Weezer's "Make Believe" again

[Boxer Monkey]

Can't believe the animosity that greeted this album upon its release, and it made a lot of "Worst of 2005" lists in the year-end polls. I confess I was one of the, duh, nonBELIEVEers when this first came out, but I find myself returning to this album often now and loving what I hear post-kneejerk response. I'm not big on popular pop, really, but I've always had a soft spot for Weezer. The melodies on "Make Believe" are rich and inventive, and the lyrics, which a lot of people have slammed for being "simplistic" are merely plainspoken -- a big difference -- and are deeply effective and affecting. I think there will be a belated fan awakening to this album similar to the slow-rolling response to "Pinkerton." It's the same kind of album, only it's one written by a guy in his 30s instead of his 20s, and, to my ears, it's the band's best, most mature album yet. Hopefully it won't be their last.

[I. Spaceman]

I'd have liked it better if Eric Carmen sang all the leads.
I don't think the album is really any different than the other album, it's just that 99% of Weezer fans are complaining little nerd bitches who like to complain and think their snide commentaries and rank snobbery are the height of coolness. It ain't. Please die. Now.
But there's a few cool Weezer fans, like you Monkey.

[Boxer Monkey]

I'd have liked it better if Eric Carmen sang all the leads.

Well, that goes without saying, right?

[Beckner]

I still think it stinks and I've followed this band since 1995. Kneejerk? nah. I loved Maladroit from Day One.

[the captain]

I've never liked Weezer, aside from an occasional melody here and there. So if an album is disliked...fine by me.

[Boxer Monkey]

I still think it stinks and I've followed this band since 1995. Kneejerk? nah. I loved Maladroit from Day One.

What stinks about it? Like Ian said, I don't think it's much of a radical departure from their previous outings. It still sounds like Weezer, only more so, and if you like Weezer then that would be a good thing, I think. This weird backlash has been building since the Green Album because most Weezer "fans" secretly hate the band for having outgrown the cultish appeal of "Pinkerton." But Weezer never has been a cult band; they're a radio-friendly pop band, and make no mistake about that. And for a radio-friendly pop band, they're a pretty good one when there aren't very many good ones. I simply don't here why "Make Believe" is so godawful to so many, to warrant a 0.6 out of 10 at Pitchfork among sundry other disses by critics and disappointed "fans." And *I've* been following this band since 1994, and I still have my original LP of "Pinkerton." (Whoop-de-sh*t ... )

I've never liked Weezer

Hey, I don't come to you with MY problems!

[the captain]

Hey, I don't come to you with MY problems!

Sure you do: you posted that you like Weezer.

[Boxer Monkey]

Maybe you and I need to form a support group for smug copy editors.

[I. Spaceman]

It's like this.
Weezer are the Cars of now. nd that's great. We need bands like the Cars.
It's when people try to push Rivers into being some voice of a foda generation that there's a proble. A regular songwriter and excellent pop toons can't live up to the hype and shouldn't. We need more pop bands than super-genius idol-martyrs.
And, if what I said was true and they ARE indeed the Cars, this new one was their Heartbeat City.
And that should be more than enough for the fans. If they don't dig, tough titty. You got what you originally got, a listenable album of poppy toons with memorable hooks. DEAL WITH IT!

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I don't think the album is really any different than the other album, it's just that 99% of Weezer fans are complaining little nerd bitches who like to complain and think their snide commentaries and rank snobbery are the height of coolness. It ain't. Please die. Now.

Believe me, I'd like nothing better than to drop dead right now and not have to live in this sick world anymore, but while I don't think "Make Believe" stinks, it is a big disappointment for me.

Since we're not allowed to use absolute tenets of good and bad in this post-post relativistic era, I can't tell you why it's different than other things Weezer has released, other than the fact that it doesn't make me feel anything.  Weezer's first album really meant a lot to me, I cried many tears over it, and each subsequent album has meant a little less to me.  Probably my fault, which I why I'd love to die now, but obviously something is either present in or lacking from Make Believe that leads to an emotional disconnect for me.  To me I could care less if Rivers was a voice of a generation, or even a good lyricist at all.  But he used to speak to me, now he doesn't.  Maybe I don't care to listen, maybe he doesn't have anything left to say to me, who knows.

So yeah, tough titty.  One more reason to hate the world.

[the captain]

We need bands like the Cars.

That's something I know I can agree on.

[the captain]

Believe me, I'd like nothing better than to drop dead right now and not have to live in this sick world anymore...I why I'd love to die now...One more reason to hate the world.

Yikes. Need a hug?

[Old Rake]

Boxer: I'm with you. I've probably returned to "Make Believe" more since its release than just about any of their albums. I couldn't tell you why that is. My gut instinct tells me its *less good* lyrically and melodically than Pinkerton and the first album and the Green album, but for some reason my brain calls me to spin the thing over and over again anyway. There's something so -- well, likeable about it. It has kind of an "aw-shucks" fecklessness to it that the other albums don't -- its not saying "HEY! LIKE ME!" quite so much, if that makes any sense.

"Perfect Situation" is getting mucho radio spins these days, too, which makes me happy.

[Old Rake]

oh and:

to warrant a 0.6 out of 10 at Pitchfork

That's because Pitchfork are the KINGS of whiny bitches. Their reviewers are pretentious, snobby, indie-obssed morons who resent the crap out of just about any band with any kind of success. I almost always feel the exact *opposite* about records that they do, and on the rare occasions that our tastes do jibe, you can tell Pitchfork are riding the crest of some hype they don't wanna feel left behind on (see: Sufjan Stevens). I guarantee you if Sufjan had a radio hit tomorrow, Pitchfork would give his subsequent record .06 out of 10. In fact, the mere fact that so many people put him on their top 5 of 2005 list leads me to believe that they will do just that on his very next album. And like I said: there isn't a universe where a 3rd Strokes record would get anything BUT a low review at Pitchfork REGARDLESS of quality.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Yikes. Need a hug?

I get lots of hugs.  It's not enough.

Anyhow, I'm glad Weezer put out Perfect Situation as a single.  It's easily the best song song on the album, it at least connects with me on some level, mainly because of the nice melody, one of Rivers' best over the last two albums, I think.  Not deserving of a "Grammy" but moreso than Beverly Hills, which is inexplicably up for one...

[andy]

Still listen to it quite a lot, and I connect with it more than some of Green, but I still think it's very subpar for Weezer, musically, and very subpar lyrically. My ten year old brother could've written those, and I don't have a brother.

But I like it a lot. Just like twinkies.

[Chris D.]

I agree with all of the good things said about the album here.  Great topic.  I don't like "Beverly Hills," but I like the rest.  There are certain albums like this which I catergorize as "simple pleasures."  They're aren't great albums in that they knock you over the head, but they're pretty subtle and make you want to listen, usually, more than you do to the "great" albums.  I probably like Pinkerton more, but that album works a lot better when you're single and vulnerable.  Make Believe is emotional, but it can probably work almost any time.

Still listen to it quite a lot, and I connect with it more than some of Green, but I still think it's very subpar for Weezer, musically, and very subpar lyrically. My ten year old brother could've written those, and I don't have a brother.

Your fake ten year-old brother used to see hookers and then turned to meditation?

[PapaNez22]

All I'll say about this album is that 'We Are All On Drugs' is a huge pile of sh*t that I'd like to flush down the toilet. I haven't heard anything but the singles, so I can't comment on the album as a whole. I can't stand 'Beverly Hills' either, but it inspired me to write a tune that I particularly enjoy so I have to give it props for that.

Even though the song was written as an 'Anti-Beverly Hills' type of song.

[Boxer Monkey]

I like "Perfect Situation" a lot. I'm glad it's on the radio. I think "Damage in Your Heart" is great, too: great melody, great sentiment. They are among a few of the tracks on "Make Believe" that I think have the emotional heft of the much-touted "Pinkerton" material. And I don't really mind "Beverly Hills" at all. It's just a silly bit of California mythmaking, self-conscious to be sure, and that guitar solo cribbed from a Peter Frampton record is practically winking at you. What's not to like? It's fun pop music, a spoof. God, if this band came out with "The Sweater Song" now instead of 10 years ago, people would rake them over the coals for it!

[I. Spaceman]

Exactly, Boxer. Exactly.

[Chris D.]

I like "Perfect Situation" a lot. I'm glad it's on the radio. I think "Damage in Your Heart" is great, too: great melody, great sentiment. They are among a few of the tracks on "Make Believe" that I think have the emotional heft of the much-touted "Pinkerton" material. And I don't really mind "Beverly Hills" at all. It's just a silly bit of California mythmaking, self-conscious to be sure, and that guitar solo cribbed from a Peter Frampton record is practically winking at you. What's not to like? It's fun pop music, a spoof. God, if this band came out with "The Sweater Song" now instead of 10 years ago, people would rake them over the coals for it!

Haha!  Maybe.  I love "Damage in Your Heart," too.  That's probably my favorite song on there.  And I like "We Are All On Drugs."

I see your point about "Beverly Hills."  I don't think it quite fits the album, though.  I guess they put it first because they realized it was a little different, so you could argue that he's making fun of that culture and then talking about some answers to it.

[Boxer Monkey]

And I like "We Are All On Drugs."

Yeah, that one takes a lot of heat for being "a ripoff of 'The Diarrhea Song,"' which, y'know -- I kinda thought that was a pretty brilliant idea, myself, an inspired choice of source material. But there's a lot more to the song than that -- the lyric is about epidemic overstimulation as opposed to the sanctimonious rant about mere drug use a lot of people ascribe it to being, and there's some really stellar guitar work.

[PapaNez22]

God, if this band came out with "The Sweater Song" now instead of 10 years ago, people would rake them over the coals for it!

With myself it's not a matter of that. I didn't like Sweater when it first came out. The seeds of Green Day had already been planeted in my immature 7th grade mind and I wanted no part of silly pop/rock. The only tunes I liked on Blue when it first came out were 'Say it ain't So' and 'Holiday.' However, Pinkerton totally blew me away when I first heard it. I don't care if Rivers doesn't write in that fashion anymore or not. That band just sounds incredible with that producion. I find every Weezer record after it to sound very sterile & compressed. It all just feels very empty to me. No one will probably agree with me on that, but it just really turns me off.

And for the record, I have since grown to enjoy Blue very much so.

[Chris D.]

Yeah, that one takes a lot of heat for being "a ripoff of 'The Diarrhea Song,"' which, y'know -- I kinda thought that was a pretty brilliant idea, myself, an inspired choice of source material. But there's a lot more to the song than that -- the lyric is about epidemic overstimulation as opposed to the sanctimonious rant about mere drug use a lot of people ascribe it to being, and there's some really stellar guitar work.

That's perfect.  I'm putting this album on next.

The only tunes I liked on Blue when it first came out were 'Say it ain't So' and 'Holiday.'

I realize you like the albu more now, but "Holiday" is one of their silliest pop songs!  Why did you like that one back then?

[PapaNez22]

With Holiday, it was the opening lick on the guitar and the guitar solo. All in all, it was just a fun song to learn for a beginner on the guitar. I remember those melodies really reminding me of The Beatles back when I first heard it, and that pleased me as I was all about The Beatles at that age.