Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, for this Month, I’ll be trying my best to write an article every day, to make up for the last few months, where I posted, at most, two articles a month. So, here are 30 new articles, and hopefully you’ll enjoy them. Next up…

Weezer is one of the most controversial bands I’ve ever seen, which is ironic since they don’t really do anything to be controversial, and that’s exactly what they’re controversial for. After releasing two of my favorite albums ever, The Blue Album and Pinkerton, Weezer changed. After the hostile reception Pinkerton got from fans and critics alike, they released The Green Album, an album that tried to get back to the charm of the first album, but without the wit that came before. After a mediocre reception, they followed that with the underrated Maladroit and the bloated Make Believe, neither of which got them back the love they had before.

After those two releases, Weezer finally released the album that doomed them to the reputation of being guys who wrote samey songs with corny lyrics that have no place being written by a 40 year old man. that was The Red Album, a collection of 10 songs that would likely be their most hated release if it hadn’t been followed by Raditude, which was an absolute piece of shit. But I’m here today to stand by its side. The Red Album doesn’t deserve the hate that it gets. 

Before you ask, no, I’m not saying The Red Album is amazing, or even great. It’s not even in the top tier of good. It’s somewhere around the 5th best Weezer album, after Hurley but before The Green Album. But as a sign of Weezer falling into a pit they can’t come back to, It’s not. At the very least, it deserves to be respected as a moment where Weezer was willing to take risks, even if not all of them work out. Look at “Everybody Get Dangerous”, for instance. Is it a good song? Hell no, it’s one of the worst songs Weezer has ever done. But it’s a bizarre kind of terrible, one that makes you fascinated in the product, which is better than the awful shown on Make Believe like with “We Are All On Drugs.” And I can respect product that takes chances and doesn’t work more than product that barely tries and barely succeeds.

If there’s a succeeding aspect to this album, it’s the fact that it feels like an album written in 20 minutes. Usually, that’s an insult, but here, it makes the album more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Instead of feeling like the band was doing their best to write an album that could be considered smart and thought-provoking, Rivers Cuomo wrote a whole album about how he’s dumb and awesome, and sometimes, that emotion makes its way to you, and you just got to sing along.

I still think it’s funny how Weezer is criticized for trying way too hard to get back to their old sound by writing the same song over and over again, when this album shows the biggest hit to that concept. “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived” is an awesome song, showing Rivers’ clear love for music, and his natural talent for composing. It’s a fantastic 2nd track, one that brings the whole album up. Even with the songs that are typical Weezer, it’s not like they’re bad takes on that. “Pork and Beans” is a really great song that would make perfect sense on The Green Album, “Troublemaker” is so stupid you can’t help but enjoy it in a way, and “Heart Songs” and “Dreamin” are really sweet in a naive way. Even “Thought I Knew”, sung by Brian Bell, is fun and poppy, and Patrick Wilson’s “Automatic” is nice middle-road Radio rock. 

Overall, I do enjoy The Red Album. I don’t seek it out, but sometimes, you just need some non-serious music in a very serious music scene. It’s a dumb album, and that’s exactly what it went for. 

Tomorrow: Turn Down for What Song Review