BY BRYAN WEBER
On October 27th, the band Weezer introduced a new album to the world titled “Pacific Daydream”. The album has created more disappointment than satisfaction among fans, which has raised concerns considering Weezer has been also working on a “Black” album rumored for release in 2018. Pacific Daydream is vastly different than anything Weezer has put out in recent years, shifting from an alternative rock and pop punk sound to a more power pop, radio-friendly approach. This has led to many mediocre and negative reviews amongst critics and fans, but the real question is why? Why the hate for this album? What did Weezer do wrong this time?
Since the “Blue” Album, Weezer has always been the “counter-culture, nerds-can-make-great-music-too” sort of band. They emerged in the 90’s as an alternative to the somewhat depressing grunge scene and a hero to the garage guitarists. Their catchy guitar riffs and charismatic lyrics really resonated with fans, causing the “Blue” album to become a massive hit and a 90’s classic. When they released their sophomore record “Pinkerton”, they took an entirely different approach with the song’s themes and opted for a harsher, distorted sound. At the time they released their second album, it was a commercial failure and received terrible reviews from both critics and fans alike. Unlike most albums “Pinkerton” has done a one-eighty and completely flipped into a cult classic of the 90’s. The reason has to do with the genius frontman Rivers Cuomo put into the album. The darker themes and personality etched into Pinkerton took years to reach the fans, but it eventually did and caused the album to reach platinum rating many years later.
I bring these examples up to show that Weezer has always been about changing our approach to music whether we realize right away or years later. The only problem is that Pacific Daydream doesn’t usher in a new way of looking at music, but it tries to capture the glory of nowadays pop music. Songs such as “Happy Hour”, and “Weekend Woman” are actually decent catchy tunes and would be great to listen to now and again, but don’t actually capture the magic Weezer was able to produce with their first two albums, or even their most recent “White” album. In my experience with Pacific Daydream, the album is full of catchy melodies, well-done harmonies, and wonderful production value, but lacks guitar solos, fun catchy riffs, and most importantly, it lacks the soul early Weezer music had.
On the outside, “Pacific Daydream” comes with a colorful Beach-Boy’s type of style, but under the hood, it lacks the passionate persona and colorful personality the earlier Weezer albums thrived on. I recommend you do not pass up this album because you might generally enjoy the album as I did. The caveat, of course, is that the album is pretty shallow and doesn’t really have enough to keep you coming back, but does have enough to make the time to listen to it worth your while.