Desert Island Discs… Weezer, “Pinkerton”
This is the fourth in a series about music that has shaped my life or that simply kicks major ass. Greatest hits collections not included.
Weezer are the kings of nerd rock and, since I am a nerd who likes to rock, they have always been one of my favorite bands. “Pinkerton” was released in 1996 and is considered by many Weezer fans, myself included, to be their best album. I heard it for the first time at a record store near Herald Square in New York City. This was around the time when stores began setting up those “listening stations” where you can slap on some headphones (yuck) and listen to a little bit of every track on a CD before making your purchase.
The first track on “Pinkerton” is “Tired of Sex,” which begins with the memorable lines, “I’m tired. So tired. I’m tired of having sex.” Me too, boys. The song builds in intensity and by the time the guitar solo kicks in, it’s hard not to just hurl your body across the room and into a pile of something valuable. I bought the disc on the spot.
The one hit single from the album, “El Scorcho,” is actually among my least favorite tracks. It’s silly and not very interesting musically — though I must begrudgingly give props to any song that begins, “Goddamn you half-Japanese girls/Do it to me every time.”
“The Good Life” is especially relevant to this blog, with its opening line, “When I look in the mirror/I can’t believe what I see. Tell me who’s that funky dude/Starin’ back at me?” The song perfectly captures that “What the fuck has happened to my life?” feeling that is increasingly powerful now that I am less than three months shy of turning 40. “I don’t want to be lonely anymore,” the song goes. “It’s been a year or two since I was out on the floor. Shakin’ booty, makin’ sweet love all the night. It’s time I got back to the good life.” Amen.
On “Pink Triangle,” lead singer Rivers Cuomo laments about falling in love with a girl who turns out to be a lesbian. “Everyone’s a little queer,” he pleads. “Oh, can’t she be a little straight?” I’ve heard this line about 500 times, but it still makes me smile because it brilliantly and succinctly captures the desperation of love that we’ve all felt at some point.
The album closes with the ballad “Butterfly,” a disturbing little song that has never made any sense to me, but that I like a lot anyway. It ends with the line, “I told you I would return/When the robin makes his nest. But I ain’t ever coming back. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Ah, nothing to be sorry about Weezer. You have made a wonderful album that sounds as good to me today as it did more than a decade ago.
