Weezer Is Dead

So a slight preface to this post would go something like I moved down to LA having never been to the city but with hopes of working in the music industry. I had never seen a celebrity and was already considering moving back to Portland after a 24 hour period filled with palm trees and strip malls. Then this happened, leading to my complete thoughts on my relationship with Weezer. Now I do work in the music industry, have gotten used to the vegetation and still feel the same way about the band that got me into music in the first place.

So we go to this book release party for Andy (boyfriend at the time) in what is called “The Arts District,” which is actually very nice. Kind of like the Pearl in Portland but has more hipsters than yuppies even though they are secretly the same thing, just don’t tell the hipsters that. Of course getting there was the interesting part. First we go through Koreatown, which is larger than any other “town” in this city then to some sort of weird warehouse area where everyone is selling large amounts of crap in these garage like buildings, I think this should be called China country town, because it looks just like it.

So anyway as we arrive at the party we decide to first go get sushi but on our way Andy points to this guy in the most star struck touristy way and informs me its the bassist for Weezer. Now some of you probably know my reaction to this but for those who don’t let’s go back to 7th grade. As a young naive 12 year old I purchased the first weezer album, the Blue album, and it changed my life. I forced my good friends to memorize the words to “My Name Is Jonas” and turned “Only In Dreams” into some sort of anthem of my life. Now as an anxiety prone 23 year old I still sing this song in my head when I am in closterphobic situations or getting my annual fisting at the doctor’s office. It is very reassuring to me.

So as time went on I was introduced to Pinkerton. A new side of weezer and an allegory of Rivers years of hardship at Harvard with one usable leg and no sex. So that was it. It got me through high school, bad relationships, kept me busy when I choose to not drink or smoke. Those albums saved me. Then it happened. The green album, or what I like to refer to as the beginning of the end. This is where the untrue weezer fans blindfold themselves with denial and come up with some saying like “they are just progressing.” Well playing background guitar on Fred Durst’s new album and singing songs about your pipe are not a progression, they are some sort of sick regression into the blurry days of the beginning when Rivers couldn’t tell the difference between his hand and his amp. That’s when they lost me, that’s when it ended. Since then three more albums have been released, all of which were a sad withdrawal from the beauty and wonder of the first two. So if you know weezer well enough you know that they have juggled around the bassists since Matt Sharp left. So I understand that this guy wasn’t there for the whole thing and cannot take all the blame. However, he still is aware of the mess he has put himself into. That he in turn contributes to the death of one of the potentially best bands of all time. So I have no sympathy.

So as Andy told me as he was standing there, all these years of internal strife went through my head and as much as I wanted to throw myself at his feet, screaming, “why? how? do you know what you have done to us?” in protest not just for myself but for all the forgotten weezer fans, the ones who truly believe what Rivers has done is quite possibly true evil. But I held back. I kept walking. Not only because I might ruin Andy’s big night and his potential career in the publishing industry. But because it wasn’t worth it. Its too late. As much as the blue album has come and went so has the time to open my heart and soul to this band and tell them how my life has slowly deteriorated since the demise of the band. I kept walking for all those weezer fans who know its just too late.