I found the simple life ain't so simple

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

#294 : Weezer (The Blue Album) - Weezer (1994)

When it came out, Weezer’s debut was regarded as a quirky power-pop album with a couple of hit singles. The song’s were so catchy that some indie rockers wondered if they were put together by a record company, Monkees-style. But Rivers Cuomo’s band became a major influence on a whole generation of young sad-sack punkers. “People see us now as this credible band, and they assume we always were credible,” says Cuomo. “But, man, we could not have been more hated on when we came out.”

I liked "Buddy Holly" at the time and nearly bought this album several times back in the day - but somehow the planets never quite aligned and I never even got round to listening to it, so was interested to finally catch up with it.  And, I was really quite surprised by the outcome - I totally wasn't expecting to hate it as much as I did.  It reminds me of the punk albums that I've hated because of the vocal delivery - but, if anything, it's worse here because the songs are generally really good, but then they're just ruined (and it almost feels intentional to me as well).  This is something I never thought I'd say, but if Busted or McFly did some of these songs, I suspect I'd really like them - but in their current form, just no.

Wikipedia, of course, tells me I'm wrong - 15m global sales suggest quite a few people disagree with me.  The band's entry is more interesting, suggesting the band were kinda thrown together and became a word of mouth of hit, but their first two videos were directed by Spike Jonze - it was early days for him, but he was still a bit of a thing back then (and both videos are pretty impressive examples of what MTV wanted back then!).  To their credit, they're still hanging in there with an album planned for May this year.  "Customers also listened to" Green Day and Offspring, which it doesn't take a massive leap of faith to see - but I'd even pick Offspring over this album, which I must say surprised me.

#293 : Last Splash - The Breeders (1993)

How did a weird little tune like “Cannonball” make the Top 40? It’s an only-in-the-Nineties mystery that may go forever unsolved. On the Breeders’ breakthrough LP, Kim Deal made a record every bit as good as her old band, the Pixies, with her sister Kelly on guitar, singing about sex and summer over the surfy buzz of “Divine Hammer” and “I Just Wanna Get Along.” The adorable, acoustic “Drivin’ on 9” is a wonderful alt-rock take on the age-old rock & roll theme of going to the chapel of love.

Quite what Rolling Stone has against "Cannonball" is not entirely clear - it's a perfectly fine tune in my opinion.  I own and quite like this album - I wouldn't describe myself as its biggest fan because I haven't listened to it in ages with it remembered as being a bit uneven, with "Cannonball" definitely as the highpoint.  And re-listening to it, my opinion hasn't changed, but it does at least feel like they're doing something they like and they don't care if you like it, as opposed to Pixies who would often go out of their to try and do something you didn't like, just to fuck with you.

Wikipedia tells me that the video for "Cannonball" was directed by one Spike Jonze - is he the Brian Eno of this section?  It also tells me that a looped guitar sample of "S.O.S." was used by The Prodigy in Firestarter - I missed that the first time around and it's not the most obvious even when you're listening for it.  And that's pretty much all it has to say about the album - it obviously doesn't count as influential.  The entry for the band isn't much longer, although it did remind me that Tanya Donnelly was involved early on (but not on this album) - I love her from her work with Throwing Muses and Belly, neither of whom I expect we'll get to see on this list (but I've seen her live with both - of course!).  "Customers also listened to" The Smashing Pumpkins and Hole, who are definitely in the same ballpark.  Overall, I was pleased to listen to it again, but still don't really love it.

#292 : Van Halen - Van Halen (1978)

This debut gave the world a new guitar hero (Eddie Van Halen) and charismatic frontman (David Lee Roth). Tunes such as “Runnin’ With the Devil” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love” put the swagger back in hard rock, and Van Halen’s jaw-dropping technique, particularly on “Eruption,” raised the bar for rock guitar. “It sounded like it came from another planet,” Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready said of first encountering Van Halen’s playing. “Like hearing Mozart for the first time.”

I'd never heard this, but I was pretty much expecting some serious axe-work - and I'd by lying if I said it wasn't pretty much exactly what it delivered.  I can't say I loved it - but it did make me think my 17 year old self would have loved it when I was going through my Gary Moore phase (some other boys lead me astray, but I still listen to it with fondness).  The man certainly can play guitar - and David Lee Roth leads the songs with energy, if not exactly what I'd call skill.

Amusingly, the critics hated it on release but had to re-evaluate it pretty quickly and, of course, now they all agree it's the best rock debut ever (or something!).  Apparently as part of the promotional tour, they opened for Black Sabbath - they must have been "interesting" gigs to be at!    The Wikipedia entry for the band reminded me that he died last year (ten days after their original bass player died).  The most interesting section of the entry is, of course, the brown M&Ms section - a positively genius move which you must look up if you're not aware of it.  "Customers also listened to" Kiss, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister - all the names are in there.  Overall, I enjoyed this more than I was expecting without entirely loving it - but I'm hoping I get to listen to 1984 further up the list.

So we have a choice between the album I liked rather than loved and the album I liked rather than hated - so I'm going to let my 17 year old self give this one to Eddie.

#296-294 - Oh good, more Neil!
#291-289 - 3 from mid-90s to mid-00s, which is definitely one of my sweet spots.