ITunes Originals band commentary - 2010: Difference between revisions
ITunes Originals band commentary - 2010 (view source)
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===Flying Under the Radar of That Whole World=== | ===Flying Under the Radar of That Whole World=== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Beverly Hills]]".'' | ''Commentary for "[[Beverly Hills]]". Details "Beverly Hills" being nominated for Best Rock Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, and how Cuomo felt that the song deserved to win.'' | ||
'''Rivers:''' I never really thought about getting recognized by the establishment by getting a Grammy award or something. I kind of figured we were flying under the radar of that whole world. But when Beverly | '''Rivers:''' I never really thought about getting recognized by the establishment by getting a Grammy award or something. I kind of figured we were flying under the radar of that whole world. But when "Beverly Hills" came out, to me, that was easily the best rock single of the year. And so when the awards came around, I thought we deserved to win. And I was... I wouldn't say shocked, because so many times I've seen the Grammys give the award to the wrong recipient. | ||
'''Brian:''' But what was great is that we couldn't even sit in the Grammys. I got an invitation to watch the Grammys. | '''Brian:''' But what was great is that we couldn't even sit in the Grammys. I got an invitation to watch the Grammys. | ||
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'''Scott:''' Yeah we got an invitation. Then I was told I would have to pay— | '''Scott:''' Yeah we got an invitation. Then I was told I would have to pay— | ||
'''Brian:''' | '''Brian:''' To watch it in a television screen! Not even at the Grammys! | ||
'''Rivers:''' That was our first number one. | '''Rivers:''' That was our first number one. | ||
'''Scott:''' Yeah and it's like every time I would look at iTunes, it was just hanging in there week after week after week. It was unbelievable. It was us and the Foo Fighters. | '''Scott:''' Yeah, and it's like every time I would look at iTunes, it was just hanging in there week after week after week. It was unbelievable. It was us and the [[Foo Fighters]]. | ||
'''Rivers:''' Yeah, and at that time, I didn't realize what an extraordinary thing that was. | '''Rivers:''' Yeah, and at that time, I didn't realize what an extraordinary thing that was. | ||
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'''Brian:''' And it's one of those songs... I think the lyrics are quite deep, and I think they're deeper than people realize, but it's one of those songs, like, kids like my nephews age, like five, really love that song. So you know you're hitting a huge audience when five year olds like you. | '''Brian:''' And it's one of those songs... I think the lyrics are quite deep, and I think they're deeper than people realize, but it's one of those songs, like, kids like my nephews age, like five, really love that song. So you know you're hitting a huge audience when five year olds like you. | ||
===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]]". Details the difficulty and amount of practice that goes into performing the song live.'' | ||
'''Rivers:''' My first demo of The Greatest Man, it sounded kind of choppy cause it was basically written in pieces, where every 20 seconds or so, it shifts gears and goes into a new musical world. But I had confidence and I knew once I brought it to the band and we all started to play it together, just keep running through it, it would start to flow, and that's what happened. I think it's quite an accomplishment to compose a song that should feel so disjointed like that one. And because we're a great band, we make it work. | '''Rivers:''' My first demo of The Greatest Man, it sounded kind of choppy cause it was basically written in pieces, where every 20 seconds or so, it shifts gears and goes into a new musical world. But I had confidence and I knew once I brought it to the band and we all started to play it together, just keep running through it, it would start to flow, and that's what happened. I think it's quite an accomplishment to compose a song that should feel so disjointed like that one. And because we're a great band, we make it work. | ||
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'''Brian:''' After we did ''[[The Red Album]]'' proper, we turned it in and they felt we needed a couple more, a couple singles. And... we were really, y'know, we thought we had made a piece of art and we have to put some singles, I love both of these songs, and then... uh, Rivers pulls out this song about eating pork and beans with candy. And we actually recorded it in the room we're sitting in, right today. | '''Brian:''' After we did ''[[The Red Album]]'' proper, we turned it in and they felt we needed a couple more, a couple singles. And... we were really, y'know, we thought we had made a piece of art and we have to put some singles, I love both of these songs, and then... uh, Rivers pulls out this song about eating pork and beans with candy. And we actually recorded it in the room we're sitting in, right today. | ||
===I'm Starting to Get Vertigo=== | ===I'm Starting to Get Vertigo=== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Troublemaker]]".'' | ''Commentary for "[[Troublemaker]]". Details Cuomo searching through demos to add to ''The Red Album'', stumbling across "Troublemaker" and working with [[Jacknife Lee]], and how Cuomo often smashed a ukulele over his head while performing the song live but was beginning to get vertigo.'' | ||
'''Rivers:''' Troublemaker, we figured we needed... After we finished | '''Rivers:''' "Troublemaker", we figured we needed... After we finished ''The Red Album'', we were like, well, we need a few more, like, fast songs with a kind of badass attitude. And so I just kind of started just scrolling through my iTunes and, because I have everything all organized there, and, just looking through old demos. And I found a song I'd written a few years earlier called "Troublemaker" and I listened to it. I was like, dang, that's exactly what we're looking for. So we brought it in and we jammed it out very quickly. | ||
'''Brian:''' And then this is the first time we worked with a producer named | '''Brian:''' And then this is the first time we worked with a producer named Jacknife Lee... | ||
'''Scott:''' Who did things really different than we had done on the rest of the album. So it was really shocking and fast, but it came out amazing. | '''Scott:''' Who did things really different than we had done on the rest of the album. So it was really shocking and fast, but it came out amazing. | ||
'''Rivers:''' Troublemaker is a fun one to play live. I often smash a ukulele over my head while I'm playing, but I'm starting to get vertigo. And apparently I knocked something loose in my inner ear. I think it's initially from my bus accident last December, but it's starting to get worse. So I think I got to | '''Rivers:''' Troublemaker is a fun one to play live. I often smash a ukulele over my head while I'm playing, but I'm starting to get vertigo. And apparently I knocked something loose in my inner ear. I think it's initially from my bus accident last December, but it's starting to get worse. So I think I got to lay off the ukulele smashing on my head. | ||
'''Scott, Pat, Rivers, and Brian:''' [ | '''Scott, Pat, Rivers, and Brian:''' [laughter] | ||
===We Just Got to This Point=== | ===We Just Got to This Point=== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Can't Stop Partying]]". Details Cuomo's writer's block while attempting to finish the song.'' | ''Commentary for "[[Can't Stop Partying]]". Details Cuomo's writer's block while attempting to finish the song.'' | ||
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'''Rivers:''' With ''[[Raditude]]'', we didn't set out to, uh, start experimenting with, with other, um, artists on our tracks. I think with "Can't Stop Partying" we just got to this point in the song, like two-thirds of the way through where, it took forever trying to figure out what was supposed to come next. Um, there was this, like this space in the song, I couldn't, I kept trying to write different things, I couldn't come up with anything. And uh, it just seemed like a cool idea to have [[Lil Wayne]] come down and do a rap, I'm such a fan of his, uh, thought he could put a cool spin on the lyrics. | '''Rivers:''' With ''[[Raditude]]'', we didn't set out to, uh, start experimenting with, with other, um, artists on our tracks. I think with "Can't Stop Partying" we just got to this point in the song, like two-thirds of the way through where, it took forever trying to figure out what was supposed to come next. Um, there was this, like this space in the song, I couldn't, I kept trying to write different things, I couldn't come up with anything. And uh, it just seemed like a cool idea to have [[Lil Wayne]] come down and do a rap, I'm such a fan of his, uh, thought he could put a cool spin on the lyrics. | ||
===We Were Just Blown Away=== | ===We Were Just Blown Away=== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Love is the Answer|Love is the Answer (Hindi Version)]]". Details how the song was originally recorded during the [[Make Believe Sessions|''Make Believe'' sessions]], and the inclusion of Amrita Sen on the final recording.'' | |||
''Commentary for "[[Love is the Answer|Love is the Answer (Hindi Version)]]".'' | |||
'''Rivers:''' "Love is the Answer" was a song we had, that, uh... it's kind of on the, threshold... of, heh... | |||
'''Brian:''' We recorded it for the Make Believe sessions. | |||
'''Rivers:''' Yeah, we did it for Make Believe, it didn't quite fly, and there was something missing from it. And I think our manager just ran into this, uh, he knows this Indian woman, Amrita Sen. He's known her for a while, didn't even know she could sing. And then one day she just said, hey, check out this recording of me, or something, and it blew him away. She has an incredibly gorgeous voice, and he had the idea of having her come down and just try it. And obviously we've never done anything remotely like that before, but we were just blown away. It sounds beautiful. | |||
===We Still Argue About the Call and Response=== | ===We Still Argue About the Call and Response=== | ||
''Commentary for "[[Kids/Poker Face]]". Details Weezer originally learning "Kids" on its own, and the band's manager telling them to add "Poker Face" because of the songs sharing a chord progression.'' | |||
''Commentary for "[[Kids/Poker Face]]".'' | |||
'''Brian:''' "Kids/Poker Face" was a suggestion from our manager. | |||
'''Pat:''' I think I pushed for "Kids" because I was fascinated with the video, the unauthorized video with the, uh, people in makeup. | |||
'''Scott:''' Brian was dating Lady Gaga at the time, and so she kept pressuring him to do part of her song. | |||
'''Brian:''' So I uh, learned, "Kids", I remember spending all day trying to learn this solo and get it up to speed, and I finally got it close. And then I get a call from Dan, he said "oh, we're not doing the solo, we're going to do Lady Gaga instead in that section because it's the same chord progression", and I was mad at first, but I hadn't even heard the song yet, I just sort of knew who Lady Gaga was at this time. That's about, what, nine months ago? And, um, I was like, oh, yeah, that works. And I was really, mostly surprised with that. He knew that it was the same chord progression. He could tell that, so. | |||
'''Scott:''' it was another iTunes thing, I'd kept seeing her at the top of iTunes week after week, and I had never listened to it. And then it's all of a sudden, we're playing it. I was like, god, I better listen to that song. | |||
'''Brian:''' And I said, no, it's saying he's got to love somebody. Whatever it was. | |||
'''Scott:''' Yeah, we still argue about the call and response, yeah. | |||
===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. Details Cuomo being asked to write a song for the US National Soccer Team.'' | |||
''Commentary for "[[Represent]]". Despite this, "Represent" is not on the album and this commentary is the final track.'' | |||
'''Rivers:''' "Represent" is maybe the first, uh, soccer anthem for the U.S. National Team released by a higher profile American artist. I was talking to some of the people at the US Soccer Federation sometimes to get me tickets to games or whatever, I'd been able to stand down there at the sideline as the team's warming up. Uhm, and one time they asked me if I'd write a song for them, and of course, it was already on my mind. But then when the World Cup started to loom in the near future, we started to look around, to look for sponsors, somebody to help us with the expenses and everything of recording and promoting the song. And we couldn't find anyone that was really excited to help us. So I kind of gave up on the idea. And then we kept getting closer and closer to the cup. About a week from the first US game. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was getting so excited. I was like, let's just get in the studio. Let's do a song now, and let's figure out how to get it out there to the soccer fans as quickly as possible. And at that point, it started to pick up some momentum, as all the soccer fans and Weezer fans started downloading it and the press picked up on it, and it's really become a nice story. | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
*''[[iTunes Originals: Weezer]]'' | *''[[iTunes Originals: Weezer]]'' | ||