But enough about the packaging, let's talk about the album. Pinkerton was Weezer's 1996 follow-up to their massively successful and universally adored 1994 self-titled album (aka The Blue Album). The band self-produced Pinkerton and tried to give it a more "raw" sound than the Blue Album.
Much of Pinkerton was written while lead singer and main songwriter Rivers Cuomo was giving Harvard a try. You see, after the success of the Blue Album, he decided to go to Harvard for shits and giggles. On the opposite end of the spectrum, after a nonexistent music career, I didn't go to Harvard. Anyway, the band recorded most of the album during Cuomo's breaks from college.
The album is a pile of pent-up frustration being unleashed on the world set against a catchy rock background. The songs touch on loneliness, isolation, and the frustration and disillusionment of the rock and roll lifestyle. There are songs about not wanting meaningless sex, the perils of relationships, not having the confidence to talk to a crush, getting dumped by a lesbian, and writing a song for a Japanese fan who sent Cuomo a letter, among others. It's raw, it's emotional, and it's really fucking good.
It seems like everything that would have made for a hugely successful album in the mid '90s. But it was quite the opposite. It was released in September 1996, and it peaked at #19 on the Billboard album charts in mid-October 1996. By the end of January 1997, and it had dropped out of the top 200. It was generally panned by critics. None of the singles even sniffed the Billboard Hot 100, and the best-charting single, "El Scorcho," topped out at #19 on the Billboard Alternative Rock Tracks chart and #50 on the UK pop charts. Rolling Stone voted it the third worst album of 1996. The reaction to the album was so disheartening that the band broke up for nearly five years after the tour supporting Pinkerton, and Cuomo was embarrassed by the album for many years.
Yet in the following several five to ten years, the album had become a cult and critical hit. In a 2002 Rolling Stone reader poll of the 100 best albums of all-time, Pinkerton came it at #16, ahead of albums like Pet Sounds, Rubber Soul, Born to Run, and Sticky Fingers. In 2003, Pitchfork ranked Pinkerton #53 on its best albums of the '90s list. In 2004, Rolling Stone added the album to its "Rolling Stone Hall of Fame." And since then, it has appeared on multiple "best of" lists. Weezer fans (myself included) generally put it right up there with the Blue Album.
And don't try to say "oh, I totally bought Pinkerton when it came out." No one did! It took nearly five years for Pinkerton to go gold in the U.S., and it took 20 years before it went platinum. By comparison, 1994's Blue Album went gold in less than 7 months and platinum in 8 months, 2001's Green Album went gold in a month and a half and platinum in 3 months, 2002's Maladroit went gold in one month, and 2005's Make Believe went gold in a month and a half and platinum in 7 months.
How did we all miss this for so long? I honestly don't know the answer. Due to the band's five-year absence and the otherwise limited publicity and success of the album, I didn't even really know Pinkerton existed until sometime in the early 2000s. When I finally listened to it, I was just so confused because I thought it was great. As I said above, I put this right up there with the Blue Album. Even when he's trying to be downtrodden, Rivers Cuomo writes a hell of a catchy song. So whatever happened that made this album miss the mark initially is beyond me. At least we discovered it eventually and can appreciate it while we're trying to work from home.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Tired of Sex"
This might be my favorite Weezer song. Who writes a song saying he's tired of having sex with groupies? Rivers Cuomo does. I fucking love this song, from the fuzzy intro to the primal screams. It smacks with desperation, but the opposite type of desperation you usually hear in a song. This song uses anticipation quite well. After a relatively subdued first verse that feels like it's building toward something, Cuomo unleashes all his frustration with that "ahhhhh!" at about the 1:07 mark, and then he belts out the next verse/chorus, which is followed up by a short but sweet guitar solo.
Favorite song from Side 2: "The Good Life"
This is Cuomo's "I'm back" song after living a self-described "ascetic life" at Harvard. It's another solid, catchy song that rocks. I love the chorus: "And I don't wanna be an old man anymore / It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor / Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night / It's time I got back to the good life." In these times of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, I think we can all relate -- or we will be able to relate at some point several months from now.
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