Weezer: Raditude
November 21, 2009
A buddy of mine summed it up right when he said “Weezer have the formula down – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental verse with a guitar solo playing the melody, then 2 chorus’ and it’s all over in less than 3 minutes.” They’ve proved time and time again to be the masters of power pop and to this day, nobody does the sub-genre better. It’s all there again on “Raditude” – the near-perfect pop melodies, punk rock guitars, and lyrics that go back and worth between witty and lazy, and song concepts that make you laugh out loud (e.g. “The Girl Got Hot”). They’re still just as cool as they seemed on the Windows 95 CD, which had the music video for “Buddy Holly” on it (remember how awesome a CD-ROM was?). Weezer rocks.
Tangent #1:
“Love is the Answer” stinks. Why is the formula for a song about peace, love, and enlightenment always adding a sitar and some dude/dudette from India singing in Hindi?!
Tangent #2:
“Raditude” is one of the greatest words ever. My wife and I are using the word with the kids – example, “Lose the attitude – how about a bit more RADITUDE?” I look forward to using the word well into their teens. I expect this will lead to some type of emotional scarring. True story – Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute in “The Office”) suggested the title to Weezer.
Tangent #3:
I wonder how many times they had to throw the dog across the room before they got the album cover shot…
Standout Tracks:
1 (“(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To”)
2 (“I’m Your Daddy”)
3 (“The Girl Got Hot”)
6 (“Tripping Down the Freeway”)
Skip:
7 (“Love is the Answer”)
9 (“In the Mall”)
All bonus tracks (#11 up) except “The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World”
Kid Ears Alerts:
Most of the songs are cool but there’s a couple of hat-tips to hook-ups, so check it out first before rocking it for the shorties (wow – that was a lot of dated slang).
Bottom Line:
Music that’s awesome while driving. For under $10, download the whole album. Amazon Download Link.
