard (along with ‘Baby I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray’ or ‘Marry me, Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone’). The band understands how to utilize their sound and the “rules of music” to produce something that is not only distinctively their own, but also something solid, and clean cut with the quirk of almost comedic, lighthearted lyrics. The eight-minute song, “Only in Dreams” demonstrates their ability to effectively extend out of musical conventions for storytelling, featuring a section where everything quiets down, as if the song were to end, with the bass line continuously playing. Then, just as you believe the song was ending, the instrumentals pick up again to a beautiful guitar solo section, ending the story on the same bass line. While I prefer music that is messy and emotional, Blue Album’s cohesiveness and clever use of musicality are to be appreciated.

Okay, I understand why this album was so well-received. I cannot find a fault that isn’t subjective! Sure, the album lacks a little certain fiery or interesting perspective that I look for in music. Sure, the album’s simpler sound isn’t my favorite, but for something labeled as pop punk, power punk, and geek rock, it has certainly conveyed its genre without leaving bits behind. Blue Album’s cover features the four members in front of a youthful blue background, with button-up shirts and an air of awkwardness. Four guys that you’d see in your school, on the streets, saying that rock is indeed for everyone. I love a good rockstar with attitude, crazy hair, and black eyeliner, but what’s better than a band that conforms to a rockstar norm is a band that’s unapologetically themselves, who have KISS posters on their walls and sing about Dungeons and Dragons. That, in my opinion, is a true rockstar.

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Read More About Them!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/weezer-30-years-the-blue-album/

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2024-03-25/weezer-blue-album-oral-history-30th-anniversary-rivers-cuomo

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NO AI was used in the process or product of this blog.