One Year, 100 Albums: #5 Weezer "Weezer"

Weezer Weezer, 1994

For a long time, this album was, kind of like Graceland, an album that I dreamed of one day owning for myself. I would occasionally convince a friend who owned it to play it, or I'd hear "Buddy Holly" on the radio (this was rare) and all would be right with the world.

And then one day, I owned it. I could put it on whenever I liked. I remember that I bought it when we were out for the day in Boston because we ate lunch at Faneuil Hall. Actually, I may have been visiting with my friend Lisa, because I seem to recall she was there too. I remember being anxious to get home and listen to it and revel in the idea that this fantastic album was MINE.

All of that comes from the fact that this is nearly a perfect album. There's no song that isn't fantastic. It's a masterpiece.

If you think back to my post on The Offpsring's Smash, you'll recall that I said there were two albums from 1994 that were fantastic but that built up expectations that the band failed to deliver on, in the long run.

Weezer is the poster child for this concept. A band whose first two albums hinted at nearly unlimited potential. They were as different as night and day, but they were both great. Surely the album that followed Pinkerton would be the album that changed the world. A collection of music that historians would point to and say, "Mankind's endeavors in music all led up to this, Weezer's 3rd album".

And then we got The Green Album which, if it was made by another band, say, as their debut, would have been a great, though perhaps slightly rudimentary, study in how to make power-pop music.

But then you re-listen to The Blue Album and all the pleasant things you have to say about The Green Album fall away. I think that the band would have been fine to release The Blue Album, Pinkerton, and then one more album which contained all the gems on the rest of the albums they've released.

But I digress.

You should own this album. I don't care what kind of music you listen to. This is an album that defies genre and age and everything else. It's not just good rock music. It's Great Music.

Weezer - My Name is Jonas
Weezer - In the Garage

You can buy Weezer at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes