Interscope Records
2001
The Green Album
About This Album
There's a reason why Weezer's third album consciously recalls the band's first, not just in its eponymous title, but in its stark cover, Ric Ocasek production, and tight pop songs. That's not because Weezer was trying to recapture its core audience, because, unbeknown to the band, it already had. Once its second album, Pinkerton, stiffed on the charts and was lambasted in the press (including an devastatingly unfair pan from Rolling Stone, who named it the worst album of 1996), the group dropped out of sight and leader Rivers Cuomo went into seclusion. Remarkably, the group's following, unlike so many of its peers -- from forgotten label-sponsored alt-rockers like Nada Surf to indie rockers as respected as Sebadoh -- never waned, it only strengthened, as fans slowly realized the brilliance of Pinkerton and how the debut only seemed better, catchier, funnier as the years passed. Weezer eventually realized this through the magic of the Internet (plus an uproarious Japanese tour), and hit the road in 2000, knocking out a new album at the end of the year, when the band realized that there were thousands of fans eager to hear a new record. The cynical out there might interpret this as crass commercialism -- "hey! they only made a record when they realized people were listening" -- but it's actually a reflection of one of Weezer's greatest strengths: Cuomo's shyness and awkwardness, neither of which he can disguise, no matter how he tries.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7)

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