Songs from the Black Hole: Difference between revisions
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{{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]]}} | ||
The [[Songs from the Black Hole, draft 1|earliest known written draft]] of ''Songs from the Black Hole'', as presented in | The [[Songs from the Black Hole, draft 1|earliest known written draft]] of ''Songs from the Black Hole'', as presented in ''the Pinkerton Diaries'', was dated [[November 28]], [[1994]]. The characters of the story were to be [[Jonas]] (voiced by [[Rivers Cuomo]]), [[Laurel]] (voiced by [[Rachel Haden]] of [[That Dog]]), [[Maria]] (planned to be voiced by [[Joan Wasser]] of the Dambuilders), [[Wuan]] & [[Dondó]] ([[Brian Bell]] and [[Matt Sharp]], respectively), and a robot called [[M1]] (voiced by [[Karl Koch]] via the use of a vocoder). At the time, Wasser was unaware of Cuomo's intention of having her play a role on the album. | ||
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." | ||
An early version of the story that would become ''SFTBH'' can be seen in the book ''[[The Pinkerton Diaries]]'' and was dated [[June 28]], [[1994]]: | |||
:''I'm thinking of a story. A young man faced with choosing one of two women. One: sexy, but deeply dedicated and loving to the young man. Unfortunately she's a little psycho. They can have a crazy but real relationship. The other: an ideal: A certain non-sexual beauty. Smart and cultured. Inexperienced yet not at all naïve. The character has to find his right and wrong with regards to women. He comes to himself in this quest. Ambivalence about physical relations.'' | |||
The story would be reworked into the central plot for ''SFTBH'', with the man in the story being reworked into [[Jonas]], and the women being reworked into [[Maria]] and [[Laurel]]. | |||
===Recording=== | ===Recording=== | ||