Pinkerton is Weezer's second studio album, and objectively their best album by far. In July or August of 2022, I became INFATUATED with this album, and it got me through a really rough mental spot. Pinkerton still is near and dear to my heart today.
Originally when weezer was making this album, it was going to be a space opera titled Songs from the Black Hole, and the first four songs in Pinkerton are songs from that scrapped space opera. Some history before I started talking about the actually songs and music. Pinkerton has a rock/emo kinda rough/live sound, talking about Rivers Cuomo's feelings about being a now famous musician, he luck with girls and his general depression while he was attending Harvard. I really resonated with the tracks at the time when I was 17, struggling in college and helping my mother raise 3 children while I myself was in an awful depressive episode. Songs like Why Bother and the Good Life really connecting me to this album. I associated songs like Falling For You with my boyfriend at the time, and sang my heart out to the somber notes in Butterfly. It's no wonder I became so attached to this album.
Pinkerton opens with Tired of Sex, starting off strong with the live show sound Rivers wanted with the microphone or guitar petal screeching sound. Throughout the entire song you can hear this, but its achieved better in the tracking rough version. My main opinions about this song is that it's vibe is wayyyy better in the tracking rough version but over all I really connected with this song back at 17, horny and depressed and alone in a cold garage.
SECOND TRACK GETCHOO! During my first few listens of this album, this was my favorite song. Getchoo feels a bit out of place and with that makes it a bit obvious it was a repurposed song, though it fits perfectly fine in this ablum. The tracking rough is better and some of the lyrics are slightly different in that version. Not much else to say about it.
No Other One, Pinkerton's third track.... I WAS OBSESSED!! WITH THIS SONG!! It was very catchy and still is! i always fuck up the lyrics when singin it at the "though I would, I never could with one" part. This song opens with a very fun WOOOO and some lovely guitar, which is what I really love about this song. I also related a bit to the song at the time with my ex boyfriend, as he had gotten diagnosed with a personality disorder. AHHGGH I still like this song(as if I hate any of the pinkerton songs at all smh) its awesome and fun to sing to.
WHYYYYYY BOTHER even talking about the fourth track in this album. What is there to say (so much), so why should I even bother. Ok ok enough with my personal in joke uhhhh Pinkerton's fourth track Why Bother, is where this album HITS! As cyborg9k said on a live once, Pinkerton's best is from its fourth track to its eighth. In some of the other songs, Rivers' vocal strain can feel forced, but in this one ITS FUCKING PERFECT. GAHHHHHH so this song opens w a fun little drumroll and becomes catchy FAST! I could never forget the lyrics to this song if I ever wanted. The main corus is just SO FUN to scream when you're speeding on the highway at 2 am with your brother. Rivers random screams in the middle or so especially make this song. The guitar in the chorus part is also very fun, its just UGGHHH I dont know the right music terms to even gush about this song properly, just listen to the song ok.
ACROSSSSS THE SEEAAAAAAAAAAA WHY ARE YOU SO FAR AWAYYYYYY FROM MEEEEE!!! GOD Pinkerton's fifth track opens with a nice and short piano bit. Then it starts with Rivers weird parasocial feelings about a REAL LIFE JAPANESE TEENAGER!!! WHO SENT HIM A LETTER. Anyway he decided that while he was being weird n parasocial, he would make the best goddamned song ever. The guitar solo in this song is quite awesome and the lyrics have alot of emotional weight to them, later having him mention when he was younger and lived in a Buddist commune. Rivers solitude in his new found rockstardom is really aparrent in this song. ITS GREAT! Its no wonder I related to this song so much in my weezer era. My favorite part of this song is " God damn this business is really lame, I gotta live on a island to find the juice, so you send me your love, from all around the world, as if I could live off words and dreams and a million screams. " See what I mean about him lamenting his hatred for his new found fame? I always scream these lyrics with my full heart. AHGGH listen to this song.
OHHHHH YEAH the sixth track in Pinkerton, the always a classic The Good Life. Another song about Rivers hating his rockstar life, almost like.... this is the theme of the album or something. IM OBSESSEDDDDDD with the guitar solo in this one, like with all of the other songs in this album. Weezer is always just SO GOOD with guitar solos. This solo starts with a fast and rough, with lots of fun twangy notes, before slowing down with some musical glitter added with what I believe is a xylophone. This song is also really fun to dance around to and scream the lyrics of while speeding at 2 am. This one here is probably THE MOST OBVIOUS song about his ire with his stardom. Wishing to get back to the 'good life' as he puts it here. Definetly one of my fav songs ever really.
OKAY EL SCORCHO!!! Did you know if you translate the title of this song its just 'The Scorcho' LOL. The name for this song has always confused me a bit bc aside from yelling it out at the beginning of the song, theres no reason for the title to be El Scorcho. WHATEVER, to the actual music. One of my FAVORITES (Khepri you say this for each one) from Pinkerton. The song is punchy and fun and just a vibe. Really love the lyrics when your nearing 2/3s of the way thru the song. "How stupid is it? I can't talk about it I gotta sing about it and make a RECORDDDDD of my heart." GAH that moment right there just gets me GOINGGGGG I fucking love this album. This was a song me n my brother were JUST FREAKS about for awhile and would always listen to it when we got high back in 2022.
UP NEXT PINK FUCKINGGGG TRIANGLLEEEE. WE ALL KNOW HER AND WE ALL LOVVVVEEEE HER. Pink Triangle was the first song I heard from this album back when I was like uhhhhh 12? 13 maybe. I was laying on the floor of my mom's bathroom listening to weezer and I picked it solely bc the song title is a reference to lesbianism. This was roughly back when I first realized I was bisexual and I was just CRAZYYYYYY about the song. The funniest part about the history of this song is that the girl he wrote this about WASN'T EVEN GAYYYYY, she just had a pink triangle pin on her back as an ally to the gays. I really like the softer opening of this song, the guitar throughout the song is just SO CATCHY you really get it stuck in ur head from just the background riffs alone, and the LYRICS are so memorable. Rivers vocals are especial neat in this, its just a fun relaxing song for me, and the guitar solooooo UGH. Weezer is always killer at those. At the end of this song theres a fadeout that makes the transition into Falling For You SEAMLESS.
Now, onto the top song of all time on my Last FM. FALLING FOR YOU. At the beginning of this song the amp during recording accidently picked up some Korean radio station and you can hear it veryyyyyy faintly, I'm always glad they kept it in the song instead of doing a retake or editing it outtttt. As I almost always say, the fucking GUITAR in this song, its just so funnnnnnnnn. I love love songs and this is just a perfect example of one of my favs, I heavily associated this song with my partner when I first got really into it, but even though that relationship has come and gone, I'm still crazy about this song and just UGH. Its a good cheesy romance song.
:( Butterfly. This song makes me cry a bit everytime. It's a nice soft closer for the album, losing alot of the synth and the drums and etc. Its just guitar and Rivers vocal singing melancholy into the mic. I always like to hold opening and closing songs to albums a bit high, and its interesting to compare this to how Tired of Sex sounds, with its groaning and moaning and loud guitar, its bite if you will. Butterfly has none of this bite compared to it and its just, sad. It really emphasizes how lonely Rivers or the listener feels, empty of nothing but a guitar and his voice, alone and apologetic. Perfect closer to a perfect album.
AHHHH thank you for reading all this lol. I really do love this album and these are all my thoughts about WHY I like it so much. Haha I need to do more research about how music works so that I can have all the proper words to describe things.