Weezer Offers Up A Slab Of Geek Rock

Weezer was everywhere in the fall of 1994. I was a sophomore in high school at the time and the band had just released their self-titled debut album, which has come to be known as the "Blue Album" in some circles. The videos for "Buddy Holly" (with it's innovative riffing on Happy Days) and "Undone" received constant play on MTV (back when they still actually played music videos) and the songs themselves were continually on the radio as well as being played at school events.

What made Weezer so popular was the fact that the lyrics and music spoke to those of us who were not part of the in-crowd. Myself and the circle of really good friends I had back then were definitely iconoclasts and the punky power-pop and angsty yet somewhat upbeat lyrics of Weezer spoke to many of us.

Weezer begins with "My Name Is Jonas". This song opens with the hint of an acoustic guitar before the rock backing kicks in. The lyrics seem to be about slacking off regardless of what the world thinks ("The workers are going home").

"No One Else" begins with a sharp-blast of what I would describe as Cheap Trick Meets Pixies Power-Pop. Rivers Cuomo's lyrics here deal with a control freak ("I want a girl who will laugh for no else/When I'm away she puts her makeup on the shelf/When I'm away she never leaves the house").

"The World Has Turned And Left Me Here" is a simple piece of guitar-pop. While "Buddy Holly" may be the best-known Weezer song, this one is the definitive Weezer song. One particular lyric goes "I made love to your memory/The world has turned and left me here/Just where I was before you appeared".

"Buddy Holly" is the song that introduced us to Weezer. The famous video features Weezer performing for the cast of Happy Days. The song itself is very simple to play on the guitar. The lyrics are highlighted by the extremely catchy chorus ("Whoa I look just like Buddy Holly/Oh oh and you're Mary Tyler Moore/I don't care what they say about us anyway/I don't care about that".

"Undone (The Sweater Song)" is a song that uses a worn sweater as a metaphor for the adolescent experience. The song is slow on the verses and picks up on the chorus ("If you want to destroy my sweater/Then pull this thread as I walk away/Watch me unravel and I'll soon be naked/Lying on the floor/I've come undone").

"Say It Ain't So" was the final single extracted from Weezer and it became a big hit in the spring of 1995. The song follows the same verse-chorus-verse approach we've discussed before. The one of being quiet on the verses and then increasing the volume on the chorus. The song begins with a carefully strummed acoustic riff that increases into a full power chord on the chorus, which again features Cuomo in full anguish ("Say it ain't so!/Your jock is a heartbreaker/Say it ain't so!/My love is a life-taker")

"Surf Wax America" is a piece of punky power-pop that features Weezer sneering at the world with lyrics like "You take your car to work and I'll take my board/And when you're out of fuel/I'm still aboard".

"In The Garage" is another geek anthem ("In the garage/I feel safe/No one cares about my ways").

"Only In Dreams" is the longest song on Weezer (at 7:59). The song is slower and deals with the most important adolescent theme of all: unrequited love. "Only in dreams/See what it means/Reach out your hands/Hold on to hers/But when we awake/It’s all been erased/Or so it seems/Only in dreams".

With this album, Weezer offered up a classic of 90s power-pop that spoke to the eternal iconoclast in all of us. If you are a geek, ever were one or just want to hear some good guitar driven rock I highly recommend it. Also check out the follow-up Pinkerton which picks up where Weezer left off and moves into more mature territory. From what I've heard, Weezer (2001) is pretty good. But the only songs I know off of it are the singles.