Weezers Albums Ranked, From Blue to Van Weezer

Weezer is a band that inspires extreme loyalty. By releasing two of the most revered rock records of the ’90s — their 1994 debut “Weezer” (aka the “Blue Album”), and 1996’s cult hit “Pinkerton” — the group amassed a fanbase that feverishly connected with its nostalgic lyrics, singalong choruses and guitar riffs. The initial critical rejection of “Pinkerton” made it seem that frontman-songwriter Rivers Cuomo might pursue a life of the mind (he enrolled at Harvard shortly after the group’s first success), and Weezer might be just another band that burned too bright and flamed out. But a hooky return to music in 2001 with “Weezer (Green Album)” gave the group a commercial shot in the arm, although it splintered the existing fanbase. Eschewing the emotional storytelling of “Pinkerton” for simplistic lyrics on “Green,” the still-present narrative hounding the band is that they’ll never match their artistic highs of the ’90s.

Despite the mixed reaction, “Green” kickstarted a long and prolific second act for the band, as they released 12 more albums over the next 20 years. Along the way, several were designated by the press as a return to form (2002’s “Maladroit,” 2014’s “Everything Will Be Alright in the End”), a fun diversion (2016’s “Weezer (White Album)” and 2017’s “Pacific Daydream”) and a “What were they thinking?” moment (2008’s “Weezer (Red Album)” and 2009’s “Raditude”) — not to mention a fluke hit single with their straight-faced cover of Toto’s “Africa.” Over the years they have also been a consistent touring act, with Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson, guitarist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner bringing to the stage an appreciation for their past while trying new things.

With the upcoming release of their 15th album, the ’80s metal tribute “Van Weezer,” Variety has revisited all of the group’s highs and lows to rank and showcase their best material. For fans that fell off because of “Green”: feel free to dive in on some of the deep cuts showcased below. There’s plenty of fantastic songs to be found scattered all over their albums.

Raditude (2009)
Oh, “Raditude.” Things start out fun on Weezer’s wacky seventh album, with the simple and peppy “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” a toe-tapping love song. But the whole ordeal gets cringey right away: the Dr. Luke-penned single “I’m Your Daddy” can’t pull off the joke, corny harmonies and lyrics sink “In the Mall,” and “Can’t Stop Partying,” which might be the band’s low point, finds Cuomo fumbling through a depressing club track alongside Jermaine Dupri, Polow da Don and Lil Wayne. Ultimately the album comes across as mid-life crisis rock, scrambling to stay relevant by incorporating awkward new musical styles, switching around instruments and trying to pull off semi-creepy lyrics like those in “The Girl Got Hot.” Luckily, the band seems to agree that this is the nadir of their career; after all, their 2014 single “Back to the Shack” is effectively an apology for this record.
Weezer ('The Teal Album') (2019)
In late 2017, a very sincere Twitter account named “Weezer Cover Africa by Toto” launched a campaign asking the band to perform the iconic track. After gently trolling the request by releasing a cover of Toto’s “Rosanna” in May 2018, Weezer dropped the long-awaited “Africa” a week later. It ended up becoming one of their biggest hits in a decade, landing at 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. Born out of that success, “Teal” is a straightforward covers collection giving the Weezer sheen to some very recognizable classic rock singalongs. It sounds nice and only the fun police would bring the hammer down on such a frivolous offering, but it’s frustrating to imagine what some creative curation could bring to the project. As it stands, you can imagine a Weezer rendition of “Everybody Wants to Rule The World,” “Happy Together” and “Mr. Blue Sky” without even hearing it, and you’d be exactly right. But Cuomo, an eternal student of songwriting, regularly name-checks bands whose discographies would be ripe for deep cut rediscovery: The Crystals! Scorpions! The Prodigy! Beyond song choice, the only glimpses of fun with arrangements are an power ballad arrangement of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” and a very sincere take on TLC’s “No Scrubs,” featuring a delightfully fuzzed-out bridge. Otherwise “Teal” sounds custom made for the tinny speakers piping music in CVS.
Weezer ('The Black Album') (2019)
While there’s nothing explicitly embarrassing about Weezer’s “Black,” its anonymity leaves it languishing near the bottom of their catalogue. It’s a collection of alright pop songs, mostly cowritten with chart-topping hired guns, but personality and memorable hooks are hard to come by. “Living in L.A.” sounds like a DNCE knockoff, “Zombie Bastards” balances dark lyrics with a Maroon 5 sheen and “California Snow” is an inessential M83 / rap blend, which has Cuomo opining on drugs yet again. The best songs just sound orphaned on the wrong album: the soaring “High as a Kite” could sit comfortably on “White,” the bossa nova “Byzantine” could close out “Pacific Daydream,” and “I’m Just Being Honest” could fit snugly on the b-side of “Make Believe.” The rest of the album can stay on the shelf.
Weezer ('The Red Album') (2008)
Following the commercial success of 2005’s straightforward “Make Believe,” Weezer went experimental on “Red,” making for a jumbled experience that feels like a b-sides collection. The awkward Village People-esque cover art proved prescient, as no one in the band seems to be on the same page about what this record is. Most notably, the entire group contributed to writing the songs, and a three track run near the album’s end each feature a different member on lead vocals. While it might be fun in concert to see the bass player or drummer take the mic for a song, it’s a different story when nearly 1/3 of an album is helmed by random, unspectacular singers. Beyond that, the band gets theatrical with extended interludes in songs like “Dreamin'” and “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn),” the latter of which even includes a spoken word interlude. While a few paint-by-numbers Weezer tracks bring some stability (like “Troublemaker,” “Heart Songs” and “Pork and Beans”), it’s hard to imagine many fans ranking “Red” among the band’s most essential work.
Make Believe (2005)
Although “Make Believe” starts with “Beverly Hills,” one of the group’s most ubiquitous singalong hits, it’s Weezer at their most low energy, turning the 45-minute runtime into a slog. For a band so focused on crowd-pleasing moments, so many of the tracks feel like languid first drafts: “We Are All on Drugs” is drab tough-guy cosplay, “Hold Me” shoots for power ballad but falls asleep at the wheel, and “The Other Way” is like a “Green” reject substituting handclaps for heart. Coming after the adventurous “Maladroit,” the highlights are few and mostly rely on Cuomo’s ability to write a bulletproof chorus, like in “The Damage in Your Heart” and “Peace.” But even on those tracks the riffs and instrumentation can’t match the emotional heft. With the famously zen Rick Rubin behind the boards, it begs the question: If he had challenged them more, could this album have been punched up into something special?
Van Weezer (2021)
Originally scheduled to drop in May of 2020, Weezer’s pandemic-delayed new album was actually recorded before its predecessor, “OK Human.” And it couldn’t be more different from that symphonic sojourn: “Van Weezer” is a tribute to ’80s keg parties soundtracked by Van Halen. While the cheeky title is meant to pay tribute to the band that looms large over these ten songs, “Van Weezer” fits the group like a halloween costume: a fun but diluted tribute to the real thing. “I Need Some of That” is a fun, fist-pumping affair, but it leans so heavily on Asia’s “Heat of the Moment” that the original songwriters are credited. “Blue Dream” rewrites Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” so blatantly it’s shocking it didn’t end up on their all-covers album “Teal.” Strangely, the band plagiarizes itself just as much as their sonic forefathers. “1 More Hit” is effectively a “Hash Pipe” rewrite — complete with awkward drug references — with the clumsy addition of a bridge which nods at Slayer. “All The Good Ones” apes “Beverly Hills” so hard that you could imagine the band time traveling from 2005 to sue themselves. Ultimately, Weezer’s love affair with shredding and loud guitars is a welcome return, but it could use more creative songwriting.
Pacific Daydream (2017)
The year after “White,” Weezer released another set of featherweight odes to the Golden State, this time assisted by an arsenal of songwriters responsible for penning hits for artists like Ed Sheeran, Fergie and Rita Ora. The result are the gentlest tunes in Weezer’s stable, utilizing unique instrumentation in standout tracks like “Sweet Mary” and “Weekend Woman.” But for every meticulously crafted chorus there are clunkers littered around, like the latter day Fall Out Boy photocopy “Feels Like Summer” and the obvious lyrics of “Beach Boys.” Solid songs aside, the biggest issue with “Daydream” is the static production washes over any dynamics, leaving a wispy experience that dissipates right after the album ends.
Hurley (2010)
After a rough reception to the wacky “Raditude,” Weezer took a diversion into skate punk with the comparatively straightforward “Hurley.” Although some of the band’s cornier instincts are prominent (the Jorge Garcia album cover, the dismal pun-fest “Where’s My Sex?”), the bulk of the album evokes a grungier, more caffeinated “Green.” Yet each track adds a little pizzaz to set it apart: speedy opener “Memories” flies by like a runaway train powered by gang vocals, ’80s glam oozes from the dancey “Ruling Me” and the group does their best E Street Band impression on “Hang On.” While the lyrics don’t stray far from standard nostalgia and girls patter, it’s a raucous album begging to be performed live and loud at a dive bar.
OK Human (2021)
“OK Human” was a welcome pandemic surprise, an album directly referencing quarantine woes while overhauling the group’s sound by adding a 38-piece orchestra that evokes the Beach Boys’ classic “Pet Sounds.” Hearing the band through this prism breathed new life into their sound, and it’s a treat to hear orchestrated songs that are so uniquely Weezer. “Grapes of Wrath” turns listening to audiobooks into a jaunty epic, “Here Comes the Rain” is as light as any “White” track, even with the more-is-more instrumentation, and “Bird With a Broken Wing” glosses emo musings with a gorgeous string section. Although this was apparently a one-off project, the deconstruction and rebuilding of what a Weezer song can be shows that even after scores of albums, the band can still surprise fans.
Weezer ('The White Album') (2016)
Cuomo’s study of the mechanics of pop music is well-documented: from diagramming out every song Kurt Cobain wrote in notebooks to using Google Sheets to categorize his favorite chord progressions, there’s an unabashed hope to mathematically crack the code of writing the perfect song. In some ways, “White” is perhaps their most deliberate release, as it was inspired by their manager suggesting they write a beach record, and from the cover on down, they delivered. From there sprung Weezer’s most sun-kissed pop songs yet, detailing all of the women and weirdos you’d run into on the boardwalk. The wonderful surprise is that despite eye-rollingly obvious track names (such as the opening trilogy of “California Kids,” “Wind in Our Sail” and “Thank God for Girls”), the band sounds looser and more energetic than ever. The unrelenting pleasure of this project hits all the right buttons, from the piano pop of “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” to the building bridge of “L.A. Girlz.” There are also some interesting drops of poison in the saccharine lyrics, like the dark turn of “King of the World” and some pointed asides in album closer “Endless Bummer.” Taken altogether, “White” is Weezer in focus-tested blockbuster mode.
Everything Will Be Alright in the End (2014)
The band’s third and final album with producer Ric Ocasek, “Everything Will Be Alright in the End” occupies an interesting place in the Weezer canon. Arriving four years after “Hurley,” it was one of the longest gaps the band took between records, and the time away brought a desire to shed some of the sonic gimmicks of past albums. Lead single “Back to the Shack” served as a mission statement, evoking the band’s old rehearsal space while literally apologizing to fans about their recent dalliances in different sounds: “I thought I’d get a new audience, I forgot that disco sucks,” Cuomo sings. Luckily this back-to-basics approach is largely winning, as the no-frills songwriting evokes many of their best eras: “Eulogy for a Rock Band” could be mistaken for a “Maladroit” b-side, while “Lonely Girl” could easily slip onto “Green.” But there are plenty of interesting ideas that don’t piggyback off of their past, such as the arena-sized guitar break in “Foolish Father,” a charismatic punk duet with Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino on “Go Away” and falsetto-fest “The British Are Coming.” By embracing their past, Weezer was able to shake away some expectations and put in the elbow grease for a solidly quirky record.
Maladroit (2002)
It’s easy to consider an alternate timeline where Weezer settled into the sound of their fourth record, “Maladroit,” and cruised the rest of their career in that gear. An even blend of their previous three albums, the songs are as poppy and tightly written as “Green,” with the crunchy guitars and big sound of “Pinkerton” and the plainspoken lyrics of “Blue.” While that mix could lead to some overcooked moments, it’s a loose ride with enough levity to keep even the spiky tunes filled with fun. “Possibilities” is joyous mall punk, “Love Explosion” finds a huge singalong chorus through a fog of distortion, “Fall Together” returns Cuomo to guitar shredding solos, and “Keep Fishin'” is such a jam that the band famously played it with the Muppets in the adorable music video. If the riffs of “Maladroit” can get Kermit the Frog dancing, they must be hard to resist.
Weezer ("The Green Album") (2001)
Although it was developed as a course correction from the band’s ahead-of-its-time “Pinkerton,” Weezer’s second self-titled release is a trove of stripped-down pop songwriting. While often dismissed as overly simple and repetitive, there is a songwriting economy that spotlights hooks, choruses, verses that also sound like choruses, and inane lyrics about girlfriends. Consistent harmonizing and guitar solos which always follow the vocal melodies can create a feeling of monotony if you’re not on board, but the little touches make for some special moments: Cuomo’s hair metal grunts in “Hash Pipe,” some gorgeously distorted chord choices in “Smile,” the whimsical bridge of “Island in the Sun.” This 28-minute album is prime pop punk without a gram of fat.
Weezer ("The Blue Album") (1994)
Weezer’s first album was the perfect blend of two of Cuomo’s favorite bands, Nirvana and The Beach Boys, and this profoundly confident debut was littered with perfect pop songs buried under layers of distortion. “The World Has Turned And Left Me Here” washes out an acoustic ode to getting dumped under dropped tune fuzz, the doo-wop swing of “Holiday” bounces complex vocal harmonies off an army of electric guitars and “Surf Wax America” is a perfect double-time grunge tribute to Brian Wilson. And then there are the seismic singles: “Buddy Holly,” anchored by its innovative Spike Jonze-directed music video, and “Say It Ain’t So,” which dominated ’90s radio thanks to confessional lyrics and heart stopping shredding. The mix of catchy choruses, nostalgia and hard rock posturing would become the band’s calling card for the rest of their career: venture too far away and they’re ripe for criticism, stick too close and they’re in danger of becoming a legacy act. But Cuomo, who was just 23 years old when the band recorded this album, was overflowing with creativity, and it’s hard to imagine Weezer maintaining a nearly 30 year career without this big bang.
Pinkerton (1996)
The lore of “Pinkerton” is well documented: Cuomo goes personal on a shaggy emo opus a decade before it’s fashionable, Rolling Stone pans it, he drops out of the music biz and returns five years later with the emotionally neutered “Green.” But take away the fabled backstory and you’re left with one of the best-written records of the ’90s. Diving headfirst into difficult second album territory, Cuomo zags away from the typical rockstar confessionals into an collection of songs that furiously wrestles with the loneliness, boredom and anger that comes with touring. The results are so honest and gruesome Cuomo sent a note to the Weezer fanclub before it even came out, warning them “Pinkerton” would explore his “dark side.” The lyrics to each song are sketches bleeding with specificity: opener “Tired of Sex” makes hooking up on the road sound absolutely exhausting, “Across the Sea” laments falling in love with a teenage fan, “Pink Triangle” bemoans falling in love with a lesbian, and gorgeous acoustic closer “Butterfly” ends with Cuomo whispering “I’m sorry.” But lest it feel like a somber affair, the band’s playing is sharp and rowdy, distorted and blown. The intimacy of the lyrics reflect off the sweeping guitars of “No Other One,” stumble alongside the shambling swing of lead single “El Scorcho.” While it’s not surprising that the band would never again match the heights of “Pinkerton,” it’s a miracle it was released at all.

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Larita Shotwell

Update: 2024-02-08