#23
Weezer
"Weezer (Blue Album)"(1994)
Words cannot describe how much I used to hate Weezer. I liked "Hash Pipe" in 7th grade, but quickly realized how boring and yet, outstandingly grating it was. I had basically only heard from the Green Album onward, and thus despised them. Then something happened. "Buddy Holly" came on the radio, and though I had heard it before, it never clicked that it was Weezer. I also enjoyed it much more than I had when I was a kid. I decided that it was the catchiest song ever written, and before you knew it, I realized "The Sweater Song" and "Say It Ain't So" were more examples of great Weezer songs.
My interest sparked, I borrowed a copy of the Blue Album from a friend in the beginning of 2006 (might I add, I still have it...sucker...). From the moment when the wall of guitars kicks in on "My Name is Jonas", I was sold.
I can't empasize enough how melodically perfect this record is. It's tough to make a rock/pop album so melodically satisfying without having it all sound the same. I mean, Weezer isn't experimental-and I'm sure to someone completely unfamiliar with them, the entirety of the blue album sounds the same. For me at least, and any other fans, each song, although similar in some regards, has its own personality. You have the faux-reggae of "Say It Ain't So", the Brian Wilsonesque "Buddy Holly", the epic closing track, the shameless pop-punk of "No One Else", all performed in a way that is undeniably Weezer. Although this sound
does in fact carry through their later albums, none would ever be as catchy yet relistenable as 'The Blue Album'. I mean, hell, I actually
liked 'Pork and Beans' when it came out-it's classic catchy Weezer. But I tired of it very quickly, and now lump it into "Crappy Weezer". Theres a certain charm of this album that makes it one of the few pop albums that I can put on today, and have it sound just as pleasing as when I first got into it. And
that is why Rivers Cuomo sucks now, and why no other Weezer album comes close to this for me.
90/100