Weezer Takes Me Back to the Good Life

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I recently went out, on a weeknight, no less, to see one of my favorite bands, Weezer, play to a sold-out TD Garden. If you don’t mind me being That Guy for a moment, I remember seeing them in the late 90’s at a club in Providence, so, yes, this was a vastly different experience.

This wasn’t any show, however. It was one of those “Play the Full Album: shows. And it wasn’t just any album they were playing, but their very first album, the famed Blue Album. And they weren’t just playing it for kicks, but because 2024 marks the album's 30th anniversary. Damn.

Anniversaries are virtually everywhere nowadays. I am often chastised by my friends for complaining about how old I am (and how old I feel), but I don’t see how I can’t feel my cranky when society is constantly pointing out things like how it’s been thirty years since the Blue Album came out. Despite my age, my brain still kind of works, and I have vivid memories as a college freshman of watching the “Buddy Holly” video on MTV. I was in my friends’ living room, where the cable (!) television was often tuned to MTV. The video came on, and I asked who were these guys in the sweaters. I was told they were Weezer, and I was intrigued. I’m sure you remember the video, where Weezer inserted themselves into footage from Happy Days, and performed at Arnold’s Drive-In, and even Arnold himself, Al Molinaro, made an appearance. It was a technical marvel at the time, done without any CGI, just creative camera work. Even the kind of cheesy clip of Fonzie dancing (done via body-double) worked with the theme of the song. In an era when music videos still mattered, it launched the careers of Weezer and director Spike Jonze. And even though a lot of young people probably don’t remember Happy Days, I feel like the video still holds up, 30 years later. And judging by the sold-out Garden, I’m definitely not the only person who feels that way.

It is so good, Al.

More than being wildly entertained, however, I was also transported back to that time in my life when I discovered Weezer. Not just the “Buddy Holly” video, but also “The World Has Turned and Left me Here,” which a friend of mine put on a mixtape, knowing that it was just my style, and the classic nerd homage, “In the Garage.” With the popularity of comic book movies still years away, I was the comic book fan who was ashamed to admit it, and here was a popular musician singing about Kitty Pryde (and Nightcrawler, too!) It was 1994. Kurt Cobain was dead, and I admit, I was never a huge Nirvana fan, anyway. Green Day was big, but I wasn’t that kind of outcast. But for probably the first time in my life, I felt like Weezer was singing to me. I didn’t even know that most people knew who Kitty Pryde was.

But Weezer is more than one album. They have released 15 albums in the last 30 years, even taking a hiatus in the late 90’s. They also released a set of EP’s in 2021 relating to the seasons. The point is, these guys have been working, and they played all their hits, including a good portion of their second album, Pinkerton, one of my favorite albums of all-time, despite Rolling Stone readers voting it one of the worst albums of 1996. Interestingly enough, in 2002, Rolling Stone readers apparently changed their mind and voted the 16th greatest album of all-time,  and despite low sales in 1996, “Pinkerton” gained Platinum status in 2004. Quite a turnaround, but I’m happy to say I’ve been there since the beginning.

There is this train of thought (which I admit to also having) that some bands only do anniversary tours these days, and never bother to release new material, and there is some truth to that argument. But unless you’re Taylor Swift, how else is a band supposed to make any money? Album sales? I’m not sure if anyone is aware of this, but streaming services like Spotify pay artists pennies for the rights to distribute their art. But if you are a band lucky enough to have had enough success to sell out anniversary tours, and you can still play your instruments, then by all means, shut up and take my money. 

And I didn’t hear any of the thousands of fans screaming, “Sell-out!” the other night. They were just having a good time.

Thanks for reading, as always. Now get back to The Good Life.