Song of the Week: Dream B-Side Edition
August 9th, 2007With the Rentals coming to Sauget in a week, I figure it’s time to look back with the SOTW.
The Rentals are a power pop band fronted by ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. In my opinion, Matt Sharp made Weezer good. The combination of him and Rivers made for two excellent albums (S/T or “Blue” and Pinkerton).
While the Rentals are good, they’re no prime-era Weezer. In fact, the first Rentals album came out in the middle of Weezer’s prime era and it was basically a less-frustrated, synthier version of Weezer’s first album.
But this isn’t about the Rentals, this is about Weezer, and where they went wrong.
This weeks SOTW is Weezer’s “Your Room.”
Rivers Cuomo is, as he says, a metalhead. But Weezer’s attempts at metal are always lame. Rivers may love metal, but he’s not meant to play it. When the band started recording demos for Pinkerton’s followup - what would become the Green Album - they regularly posted samples of the songs online.
Some were good and some were bad, and many were metal-influenced. Your Room is one of those, but it succeeds were all of the other metal infusions failed: It kept Rivers soft side (does he have another side?) confined to the non-metal chorus, creating an almost endearing track that proved to be one of Weezer’s last good (albeit unfinished) songs.
Enjoy.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:01 am
thanks for fixing the link. thanks for reminding me why i’m not such a metal head
August 16th, 2011 at 10:05 am
To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.
August 16th, 2011 at 10:07 am
No doubt the other readers were thinking, “What one knows is in youth of little moment they know enough who know how to learn..”.
November 13th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
I love weezer so much! I can’t wait for Alone III, have you guys preordered it?