Dear Brian Bell (Last on Right), please burn that shirt. -Thanks, Everyone.
Does anyone else remember when it was considered not cool to be a nerd? I know I do.
Even though the hipster culture, if I can even call it that, has made Buddy Holly glasses and sweater vests fashionable, I still remember a time when looking and acting like a dork would get you nothing more than a good verbal/physical thrashing in the gym locker-room.
"Getting my picture taken was sooo last year."
In fact, most of my life has been built around my geeky outcast status.
Here’s a list of my geek credentials if you don’t believe me:
- I’m a metal-head. A sub-genre of geek, I know, but still a geek nonetheless.
"Sharon! Who is this fat kid dressed like me?"
- I’m a horror movie fanatic.
- I was in the band in high school. Not a band but the band, you know, marching style.
- Star Craft ruled my world for several years as a child. Somewhat reminiscent of the “World of Warcraft” episode of “South Park.”
"MAAAAM, MORE HOT POCKETTTTSSSS!"
- I loved (still love) watching Professional Wrestling.
- I never had a real date to a school dance. Just friend-dates. All you other geeks know exactly what I’m talking about.
- I hadn’t kissed a girl until I was almost 17 years old (16 years and 10 months, but whose counting?)
- I have a terrible fashion sense (so I’ve been told.)
- I was (and still am) overweight for most of my life. Let’s be honest, the fat kids are rarely ever considered “cool.”
- Oh yeah and in the sixth grade, in a feeble attempt to be trendy and cool, I got frosted tips in my hair so I could look like Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray. A chubby, buck-toothed Mark McGrath, but lets not split hairs here.
I burned all those "frosted tip" photos, so this will have to do.
But as I was growing up, there was only one band that really understood what it was like to be a nerd, outcast, or a geek like me, and that band was Weezer.
Even though Weezer has released nine albums, their 1994 record, “The Blue Album,” really captures what being a nerdy, melodramatic teenager is all about, making it this week’s Classic Cut.
Cover: SURPRISE! The cover is BLUE! But the real attraction to the cover was the band. Just four plain looking dudes with slightly terrible clothes (I’m talking to you Brian Bell) and pretty blank expressions. They weren’t cool, but they weren’t trying to be. I mean, they formed on Valentine’s Day of 1992 because none of them had dates for Christ’s sake. Can you find a more poignant nerd success story? I don’t think so.
Looking at the cover, you felt as if you already knew these people. They were the guys who you prayed would be your lab partner in chemistry class or who on a Friday night, would be watching “Monty Python’s: The Holy Grail” in their parents basement while playing D&D. It was like the kids from “Freaks & Geeks” had grown up, learned to play instruments, and formed a rock and roll band, giving Weezer a look unlike any other band at the time.
Sound: Take one-part garage rock, one-part surf rock, and one-part pop-punky goodness, mix them together and you essentially get Weezer. Songs like “Buddy Holly,” “Undone (The Sweater Song),” and “Say it Ain’t So” catapulted Weezer into triple platinum success in the U.S. but you could easily make the argument that every song was a potential hit. Songs like “Holiday,” “My Name is Jonas,” and “Surf Wax America” had the same amount or more of that sing-along pop sensibility as the aforementioned songs above. I’ll even go as far to say that there isn’t a riff, solo, or drum fill on the album that isn’t unique and perfectly placed. Weezer created a sound all their own while adding a little fun and pop into a rock scene that at the time was encapsulated with the dirty depressing sounds of grunge.
Lyrics: I always thought of Rivers Cuomo as a modern day Brian Wilson. Yeah, he’s a little crazy and can definitely be melodramatic at times, but there’s no denying the man is a lyrical genius. Cuomo goes from writing nerd rock anthems like “In the Garage” and “Buddy Holly” to heartfelt love cries like “Holiday” and “Only in Dreams” on the very next track. He doesn’t bog down his writing with complicated metaphors like Dylan or Sufjan Stevens. He just writes from his heart. It’s simple, but emotional and real at the same time.
Y U SO COMPLICATED SUFJAN???
On the track, “No One Else,” Cuomo exploits his self-conscious vulnerability when he sings, “I want a girl who will laugh for no one else/When I’m away, she puts her makeup on the shelf/When I’m away, she never leaves the house/I want a girl who laughs for no one else.” Everyone who has been in a relationship has felt the pains of jealousy before but no one quite captured it like Cuomo did on this song.
Yet, sometimes his lyrics are so overly emotional they come off as creepy. On the track, “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here,” Cuomo croons, “I just made love with your sweet memory/ One thousand times in my head/You said you loved it more than ever, you said.” No…that doesn’t sound like a creepy ex-boyfriend stalker at all.
I'm watching you...
The greatest part about it? His lyrical content is a brokenhearted teenager’s wet dream, capturing exactly what it’s like to be young, nerdy, in love, and an emotional wreck all at the same time.
Impact: Rivers and the boys have been an influential group for many artists since their debut in ’94. New(er) bands like Wavves and Best Coast are definite children of the Weezer school of rock and they’ve even been cited as being one the pioneers of the “emo” movement that happened in the early 2000’s (whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know.) What I do know is, that Weezer’s self-titled is quite possibly one of the most well put together records I’ve ever heard, giving us nerds something to be proud of and making it simply, a Classic Cut.
Sorry?