Weezer – “Raditude” Review
This is a review I’ve been meaning to do for a bit, but kept putting it off due to whatever stupid crazy shit is going on in my life at the moment. I apologize about the lateness. But now that I’m doing it, I have to start off by saying how much of an absolute frustration this album is. I’ll get to that soon, let me rant a bit on my history with them first.
Weezer is a band that took my generation by storm in 1994 with the release of the blue album. I was 9 years old and had only started realizing what differentiates shit music from amazing music. You gotta realize all the amazing shit going on those years. Nirvana’s Nevermind. Sublime’s Sublime. Dookie. Siamese Dream. These were some of the greatest albums of all time. Weezer’s debut was, in my opinion, certainly up there because it broke away from the grunge, dark and brooding writing going on and it brought about a happier side to things.
They fell off afterwards with the release of Pinkerton, though it remains to be a fan favorite and certainly one of the most critically underrated albums of that decade. It wasn’t until 5 years after Pinkerton that they came out with the green album, certainly one of the most anticipated albums of that year. I remember that day very clearly because it was the same day that Marilyn Manson’s Golden Age Of Grotesque came out. Needless to say, this was possibly my most disappointing day in music purchasing. I listened to both albums back to back, countless times, trying to convince myself that they were good. There was no way that both influential artists could put out something so aggravatingly disappointing at the same time. I ended up, literally, being so angry I threw both albums out of my moving car.
Since then, they’ve had several albums. Starting with Maladroit, which they released nearly a year later to the day, almost to make up for the shittiness of the green album. Maladroit was a throwback to their more rock sound that put them on the map in the first place, though many say this album was a bit heavier than usual, but maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much. What followed after this album was their dive into experimentation with different sounds, a stray from their raw guitar feel. They started with Make Believe, continued with the red album, and now with their recent release of Raditude. It seems that as each album goes, they delve deeper into using poppy synth noises, breaking away from the sound that their fans love them so much for. This has never been so apparent with the release of Raditude.
Raditude, as bluntly as I can put this, is just bad. I am close to saying it’s horrible, but I would feel guilty. I don’t want to go to any extreme adjectives just because I wanted to sever a newborn’s head after I heard it. It starts off with the greatest song on the album, which is absolutely amazing the more you listen to it, but is followed by what can easily be argued as the worst Weezer music to date. The songs are heavily compressed, overproduced, and devoid of anything you loved about the band before (aside from the first track, “If You’re Wondering”).
Rivers, what the hell is wrong with you? You can’t just tease us with a brilliant first track and then continue with absolute mediocrity. You need an example of why it’s so bad you say? Listen to the song “Can’t Stop Partying” and you’ll forget why you ever loved this group. It’s a club song. I know that sounds odd, but just listen. It’s a fucking club song. It has a programmed beat, and the chorus is about drinking Patron and dancing with hot chicks in a club. Not only that, but Lil’ Wayne has a guest appearance in the third verse rapping about how he mixes pills with alcohol and how he loves to party with beautiful women. I realize that Weezer more than likely did this as a joke, but it’s not funny. It’s not witty. When listening to this I can only imagine my friend Sarah from high school listening to it and crying through her Cuomo glasses.
The entire album is so overly-rich with pop that it makes you immediately turn your iPod to Pinkerton just so you can justify ever enjoying them. I was horribly angry when the green album released, but move over my green enemy, you just got bumped a spot. If it wasn’t for the first track, I would have given this album only one star, if any at all. Therefore, I’m giving it two stars out of five. Just to give you some glimmer of hope, I’ll post the music video for that song below. I actually love the video, it’s one of the best ones I’ve seen in a very long time, but I beg you. Save yourself by only listening to this song. If you really want to be disappointed, listen to the rest. But take my word for it, this is the only promising part of the entire thing. Good luck. **