Songs from the Black Hole: Difference between revisions
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In [[2007]], ''Rolling Stone'' called ''Songs from the Black Hole'' one of music's lost "mythical masterpieces."<ref>"Lost Music: Green Day’s Stolen Album, Kurt’s Demos and Other Mythical Masterpieces" ''Rolling Stone''. 9 February 2007. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lost-music-green-days-stolen-album-kurts-demos-and-other-mythical-masterpieces-104258/</ref> In [[2014]], ''Vice'' called ''SFTBH'' "better than almost everything [Weezer has] released in the last 15 years."<ref>Bassil, Ryan. "Weezer’s “Lost” Science-Fiction Rock Opera Is Better Than Almost Everything They’ve Released in the Last 15 Years" ''Vice''. 4 December 2014. https://www.vice.com/en/article/6ejjzr/weezers-songs-from-the-black-hole-is-better-than-almost-everything-theyve-released-in-the-last-fifteen-years</ref> ''Stereogum'' called ''SFTBH'' "perhaps the greatest 'what if?' in modern music." | In [[2007]], ''Rolling Stone'' called ''Songs from the Black Hole'' one of music's lost "mythical masterpieces."<ref>"Lost Music: Green Day’s Stolen Album, Kurt’s Demos and Other Mythical Masterpieces" ''Rolling Stone''. 9 February 2007. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lost-music-green-days-stolen-album-kurts-demos-and-other-mythical-masterpieces-104258/</ref> In [[2014]], ''Vice'' called ''SFTBH'' "better than almost everything [Weezer has] released in the last 15 years."<ref>Bassil, Ryan. "Weezer’s “Lost” Science-Fiction Rock Opera Is Better Than Almost Everything They’ve Released in the Last 15 Years" ''Vice''. 4 December 2014. https://www.vice.com/en/article/6ejjzr/weezers-songs-from-the-black-hole-is-better-than-almost-everything-theyve-released-in-the-last-fifteen-years</ref> ''Stereogum'' called ''SFTBH'' "perhaps the greatest 'what if?' in modern music." | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
=== Conception === | |||
{{Rivers Cuomo quote|In '[[1993|93]] I had spent a lot of time listening to ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. In '94, on the road with Weezer, I listened to ''Les Miserables'', Verdi's ''Aida'' and Puccini's ''Tosca'' and ''Madama Butterfly''. I loved how these works married music and drama, how the different characters would sing to each other instead of talk and how the story unfolded through song. I realized that musical-drama could be the larger scale composition I wanted to write for Weezer's second record: a new-wave influenced rock musical in which I could explore my feelings about relationships, stardom, and my life in Weezer. I would call the musical, ''Songs from the Black Hole''. I purchased an Electro-Harmonix keyboard and a Korg keyboard from Center Music in Newington, Connecticut on [[January 3]], [[1995]], to add a sci-fi tone to Weezer's guitar crunch. I got excited, now knowing what I wanted to do. I started planning and writing out sketches, music, and songs.|''[[Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]'' [[Alone II liner notes|liner notes]]}} | {{Rivers Cuomo quote|In '[[1993|93]] I had spent a lot of time listening to ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. In '94, on the road with Weezer, I listened to ''Les Miserables'', Verdi's ''Aida'' and Puccini's ''Tosca'' and ''Madama Butterfly''. I loved how these works married music and drama, how the different characters would sing to each other instead of talk and how the story unfolded through song. I realized that musical-drama could be the larger scale composition I wanted to write for Weezer's second record: a new-wave influenced rock musical in which I could explore my feelings about relationships, stardom, and my life in Weezer. I would call the musical, ''Songs from the Black Hole''. I purchased an Electro-Harmonix keyboard and a Korg keyboard from Center Music in Newington, Connecticut on [[January 3]], [[1995]], to add a sci-fi tone to Weezer's guitar crunch. I got excited, now knowing what I wanted to do. I started planning and writing out sketches, music, and songs.|''[[Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]'' [[Alone II liner notes|liner notes]]}} | ||
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The initial draft of the story differed from later drafts, seemingly taking place on Earth in a futuristic setting. Subsequent drafts re-imagined the characters explicitly as space travelers. In the words of Cuomo, taken from an interview in the [[November 15]], [[2007]] issue of Rolling Stone: "There's this crew - three guys and two girls and a mechanoid - that are on this mission in space to rescue somebody, or something. The whole thing was really an analogy for taking off, going out on the road and up the charts with a rock band, which is what was happening to me at the time I was writing this and feeling like I was lost in space." | The initial draft of the story differed from later drafts, seemingly taking place on Earth in a futuristic setting. Subsequent drafts re-imagined the characters explicitly as space travelers. In the words of Cuomo, taken from an interview in the [[November 15]], [[2007]] issue of Rolling Stone: "There's this crew - three guys and two girls and a mechanoid - that are on this mission in space to rescue somebody, or something. The whole thing was really an analogy for taking off, going out on the road and up the charts with a rock band, which is what was happening to me at the time I was writing this and feeling like I was lost in space." | ||
In | ===Recording=== | ||
In February [[1995]], Cuomo and drummer [[Pat Wilson]] recorded several ''SFTBH'' demos to ADAT tape in Hamburg, Germany. Later that month, Cuomo compiled a tracklist for ''SFTBH'', featuring several previously recorded demos, as well as the version of "[[Blast Off!]]" recorded in Hamburg. It is unknown if any other demos from this session made it onto this tracklist. In June, Weezer recorded "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]," a song seen in a synopsis of ''SFTBH''. This recording was featured on the soundtrack to the film ''[[Angus]]'' and was produced by Rob Cavallo. | |||
In August, Weezer began recording ''SFTBH'' at Electric Lady Studios, with no producer. The songs "[[Waiting on You]]," "[[Blast Off!]]," "[[Longtime Sunshine]]," "[[Why Bother?]]," "[[Getchoo]]," "[[No Other One]]," "[[Tired of Sex]]," "[[Devotion]]," "[[I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams]]," "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]," and "[[You Won't Get With Me Tonight]]" would be tracked.<ref name="rechist8">[[Recording History - Page 8|Weezer Recording History - Page 8]]</ref> In September, the master tapes were brought over to Fort Apache Studios, where "Waiting on You," "Why Bother?," "Getchoo," "No Other One," "Tired of Sex," "Devotion," and "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" would receive work.<ref name="rechist8" /> | |||
Over the course of recording, Cuomo, who'd enrolled at Harvard in the fall of [[1995]], was inspired to change his focus from the space rock opera theme of ''SFTBH'' to the ''Madame Butterfly''-influenced theme that permeates ''Pinkerton''. One final tracklist of ''SFTBH'' was made in the fall as a means to try and salvage what was left of the concept. Weezer began recording at Sound City Studios in January [[1996]]. By this time, the songs "[[El Scorcho]]" and "[[Pink Triangle]]" had been written and were recorded during these sessions, but "[[Superfriend]]," "[[She's Had a Girl]]," and "[[Dude, We're Finally Landing]]" would be tracked as a very last-ditch effort to save ''SFTBH''.<ref name="rechist8" /> By the next sessions in the spring, ''Songs from the Black Hole'' had been scrapped in favor of ''Pinkerton''. | Over the course of recording, Cuomo, who'd enrolled at Harvard in the fall of [[1995]], was inspired to change his focus from the space rock opera theme of ''SFTBH'' to the ''Madame Butterfly''-influenced theme that permeates ''Pinkerton''. One final tracklist of ''SFTBH'' was made in the fall as a means to try and salvage what was left of the concept. Weezer began recording at Sound City Studios in January [[1996]]. By this time, the songs "[[El Scorcho]]" and "[[Pink Triangle]]" had been written and were recorded during these sessions, but "[[Superfriend]]," "[[She's Had a Girl]]," and "[[Dude, We're Finally Landing]]" would be tracked as a very last-ditch effort to save ''SFTBH''.<ref name="rechist8" /> By the next sessions in the spring, ''Songs from the Black Hole'' had been scrapped in favor of ''Pinkerton''. | ||
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{{Rivers Cuomo quote|I think the whole Black Hole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion in people's minds. It's really like--it's just, like, a third of an album that was sketched out and most of the songs on it weren't really written specifically for The Black Hole; they were written before I conceived of The Black Hole and then I reshaped them a little bit for The Black Hole and then after I abandoned that idea, I unshaped them and put them on Pinkerton, so besides that, there are a handful or two of scraps of mostly interstitial pieces that aren't really songs, and then there may be just a couple of full songs that were written for The Black Hole. So it's really not that big of a deal.|''Alternative Press' interview<ref>Heisel, Scott. "Web Exclusive: A conversation with Rivers Cuomo" ''Alternative Press''. 30 October 2007. https://www.altpress.com/111-2/</ref>}} | {{Rivers Cuomo quote|I think the whole Black Hole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion in people's minds. It's really like--it's just, like, a third of an album that was sketched out and most of the songs on it weren't really written specifically for The Black Hole; they were written before I conceived of The Black Hole and then I reshaped them a little bit for The Black Hole and then after I abandoned that idea, I unshaped them and put them on Pinkerton, so besides that, there are a handful or two of scraps of mostly interstitial pieces that aren't really songs, and then there may be just a couple of full songs that were written for The Black Hole. So it's really not that big of a deal.|''Alternative Press' interview<ref>Heisel, Scott. "Web Exclusive: A conversation with Rivers Cuomo" ''Alternative Press''. 30 October 2007. https://www.altpress.com/111-2/</ref>}} | ||
As the demos from the ''SFTBH'' began being desired by fans, Cuomo stated on his blog that he was unable to release any of his demos (including ''Black Hole'' songs) because of his contractual obligations to Geffen Records: "...Someday that may change but it won’t be anytime soon...Until I can figure out a way to compensate Geffen records (and in the case of covers songs, the songwriters) I can’t give away my recordings." Also on his blog, Cuomo mentioned playing his demos to Jordan Schur, the president of Geffen Records: "...when we were starting to work on Make Believe in 2003, I sat down with Jordan and played him hours of my old demos, going all the way back to the beginnings of Weezer. He didn’t think any of them were album-worthy. Neither did I. The one song he thought was good was "Blast Off" but it 'needs a new chorus.' I agreed." In a [[2006]] interview, commenting on speculation that Make Believe would be Weezer's last album, | As the demos from the ''SFTBH'' began being desired by fans, Cuomo stated on his blog that he was unable to release any of his demos (including ''Black Hole'' songs) because of his contractual obligations to Geffen Records: "...Someday that may change but it won’t be anytime soon...Until I can figure out a way to compensate Geffen records (and in the case of covers songs, the songwriters) I can’t give away my recordings." Also on his blog, Cuomo mentioned playing his demos to Jordan Schur, the president of Geffen Records: "...when we were starting to work on Make Believe in 2003, I sat down with Jordan and played him hours of my old demos, going all the way back to the beginnings of Weezer. He didn’t think any of them were album-worthy. Neither did I. The one song he thought was good was "Blast Off" but it 'needs a new chorus.' I agreed." In a [[2006]] interview, commenting on speculation that Make Believe would be Weezer's last album, [[Pat Wilson]] stated that he would be interested in releasing a compilation of "lost" Weezer tracks. This fueled rumours that the band would release previously unheard ''Black Hole'' songs or a completely re-worked version of the ''Songs from the Black Hole'' concept album in the near future. A petition for the band to release the ''SFTBH'' demos was launched by Weezer fans on [[November 27]], [[2005]], with the goal of reaching one thousand signatures. The petition reached its goal on [[March 1]]st, [[2006]]. On [[October 3]], 2005 during [[Weezer concert: 10/03/2005 - Rosemont, IL|a Weezer show at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois]], the band invited a fan up onstage to play the rhythm guitar for "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]". The fan took advantage of this moment to attempt to get the band to play "Blast Off!" by beginning to play the intro to the song and sang the first four lines of the song.<ref>CLme. "Blast Off / Undone" ''YouTube''. 16 October 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNG3RPbxz0M</ref> "Blast Off!" was played live for the first time with the full band on [[August 19]], [[2011]] at [[Weezer concert: 08/19/2011 - Seattle, WA|a concert at WaMu Theater in Seattle, WA]]. It was the encore song after a "Double Memories Night", during which the band performed both ''[[Weezer (The Blue Album)|The Blue album]]'' and ''Pinkerton'' in their entirety. | ||
Sheet music and lyrics for several unreleased ''Songs from the Black Hole'' tracks were made available by Cuomo on his MySpace page on [[April 30]], 2006. Lyrics were posted for "Blast Off!", "[[Who You Callin' Bitch?]]", "[[Oh Jonas]]", "[[Please Remember]]", "[[Oh No, This Is Not For Me]]", "[[She's Had a Girl]]", and "[[Now I Finally See]]", while sheet music was posted for "She's Had a Girl", "Who You Callin' Bitch?" and "Oh Jonas". | Sheet music and lyrics for several unreleased ''Songs from the Black Hole'' tracks were made available by Cuomo on his MySpace page on [[April 30]], 2006. Lyrics were posted for "Blast Off!", "[[Who You Callin' Bitch?]]", "[[Oh Jonas]]", "[[Please Remember]]", "[[Oh No, This Is Not For Me]]", "[[She's Had a Girl]]", and "[[Now I Finally See]]", while sheet music was posted for "She's Had a Girl", "Who You Callin' Bitch?" and "Oh Jonas". | ||