NAMA : NUR FAKIH IBROHIM
KELAS : 4EA16
NPM : 15210125
WEEZER
Since coming
together in Los Angeles in 1992, the members of Weezer have lived an especially
capricious existence: In the course of a decade, they went from dorky alt-rock
heroes to absentee cult figures to arena-filling megastars. The band's original
lineup — lead singer and songwriter Rivers Cuomo, bassist Matt Sharp, drummer
Patrick Wilson and guitarist Brian Bell — looked uncomfortable from the get-go,
posing for the cover of their 1994 self-titled debut as though they were
waiting to be noogied. Few might have predicted that, a decade and a half on,
the band would prove consummate rock & roll pros.
Produced by
ex-Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, Weezer (Number 16, 1994), more commonly
known as the Blue Album, largely eschewed grunge's angst-y, soul-baring angst
howl. Cuomo didn't profess the cynicism of Kurt Cobain, and the unapologetic
riffs made it clear that he was more influenced by the likes of Heaven
Tonight than Raw Power. Songs like "Undone - The Sweater
Song" (Number 57, 1994) sounded like handwritten notes found at the bottom
of a locker — the early musings of a colossally self-aware nerd. The album's
best-known early song, "Buddy Holly" (Number Two Modern Rock, 1994)
mated Spike Jonze's nostalgia-tripping, "Happy Days"-based video with
an equally nostalgic and chimerical young-and-in-love chorus:
"Wooh-e-oooh, I like just like Buddy Holly/Oh-oh, and you're Mary Tyler
Moore." Weezer would sell more than 3 million copies, and a 2004
reissued edition includes several worthy B-sides.
Cuomo had
originally intended for Weezer's follow-up to be a sci-fi rock opera
called Songs from the Black Hole, but after recording a series of tracks
by himself, he shelved the project in favor of Pinkerton (Number 19,
1996). Though it's since become a fan favorite and a bellwether for he
late-Nineties emo boom, Pinkerton was initially seen as a downer: Cuomo
had undergone a painful leg operation after the Blue Album, and the new LP was
packed with brutally honest songs about falling in love with lesbians and
teenage fans living oceans away; the opening track, tellingly, was "Tired
of Sex," and songs like "El Scorcho" (Number 19 Modern Rock,
1996), and "The Good Life" (Number 32 Modern Rock, 1996) were rife
with frustration. The album takes its name from a character in Madame
Butterfly, and the record is peppered with references to the opera.
After a tour in
support of the album — which failed to reach platinum — Sharp left the band to
spend more time with his new-wave-reviving side project, the Rentals, while
Cuomo dropped out of view altogether, prompting rumors that he had begun a
Brian Wilson-like retreat from society (Cuomo left Harvard but returned again,
earning his English degree in June 2006). Between 1997 and 2000, the band
released only a handful of songs, including a cover of "Velouria" for
a Pixies tribute album. But the band retained an ardent following on the
Internet, as evidenced by the numerous threads about Pinkerton, which
was quickly becoming a cult favorite.
In 2000, the
band reformed for a string of shows on the Warped Tour, where Sharp was
replaced by bassist Mikey Welsh, a former member of Juliana Hatfield's backing
band. The live dates were a success, prompting a sold-out mini-tour and a new
album, titled Weezer (2001), which debuted at Number Four on the
Billboard charts and retuned the band to its power-chord grandeur. With Ocasek
returning as producer, the so-called "Green album" gave the band two
of the biggest hits of its career: "Hash Pipe" (Number Two Modern
Rock), and "Island in the Sun" (Number 11 Modern Rock), a lulling
ballad that later wound up being covered for a tropical-resort ad. A few months
after the Green Album's release, Welsh experienced a psychotic breakdown, and
was replaced by bassist Scott Shriner.
Almost exactly
a year after the release of the Green Album, Weezer delivered Maladroit
(Number Three, 2002). Due in part to Cuomo's abundant songwriting output, many
of the self-financed Maladroit tracks had already appeared in demo form
on the band's Website, and the songs' early release spurred a public battle
between the band and its label, Interscope Records. But neither the controversy
— nor the inclusion of singles "Dope Nose" (Number Eight Modern Rock)
and "Keep Fishin'" (Number 15 Modern Rock) — could prevent Maladroit,
an album that paid homage to several of Cuomo's metal influences, from failing
commercially.
Weezer teamed
with Rick Rubin for 2005's Make Believe (Number Two), an album that gave
the band its biggest single to date: "Beverly Hills" (Number 10,
2005) a sarcastic anti-fame rant that was misinterpreted by some as an ode to
luxury branding. Longtime fans lamented that the Weezer responsible for Pinkerton
was long gone, but "Beverly Hills" and the piano-plunking anthem
"Perfect Situation" (Number 51, 2006) helped Make Believe sell
more than a million copies in the U.S., and prompted an arena tour with the Foo
Fighters.
In 2007, Cuomo
released Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (Number 163), a
collection of demos that included songs originally intended for the long-jettisoned
Songs from the Black Hole. Weezer's sixth album, once again produced by
Rick Rubin — and once again titled Weezer — was released June 3rd, 2008
and hit Number Four in Billboard. The Red Album, as it's known, spawned the
single "Pork and Beans" (Number 64, 2008), boosted by a clever video
featuring numerous fly-by-night YouTube stars.
The band toured
with Blink-182 in 2009, and the album Raditude (Number Seven) —
featuring collaborations with r&b/hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri, teen-pop
songwriter Dr. Luke, and rapper Lil Wayne — followed. But the single, "(If
You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To", peaked at only Number
81 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the end of 2009, reports surfaced that the band
had split with Geffen Records.
SUMBER : http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/weezer/biography#ixzz34TJTuFzf
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