Pinkerton, Weezer

It's the title word count-up to ten! Here we go.

Pinkerton, Weezer, 1996, :34

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

 
This is the first Weezer album I've heard in its entirety and I'm not impressed. Apparently built around the story of what a creep Rivers Cuomo is, it's all buzzy, fuzzy distorted guitars, feedback, rock "yow!" and "ooh!", lots of cymbals and snares and hi-hats; it's a very treble-heavy sound. There are a couple of nice melodies here, but they're buried under layers of histrionics and rock frills. Yes, it's rock, but must there be so much of it? And the lyrics are, well, pretty damned dumb. "I can't believe how bad I suck, it's true / What could you possibly see in little ol' three chord me?" Or: "I'm dumb / She's a lesbian / I thought I had found the one." That's from "Pink Triangle," one of the dumbest songs I've heard in a while. "El Scorcho" is the most popular song on the album, but I think it's practically unlistenable. On the other hand, fans and Rivers himself have gone 180 degrees in their opinions of the album over the years, so who knows? Favorite tracks: I can manage two.  "The Good Life" is catchy, though highly repetitive and its lyrics are also simplistic and puerile ("I ain't no Mr. Cool / I'm a pig, I'm a dog, so 'scuse me if I drool"); I also like the acoustic "M. Butterfly" pastiche, "Butterfly," very much an outlier on the album.

Return Of the Aquabats, the Aquabats!

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1996. 

Return Of the Aquabats, the Aquabats!, 1996, :34

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

These guys wear their pop culture nerdiness more openly on their sleeves than even MC Frontalot. This is nerd-ska, full of references to Star Wars and superheroes and Devo and play-doh and GI Joe, and that's just the first song. They're like They Might Be Giants, if the Johns had eschewed books, science, and cleverness and instead just watched a lot of cartoons and science fiction. I read that the drummer, guitarist, and keyboardist all left right after recording this album, and the surf-ska sound here later gave way to pop punk. So now I don't even have a good sense of what this band sounds like. Oddly, though I myself am a nerd, I am repelled by this album. I'm not enthralled by nostalgia for childhood cartoons or songs about Martian girls or five-and-a-half minute long songs about leaving a girl because her breath is bad. All of these are delivered with simplistic lyrics and a goofy, annoying Elvis-like "comedy" voice. Sample lyric: "Chewbacca! Chewbacca! Lake Titicaca! / Chewbacca's on a scooter man, holy crap!" Ugh. At 34 unbearable minutes, this album feels overlong. Reel Big Fish, I was too harsh on you. Favorite track: "Idiot Box." Least favorite track: "Pinch And Roll," a song about scratching your balls, with a bridge consisting of nonsense sung in a shitty fake Jamaican accent. Hilarious!