So, it's happening again. Weezer, for the 9th time in their tumultuous history, are releasing a studio album Everything Will Be Alright in The End. Now, if this was 2004, I and many other Weezer fans would be shaky with excitement. But, it's 2014, and we've all been down this road too many times to pretend we don't know what's waiting for us around the bend: A big fat disappointment.
Or is it?
The History
Weezer fans can essentially be divided up into two groups:
A: Fans who look at everything post-Pinkerton as a colossal disappointment and despise it all equally.
B: Fans that don't hate post-Pinkerton Weezer but generally agree that there has been diminishing returns as the years have gone by.
Personally, I think the A fans feel the way they do because they experienced Weezer's prime in real time, not retroactively. They were mostly in their late teens/twenties when Weezer's debut album and Pinkerton came out, and they loved both (something not very common at the time). Then, Weezer (2001) was such a let down for how long they had waited for it that they tuned out. Imagine if you saw a TV show that had two of the greatest seasons of television you've ever seen in your life, then you had to wait five years for season three and it was only "pretty good". To top it off, you've heard that later seasons of the show have only seen it get worse. Would you still watch it?
I get it.
STILL a staple of dorm room sing-a-longs
I, however, was only seven when Weezer (1994) was released. My first experience with Weezer was that "highly disappointing" 2001 album. For me that wasn't the epitaph, it was the prologue. In spite of this, I like many other younger Weezer fans agree that their first two albums are unquestionably their best works (as I wrote about HERE and HERE) and it isn't even close.
Regardless of what group you classify yourself, if you've stuck with the band you have been burnt by your own expectations. The most egregious let down probably being 2009's Raditude, which fans let themselves get excited over thanks to a spunky first single only to discover an overlong mess of an album that was directionless and featured some laughably awful songs. Truly, no Weezer album since Pinkerton has been flawless, but none as riddled with the cancer of bad music as Raditude.
The ultimate difference between these two groups is that B fans still believe Weezer have a good album left in them somewhere if all the stars align. A fans have long tuned out, most of them probably don't even know Weezer is still together.
The Evidence
Weezer, by any measure have been a massively successful rock band. They've been around for twenty years and have five albums receive a distinction of Gold or better by the RIAA. This doesn't mean that they haven't noticed their dip in appeal.
Their album sales have dropped markedly over their last three LPs, with the most recent failing to even break 100,000 domestic. Now, while this doesn't mean they're going to magically start writing better songs, it hopefully will mean that they at least realize the need for a fresh approach.
It is hard to argue that Weezer hasn't been on a steady downward trajectory for the last 15 years both musically and popularly (with A FEW, NOTABLE, EXCEPTIONS). But their last release, Hurley, shows some promise. It was warmly received by critics and features some of the passion that made Rivers Cuomo's song writing so compelling in the 90s.
Now, there haven't been any full songs released from this upcoming album just yet but the band has been teasing it like crazy on their Youtube page. These teases have by in large been very, very promising. Mostly because they seem to hold in them that same passion and angst that once went hand in hand with Weezer rather than the cynical attempts to be "pop" Cuomo has succumbed to in the last decade. The samples actually most remind me of scrapped pre-Maladroit demos Weezer were churning out in the early 2000s.
Verdict
I really, really, really, want to believe. The samples do sound good, the album art looks cool, Hurley was a step in the right direction. But the truth is, it can't be as good as those first two albums.
It's impossible.
Weezer (1994) and Pinkerton are more than just really good albums (even the B-Sides were inspired). They're a part of people. They're too connected to memories and nostalgia. They were exciting and new. Even if Weezer released exactly what fans want, it wouldn't be the same. The only way they could ever do that is if they did something completely different, evolved into a whole new idea.
Weezer are not going to do something completely different. But, it can still be good and very early on - and I know I've been fooled before - but very early on, it looks like it will be. Good, that is.
Please don't make me look stupid in two months, Rivers.