It is rare to find a college student who is not at least tangentially acquainted with the rock band Weezer. As children of the 90s, current students grew up alongside the band, and much of their music can be associated with our formative years.
For those who somehow do not know, Weezer is a band that came to prominence in the mid 1990s with their first album, the so-called “Weezer,” also known as the “The Blue Album,” released in 1994. “The Blue Album” went triple platinum and received very positive reviews.
The band continued producing alternative hits and several other eponymous albums with secondary “color” names through the rest of the 1990s and the 2000s. Weezer hits include “Beverly Hills,” “Island in the Sun,” “Say it Ain’t So,” and “Buddy Holly,” among many others. More recent Weezer albums such as “The Green Album” and “The Red Album” produced hit songs, but received mixed reviews as a whole.
Weezer as a band is excellent. They have a unique musical style that is audibly appealing and original. Those who have not listened to early Weezer albums should do so in order to form an opinion of the band before listening to their new music.
Recently, Weezer fans have been looking forward to the release of a new album, “The White Album.” Rivers Cuomo, the singer, guitarist, front man and creative force behind Weezer, described the album as a beach album and said it was inspired by his experiences in Los Angeles.
“The White Album” was released on April 1, following the singles “Thank God for Girls,” “Do You Wanna Get High,” “King of the World,” “LA Girlz,” and “California Kids.”
“Thank God for Girls” was a strange choice for the first single given that it is by far the worst song on the album. It is arguably the worst Weezer song ever as well. The song is simply hard to listen to.
The verses are poorly sung droning with minimal instrumental backing. The chorus is better, but still not well sung or audibly appealing instrumentally. Hearing this song first due to its radio play did not paint a positive picture of the album. Any other song on the album would have been a better choice as a single.
“Do You Wanna Get High?” is a much better a single. It was one of the better songs on the album and sounded a little like older Weezer and a little like the Killers. The song is still not excellent, but it is listenable.
Another good single was “California Kids.” “California Kids” was one of the two best songs on the album. The song is upbeat, and the instrumentals and vocals sound like classic Weezer and are well played and sung.
“California Kids”’s competition for best song on the album is “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori.” This song has good rhythm and well-played guitar parts, something the rest of the album was sorely lacking. It also sounds significantly more like old Weezer than the other songs.
The strangest thing about this album is how different most of it sounds from classic Weezer songs. If not for the vocals being the same person, it would be very difficult to identify this album as a Weezer album based off of the way the instrumentals sound.
The album has a few decent songs but nothing particularly special. Overall, the album is pretty bad and not worth the money. It is a step in the wrong direction for Weezer, a band whose new music is widely considered to be much worse than their older stuff.
For music lovers who have not had the opportunity experience Weezer yet, the best course of action is to listen to “Make Believe” and anything another albums released before it, but to ignore anything after “Make Believe” altogether, especially this album.