Weezer's Pinkerton is an album that I do not possess much affection for now. I find Rivers Cuomo's lovesick Japanophile nerd image unbearable, and the last time El Scorcho came on the radio, I had an epiphany and realized that it was just as bad a tune as Beverly Hills or Hashpipe. The critical cliche about Weezer is that they made two great albums and then a bunch of stinkers; I don't know if that's necessarily true, since Cuomo has never changed his Nirvana meets Cheap Trick while stealing licks from the Cars sound. Rather, I think the Blue Album and Pinkerton represent the apex of that particular combination, sort of like how Highway to Hell and Back in Black epitomize all that AC/DC are about. Across the Sea is a sad tale of rock star loneliness, layered with brilliant guitar parts; Butterfly is the Big Star ballad you never knew Cuomo had in him. Cuomo said that the recording of Pinkerton was much rawer and more half-hazard compared to their debut, but Weezer are such a tight band that you never really notice like you might with In Utero. That being said, Tired of Sex and Getchoo have an edge that Weezer needed to contrast with their geeky image represented by songs such as Pink Triangle. Listening to it today, I'm not sure if it's that great of an album. Regardless, it definitely influenced my own songwriting after I had listened to it. It certainly seemed to have a similar effect on many other bands, for pop-emo exploded a couple years after Pinkerton's release.
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