It's just a name, dude. Don't be nosy.

It’s the Weezer flying "w" or wingman symbol, an homage to Van Halen.

No. Weezer isn't even emo (a broadly defined musical offshoot of punk with a distinct emotional element, often characterized by a particular vocal delivery). Pinkerton is a major influence on latter day emo bands, but neither Weezer nor the album itself is emo. Rites of Spring is often credited with being the first emo band (see also Sunny Day Real Estate). Anyway, bands like to be called emo about as much as cops like to be called pigs… And how about you get yourself some new friends, huh?

Take it easy, Charlie, no need to go label everything. Perhaps you've heard "geek rock" thrown about, though that's hardly a style of music so much as an image. I'm partial to "power pop", infectious melodies and chugging power chords and all. It’s a genre that can be traced back to bands like Big Star, the Replacements, and Cheap Trick.

Primarily Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, KISS, Nirvana, and the Pixies. Individual influences include, for Rivers: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Yngvie Malmsteen, early Beatles material, and 80’s metal bands like Judas Priest; Matt: Gary Numan; Mikey: Chet Baker; Scott: Led Zeppelin; Pat: the Smiths; and Brian: Barry Manilow...

… ok, I’m just joshin' with you on that last part. Just making sure you’re paying attention there, Corky. Actually Brian grew up listening to Elvis and honky-tonk in good ol’ Tennessee. Sooeey!

The love started on their first rehearsal on Valentine’s Day, 1992. Altogether now, “awww!”

Weezer was signed by the once cool Geffen records (aka DGC, responsible for bands like Nirvana). Some kind of corporate shakeup went down circa 1997 and Weezer somehow landed under the huge Interscope label, a subsidiary of the even more gargantuan Universal Music Group. So they're working for The Man, basically.

!@#$%! Go back and listen to Ashlee Simpson. You're dead to me.

The weezer font is a slightly modified version of century gothic. Your PC or Mac should have century gothic. If not, you can get it here.

There’s no such thing, Jerome. What you see in Pinkerton is custom hand-lettered for the album (see the credits on the inside cover).

Open up your Blue Album cover insert. It should be the first thing that catches your eye there. That’s Pat’s creation, allegedly based on the Greek god Bacchus. Sneakier relative Hoblie, the Pineapple Tree Boy sometimes fills in. And no, I’m not a crazy guy just making all this up.

No that’s not KISS. That’s Quiet Riot. The partially hidden poster on the left is a poster of a famous Judas Priest album cover for British Steel, a nod to Rivers’s metal influences.

It’s not. From what I’ve heard, it’s a little play on the heavy metal phrases “If it’s too loud, turn it up” or “if it’s too loud, you’re too old.” Oh, that patented Weezer irony.

According to Rivers: “’Jonas’ explains how The Plan is reaming us all, especially my brother.”

“’No One Else’ is the jealous-obsessive asshole in me freaking out on my girlfriend, and ‘The World Has Turned…’ is the same asshole wondering why she’s gone.”

“’Undone’ is the feeling you get when the trains stops and the little guy comes knockin’ on your door. It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious.”

Matt: Hey braw’, how we doin’, man?
Karl: Alright.
Matt: It’s been a while, man. Life’s so rad! This band’s my favorite, man. Don’t ya love ‘em?
Karl: Yeah.
Matt: Aw man, you want a beer?
Karl: Alright.
Matt: Aw man, hey braw’, this is the best, man. I’m so glad we’re all back together and stuff. This is great, man.
Karl: Yeah.
Matt: Hey, you know about the party after the show?
Karl: Yeah.
Matt: Aw, man it’s gonna be the best. I’m so stoked! Take it easy, braw’.

Intro to 2nd verse…

Mykel: Hey, what’s up?
Karl: Not much.
Mykel: Um, did you hear about the party?
Karl: Yeah.
Mykel: I think I’m gonna go, but, u, my friends don’t really wanna go. Could I get a ride?

*For further info on Matt, Karl, and Mykel. Check the next section The =W= Cast.

When “Undone” was first recorded, the band asked Karl to splice together clips from several different sources such as the Charlie Brown record and The Black Hole movie. At the last second, the record company nixed it since they didn’t wanna go through the trouble of getting permission from about 13 other labels and studios. So the band came up with these dialogues on the fly and put it in place. You can hear an even different intro, the real original intro from the Kitchen Tapes, that matches the rapping intro Weezer usually does live in the "Undone" demo in the second disc of Weezer: Deluxe Edition. Try to make out a Pixies reference in that one.

It varies. Brian recites the opening of “El Scorcho.” Mikey subtly mixed in some profanities in there, and Matt liked to bust rhymes. They make it up as they go along.

Rivers: “’Surf Wax’ is a totally sarcastic call to hedonism…'Say It Ain’t So’ is also about beer.”

These songs “were written in a sudden burst of confidence and optimism right after we got a record deal” according to Rivers. Of “Buddy Holly,” a song about outcasts at the senior prom: “It’s about a particular girl I knew… It’s about my commitment to her… our relationship… and my willingness to defend her. It’s very platonic. Not a romantic thing at all.”

Those are new scenes shot with the very same Al Molinari who played Al on the show. Who knew he was alive and well? Matt got a Screen Actors Guild card to say the one Weezer line in the video, “That’s not so good, Al.” Al on Weezer: “They’re terrific guys. But I’m old enough to be their grandfather. My music’s Sinatra and Benny Goodman.” That’s not so good, Al. I kid. I kid. Benny Goodman rocked the hell out of the clarinet. As for the Fonz, that was just a double mixed in with old clips. However, Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie, did once introduce Weezer at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Xmas in 1995.

That’s literally "the Garage" from the song, the Blue Album insert, and where the “Undone” intros were recorded. It’s at the Amherst House where Karl, Rivers, Matt, and Pat used to live in. Speaking of Karl, that’s the ol’ goof doing laundry.





Just some guy doing laundry.

It’s some kind of tent or camp set up to pass the night.

An “old-lady perfume.”

They’re written sort of “diary-style” with some stream of consciousness asides. El señor presidente Rivers Cuomo says, “The 10 songs are sequenced in the order in which I wrote them (with two minor exceptions). So as a whole, the album kind of tells the story of my struggle with my inner Pinkerton.” And no, Rolling Stone did not name Pinkerton the worst album of 1996.

Dude, you are so gonna ask that later. I just know it.

It has a Madame Butterfly theme running throughout. Mad evil psycho genius Rivers Cuomo is a fan of the Puccini opera. It’s about a westerner named Pinkerton and his Japanese lover Cio Cio San. She has a baby, he leaves her, and she kills herself. So obviously it’s a comedy. Go read it if you’re interested, Jed.

This is an eye health break.Grab a snack. Get a tasty beverage or something.

Getting “burned” by a girl, maybe? Huh, huh? Dude, I totally just came up with that. Don’t steal it. No kidding, they actually did get the title from that Del Taco sauce (Del Taco’s sauce is actually called Del Scorcho). But it’s got nothing to do with the song itself.

“El Scorcho, rock n’ roll” or “aye carumba” according to some people (me).

That’s Johnny Grunge, leg-dropping Nu Jack Isone through the announcer’s table in the old ECW wrestling league.

No, try not to do that, okay sport? “Cio cio” is Japanese for butterfly while “san” is a courtesy title such as Mr., Sir, or Ms.” or in this case “Madame.” Get it? Put ‘em together, Chester.

That’s your buddy Matt again, improv king.

That’s Rivers running from the studio control room to the live room to get to the piano.

No, actually that’s Korean. “Which company makes this product” is what it says. It’s from a radio interference that the amplifier picked up accidentally during recording, and since it fit in with the whole oriental theme, they kept it in (thinking it was Japanese). Did I mention Rolling Stone did NOT name Pinkerton the worst album of 1996?

It means she had a pink triangle print on her shirt sleeve. Pink triangle is a symbol of gay pride. I mean, I just… heard that… that’s what it means, cuz I wouldn’t really… know per se…

Wow, nothing gets past you, does it? That’s the sound of master and commander Rivers Cuomo setting the guitar down and sighing. It was recorded early in the morning.

Again that’s from Madame Butterfly (Italian opera by Giacomo Puccini) rougly translating to: “everywhere in the world, the roving Yankee takes his pleasure and his profit, indifferent to all risks. He drops anchor at random…” Strangely relevant to current times, don’t you think?

Good eye there, squinty. And since you asked, no Rolling Stone did name Pinkerton the worst CD of 1996.

Absolutely. It’s an old world map of Japan (written in Madame Butterfly’s original language Italian). Along with the Weezer wingman symbol, you’ll find:

Jonas
Wepeel
Mykel and Carli: a tribute but actually made before they died. Both Pinkerton and the “Mykel and Carli” song were made before their deaths.
*for further info on the above names, check the next section, The =W= Cast.

Don Giovanni: a Madame Butterfly character
Sharpless (Mountains): also a Madame Butterfly character, and not a reference to Matt Sharp
USS Pinkerton
Cio Cio San Island
Pud Withers: from a comic book called (Free) Cerebus, a shy character with a deep infatuation with a girl named Jaka.
“Isolla della farfalla”: Italian for “Island of the Butterfly” (refers to Japan)
"Penisola de cane”: “Peninsula of the Dog”
Yngwie: a reference to hard rock guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen
Corporal Burns: the address Rivers stayed in at Harvard
Barlow: songwriter Lou Barlow, from the seminal bands Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and Folk Implosion
J. Matt: Joe Matt is the creator of an autobiographical humor comic strip called Peepshow. Rivers later did an interview in Peepshow where he and Joe Matt talked about some very racy stuff, not unlike Joe Matt’s comics.
Paglia: Camille Paglia, a known feminist author
Ace: Rivers’s childhood guitar hero, Ace Frehley of KISS

Can you spot other references?

If you look closely at the back of the jewel case where the tracks are listed, there’s a faint picture of a Japanese geisha girl (Madame Butterfly).

"Hash Pipe” isn’t so much about drugs. It’s a song written from the point of view of a Santa Monica transvestite prostitute, a universal theme found in songs passed from generation to generation. I’m sure the pilgrims sang all about it.

No. This time that’s from Puccini’s predecessor Giuseppe Verdi. It means: “we look to the past, so that we may progress.”

Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a TV show, a cult favorite that poked fun at old b-movies. A silhouette of a man, a robot resembling a gumdrop dispenser, and another robot resembling a mechanical dog made comments about the movie as it played.

It's there somewhere, Jack.

Hey, what do I look like, buddy, a dictionary?

It’s from a suggestion by a poster (lethe) at the weezer.com messageboard. It means “awkward” or “clumsy.”

Hey, shut it, Shirley. Leave me alone.

During the making of Maladroit  the band periodically posted rough demos to the album in progress and posted them at weezer.com and invited fan critiques. Later grand ubermeister Rivers Cuomo sent personally written letters to various radio stations along with an 8-song sampler. When these stations started playing the tracks, the label who apparently had not set a release date yet, panicked and forced Rivers to retract the letter with a cease and desist and shut down the band’s A/V page. After the radio stations continued playing the songs, the label relented and decided to push the release date forward.

Super general captain sheriff Rivers Cuomo said, he wrote that and “Hash Pipe” first thing in the morning under the cloudy influence of a tequila and Ritalin cocktail. So who really knows?

It’s all about you.

Really, it’s about you… in general, the Weezer fan. It’s really about the love-hate relationship between Rivers and some hardcore fans around the time of the making of Maladroit.

In a way yes, although "experimental state" is perhaps a better description of the creation of "Hold Me." Rivers experimented with how fasting affected his songwriting, and apparently "Hold Me" is the product of the extreme desire for a sandwich.

Yes, it's a song intended to be a consolation towards Elliott Smith's ex/girlfriend Jennifer Chiba after his suicide. Interestingly, Jennifer herself was under suspicion of being perhaps involved in Elliott's death, so while the song doesn't exactly refer to anything other than Rivers's personal feelings, there may turn out to be an awkward message there depending on what really happened.

Those are text from the opening lines of Dante's Inferno following in the order that they appear. The quote at the end of the booklet is from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

"Blue” and TGA have reached platinum (1 million units sold) status, triple platinum for the former. Pinkerton, Maladroit, and Make Believe have all reached gold (half a million).

"Beverly Hills" is the only Weezer track to hit the #1 spot in the modern rock chart. “Buddy Holly” and “Hash Pipe” both reached #2. “Undone” (#6), “Say It Ain’t So” (#7), “Dope Nose” (#8), “Island in the Sun” (#11), “Keep Fishin’” (#15), “Photograph”, and "We Are All on Drugs" have all reached the top 20.

That’s no party crasher; that’s Pat Finn, friend and former bandmate in Rivers and Pat’s previous bands. He was responsible for Rivers, Pat and Matt meeting. The others onstage are Spike Jonze and Karl. Rivers didn’t attend because he thinks “award shows are for losers.”

These are the most interesting articles to me:

Details: (Blue era) “road diary” entries Rivers wrote in a couple of installments for the magazine.
Addicted to Noise: (Pinkerton era) a great but sadly gone music webzine. The lengthy article/interview was co-written by Clare Kleinedler.
AP (Alternative Press): a rather infamous piece about the band’s tenuous relationship at the time of the release of Pinkerton. I call it the “bunny suit” article. Matt and Pat had some not-so-nice things to say about Rivers. Both later cried foul, saying the article distorted their interviews to fit the story.
L.A. Times and Entertainment Weekly: (TGA era)these are two similar ones written around 2001 where Rivers explains Weezer’s long hiatus.
Kerrang! and Guitar World: (Maladroit era) cover articles with a grizzled Rivers on the covers. Similar content, not for the overly-sensitive Weezer fan, but incredibly fascinating.
Myspace: (Pre-Make Believe era) Journal entries and essays by Rivers while attending Harvard (the second time).
L.A. Weekly: (Make Believe era) A thoughtful interview with Rivers about songwriting and meditation among other things.

HA! I knew you were gonna ask that! For the gazillionth time, Rolling Stone did not name it the worst album of 1996. Rivers self-deprecatingly mentioned it in a couple of interviews (including once in Rolling Stone itself!) and the media just accepted it to be true. Rolling Stone has a year-end best-of/ worst-of polls and Pinkerton was voted 2nd worst in the READER’S POLL (Bush’s Razorblade Suitcase was voted worst), which means the RS critics and editors had nothing to do with it. In fact, when they reviewed the album, they gave it a good review (3 stars). Recently, they have re-reviewed the album and gave it a "classic" rating (5 stars).

It’s an audio biography on disc. It’s not band authorized so there’s some shady information and “general knowledge” stuff narrated by a British woman who couldn't even pronounce "Cuomo". You can find all that information here anyway. But if you got money to burn, by all means…

Somewhat more legitimate. It’s written by John Luerresen, a Rollling Stone/ Billboard writer. It’s heavily-reaserched but has no affiliation with the band. Some interesting stuff in there, I hear.

Some songs require the guitars to be tuned down a half-step. So they switch guitars depending on the song.

Yes, it’s called Video Capture Device, a compilation DVD of behind-the-scenes material, music videos, etc. It has some live footage but is not a live concert DVD.

Go to the Maladroit TV spot selection and hit the RIGHT button instead of ENTER.

Yes, it’s a reincarnation of the club started by Mykel and Carli and is now run by Suzanne. Activity is kinda on and off and is currently somewhat off. More info at weezerfanclub.net.