ITunes Originals band commentary - 2010: Difference between revisions
ITunes Originals band commentary - 2010 (view source)
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{{DISPLAYTITLE: ''iTunes Originals'' band commentary - 2010}} | {{DISPLAYTITLE: ''iTunes Originals'' band commentary - 2010}} | ||
Transcripts for the commentary tracks that play before each song in [[iTunes Originals]]. | |||
==A List of 50 Songs That Were Amazing== | ==A List of 50 Songs That Were Amazing== | ||
''Commentary for "[[My Name is Jonas]]". Details the [[50 Song Project]] and Weezer's first demos.'' | ''Commentary for "[[My Name is Jonas]]". Details the [[50 Song Project]] and Weezer's first demos.'' | ||
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'''Brian:''' [[Brian Bell]] from the band Weezer. And this is iTunes Originals. | '''Brian:''' [[Brian Bell]] from the band Weezer. And this is iTunes Originals. | ||
'''Scott, Pat, Rivers, and Brian:''' ♪ Ooooooooooooooo... ♪ and break. | '''Scott, Pat, Rivers, and Brian:''' [Humming] ♪ Ooooooooooooooo... ♪ and break. | ||
'''Rivers:''' Before Weezer had its first rehearsal or even called itself a band, I was very determined to have a list of fifty songs that I thought were amazing, because I just wanted to make sure we had a lot of great material and we really had our act together before we through the process of trying to go out there and tell the world about who we were. Um, so, I don't know if we made it to fifty songs but we definitely had a demo tape, um, that included "My Name is Jonas", um... "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]", "[[The World Has Turned and Left Me Here]]"... we weren't actually, we weren't actually rehearsing or playing shows yet but, uh, Pat would come over to my apartment or I'd go over to his, and [[Jason]] would get involved a little bit from time to time, and we'd make demos that, y'know, they don't sound that different from the final product. | '''Rivers:''' Before Weezer had its first rehearsal or even called itself a band, I was very determined to have a list of fifty songs that I thought were amazing, because I just wanted to make sure we had a lot of great material and we really had our act together before we through the process of trying to go out there and tell the world about who we were. Um, so, I don't know if we made it to fifty songs but we definitely had a demo tape, um, that included "My Name is Jonas", um... "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]", "[[The World Has Turned and Left Me Here]]"... we weren't actually, we weren't actually rehearsing or playing shows yet but, uh, Pat would come over to my apartment or I'd go over to his, and [[Jason]] would get involved a little bit from time to time, and we'd make demos that, y'know, they don't sound that different from the final product. | ||
==You Have to Have a Producer== | ==You Have to Have a Producer== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Buddy Holly]]". Details Weezer being told by [[Geffen]] to find a producer for [[The Blue Album]], and Cuomo choosing [[Ric Ocasek]].'' | ''Commentary for "[[Buddy Holly]]". Details Weezer being told by [[Geffen]] to find a producer for ''[[The Blue Album]]'', and Cuomo choosing [[Ric Ocasek]].'' | ||
'''Rivers:''' Weezer was super confident about who we were musically, um, when we were playing the clubs in L.A. and we, uh... the last thing we wanted was a producer to come in and tell us how to sound when we were making our first record. And, but when we got a record deal with Geffen Records, they pushed us hard, basically they said you have to have a producer on your first record. Uh, so... I thought about it for a while and I just reached a conclusion—I think maybe I'd heard on the radio, a [[Cars]] song came on, maybe just what I needed. And the guitar sound kind of reminded me of Weezer, these downstroke eighth notes on the distorted guitar. And it sounded great. And I just thought, if we need a producer, I want somebody who's actually a musician and a guy in a band, that sort of thing. Not somebody who's just, you know, working in the studio, uh, working basically for major labels, making records. So, I didn't even know Ric Ocasek was actually a producer and had made some great records before. So I told the label, they sent him our demo tape and he immediately got back to us and said, "This is amazing, I gotta do this." And he was so cool, he completely waived his fees so we didn't have to pay him anything at the time, which was good, because we didn't have any money. Uhm, and then he just did an amazing job helping us... polish up our sound but retain our sense of who we were. And that record, to this day, sounds pretty unique. | '''Rivers:''' Weezer was super confident about who we were musically, um, when we were playing the clubs in L.A. and we, uh... the last thing we wanted was a producer to come in and tell us how to sound when we were making our first record. And, but when we got a record deal with Geffen Records, they pushed us hard, basically they said you have to have a producer on your first record. Uh, so... I thought about it for a while and I just reached a conclusion—I think maybe I'd heard on the radio, a [[Cars]] song came on, maybe just what I needed. And the guitar sound kind of reminded me of Weezer, these downstroke eighth notes on the distorted guitar. And it sounded great. And I just thought, if we need a producer, I want somebody who's actually a musician and a guy in a band, that sort of thing. Not somebody who's just, you know, working in the studio, uh, working basically for major labels, making records. So, I didn't even know Ric Ocasek was actually a producer and had made some great records before. So I told the label, they sent him our demo tape and he immediately got back to us and said, "This is amazing, I gotta do this." And he was so cool, he completely waived his fees so we didn't have to pay him anything at the time, which was good, because we didn't have any money. Uhm, and then he just did an amazing job helping us... polish up our sound but retain our sense of who we were. And that record, to this day, sounds pretty unique. | ||
==This is Freaking Amazing== | ==This is Freaking Amazing== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]". Details Cuomo and Wilson's feelings leading up to and following the release of The Blue Album. | ''Commentary for "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]". Details Cuomo and Wilson's feelings leading up to and following the release of ''The Blue Album''. | ||
'''Rivers:''' When we turned in our first record, before it came out, I think I had two different feelings in me. One is, you know, "We're gonna be a total failure, we're gonna sell just a few records and then we're gonna get dropped, that's just how it goes." And then there was another voice in me that was saying, "This is freaking amazing, I love this record so much. I love this music, I love what we're doing, this is better than everything else out there. Other people are gonna have to feel the same way." So then, when it immediately took off, when we put it out, in a sense I was shocked and surprised but [in] another sense I wasn't. | '''Rivers:''' When we turned in our first record, before it came out, I think I had two different feelings in me. One is, you know, "We're gonna be a total failure, we're gonna sell just a few records and then we're gonna get dropped, that's just how it goes." And then there was another voice in me that was saying, "This is freaking amazing, I love this record so much. I love this music, I love what we're doing, this is better than everything else out there. Other people are gonna have to feel the same way." So then, when it immediately took off, when we put it out, in a sense I was shocked and surprised but [in] another sense I wasn't. | ||
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==Short Haircuts and Major Key Songs== | ==Short Haircuts and Major Key Songs== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Say It Ain't So]]". Details Bell's reaction to hearing the band's songs for the first time and Weezer finding an audience. | ''Commentary for "[[Say It Ain't So]]". Details Bell's reaction to hearing the band's songs for the first time and Weezer finding an audience. | ||
'''Brian:''' I came in at the end of the recording and, uh, when I heard the songs for the first time at [[wikipedia:Electric Lady Studios|Electric Ladyland]] I was... I saw the band live and that's what I knew and I, I loved "Say It Ain't So" and, uh... a couple songs from the live set a lot. But I heard these new songs like "[[In the Garage]]" and, um... I believe that was the first one I heard, and I just looked at them like, "You understand this is gonna be huge," and they had a lot of self doubt at that time. And, um... so I wasn't surprised. | |||
'''Rivers:''' Y'know, something else, uh... when we were just playing the clubs in L.A., they were all 21 and up clubs, of course. So it was mostly, you know, older people and they were really into super grungy type of music... lot of tattoos and nose rings, that sort of thing. And we came out with our short haircuts and major key songs singing about girls and... it didn't really connect with the clubgoing in L.A. at the time. There were other bands at the time that seemed to be really taking off, and they were getting record deals and it seemed like they were gonna be huge. But we didn't get a buzz like that at all. We were lucky to get a record deal, I guess. But then, once our song hit the radio and kids starting hearing the music, then it felt like we've connected to our audience, and it took off in a big way. | |||
==A Particular, Unique Flavor== | ==A Particular, Unique Flavor== | ||
''Commentary for "[[El Scorcho]]". | ''Commentary for "[[El Scorcho]]". Details Cuomo's songwriting for ''[[Pinkerton]]''.'' | ||
'''Rivers:''' I remember, uh, when I was writing songs for ''[[Pinkerton]]'' I was very into the idea of "I don't wanna build a demo track and write a song like that in my little home studio, what I want to do is just sit with an acoustic guitar and make sure that the song is great with just me and an acoustic... no rock guitar, no sound effects, nothing like that. Just one guy and a guitar singing his songs." And so, almost all the songs were written like that, um... so that kind of gives it a particular, unique flavor, I guess. | '''Rivers:''' I remember, uh, when I was writing songs for ''[[Pinkerton]]'' I was very into the idea of "I don't wanna build a demo track and write a song like that in my little home studio, what I want to do is just sit with an acoustic guitar and make sure that the song is great with just me and an acoustic... no rock guitar, no sound effects, nothing like that. Just one guy and a guitar singing his songs." And so, almost all the songs were written like that, um... so that kind of gives it a particular, unique flavor, I guess. | ||
==The Winter is Seemingly Endless== | ==The Winter is Seemingly Endless== | ||
''Commentary for "[[The Good Life]]". | ''Commentary for "[[The Good Life]]". Details how Cuomo's surroundings affect his writing and headspace'' | ||
'''Rivers:''' I feel like my surroundings affect my headspace when I'm writing... uh, for example, ''The Blue Album'', all those songs in West L.A., just perfect, beautiful weather every single day of the year, pretty much. Um, it's very invigorating and uh... I think you can hear that joyful quality in the music. Now, ''Pinkerton'' was, most of those songs were written in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And a lot of them were written in the winter. And, the winter there is just seemingly endless, and... snowfall after snowfall, and then... mud, and... sludge, and slush, and uh... [laughs] | |||
'''Pat:''' It's a wear down... | |||
'''Rivers:''' I think you can hear that on the record, and certainly in the artwork too, you can just see it on the cover. | |||
==Number 026== | ==Number 026== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Island in the Sun]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Island in the Sun]]". Details how Cuomo envisions albums, how he decided on ''[[The Green Album]]'''s green background, and the late stages of Weezer's hiatus after ''Pinkerton''. | ||
'''Rivers:''' I remember having a very strong vision for the first album, ''The Blue Album'', what that cover was gonna look like. I never anticipated people would call it "The Blue Album", or even Weezer. I just thought of it as an untitled album. It was like the year later that we noticed that everyone was calling it "The Blue Album". And, since then, seems like every other album we come up with a strong, uh, idea for what the album is about and we get these titles like | |||
<!-- !!!!!I am using quotes rather than italics because it is referring to the album titles rather than the album itself, if you still think it should be corrected then go ahead but keep this in mind!!!!! --> | |||
"Pinkerton" or "[[Maladroit]]"... "[[Raditude]]"... "[[Make Believe]]"... and sometimes we don't. And, uh, we just put a picture of ourselves up on the cover and, uh... | |||
'''Brian:''' Put a color behind it. | |||
'''Rivers:''' Heh, yeah, in fact ''[[The Green Album]]'', I remember, I was thinking it was just going to be, uh, a white background. And so, we took a picture in front of the white background, sent it to the art director, and he sent it back, like I had requested, but he also sent back a few different versions with different colors in the background, one of them was green. So I took them, printed them up and brought them to the record store, uh, the CD store, which still existed back then. | |||
'''Pat:''' Ha! | |||
'''Rivers:''' And uh, I put up all these mockups in the racks, and then I walked back about 15 feet and looked and the green one just stood out [laughter] from everything, I was like "That's our cover!" [laughter] | |||
'''Brian:''' Heh... | |||
'''Rivers:''' I think there's a misconception out there that I had an insane amount of material going into the making of ''The Green Album'' and at the end of [[2000]]. I guess I did have a lot of material but most of it was like, half-finished, abandoned ideas. Kind of half-songs and then I'd give up and get disheartened and then move on to the next one. So there's a big pile of stuff there, but [laughs] I don't... yeah. | |||
'''Brian:''' But what was most impressive, I think this was like, during a hiatus... uh, between records, and uh, Rivers had a new house at this time and I came over to see him for the first time and see, he was gonna show me some songs, I don't know if that was on purpose but I looked on the wall, and it was a chronologically listed of, like, number... I don't know, 026, this song. And I looked at all these song titles on the wall and I remember going "what's this one?" and I pointed to "Island in the Sun" first, and that was the first one he played to me. So then we were onto something, or he was onto something, out of a song title, yeah. | |||
'''Rivers:''' All that stuff on a list, you picked one of the best songs. | |||
==I Always Try to Scrub These Songs Clean== | ==I Always Try to Scrub These Songs Clean== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Hash Pipe]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Hash Pipe]]". | ||
==I Was a Scientist, This Was an Experiment== | ==I Was a Scientist, This Was an Experiment== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Dope Nose]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Dope Nose]]".'' | ||
==A Fun and Steady Stream of Inspiration== | ==A Fun and Steady Stream of Inspiration== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Keep Fishin']]". | ''Commentary for "[[Keep Fishin']]".'' | ||
==Flying Under the Radar of That Whole World== | ==Flying Under the Radar of That Whole World== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Beverly Hills]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Beverly Hills]]".'' | ||
==There's So Much Danger in Playing it Live== | ==There's So Much Danger in Playing it Live== | ||
''Commentary for "[[The Greatest Man That Ever Lived]]". | ''Commentary for "[[The Greatest Man That Ever Lived]]".'' | ||
==Eating Pork and Beans With Candy== | ==Eating Pork and Beans With Candy== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Pork and Beans]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Pork and Beans]]".'' | ||
==I'm Starting to Get Vertigo== | ==I'm Starting to Get Vertigo== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Troublemaker]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Troublemaker]]".'' | ||
==We Just Got to This Point== | ==We Just Got to This Point== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Can't Stop Partying]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Can't Stop Partying]]".'' | ||
==We Were Just Blown Away== | ==We Were Just Blown Away== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Love is the Answer|Love is the Answer (Hindi Version)]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Love is the Answer|Love is the Answer (Hindi Version)]]".'' | ||
==We Still Argue About the Call and Response== | ==We Still Argue About the Call and Response== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Kids/Poker Face]]". | ''Commentary for "[[Kids/Poker Face]]".'' | ||
==It's Really Become a Great Story== | ==It's Really Become a Great Story== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Represent]]". Despite this, "Represent" is not on the album and this commentary is the final track.'' | ''Commentary for "[[Represent]]". Despite this, "Represent" is not on the album and this commentary is the final track.'' | ||
[[Category:Transcripts]] [[Category:Interviews]] | |||