Pinkerton — Weezer
What an incredible opportunity it is to discover an album so loved by so many, but seemingly overlooked for the exact reasons it is loved.
These are the things I am thinking while learning about Weezers second album Pinkerton. I stumbled upon this album at the thrift store, never having listened to it. I obviously was familiar enough with Weezer, but this obscure album with this interesting cover was never anything I had heard of before. I just assumed that they made different colored self titles albums haha.
After taking the time to learn a little about this albums history and really take time to dive into it fully, I am ultimately pleasantly surprised with how much I really enjoyed the album.
Released in September of 1996, Pinkerton would be the follow up to Weezers debut self titled “Blue Album”. I guess the lead singer was going through it after the success of the first album and really wanted to do something different from what they blew up from. This album was written sorta as a parallel to this Opera called “Madame Butterfly” that follows an American soldier and his Japanese wife. Overall the story is about how this Japanese girl falls in love with this American solider who ends up just being a complete asshole to her, and she eventually has everything taken from her and she commits ritual suicide… Well. I guess they were trying to make a parallel of the lifestyle of the American soldier and a rockstar. Dope.
The cover for this album is an old Japanese print by Utagawa Hiroshige called, “Evening Snow at Kanbara”. I guess this is an odd piece because historically the area that this is portraying in Japan never really ever gets snow like this. Maybe that could be a reason they chose this art for the cover? Bit of a fantastical look at this moment in time.
The first song of this album starts off very raw and straight forward with some dope whiney keyboards in the background of distorted guitar and heavy drums. Singing about wanting love, but just fuckin all the chicks. He is out there just really exploring the town, but ultimately wanting to find love. Almost sounding like a half-ass apology at points. I love the energy and in context of the album, how it sets the scene for who the main character of the album is.
The final song on this album is a wild jump from the first. Its energy has completely left itself. The singer is sounding completely defeated and regretful of his decisions that he’s made over the corse of the album. To capture a butterfly and ultimately kill it with your selfish decisions is exactly what this album is all about.
I really love the over all concept of this album. It really was dope to hear how they really went pretty deep into how the parallels of the original Opera and their perceived “rock star lifestyle”. I can totally understand how this album can be called a classic and major stand out in the bands discography.
After our scoring process, this album received a score of: 8.4
Favorite Song: “The Good Life”
Skips: “Butterfly” ONLY if you don’t listen to the album all the way through first.
Stand Out Tracks: “The Good Life”, “El Scorcho”
