Rivers Cuomo on the worst thing Weezer ever did: “I was so hurt and embarrassed”
In 2023, Weezer embarked on a headline tour of the US to celebrate 30 years since the release of their debut album. Throughout that period, there have been many highs and lows for them. Weezer’s resilience while going through these peaks and troughs is commendable, and their ability to continue getting new fans, creating new music, and continuing touring is a testament to themselves. This can be contextualised by what is commonly dubbed the worst thing the band ever did, which happened so early into their careers.
The band’s debut came out to acclaim from both critics and fans as their pop-rock sound was widely appealing and saw them hit the road on tour. While they revelled in the album’s success, it also led to emotional complications.
“That nightly grind of performing and then getting back on the bus was… I just felt so empty,” said Rivers Cuomo, “I was fantasising about giving it all up and moving back to New England, where I’m from, and going to school and getting married and having kids and living a quiet life in rural New England. I made that move, but within, like, two weeks of going back to college, I was like, ‘You know what? I kind of miss being on tour and being with the band.’”
After the first tour, and with these complicated relationships surrounding music, Rivers went back to Harvard University and, in between studies, started working on what would become the group’s second album, Pinkerton.
“Well, most of Pinkerton was written while I was there,” he said. “‘El Schorcho’, ‘The Good Life’. I can remember working on those songs, just day after day, riding the bus, walking the campus, learning things in class, and interacting with other kids there. All of that just feeds into those songs.”
The theme of the second album was much more profound and complex than the band’s first album, likely a reflection of Rivers’ mindset at the time. However, uncertainty about how the album would be put together, and poor execution with some songwriting meant Pinkerton was received quite poorly by both the press and the public.
“There was one person who liked it,” reflected Cuomo, “I still remember who it was – it was Russell Simins from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. No one else on earth liked it. I was so hurt and embarrassed, and I really, really disliked myself for making the record I made and for thinking that that was the right record to make.”
Pinkerton has gone on to have a second life, as a lot of fans now, in retrospect, consider it an underrated classic. Many current emo bands cite it as an influence, and many publications have since referred to it as one of the best albums of the 1990s. While it’s all well and good for it to be praised now, having such a damning blow during what was already a complicated time for the group, and then to be able to come out on the other side and keep making music, is a testament to the mindset of the band and Rivers Cuomo. The issues with the album led to Weezer making a more fun and upbeat third album, which they needed.
Cuomo added: “As often has happened with me and maybe with other artists, you kind of flip-flop. With each album, you try to go in the opposite direction you went on the last album. So, if Pinkerton was about articulating the deepest, most complicated emotions with deep and complicated songs, for The Green Album, I set out to write the simplest possible songs that are just pure candy that articulate nothing. Just pure fun and catchiness.”
