pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

Blur didn't just turn out to be their American breakthrough, it turned out to be their biggest selling album worldwide to date. 'Beetlebum' was a UK #1 single (although to be fair, such was Blur's real world popularity - even though the music press at the time kept saying they were on the slide - that its #1 spot was inevitable), 'Song 2' nearly was and 'On Your Own' didn't perform badly either.

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the Blur album in full for the first time in 1997, having only heard 'Beetlebum' prior and knowing what the lyrics to 'Essex Dogs' were they'd been publicised prior to the album being released, and I remember my first impressions of pretty much every track. To be quite honest, I didn't find the album inaccessible at all, even with stuff like 'Essex Dogs' on there, but it did alienate some. I actually recall a magazine article that captured various people's first listen reactions.

One has to remember that during the period when Blur were actually full-on bona fide pop stars in the UK circa 1994-1996, and even slightly before, their pre-'Popscene' work was seen as being mostly being not particularly very good outside of a few tracks (e.g. 'Sing', 'There's No Other Way'), and it was felt by some that the approach to Blur was partly a revisiting of the chaos of their earlier work, and the feeling by some was "why the hell would they want to do that?" ... and if the self-titled album didn't scare those people off, then 13 certainly did.

I said "Pavement is Weezer for people who think they don't like Weezer" on Twitter a few weeks ago and a bunch of people got very upset with me

the first time I heard of Weezer was when my friend went to their show because she was a huge Shonen Knife fan and they were the openers. She said she walked out on Weezer because they sounded like MTV's version of Pavement.

I said "Pavement is Weezer for people who think they don't like Weezer" on Twitter a few weeks ago and a bunch of people got very upset with me

I assume it was said to “get a reaction,” as it makes no sense otherwise

For all the critical kudos that those first two Weezer albums still get, and even though they still have an astoundingly rabid fanbase that'll devour anything they release even if their reaction more often than not tends to be "wahhh, this isn't the debut/Pinkerton", I found them astoundingly easy to ignore in the UK in the '90s.

Aside from a handful of appearances of 'Buddy Holly' on MTV and some mild controversy surrounding Pinkerton (apparently some company sued the band over the name of the album), I don't remember much else about them, apart from that I felt - at the time - that perhaps they were some kind of novelty act. When they returned with their second self-titled album, they seemed far more prominent and it was only then I checked out the first two albums and found that both were actually quite good.

Pavement, on the other hand, were getting cool points from critics in the UK music press throughout the '90s. They were harder to avoid.

I don't understand that either.

xpost

I get it

but I love disliking Weezer -- hating them makes me feel like a right wing relative poking fun on Twitter at snowflakes

There's one song on Brighten The Corners that sounds like Weezer I guess

Anyone who's protesting too much is just proving his point

We’ve done this before guys when DJP said there was no difference between the Replacements and the Gin Blossoms or something like that

also correctly (they are both bad)

I said "Pavement is Weezer for people who think they don't like Weezer" on Twitter a few weeks ago and a bunch of people got very upset with me. People said they were going to call up and tell us we're terrible people and that it's not that bad of a thing."

Weezer got in touch a few days later and offered his own, totally unflinching apology for those people being rude to him by tweeting "Sorry, this post was meant for Weezer's fans and not for your ignorant twat".

I have said many outlandish things in the past but I am reasonably certain I never equated The Replacements with The Gin Blossoms.

*unfollows*

aw

also hi-five Whiney

the Weez have such a weird career arc, I can't think of another band that managed so much prolonged success despite the fact that nearly everything they do is mostly known for being "nowhere near as good as the first 2 albums"

DJP's tweet is painfully otm

Not as successful but... The Strokes? Interpol? The Shins?

the Weez have such a weird career arc, I can't think of another band that managed so much prolonged success despite the fact that nearly everything they do is mostly known for being "nowhere near as good as the first 2 albums"

― frogbs, Monday, June 3, 2019 5:12 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This describes most bands from the 90s who are still kicking...

I dunno, Weezer seem to be unique in the sense that whenever they release new material - and it's been this way for many years now with the exception of one or two albums - it gets received with outright hostility rather than indifference. Yet their fans still stick with 'em!

https://i.redd.it/parbbxw9ubf01.png

https://i.redd.it/nj7vcgn1a9s21.png

Hah! I remember Raditude particularly getting some of the most hostile reviews from critics and a horrible reception from fans. I actually thought, at the time, that that would be the record which killed them off. But here we are 10 years on and a further 6 albums later...

🖼

Weezer definitely didn't start out as a novelty act but have obviously become one. The question is when-

Beverly Hills

They were always a novelty act. Buddy Holly is novelty indie rock.

Island in the Sun

Although the second self-titled record and Maladroit were both slagged to fuck by fans at the time simply because neither were Pinkerton, I still enjoy the best of the material from that period - 'Island in the Sun', 'Slob' etc.

For me, the turning point was Make Believe and 'Beverly Hills', which didn't feel endearingly stupid, just stupid. From there, you go to songs about "being a troublemaker" and "tipping cows for fun, yeah", but actually he didn't do that because he "didn't want the cow to be sad", how much he can't stop partying and asking where his sex is, and it all culminates in fucking covering 'Africa' ...

However, surprisingly in the middle of all this, they managed to put out Everything Will Be Alright in the End and the fourth self-titled record, both of which are quite good and suggested that they were rediscovering what made them good in the first place. It didn't last.

So this whole "Everything (X) Has Done Since (Y)" thing wasn't just a one-off, huh?

This describes most bands from the 90s who are still kicking...

such as?

I mean, I get what you're saying re: the particular type of embarrassing Weezer has become, but no one here is really checking for anything past the first few records from like Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains, the Offspring or Bush or whatever

oh my god, Bush is still going

SP have one of ilm's giddiest cliques

i guess they do still think that tho lol

As much as I hate to give latter day Weezer much credit at all, but the reason they keep people checking is by staying in the reddit radar and kicking up the memeable content.

It's always great to be reminded that Bush were ever a thing. I always thought of them in the '90s as that shitty band of ours that inexplicably had a fuckton of success in America, which might have had a lot to do with Rossdale's Cobain impression. I remember a lot of eyebrows being raised when they chose to work with Steve Albini on Razorblade Suitcase as it was seen as another sign of Rossdale wanting to be Cobain reincarnate. I laughed my tits off when I found out that Rossdale had a relationship with British pop star Marilyn in the '80s and their bassist used to be in fucking Transvision Vamp of all things. Also, Nigel Pulsford was 33 years old at the time of Bush's debut - a relative old fart in '90s alternative rock terms.

Can't Stop Partying fucking slaps

SP have one of ilm's giddiest cliques

― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, June 4, 2019 8:54 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup. I mean, the Smashing Pumpkins may be not be enjoying the record sales they had in the '90s, but Corgan fans are a loyal bunch.

I laughed my tits off when I found out that ... their bassist used to be in fucking Transvision Vamp of all things.

man with job previously also had job in the same field

what an IDIOT

Ooh, do that again, I enjoyed watching the point sail straight over your head.

They were always a novelty act. Buddy Holly is novelty indie rock.

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, June 4, 2019 2:18 AM (nineteen hours ago)

lol i was skimming and saw this and had a post half-written in my head defending the timeless greatness of the author of "that'll be the day" and then, oh well

I mean, I get what you're saying re: the particular type of embarrassing Weezer has become, but no one here is really checking for anything past the first few records from like Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains, the Offspring or Bush or whatever

― Detective Picacho (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, June 4, 2019 8:48 PM (forty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I dunno, it's always felt - to me - that Weezer's fanbase have higher expectations than, say, the Pumpkins fanbase do. Like, even all these years down the line Weezer's fans seem to be going "come on, make another Pinkerton, we know you have it in you!" whereas I think that Pumpkins fans know that Corgan isn't going to make another Gish or Siamese Dream and understand that it would take a miracle to get all of the original line-up in the same room together.

maybe i just missed a beat, but this seems like a lot of discussion re: the old pavement-weezer joke without any mention of how pavement themselves have harped on it for aeons

https://www.stereogum.com/1821489/pavement-could-have-been-as-big-as-weezer-say-stephen-malkmus-and-spiral-stairs-in-separate-interviews/news/

https://www.spin.com/2017/03/pavement-weezer-spiral-stairs-diss/

https://www.gq.com/story/pavement-indie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzyFoEAMd-g

SP have one of ilm's giddiest cliques

enh, we all (foolishly I'll grant) hope for better things from Billy, but with rare exceptions none of us really thinks any post-reunion material is up to par with what came before.

Last Alice in Chains album wasn't bad.

xxp Good finds, soyrev!

lol I ignored both Pavement and Weezer so much back in the day that I didn't actually realize that there was a History there

a secret history of histories that should stay secret

Why, so you can feel clever?