Weezer Recalls The Slow Building Acclaim Of Pinkerton

[@jimmyblood3416]

I’m Canadian and when Pinkerton came out it seemed like it was a big hit. Muchmusic played the El Scorcho video non stop. It wasn’t until I read interviews with the band that I found out that it actually bombed.

[@robmausser]

This is a weird thing that happens up here. Some albums that flop in the USA are huge hits here and we think they are big everywhere.

[@James-hn7vx]

So true, that video was on all the time. All my friends and I in high school were so into Pinkerton, had no clue it was viewed as a failure

[@brianmathews2926]

The older you got the more you realised Much Music was awesome. Far superior to MTV.

[@SwerveJr]

I can second this!

[@McDuffin]

Pinkerton came out when I was 15 and I identified with it immediately.

[@WhyTheHorseface]

I loved Pinkerton from day one. I don’t remember why I bought it. I wasn’t a super fan of the blue album. I never heard the entire record until after the green album came out. But Pinkerton remains my favorite Weezer album. Honestly haven’t listened to all of the seasons records and maybe once each Van Weezer and the white album and all of the seemingly dozens of other albums they’ve made in the last 15 years or however long since the Red Album.

[@matthewlane8955]

The Blue Album was the soundtrack of my life the summer it came out, and I loved Pinkerton immediately. It was such a departure from the first album, but still definitively Weezer. It also had more of an indy feel vs the polish of the Blue Album, and that was exciting, too.

[@izmo]

i was curious what band he was talking about that his friend was in. after googling, my best guess is nerf herder i remember first hearing pinkerton at one of those listening stations stores had in the aisles where you'd listen with communal headphones at a kiosk.

[@akiratheastronaut]

Pinkerton came into my life in 1997, in France, when I was 15. It blew our little socks off, sounded like nothing else, and we had no idea it had bombed.

[@satanismyusername]

Pinkerton was ahead of its time i think

[@eltravos99]

I was one of those kids who loved Pinkerton in 1999!!!!!!!

[@chanceyman100]

My favorite, been rocking to it since 16/17 No clue why anyone wouldn't love it!

[@Kakaroteditz2]

Pinkerton is the best Weezer album. Not one song that is skipable.

[@grzesiuszef]

I love you guys

[@memetrashcan9613]

This album still sounds as raw and brutally honest as it did in 1996. Easily their best album.

[@a5dr3]

Pinkerton is the best of the genre, and the blue album is a even better than that.

[@alfonsolopez7154]

Total revisionist history, perhaps in their minds it “bombed”…but I saw them at the Palace in Hollywood a couple of times when Pinkerton was released and the crowd was crazy for both the blue album songs and Pinkerton songs…now it’s being turned into a redemption type narrative, and that’s fine and all for their brand and KZbin shows like this, but it’s disrespectful to the fans who did buy the record on its initial release, who thought they had a special version of the record cover when the Pinkerton security company was threatening to sue for the use of their name, who called in endlessly to radio stations like KROQ so they’d play El Scorcho and later The Good Life, who went to all their shows, and no it wasn’t just these emo kids, it was still the same fan base from the blue album…and yes we still want Matt Sharp back in the band, and I was up in the front at Rivers’ reunion with Matt at Cal State Fullerton…just show some respect to the fans that did like Pinkerton from the get go without the help of the media or any other kind of influence to tell us what to like, we just liked the songs.

[@nightburrito9283]

Not revisionist history at all. People screaming for Pinkerton songs at a Weezer show is hardly 'proof'. Pinkerton fell off hard after it's initial release, and the reviews were straight up brutal. The pop fans who loved the Blue album left. Sales were dismal, the album didn't even crack the top 10 (peaked at 19 in US). None of the singles did either. It wasn't just "in their minds". Objectively, the album was a failure (at the time).

[@alfonsolopez7154]

@@nightburrito9283 Were you there nightburrito? Or are you going off what you read off some Wikipedia type pages...the point I'm trying to make is that this wasn't an utter failure like the popular narrative that people like you love to tell, including Rivers, I'm trying to point out that there was a very loyal faction that did get it immediately, that did love it as much as the Blue Album as soon as they heard it, that did help make every show a sell out, and I'm trying to give those people their props...go watch clips from shows from that era and you'll see sell out crowds with incredible energy, moshing to songs from both blue album and Pinkerton.

[@alfonsolopez7154]

@@nightburrito9283 I don't need "proof", I was there, I'm not getting my info off a Wikipedia type page, mine is an actual human account(wow, they still have those?)...you can say or see things however you want, I don't give two shits burrito, all I was saying is that those fans who appreciated Pinkerton from the get go, and there were a lot of us, deserve some credit for sticking with Weezer after all the alterna hype dissipated, but the redemption narrative sells better to these new generations than to describe the whole actual picture, it makes better copy for all y'all internet experts.

[@nightburrito9283]

@@alfonsolopez7154 I was there too dumbass. Writing a wall of text doesn’t make you any less wrong. Weezer doesn’t owe you anything. Theyre still touring and you can go see them anytime A few super fans chanting for the songs in 1996 doesn’t make it a success. Your definition of “success” is different from literally everyone else. So an albums success especially in the 90s was “units moved” and chart position. On both counts the album failed miserably. Not sure how else I can get that thru the dense cinder block you call a head. (Also note how paragraphs work. )

[@nightburrito9283]

⁠@@alfonsolopez7154I was there too you goofball. Writing a wall of text doesn't make it more true. I was in college those years and saw them countless times. Weezer doesn’t owe you ANYTHING. You can still catch them live. A few superfans screaming for Pinkerton songs does not equal success. Yes, Pinkerton had fans even then. So? Success metrics equals album sales and chart position - especially in the 90s. Reviews were brutal. Not sure why you hate facts and numbers so much. Oh right, they go against your “memories”. The revisionist history seems to come only from you reminiscing about the old days. Maybe you don't care about the metrics that make it true, but in that case it isn't "revisionist history". It's just you spouting nonsense. BTW that's what paragraphs look like. ^^

[@RudieObias]

Weezer ended when Matt Sharp left the band

[@nightburrito9283]

crybaby

[@Wundernuts]

Another in the long line of sophomore efforts that--following a popular debut--are creative successes, and often commercial failures, from artists struggling with their newfound fame and success. But they tend to be the most enduring. Paul's Boutique, The Bends also come to mind.