FiVERYTHING New Student Edition - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 5, 2001-- 7D EEZR Weezer back .in rock's lime green light Luke Smith Daily Music Editor Weezer's triumphant step back into pop's limelight was marked by a long running series of sold-out shows, and the debut of their new album at the #4 spot nBillboard's Album chart was the icing on the espective comeback cake. The band's return that began a little over a year ago with a brief stint on the Vans Warped Tour has befuddled both fans and the press. Weezer's five year freeze sent its fans back to Pinkerton and their eponymous debut, and scouring the internet for any scrap of new material they could find. Sometime in this half-decade void, Weezer got bigger than ever. Pinkerton, Weezer's cryptic second album found the band's musical tangent being pulled away from its Umart-ass irony rich tunes of their 1994 debut, and into singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo's personal diary. Cuomo penned tunes about his boredom with promis- cuous rockstar sex to his sordid tale of love gone wrong when the girl of his dreams turned out to be a lesbian. Critics and fans ripped Cuomo's unrelenting personal memoirs, writing them, and Weezer off as a post-grunge novelty act whose careers ran as long as their 2:40 smash hit "Buddy Holly." After breaking in Billboard's top 20, Pinkerton fell off the charts faster than N'Sync sold 2.4 million cords. With little to no label support, and virtually ro radio airplay first single "El Scorcho" and follow- up "The Good Life" failed to break musical ground. Pinkerton was officially a failure, commercially and critically the album was a complete flop, and was later called by Cuomo, "a complete disaster." Bassist Matt Sharp quit for his moog-flavored synth-pop band The Rentals, and Weezer was amid rumors of breakups and a Brian Wilson-like meltdown for Rivers Cuomo. In 1998, Weezer briefly regrouped to record its fol- low-up to Pinkerton, and after a few short weeks of lit- Sle progress Cuomo called things off and went back into hiding. By then Weezer had found a new bassist in former Juliana Hatfield plunker Mikey Welsh. Whis- pers of a break up were further stoked when mp3's started appearing of Rivers Cuomo playing a brief series of shows in Boston. Cuomo again dropped off the face of the earth retreating to an apartment in Cali- fornia where he painted all the walls black and discon- nected his phone, completely ostracizing himself from the rest of the world. Somehow through their Copperfieldian disappearing ct rock's biggest dorks became cult heroes. With the opularity of mp3 trading booming at the close of the millennium, Weezer material began to proliferate throughout Napster and the copycat file-sharing servers. "New" Weezer material began to emerge in the form of the mp3's from the Rivers Cuomo solo Same name, new look with 'hip hip' sound Weezer, Weezer; Interscope By Luke Smith Daily Music Editor Ultra-clever hipsters Weezer under- went a Frankenstein-like transformation between their first two albums, dropping the irony-laced witticisms on their eponymous debut, replacing them with Pinkerton's tongue-in-cheek soul bearing couplets embraced by searing guitars. Their five-year deep freeze has brought about another change in the band's musi- cal dynamic this time, forsaking the rock that made Pinkerton a staple to the emo movement. It is their new record howev- er, that is indeed a monster. Titled Weezer (again) and packaged completely in lime green, the album cover and eponymous title are obvious throwbacks to Weezer's 1994 days of yesteryear. They even nabbed the same producer in the Cars' Ric Ocasek for "the Green album." This time around, the song isn't the same, or moreover, the songs are all the same. Cuomo's formu- laic tuneage dominates the ten tracks on Weezer that, despite a rare exception, could've been written off a chord chart in a "Guitar for Beginners" book. "Gonna break it down with a brand new sound," sings Cuomo in "Glorious Day," the ninth track on their sub-thirty minute opus Weezer. Weezer has in fact returned with a new sound featuring ele- mentary pop-chord changes and imper- sonal lyrics. Through singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo's autonomous dictatorship, Weezer was nearly crushed by its uber- personal mis-hit Pinkerton and Cuomo adopted the role of Boba Fett, freezing the band completely. Weezer vanished, completely. Now the once hip, once iron- ic popsmart geek anti-heroes have returned, slinging chunky power chords against pop's slick mainstream. Long gone are the distempered freak- outs that endeared Weezer to the emo- core movement. Emotion has vanished from Weezer's new album faster than Pinkerton dropped off the Billboard album chart. In its place are "Oca-slick," climate-controlled melodies and chunky guitars that made Weezer's debut tick. Missing, however, is the music. Stagnant and stalemated by simplicity, Cuomo has distanced himself from the album's lyrics. Weezer's debut album was emotionally detached compared ;to Pinkerton, but what carried the "blue" album was irony. Weezer was slackjaw poprock, Pavement for the pop-savvy. Now, Weezer is pure unadulterated pop, right down to emotional alienation. First single, "Hash Pipe" has smoked its way up Billboard and is propelled by guitars equal parts Rick Neilsen and Spy Hunter. Cuomo's brave use of falsetto pays dividends as this bright spot on "the green album" is like nothing Weezr has recorded before. And being different is the problem on Weezer, as there isn't much difflrpce between the songs. Similarly structifred and featuring simplistic vocal-line solos, they seem to be a nonchalant "screw you" to Cuomo's metal roots, or'his attempt to bang his infectious melodies into listener's heads. Despite its overwhelming blandness at times, Weezer is catchy as hell, chalked full of hooks and fortified with major- chord riffing, but it lacks the clever lyrics, irony and musicianship of their back catalog. Weezer's schizophrenic third album showcases a band reeling from Pinkerton's failure and simultane- ously reaching for some sort of identity. Weezer seems to have forgotten ~whoiey wanted to be, and in that amnesW.4re stretching to be what people want Weez- er to be, or what Geffen thinks will sell the most. It is after all "the Green album. Maybe Weezer's ironic side isn't gone. Just hidden. "I know I don't look like Buddy Holly, so stop asking." Rivers Cuomo, ladies and gentlemen. shows, the "Kitchen Tape Demos" leaked, (a series of demo songs from before Weezer's self-titled debut), and live bootlegs from as far from Germany, to most of the dates on Weezer's Summer 2000 club tour leaked straight to Napster. Suddenly Weezer's steam had start- ed to roll. Equally important as the explosion in digital music trading to the comeback of Weezer was the creation of Karl's Corner. Karl Koch, the band's longtime friend and roadie, launched a website as an offshoot of the Rebel Weezer Alliance (formerly weqernet). Karl would provide near-daily updates about the band beginning at the start of 2000 when Murmurs of a Weezer regrouping began. As the band gathered and rehearsed, Karl filmed clips of Weezer playing new songs, just blurbs generally under a minute long, and the excitement began to build. Rabid Weezer fans began to check Karl's Corner daily, hoping for some kind of update in a few words, or a picture series or best case scenario a new video clip. This subtle mar- keting move began to generate an underground hype fir- Weezer, a mainstream rock band. Coupled with Karl's Corner and the booming popu- larity of mp3 trading was the enshrinement of Weezer's flop Pinkerton, to the emocore moverient. Typified by explosive screaming choruses and loud soft verse/cho- rus dynamics Pinkerton became somewhat of the IHoly Grail of emo. Bands like the Get Up Kids would give nods to Weezer and Pinkerton in interviews and the emo culture of heroin chic hipsters caught on. With the uprising of emo, Pinkerton began to move units, prov- ing a steady seller in indie circles. The mp3's of Weezer's 2000 Summer Tour became hot commodities online with almost 20 new songs being played throughout the tour, some songs were played several times while others like "On the Edge" would appear once. After the tour. Weezer went into the studio to record their long awaited follow-up to Pinker- ton. Fans expected the songs they had heard on the summer tour to be the cuts for the forthcoming disc, but in a series of messages to the fans Koch informed the Internet that Cuomo had been churning songs out at an alarming rate of one per day. Before'the band went into the studio Koch listed all the songs that were in consid- eration for the new album, a list that numbered close to 100. The band began to march through the songs with producer Ric Ocasek (who produced Weezer's debut) and pared the list down. To the surprise of fans, one song from the summer tour would be recorded for the new album, that song was "I lash Pipe." With Koch's daily updates coming from the record- ing studio fans would only get pictures of a hard at work Weezer creating their third album, Koch would tease and give the titles of the songs, and eventually a "final" tracklisting, which would change again at the last minute. This Internet debauchery built a tremendous amount of hype for Weezer, and with Koch on the inside with the band providing more information than any number of press releases fans felt like they were looking in at Weezer's day to day lives. It is the connection that fans felt that led to their embrace of Weezer and somehow turned this major label uber-slick poprock band into a cult phenomenon. Grade: B- After long hiatus, Weezer starts summer tour By Luke Smith aily Music Editor Behind the catchy ruefulness of "Buddy Holly," and the irony-rich wit of "Undone (The Sweater Song)," it appeared Weezer was going to become a mainstay in pop music. Rivers Cuomo's infectious ear for melody and catchy love songs Weezer would surely be a staple of the post-grunge rock movement. They would tour and head back into the studio putting out a new lbum every year and a half. That is the way pop music works, right? Following the commercial bust of Pinkerton, a concept album mirroring Giaccomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly, in which Cuomo transformed the morally bankrupt Captain Pinkerton into a jaded rockstar who sleeps with different women from town to town; Weezer completely vanished from the imelight. One magazine falsely report- ed that Cuomo had gone insane, burned all the Pinkerton master tapes and could be found holed up in a studio bouncing a rubber ball off the walls. Instead, Weezer did indeed part ways after their supporting tour for Pinker- ton. Drummer Pat Wilson took his side project the Special Goodness, on the road, Brian Bell set out to make a name for the Space Twins, and Matt Sharp ultimately left the band in favor of his side project the Rentals who had a minor radio hit with "Friends of P" on their debut album Return of the Rentals. Cuomo and Co. found a new bassist in former Juliana Hatfield bassist Mikey Welsh, and set out to record a new record in 1998. A few weeks into the sessions Pat Wilson walked out due to the lack of the rehearsals. Spring of 2000 saw Cuomo's recall to the estranged member of the pop- quartet saying he had material he was ready to present to the band, and start Weezer back up as a full-time endeavor again. The band regrouped, rehearsed and set out on a few small club dates. In the summer of 2000 Weezer played a few early club dates in Cali- fornia, then were asked to join the Warped Tour for a leg, and when the success of both outings grew Weezer launched into a nationwide club tour. The summer nationwide canvassing met Weezer head on and they proceed- ed to sell out everywhere they played, tickets for Chicago and New York last- ed just minutes on internet pre-sales. Fresh off of their summer tour Weez- er headed into the studio to record their follow-up to Pinkerton. They tabbed Ric Ocasek (producer of Weezer's eponymous debut) for production duties. Entering the studio in the wake of Christmas Weezer wrapped master- ing the day before their Yahoo spon- sored spring tour kicked off last month. When the new album was played at Interscope offices it was met with a completely different response than Weezer had expected. Just a few days into recording the new record, Inter- scope executives stopped by the studio to hear the new material, and proceed- ed to voice their discontent with the new material. However, when they played the completed version of the record they recanted their previous statements, "loving" the new material. Interscope promptly and quizzically pulled the original release date of April 17th 2001, leaving the release date in a musical purgatory where the band has hung for the last four years. Corporate giant Yahoo offered to sponsor a spring tour before Weezer had even entered the studio to record their third record. This unity between Weezer and corporate American icon Yahoo upset many of their fans - fans that take pride in the obscurity that Weezer's absence has garnered. Weezer's time away resulted in steady sales for Pinkerton, and recently the album was certified platinum, prov- ing absence makes the heart grow fonder. Weezer storms into Detroit for the second time in nine months this time at the State Theatre on Thursday accom- panied by special guests and unsigned California quintet Ozma, and torch tot- ing indie-rockers The Get Up Kids. Both bands were chosen via an online fan poll thru Weezer's official website. Courtesy of interscope Records I I I I I a' FREE Ann Arb~or Ibn Hand y: k4 i when q bring in ad. DU this Science has never been this much fun! btC '*lyourw"'. Igniteyourimagrinaltion ................................................................................ __