Weezer: Difference between revisions

At last, Rivers went to Harvard while Pat Wilson began to work on his own side-project, tentatively unnamed.  In the wake of the Black Hole writing spree, Rivers found himself struggling with writer's block.  While at Harvard, his ego suffered greatly.  Each day, Rivers walked to class hid behind a beard and limping with a walking cane.  One day, Rivers received a letter from a Japanese girl who was a fan of Weezer.  Karl recalls this being a turning point in the direction of the second album.  Rivers obsessed over the letter and even went so far as to sniff it and lick it (although it is uncertain if this is simply hyperbolic for the purpose of a song).  Rivers used the event to write his first new song, [[Across the Sea]].  Finding himself heavily influenced by the themes and melodies of ''Madame Butterfly'' and being feeling very insipred from his Harvard classes in English and Music, Rivers slowly continued to write new songs about his experiences at Harvard such as "[[Pink Triangle]]" and "[[El Scorcho]]".  With ''Madame Butterfly''-esque themes and recurring characters (the Japanese girls, the cellist), Rivers new songs began to create a concept of their own.  Additionally, Rivers wrote "[[The Good Life]]", which all-too-intimately told the tale of a crippled Rivers walking around Harvard and "[[Falling for You]]", which continued where El Scorcho left off.  Between breaks, Rivers and Weezer would reconvene to rehearse new songs.  Slowly, SFTBH died off as the new songs came to the forefront.  Finally, Rivers wrote "[[Butterfly]]"-- a song which placed Rivers into the shoes of [[Colonel Pinkerton]] from ''Madame Butterfly''.  The song closed up the themes of the as-of-yet unnamed album.

In early September, the new album was finally being finished up-- almost too close to the deadlines (Rivers was checking mixes as they drove the tapes to Geffen).  Days before the album was scheduled to be released, it sparked up a lawsuit over it's name.  Weezer had to go to court and battle to keep the name.  On September 24, 1996 Weezer's second album, ''[[Pinkerton]]'' was released to mostly mediocre and negative reviews.  The first single, [[El Scorcho]] received minimal radio play and had a flop video which Rivers ultimately had to direct himself.  The album was raw, and without any gimmicks.  Still, it retained a complex and subtle theme.  Perhaps all of this was lost on the reviewers.  In a readers poll, ''Rolling Stone Magazine'' readers went so far as to declare ''Pinkerton'' the one of the worst album of 1996.  Furthermore, the album was reviewed as "fun in the sun".  After the lackadaisical success of "El Scorcho", the band released [[The Good Life]] as an EP entitled OZ.

==Members==