If you have visited my apartment, you would see a corner of my living room dedicated to my love of physical music. I have a three-tiered cart packed full of CDs, cassettes and vinyl records which is growing daily. It all started when my dad decided he didn’t need his CDs anymore and let me dig through his collection. 

I joke that my taste in music is genetic, I can’t help it. I think this is particularly true for my love of Weezer. I know, I know. Everyone is rolling their eyes and groaning but there is something truly beautiful about their album “Pinkerton,” which is my review for the week. 

I don’t have the full album in physical form, just a mix of both “Pinkerton” and “Weezer (Blue Album)” my dad burned onto a CD. The album consists of 10 songs and a total run time of 34 minutes and 37 seconds. The album starts with “Tired of Sex” and ends with “Butterfly” which I think exist on very opposite ends of the rock spectrum, but I’ll get into that later.

For some context, “Pinkerton” is the second studio album Weezer produced and was released in 1996. Lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Rivers Cuomo wrote most of the album while studying at Harvard, which he attended following the release of the band’s debut album “Weezer.”

This album is self-produced and was inspired by the character BF Pinkerton in the 1904 opera, Madama Butterfly. A Wikipedia article quotes Cuomo describing the character as an “a**hole American sailor similar to a touring rock star.” Additionally, the album includes two of the band’s single releases, “El Scorcho” and “The Good Life.” 

When it first debuted, the album earned the number 19 spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 and also earned many mixed reviews. Also according to Wikipedia, the album was rated as the third worst release of 1996. Ouch.

Although I was not there for its release, I think the third worst album of the year may be a little harsh. Weezer isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but come on cut the guys some slack. 

I do think that “Pinkerton” is a very beautiful side of Weezer. Most, if not all, the songs include the speaker longing after a girl, experiencing the heartbreak of losing her or just sticking by her side. Each takes the listener on an emotional journey of yearning for another person.

My personal favorites from the album include “Pink Triangle” and “Falling for You.” The first follows the speaker as he falls in love with a lesbian and very slowly realizes she will never fall for him. The symbol of the pink triangle originated in Nazi concentration camps to shame and easily identify gay men. The triangle became a reclaimed symbol of the LGBTQ+ community many years later. 

“Falling for You” is just a masterpiece. I think as someone who tends to enjoy love songs, this is the rock genre gem of love songs. It’s hard to find a rock love song that doesn’t have a hint of sadness, as one could argue “Pink Triangle” has. The speaker falls for this woman and decides he wants to grow one with her. He says such sweet metaphors about their relationship such as “I’m a burning candle, / You’re a gentle moth.”

Another thing that draws me to these songs in particular, and I love when artists do this, when listened to in order, they blend together seamlessly. “Pink Triangle” bleeds directly into “Falling for You” without anyone knowing where one ends and the other begins. I can’t get enough of when artists do this. Wallows, a rock band that features 13 Reasons Why actor Dylan Minnette, does this many times in their albums and I just eat it up.

Finally returning to my point about “Tired of Sex” and the album’s final song “Butterfly,” they are polar opposites. “Tired of Sex” has a strong opening of speaker feedback and drum kicks, but “Butterfly” is almost melancholy. It’s a slow-moving acoustic song that addresses pain and apologies. It’s such a start contrast to the beginning, and every other part of the album, that I just had to address it.

I hope you walked away from this with a little more appreciation for the band that has been reduced to a meme in recent years because of the “Buddy Holly” guitar riff. My other hope is that you have walked away a fan, but I’ll take baby steps for now and ask that you give “Pinkerton” a listen.