Weezer Classics

Weezer is possibly one of the most ironically iconic musical groups out there. Many fans from far and wide listen to the lovely melodies and poetic lyricism, and many others like to have a laugh at the memes of varying quality.

However, Weezer is a band which has struggled to really capture much real success outside of their very early works. While Weezer's first two studio albums, Weezer and Pinkerton, were received incredibly well by fans, and their third, Weezer (Green Album), was at least moderately successful, most of their catalogue has been quite oversaturated with stinkers. One thing that you should keep in mind when having deep and incredibly meaningful discussions about Weezer is that often if someone claims to be a "Weezer fan," they probably specifically mean that they are a fan of Weezer's first two albums, and maybe a couple songs from some of the later albums.

These "Weezer Classics" remain something of an enigma given their super high marks in comparison to the rest of the band's discography.

Weezer's first album was the iconic Weezer. Due to the solid color of the background on the album cover and the repeated usage of the title Weezer, for their albums, the title "Blue Album" is another common moniker that this album takes. As far as the "Weezer" albums go, the Blue Album is without a doubt in the highest tier of them all. While the music might not hold up especially well to all modern ears, this ignores the context of when this album came out. While we may have heard many songs that are reminiscent of the Blue Album, the alternative rock style was much more unexplored in 1994 than it has been since. The theming is all around a bit hard to define just from how "normal" or "basic" it sounds to a general audience. It would probably best be described as a reflection of the zeitgeist of the  middle class in the mid-90s.

With this in mind, I feel it is much easier to appreciate the songs of Blue Album. While certain ones might be a bit boring, namely "Only In Dreams," due to its near 8 minute duration, there is no denying that most of the song list is super catchy. At the very least, there is certainly some amount of payoff for listening to each song all the way through, which is very much the case for the more popular tracks, like "Buddy Holly," or "Say It Ain't So."

The next masterpiece is Pinkerton, which was very different from Blue Album. For one, the songwriting was much more personal, with many songs having themes based on Rivers Cuomo's own experiences. The production also reflects the more emotional side of Weezer with much harsher sounds, fluctuating tempos, and intentionally out of tune sections. This heavy emotional theme gives Pinkerton a much bigger reason to be taken seriously, even with the presence of humorous songs such as "Pink Triangle," where Rivers talks about falling in love with a girl only to realize she's a lesbian. Most of the album takes things pretty seriously, though, with all of the songs focusing on various types of romantic grievances, which is a topic which requires at least a slightly straight face.

The major differences between the two albums really leaves it up to personal preference which is considered the best Weezer album. I obviously really enjoy both albums a lot, and my opinion on which is better honestly depends on the mood I'm in and whatever music I've been listening to recently. As I am adding this sentence, I think Pinkerton is very slightly winning out.

While these two albums are the definitive Weezer Classics, there are others that are at least decent albums on their own. I will list them all very quickly

• Weezer (Green Album)
• Maladroit
• Weezer (Red Album)
• Everything Will Be Alright In The End
• Weezer (White Album)
• OK Human

While all of these albums are considered to be at least "good" in their own ways, none of them really capture the same levels of fanfare as the true Weezer Classics, and I haven't listened to all of them, so I can't really say which are worthy of "Classic" status. I do personally think that Green Album, and Maladroit are a bit underwhelming, and that Everything Will Be Alright In The End is quite good.

You may come to your own conclusions on the quality of these albums

The quick counters may have notices that I have touched on 8 albums, which is probably more Weezer albums than anyone reading this knew even existed. Just for your information, these 8 albums I've mentioned are only half of Weezer's albums. The other ones are all either mediocre, bad, or too recent to really gauge public opinion. I have heard praise for the newest set of albums, the SZNS albums, although I have yet to listen to all 4 of them, so I can't specifically comment on them.

I understand that I may be a bit underqualified to talk about Weezer based on how little of their catalogue I've actually listened to, but can you really expect someone to willingly sit through hours upon hours of lame albums? I've got better things to do.

I also know that almost every Weezer album has some minority of fans that actually enjoy it. I've heard people say that they enjoyed Make Believe and Van Weezer, even if those were only isolated incidents. It does go to show how divisive most of the band's work is among even their most dedicated fanbase. And I think it also shows just how universally liked the Weezer Classics really are.

I would really recommend more people listen to Weezer, even if you only know them as a fairly dated meme at this point.

- morsh