Weezer: The Blue Album
(what I think about the Blue Album and how it changed my life)
“Brandon, please turn that down. He sounds like he’s dying....” is what my mom said the first time she spoke that evening in her white Chrysler Sebring coupe when she just couldn’t take any more of Rivers Cuomo singing “In the garage I feel safe, no one cares about my ways...” And I, as a young student of music, disagreed this time, whole-heartedly, with her all too often 90’s rock lead singer critique: “He sounds like he’s dying.” I say disagreed this time, because there were actually countless times that I have agreed with her (although I dug the tune anyway) that yes, sometimes they did sound like they were “dying.” Kurt Cobain’s “hello hello hello hello" in "Smells Like Teen Spirit” I can see, and maybe some Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) or Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), whining and moaning, respectively. But Rivers? Hell no. Rivers does not and did not sound like he is “dying!” I wanted to scream out, “Mom! The meticulous harmonies...the short and sweet well written guitar solos...motown-worthy catchy hooks and phrases....how you gonna say it sounds like he’s dying?!” But I didn’t. I just let her take my favorite blue CD out of her built-in CD player and endured one of her favorite blues bands, Roomful of Blues crank out a few songs in a row in typical 12 bar, one-four-five fashion. I remember thinking how it sounded so plainfully noisy and showy-boring compared to anything offered by the artful perfect plain-ness of the choices made by drummer, Patrick Wilson, on track 5, “Undone - The Sweater Song.”
That happened in probably 1997 or 1998, when I was middle school, probably still playing in Planet Penguin or Wound Up. Since then, I’ve been in a couple bands who have all independently agreed it would be an excellent idea to actually cover the entire Blue Album, and maybe even do it under a pseudonym (Teezer, or Teezer Blue), but it’s never actually come to fruition. I think it’s mostly a crazy dream of mine, but I hope it still happens someday. As a result, I have listened to that 30-something minute epic tape, CD, and digital files (I would bet) over 569 times. There was a time in my life where it would stay in my little green truck’s tape player for 4 or 5 weeks at a time while I analyzed it.....front speakers, back speakers, right speaker, left left speaker, right, both, left, rewind, play, rewind, play.....listening to this note or that, counting repetitions, counting choruses, counting beats. You’d be surprised in the layers and voices and guitar tones you can pick out if you look for them. Weezer’s blue album is quite possibly one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. To be honest, I have not actually gotten into any other Weezer album like I have this one. Sure, I like tons of selections from the host of all the other albums, but I don’t think I have ever owned a copy of any one of them. Not even Pinkerton!...which I probably know 70% of the lyrics from every single song I know of from it. Now that I type this I have decided I would like to get my hands on a copy of Pinkerton, and listen to it a few times in a row and see if I can get into it even half as much as I fell for the Blue Album.
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My name is Brandon Scott McLean. I am a lover of music first, and a maker of music second. Feel free to check out my "solo stuff" and download a FREE TRACK.
I am not a music critic, no one cares what I think or type and nor should you. Read at your own risk and take everything I say with a grain of salt....
(what I think about the Blue Album and how it changed my life)
“Brandon, please turn that down. He sounds like he’s dying....” is what my mom said the first time she spoke that evening in her white Chrysler Sebring coupe when she just couldn’t take any more of Rivers Cuomo singing “In the garage I feel safe, no one cares about my ways...” And I, as a young student of music, disagreed this time, whole-heartedly, with her all too often 90’s rock lead singer critique: “He sounds like he’s dying.” I say disagreed this time, because there were actually countless times that I have agreed with her (although I dug the tune anyway) that yes, sometimes they did sound like they were “dying.” Kurt Cobain’s “hello hello hello hello" in "Smells Like Teen Spirit” I can see, and maybe some Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) or Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), whining and moaning, respectively. But Rivers? Hell no. Rivers does not and did not sound like he is “dying!” I wanted to scream out, “Mom! The meticulous harmonies...the short and sweet well written guitar solos...motown-worthy catchy hooks and phrases....how you gonna say it sounds like he’s dying?!” But I didn’t. I just let her take my favorite blue CD out of her built-in CD player and endured one of her favorite blues bands, Roomful of Blues crank out a few songs in a row in typical 12 bar, one-four-five fashion. I remember thinking how it sounded so plainfully noisy and showy-boring compared to anything offered by the artful perfect plain-ness of the choices made by drummer, Patrick Wilson, on track 5, “Undone - The Sweater Song.”
That happened in probably 1997 or 1998, when I was middle school, probably still playing in Planet Penguin or Wound Up. Since then, I’ve been in a couple bands who have all independently agreed it would be an excellent idea to actually cover the entire Blue Album, and maybe even do it under a pseudonym (Teezer, or Teezer Blue), but it’s never actually come to fruition. I think it’s mostly a crazy dream of mine, but I hope it still happens someday. As a result, I have listened to that 30-something minute epic tape, CD, and digital files (I would bet) over 569 times. There was a time in my life where it would stay in my little green truck’s tape player for 4 or 5 weeks at a time while I analyzed it.....front speakers, back speakers, right speaker, left left speaker, right, both, left, rewind, play, rewind, play.....listening to this note or that, counting repetitions, counting choruses, counting beats. You’d be surprised in the layers and voices and guitar tones you can pick out if you look for them. Weezer’s blue album is quite possibly one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. To be honest, I have not actually gotten into any other Weezer album like I have this one. Sure, I like tons of selections from the host of all the other albums, but I don’t think I have ever owned a copy of any one of them. Not even Pinkerton!...which I probably know 70% of the lyrics from every single song I know of from it. Now that I type this I have decided I would like to get my hands on a copy of Pinkerton, and listen to it a few times in a row and see if I can get into it even half as much as I fell for the Blue Album.
---
My name is Brandon Scott McLean. I am a lover of music first, and a maker of music second. Feel free to check out my "solo stuff" and download a FREE TRACK.
I am not a music critic, no one cares what I think or type and nor should you. Read at your own risk and take everything I say with a grain of salt....
