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 this 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 YEAR OLD!!! WHO SENT HIM A LETTER. Anyway he decided that while he was being weird in 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 lik=ve 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.(WIP STILL) (UNABLE TO FINISH THIS PART AS MY LUNCH ENDED AT WORK LOLLLLLL SO IF ANYONE IS LURKING AROUND MY WEBSITE SORRY)