Weezer – Raditude

Weezer are one of those bands that will always be compared to their earlier work. Fans and critics alike constantly say that they’re disappointed that the new Weezer album isn’t like Pinkerton or The Blue Album. To say a band has changed and that they aren’t as good as they used to be is an easy fall back and a crutch for people who aren’t quite sure what to think when a band evolves and pushes their boundaries. For their part Weezer couldn’t care less. They take that criticism in stride and do whatever the hell they want. Who else could go do one music video surrounded by muppets and follow it up by a video surrounded by Playboy bunnies? Who else could dress up like the updated version of the Village People and slap it as the cover of their third self-titled album? For that matter, who else releases three self-titled albums?

Weezer doesn’t care, they push their boundaries, mix things up and do whatever the hell they want. On their seventh studio album, cleverly titled Raditude, Rivers Cuomo and the rest of Weezer continue to pull out all the stops and pack the album with surprises left, right, and centre – even the fact that the album was released less than a year and a half since The Red Album was released came as a surprise.

Raditude is a goofy album that has Weezer joking around and messing with their signature sound to create ten comical, tongue in cheek songs. The songs are split down the middle between love/lust songs and party songs – going from the upbeat, semi-acoustic single of (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To straight into the slightly distorted, Joy Divison-esque I’m Your Daddy without a moment’s rest. You get fun, carefree party songs like Can’t Stop Partying, In The Mall and Let It All Hang Out mixed alongside Love Is The Answer, I Don’t Want To Let You Go and Put Me Back Together; and all of them, no matter the subject matter, feature Cuomo’s snarky lyrics. While I may admit its rare he comes to the genius turn of phrases that he used on The Blue Album, it’s hard not to smile as you read the lyrics of The Girl Got Hot.

The entire album has a delicate pop balance to it but they still have enough of that classic nerd rock sound to keep the Weezer purists happy. But, like most of their recent albums, Raditude also sees Weezerexpanding on that style and throwing in numerous unexpected influences. Can’t Stop The Partying, which features a guest appearances from Lil Wayne, sounds exactly like what you’d expect a Weezer song to sound like when Lil Wayne is on it – and it is sometimes unnerving to hear Cuomo’s vocals overtop of a severely polished dance music. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the shock of Love Is The Answer which not only sounds like Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire but has a chorus sung partly in Hindu.

This is not Pinkerton or The Blue Album but it doesn’t need to be. A few songs will leave you scratching your head, but it is much more cohesive than The Red Album and features some insanely catchy pop-punk tune tinged with the classic Weezer nerd-rock sound. Chances are any Weezer fan will not be disappointed; and if you are, well they couldn’t care less.