Songs from the Black Hole: Difference between revisions

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 Rivers, 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."

Over the course of writing the album, Rivers, 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''. ''Pinkerton'' was released on September 24, 1996 and included the songs "[[Tired of Sex]]", "[[Getchoo]]", "[[No Other One]]", and "[[Why Bother?]]". These four songs had been written prior to the conception of ''SFTBH'' but had been reworked into the story of ''SFTBH''. Further leftovers "[[Devotion]]", "[[Waiting on You]]", and "[[I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams]]" (the latter of which was conceived as a ''SFTBH'' song) surfaced as b-sides to the ''Pinkerton'' singles "[[El Scorcho]]" and "[[The Good Life]]". "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" notably features [[Rachel Haden]] singing lead vocals, in the role that was originally intended for ''SFTBH''.

Asked why he "ditched" the album concept in a [[2002]] fan correspondence, Cuomo simply replied "rotr" (referring to the [[1995]] album ''[[Return of the Rentals]]'' by former Weezer  bassist [[Matt Sharp]]), adding "plus it was kind of a lame idea". In 2002, several ''SFTBH'' demos were leaked on the internet. These included "[[Blast Off!]]", "[[Oh No, This Is Not For Me]]", "[[Come to My Pod]]", "[[Tired of Sex]]" and "[[Longtime Sunshine]]". Another demo, "[[You Won't Get With Me Tonight]]", was officially released on the [[2003]] compilation ''[[Buddyhead Presents: Gimme Skelter]]''. A very short clip of the band rehearsing "[[Superfriend]]" in Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, in January [[1996]], was released on the Weezer DVD ''[[Video Capture Device]]'' in [[2004]].

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, Rivers 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, drummer [[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 4]], 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 before Rivers laughed and jokingly pushed him away from the mic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNG3RPbxz0M]. "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 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 Rivers on his MySpace starting 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".

In a November 2006 interview with a Bloomfield Hills local radio station [[Pat Wilson]] told two students that he remembers being caught in Germany and Rivers using a recording studio to record what he wanted to be a rock album.  Pat stated that he never knew more about ''SFTBH'' other than that Rivers wanted to make a concept album.

On [[October 15]], [[2007]] Rivers posted a blog on his official blog stating that he had permission from Geffen to release a collection of demos spanning 1992-2007. On [[November 22]], Rivers updated his blog, stating "I want to share with everyone the excitement I felt when I went back and heard the original master tapes of these demos. In most cases, they sounded much better than the mp3s I've been listening to for years--clearer, warmer, deeper. I highly recommend that listeners buy the CD rather than the digital version so that they can enjoy the highest quality listening experience." On [[December 18]], Rivers Cuomo released the collection of his home demos entitled ''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]''. The collection also included five demos for songs intended for or included on ''Songs From the Black Hole'': "[[Longtime Sunshine]]", "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "[[Dude, We're Finally Landing]]", and "Superfriend." This was the first time fans got to hear "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Dude, We're Finally Landing", and a high-quality version of "Superfriend." In the ''Alone'' [[Alone liner notes|booklet]], Rivers explained some of the plot points of the musical and, after having reviewed his journal notes of ''SFTBH'', revealed that the name of the "good girl" was Laurel (previously mistakenly believed by fans to be "[[Lisa]]".

Three more tracks were released [[November 25]], 2008 on ''[[Alone II]]'', including "Oh Jonas", "Please Remember", and "Come To My Pod". "You Won't Get with Me Tonight" was re-released on the Deluxe Edition of ''Pinkerton'' in [[2010]]. The remaining Rivers Cuomo solo demos, "Oh No, This Is Not for Me", "Tired of Sex", "She's Had a Girl", "What Is This I Find?", "Now I Finally See", and a reprise of "Longtime Sunshine" and "Superfriend", were released on ''[[Alone III: The Pinkerton Years]]'' in [[2011]].

=== Other demoed songs ===

*These songs are not officially on either track list but were worked on along with the rest of the ''SFTBH'' tracks at the time.

<br><br>'''[[Songs from the Black Hole, draft 1]]:'''

<br>'''[[Songs from the Black Hole, draft 2]]:'''