Weezer’s Pinkerton

11 months agoby Mark & Thom

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Mark shares his travels to an the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival Blues Challenge, trip on a gondola, and Thom recounts his recent Counting Crows concert before jumping into Weezer’s Pinkerton album. They discuss Rivers’ early life, all of his names, Columbia Record Club, the forming of Weezer, the rise of fame from the Blue album, an abandoned space rock opera, the lackluster performance of Pinkerton, and Madame Butterfly before diving into the songs. Oh yeah, and they find time to discuss Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

Hey Music Lovers! Welcome back to Once Every Two Weeks. Today Mark and Thom dive into Weezer’s 1996 album Pinkerton. This one holds a special place for a lot of 90s alt-rock fans, even though it wasn’t a huge hit when it first came out. We’ll talk about how Rivers Cuomo struggled with the pressures of fame after the Blue Album, his connection to Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, and how he poured those feelings of disillusionment into Pinkerton’s raw, emotional songs, and why the album has become so beloved over time. Strap in for a deep dive into one of the decade’s cult classics.

Shownotes

00:00:00 – Catch up
00:01:21 – Mark’s trip to the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival Blues Challenge
00:03:46 – Thom recounts a recent Counting Crows show
00:06:35 – Rivers Cuomo’s background, growing up in Yogaville and an Ashram, learning music, trying different names, starting bands, and becoming Rivers el Pervo.
00:15:28 – Introing Matt Sharp, Patrick Wilson, and Brian Bell.
00:21:39 – The Blue Album
00:23:51 – Discussing Weezer’s abandoned space rock opera Songs from the Black Hole
00:26:18 – Switching from rock opera to Pinkerton
00:29:07 – Pinkerton release and reception
00:36:31 – Tired of Sex
00:37:31 – Getchoo
00:40:46 – No Other One
00:42:46 – Why Bother?
00:44:48 – Across the Sea
00:48:58 – The Good Life
00:51:54 – El Scorcho
00:57:04 – Pink Triangle
00:58:59 – Falling for You
01:00:53 – Butterfly
01:04:21 – Mark recounts seeing Weezer
01:06:53 – Pinkerton in retrospect
01:08:15 – Thom’s top 3
01:08:29 – Mark’s top 3

Hosted by

Mark & Thom

MARK:
Mark is the creative director and co-founder of Burro Borracho Records. After high school he spent a few years working as a manager with Wherehouse Music. He occasionally plays drums and has been in such non-productive go nowhere band start ups that no one has ever heard of like The Unsex, Avenue C, The Reaganauts, and Next Time I See Murphy (which also saw him play some guitar and take on vocal duties). He was the original drummer for Quiet Morning & the Calamity but left the band to pursue a degree in Motion Graphic Design.
During his college years, as photo editor of his school newspaper, his review of Radiohead's Kid A won first prize for Critical Review in a California statewide collegiate journalism contest. After graduating with his degree he filled in back on drums for QM&TC's first national tour in support of their debut EP Son of the Sad Soul, which features the song Gambling On Old Tires which Mark co-wrote.
Thanks to the influence of his mother who spent all her years playing guitar and singing folk songs, as well as three older brothers with drastically differing musical tastes, Mark has always known the important role music can and should play and has been a music fan all his life but he's only been a stubborn overly opinionated asshole about the superiority of his on musical tastes since his early teenage years. At the last count he had about 1,200 compact discs. Yes, he still collects cds.

THOM:
Thom's a digital marketer by day and armchair theologian, podcaster, writer, amateur home chef, and beer aficionado by night. When not working, he's a typical family man with a propensity to create.