Pinkerton: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 20:48, 21 December 2024

755 bytes removed , 21 December 2024

More rewriting. Removed a misleading quote from Todd Sullivan (it's actually about the Buddy Holly video. Same mistake is on wikipedia lol)

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 The artwork on the album's cover is "[[Kambara yoru no yuki]]" ("Night Snow at Kambara"), a print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist [[Hiroshige]]. Cuomo chose the cover after seeing it on a postcard sent to him by [[Jennifer Chiba]], finding that it "captured the feeling of winter loneliness" he was feeling living in Cambridge.<ref>https://books-r-fun.herokuapp.com/wiki/Pinkerton%20Cover%20Art</ref>
+The album's packaging features other references to Japanese culture and Puccini, among others. The back of the album features a photograph of a Japanese woman. Standard pressings of the album feature Italian text from ''Madama Butterfly'' along the edge of the disc: "Dovunque al mondo lo Yankee vagabondo si gode e traffica sprezzando rischi. Affonda l'àncora alla ventura…" Translated into English it reads: "Everywhere in the world, the roving Yankee takes his pleasure and his profit, indifferent to all risks. He drops anchor at random…"<ref>http://www.murashev.com/opera/Madama_Butterfly_libretto_English_Italian</ref>
-There are other references to Japanese culture and Puccini as well throughout the packaging. In some pressings, when viewed at an angle, the back of the album's jewel case has an opaque image of a Japanese woman. A more direct reference to Puccini may be found on the CD itself; text inscribed along the edge of the disc reflect lyrics from Puccini's opera in their original Italian.  The words translate to English as: "Everywhere in the world, the roving Yankee takes his pleasure and his profit, indifferent to all risks. He drops anchor at random…"
 [[Image:Map of Weezerland.JPG|100px|thumb|left|The Pinkerton map]]
-Behind the album's CD tray is a map with the title "Isol Della Farfalla e Penisola Di Cane." which is Italian for "Island of the Butterfly and Peninsula of Dog." Also on the map are a ship named U.S.S. Pinkerton and "Mykel and Carli Island," an allusion to Weezer's fan club founders, as well as more references to ''Madama Butterfly'' (Don Giovanni, Sharpless, Cio Cio San Island). In a [[2005]] appearance on [[The Howard Stern Show]], Rivers Cuomo said that the names listed on the map are those who influenced him during the writing and recording of the album, with Howard Stern being one of those influences. Other names include [[Yngwie Malmsteen]], [[Brian Wilson]], [[Lou Barlow]], [[Joe Matt]], [[Camille Paglia]] and [[Ace Frehley]].<br><Br><br>
+Behind the album's CD tray is a map with the title "Isol Della Farfalla e Penisola Di Cane," Italian for "Island of the Butterfly and Peninsula of Dog." Also on the map are a ship labeled "U.S.S. Pinkerton" and an island labeled "[[Mykel and Carli Allan|Mykel and Carli]] Island," an allusion to Weezer's [[Weezer Fan Club|Fan Club]] founders. Other labels include "Don Giovanni," "Sharpless," and "Cio-Cio-San" (characters from ''Madama Butterfly''), as well as people who influenced Cuomo on the making of the album, including [[Howard Stern]],<ref>[https://www.howardstern.com/show/2005/10/17/for-the-love-of-the-music/ The Howard Stern Show; October 17, 2005.</ref> [[Yngwie Malmsteen]], [[Brian Wilson]], [[Wikipedia:Lou Barlow|Lou Barlow]], [[Joe Matt]], [[Wikipedia:Camille Paglia|Camille Paglia]] and [[Ace Frehley]].
 ==Release==
-After finishing the record, the label's fear was put to rest that the band would be a flash in the pan after the success of the "Buddy Holly" video. Geffen A&R rep, [[Todd Sullivan]] described ''Pinkerton'' as a "very brave record,' but worried "what sort of light does this put the band in? I could have been interpreted as them being a disposable pop band.'" The label overall was pleased with the record and felt "no one's going to be disappointed" with the album.
 Cuomo was intent on the album being received in the way he had devised it: as the serious work of a serious artist. This approach created tension within the band in regard to their music videos, as Cuomo wanted to avoid the "gimmicky" nature of the "[[Buddy Holly]]" video and keep focus on the music itself. The first music video shot for album was "El Scorcho." Despite Matt Sharp pushing for it, the band would pass on a video treatment proposed by [[Spike Jonze]], who had previously helped raise the band's status to platinum sales with the help of his "Buddy Holly" video. Cuomo wanted to take a straight approach to video making because he was against doing any big-budget videos since he felt the videos would "taint" his songs. Mark Romanek, the director of the video would eventually quit the video after numerous verbal arguments with Cuomo, leaving Cuomo to edit the video himself. The final video featured the band playing in an assembly hall in Los Angeles, surrounded by light fixtures of diverse origin, flashing in time to the music. It debuted on MTV's program 120 Minutes and only received moderate airplay on the channel.
-[[Weird Al]] approached the band during the ''Pinkerton'' era, asking to use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXsbVQM8SP4 a snippet of "Buddy Holly"] in "The Alternative Polka." Cuomo turned Yankovic down, though he would eventually grant permission for use of "[[Beverly Hills]]" in "Polkarama."<ref>[https://www.weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/ask-al/#0796 'Ask Al'. Midnight Star. July & August, 1996. weirdal.com.]</ref>
 Just as "El Scorcho" was gaining momentum on the radio, - and at MTV and a day before the album was to be released for public sale on September 24, 1996, - a restraining order was obtained against the band and Geffen by Encino, California-based security firm, Pinkerton's Inc. The company sued the band and Geffen for alleged federal trademark infringement, claiming that Weezer was trying to capitalize on the company's reputation. Under the terms of the restraining order, which had Pinkerton's Inc seeking two million dollars in damages, Weezer would be kept from "selling, distributing, or advertising an album with the name Pinkerton." Geffen spokesman Dennis Dennehy, defended the title stating "to Weezer, Pinkerton is a character in Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly... It was not meant to be aimed at any sort of corporate entity." Cuomo wrote up a six-page paper defending his choice of the title. He described what the papers entailed, it "explain[ed] why [he] chose it, and how it works for the album, and how it's essential." Although a federal court hearing had been initially set for October 3, the seriousness of the legal and financial ramifications surrounding the album forced the case to be expedited to September 26. Due to the cover art which was akin to the Puccini's opera, the case was thrown out-of-court, after the judge dissolved the previous court order to have the CDs pulled after determining "that the hardship of not issuing the ''Pinkerton'' disc would be greater for Geffen than any hardship Pinkerton's Inc or its shareholders might incur from consumers who mistakenly presume the company has anything to do with the album."