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June 25, 2008

Weezer Visits Red, Revisits Pinkerton On AOL

thumbnail icon: Weezer Visits Red, Revisits Pinkerton On AOL

Weezer recorded some unplugged songs for AOL: They did tracks off Red ("Pork And Beans," "Troublemaker"), something from Pinkerton ("Why Bother" with Brian Bell on vocals, Cuomo on drums), and three Red B-sides you've already heard ("Miss Sweeney," "It's Easy," "King"), though not in this form. There's also a Q&A, if you have any remaining unanswered questions about Red. Which I seriously doubt.

"Why Bother"

"Pork And Beans"


"Troublemaker"

"It's Easy"


"Miss Sweeney"

"King"


You can check out the Q&A here Before you go, here's the latest version of that fan written song we talked about a little while ago. No, not those fans. It's called "Turnin' Turnin."

Your move, Radiohead.

Posted at 4:14 PM by brandon in
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26 Comments

The Spilken8r

Why Bother was pretty cool. But why bother with the rest of those songs?

Posted by: The Spilken8r profile link at 06/25/08 4:25 PM | Reply
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so not only have they completely tarnished any shred of credibility they had left, they're now even bastardizing their old material

Posted by: Pusha T at 06/25/08 4:34 PM | Reply
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Is it just me, or does Rivers look a lot like Peter Travers these days?


Posted by: Zachra at 06/25/08 4:37 PM | Reply
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Brian Bell is looking a lot like the "new and improved" Ben Gibbard these days.

Posted by: kidacomputerok at 06/25/08 4:43 PM | Reply
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Someone needs to talk them into an ATP performance of Pinkerton in its entirety

Posted by: Andrew at 06/25/08 6:19 PM | Reply
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Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is Rivers reading his own lyrics on "Troublemaker"? WTF?

Posted by: Jeremiah at 06/25/08 6:43 PM | Reply
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Holy crap that was stupid.

Posted by: Sean Jean at 06/25/08 6:46 PM | Reply
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Why the fart isn't Rivers singing Why Bother? The only chance they have at this not being a pile of diarrhea and they even screw that up. Ug. Go away band.

Posted by: Sean Jean at 06/25/08 6:47 PM | Reply
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"better start packin'"? Can Rivers not deal with the line "rather keep whackin'" anymore?

Posted by: Stephen B at 06/25/08 8:21 PM | Reply
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The Other Matthew

That completely slapped me in the face. I hate, hate, hate bands revising their past work. Weezer's done it several times. The original version of "Hash Pipe" is gone, the original versions of "WAAOD" and "Perfect Situation" are gone. Even "Say It Ain't So" is no longer the same, on current copies of The Blue Album. (The mix is different.) But if they're going to start changing the lyrics to songs on Pinkerton... this is just too far. If Rivers wants to tone down his writing, then fine, but don't censor his past writings.

And I'd like to ask that the Weezer apologists please try to respect the opinions of those they disagree with. People like myself are incredibly unhappy with this Weezer. If you like them, fine, but remember that it's all subjective.

P.S. What the fuck is up with the "Miss Sweeney" performance piece?

Posted by: The Other Matthew profile link in reply to Stephen B's comment at 06/26/08 2:21 AM | Reply
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You are all dumb.

Posted by: Richard at 06/25/08 8:31 PM | Reply
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It's the same old tired story. Beloved childhood obsession isn't what it used to be and everybody gets hostile. You took the time to watch this stuff so you must not think it's that bad.

Posted by: Josh Scheidler at 06/25/08 8:42 PM | Reply
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Shut up, Scheidler.

Posted by: Zachra in reply to Josh Scheidler's comment at 06/25/08 9:26 PM | Reply
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At this point it's like a car wreck. I have to look. It really is, that bad.

Posted by: Sean Jean at 06/25/08 9:18 PM | Reply
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first of all it is not bad. it's pretty good.

also, what i don't get is, brian's voice sounds pretty good on this version of why bother, but on the track he sings on the new album, he sounds awful.

Posted by: jay at 06/25/08 11:32 PM | Reply
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The Other Matthew

Also, the "Q&A" link leads to the "Miss Sweeney" video, FYI.

Posted by: The Other Matthew profile link at 06/26/08 2:27 AM | Reply
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most of you are complete morons. if you don't like the band's music anymore don't listen to it. nobody wants to hear you bitch about how it's not a carbon copy of their first cd released 14 years (imagine that, the music has changed over 14 years!). i'm sure all of you are accomplished songwriters that have written many great hits and have some kind of basis for being critical of someone else's music.

Posted by: john at 06/26/08 9:19 AM | Reply
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Just because we don't have music careers like Rivers Cuomo doesn't mean that we can't comprehend and critique is work. Just because I didn't write a chart-topper like "Beverly Hills" doesn't mean that I can't recognize its awful lyrics, unoriginal chord progressions, and awful awful AWFUL voicebox solo. Please (this goes to everybody) stop making that non-musicians can't critique musicians. It's near-sighted, ignorant, and a last resort tactic that internet debaters turn to when they cannot otherwise defend their favorite bands.

Posted by: ethan in reply to john's comment at 06/26/08 10:12 AM | Reply
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Only non-musicians should critique. All that a musician will say is: I can do it better.

Posted by: fluent in reply to ethan's comment at 06/26/08 10:27 AM | Reply
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We aren't morons. This is a blog where people discuss music. I listened to said music, and I discussed. I have a right to that discussion, whether it is praise or criticism. I can't help it that they suck. It's not my fault. I could write these songs when I was 15 years old. No shit. This is garbage. Open your eyes.

Posted by: Sean Jean at 06/26/08 9:59 AM | Reply
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weezer is awesome

Posted by: sweetdreamsare at 06/26/08 10:58 AM | Reply
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Rivers is done up like Ron Burgundy.

This band has always subsisted on self-parody, but now it's almost like they're parodying self-parody. And the new album basically sucks as badly as the last one, with the exception of "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived", you know...

Posted by: Ross at 06/26/08 12:38 PM | Reply
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I don't think I've ever seen a band that's been shitted on by its fans as much Weezer, regardless of who, or genre, or how popular they are. Its depressing. Now I know what Rivers meant when he suggested an infinite hiatus, or a break-up for Weezer a couple of years after Maladroit: to avoid this hatred. Its like no matter what he/Weezer does, or will do ............. this makes "Why Bother?" from 12 or so years ago sound prophetic.

btw, Maladroit .......... one of the most underated rock albums of the decade, just to piss you all off a little more.

Posted by: b.LOUD at 06/26/08 3:30 PM | Reply
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I don't think I've ever seen a band that has shitted on its fans (artistically) as much as Weezer.

Posted by: disaster in reply to b.LOUD's comment at 06/26/08 5:03 PM | Reply
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And what band, pray tell, has shitted on its fans (literally)? You made the distinction, so I'm guessing you know of some that have. Please share.

Posted by: Shitty Bands? in reply to disaster's comment at 06/28/08 6:07 PM | Reply
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I feel that Weezer's opus was most definitely pinkerton and I have to say that I enjoyed the remake of Why Bother sung by Brian. if anything it shows that Rivers has matured with time and no longer feels that he needs to control the band.

As for the red album, I think that "The greatest man that ever lived" Is probably the best song that they have put out since pinkerton. To be honest, the only songs I care for on the album are Troublemaker, TGMWEL, Pork and Beans, Everybody get Dangerous and Dreamin. The other songs feel like filler to me and I don't think they fit well with the aforementioned tracks. (pork and beans had to grow on me)

Posted by: Jamie at 07/02/08 12:33 AM | Reply
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