Pitchfork

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Pitchfork, formerly known as Pitchfork Media, is a New York City-based daily Internet publication devoted to criticism, commentary, news, and interviews pertaining mostly to independent music. Pitchfork awards albums a score out of 10, while its track reviews give songs a score out of 5. Its editors have, over time, helped steer a critical consensus around Weezer's discography: the band's 20th century output is met with great critical acclaim, while everything released after 1996's Pinkerton has received negative to middling reviews.

Reviews

Albums

Release	Rating	Review date	Author	Excerpt
Pinkerton (1996)	(7.5/10)	September 1996	Ryan Schreiber	"Pinkerton might actually be a bit much for fans who were wooed with the clean production and immediately accessible sound of these guys' debut, but if given a chance, it might surprise even some anti-Weezer folk." Read full review
The Green Album (2001)	(4/10)	May 14, 2001	Spencer Owen	"The new self-titled Weezer album, as it turns out, is average from beginning to end. There are maybe one or two decent melodies out of the ten songs here, and the only change in tone comes with "Island in the Sun," the album's only truly enjoyable song and its catchiest hook. It's the first and only moment of even moderate pleasure in the record's brief yet far too long 28-minute length." Read full review
Maladroit (2002)	(5.4/10)	May 27, 2002	Rob Mitchum	"Don't come looking for any of the eccentric flourishes of "Undone" or "El Scorcho," as Maladroit is predominantly a one-note, homogenous affair. Deviations from the hard-rock mean are whiffs: "Death and Destruction" slows things down for some nazel-gaving, but can't come close to the emotional weight of a "Say It Ain't So," for example." Read full review
Make Believe (2005)	(0.4/10)	May 8, 2005	Rob Mitchum	"Sometimes an album is just awful. Make Believe is one of those albums. Weezer have been given a lot of breaks in their second era-- both The Green Album and Maladroit were cut miles of slack despite consisting of little more than slightly above-average power-pop." Read full review
The Red Album (2008)	(4.7/10)	June 2, 2008	Marc Hogan	"Already a self-described "old man" on Pinkerton, Cuomo is focused these days on reliving his lost youth-- probably the same reason some of us still listen to Weezer albums." Read full review
Raditude (2009)	(4.5/10)	November 4, 2009	Rob Mitchum	"The Weezer frontman seems to be stuck in an eternal puberty, forever 13... It's a characteristic that has always been at the heart of Weezer, from "In the Garage" onward. But it's never been more concentrated than on Raditude, which, from its goofy name and cover art to its Mountain Dew-jacked sound and melodramatic lyrics, is designed to hit 13-year-old boys directly on target." Read full review
Hurley (2010)	(5.0/10)	September 17, 2010	Ian Cohen	"Is this a bad album on its own terms, a rush job that could have worked better were the band not releasing records at this pace? Or was Weezer always a goofy pop band subjected to indie ideals they never believed in? Read full review
Pinkerton (Deluxe) (2010) Death to False Metal (2010)	Pinkerton: (10/10) Death to False Metal: (3.5/10)	November 3, 2010	Ian Cohen	"The supposedly juvenile feelings of Pinkerton still pack visceral power years after listeners would've supposedly outgrown them. It's a record that reaches well beyond a diaristic look at Cuomo's perversions, and instead asks something more universal: Do we really grow out of our teenage feelings, or do we need something like Pinkerton to expose them as merely being repressed to the point where they mutate?" "But as a clearinghouse for an increasingly prolific band, False Metal isn't particularly generous. In fact, judging from its wacky title/cover combo, 10-song tracklist, and overall quality, it dubiously achieves Cuomo's stated goal of creating the logical follow-up to Hurley." Read full review
Everything Will Be Alright in the End (2014)	(6.5/10)	October 2, 2014	Ian Cohen	"There have been many ways to qualify praise for Weezer and with each successive listen, Everything Will Be Alright in the End certainly earns the typically backhanded compliments: “actually not terrible,” “certainly better than Hurley,” “probably their best since...Maladroit, that was good right?” Or, Everything could be accepted for what it is and be held to a more manageable standard: how good does a Weezer album have to be before it can be considered actually good? As it turns out, about this good.." Read full review
Weezer (The White Album) (2016)	(6.2/10)	March 30, 2016	Zoe Camp	"...we listen [to this album] for reassurance that our beloved Weezer can avoid relapsing completely into embarrassment—and by those parameters, mediocre may as well be magnificent. " Read full review
The Blue Album (1994)	(10/10)	February 26, 2017	Jillian Mapes	"You couldn’t quite tell if Cuomo was mocking his song’s regressive narrators or sympathizing with them. But once you got past his defense mechanisms and sorting through the humor and cultural references, you found a portrait of a young man’s psyche, riddled with angst and insecurity. And it arrived on the wings of massive riffs and gnarled guitar solos that sounded like they were emanating from a Flying V—on every single song." Read full review
Pacific Daydream (2017)	(4.3/10)	October 26, 2017	Saby Reyes-Kulkarni	"Looking back, it’s no surprise that Cuomo’s distinct combination of fuzzy guitar riffs, sunny hooks, unabashed awkwardness, and roiling internal conflict struck such a profound nerve. But for the second album in a row, Cuomo anchors the music more specifically to California. Sure, that’s worked for scores of artists in the past, but a crucial part of Weezer’s appeal was that you could believe they came out of any garage on any tree-lined cul-de-sac in any suburban zip code in the U.S. Pacific Daydream, in spite of its name, mostly just gives you a feeling of being nowhere." Read full review
Weezer (The Black Album) (2019)	(5.7/10)	March 4, 2019	Peyton Thomas	"But this striving for the new and different comes at a cost. There’s no emotional throughline on The Black Album, no grand statement that continues from one track to the next. The songs never blur together, but they also don’t tell a story as the sum of their parts. A sense of tonal whiplash ensues, and the album’s highlights are best enjoyed in isolation." Read full review
OK Human (2021)	(5.8/10)	February 1, 2021	Ian Cohen	"Yet even as he writes about dodging Zoom interviews and what he ate for dinner, it still feels as impersonal as water-cooler small talk; both effortless and try-hard at the same time. “Numbers” or “Screens” or “Aloo Gobi” or “Here Comes the Rain” say nothing novel about living in 2021 (i.e., social media is an endless, no-win competition; we spend even more time on our phones; even enjoyable routines can become exhausting) aside from confirming that Rivers Cuomo still lives amongst the rest of us." Read full review
Van Weezer (2021)	(5.9/10)	May 13, 2021	Evan Rytlewski	"The title promises Van Halen, but the volume rarely exceeds Rick Springfield. Paired with Cuomo’s eternally boyish voice, the result is a cuddly, Build-a-Bear tribute to ’80 metal, with little of the rowdiness this music embodied in its heyday. The only parents this metal could piss off are ones with strong opinions about Pinkerton." Read full review
SZNZ: Spring (2022)	(4.4/10)	March 29, 2022	Brady Gerber	"None of these songs feel any less guitar-driven than past Weezer songs, but what’s notable is what Cuomo says later: that 90% of SZNZ was written during lockdown, with the remaining work now recording and producing the remaining EPs on tight deadlines. That’s how Spring feels: a lot of planning, a shrug to finish. Like OK Human, this is a product of the pandemic. Unlike OK Human, it actually sounds like it." Read full review
SZNZ: Summer (2022)	(4.2/10)	June 30, 2022	Jesse Locke	"The band has described 'SZNZ: Summer as an 'angrier, indignant scorcher of an EP' compared to the 'light-hearted tone' of SZNZ: Spring. This is most obvious on “What’s the Good of Being Good,” a Stanley Ipkiss-style incel anthem about nice guys finishing last with 'no loving wife to smile at me/No daughter to dote on with pride.' Sadly, Cuomo seems like he hasn’t learned anything in the 26 years since he sang about a woman who should be attracted to him even if she’s not interested in men. If Weezer ever wants to evolve, they should start by reflecting on why they still write songs like whiny teenage boys." Read full review

Songs

Release	Rating	Review date	Author	Excerpt
"You Won't Get With Me Tonight" (1995)	(3.0/5)	April 22, 2004	Christopher Weber	"A fun relic from a more innocent time, it's one that Weezer fans will definitely want to seek out while waiting for that next album." Read full review
"Beverly Hills" (2005)	(1/5)	March 22, 2005	Nick Sylvester	"For Chrissake, somebody give Cuomo a star so we can forget about him again. " Read full review
"Pork and Beans" (2008)	Not given	April 17, 2008	Marc Hogan	"...unlike anything on 2005's justly panned Make Believe, I have so far managed to listen to it without drowning it out in my own drunken imprecations or getting weird looks from bartenders." Read full review
"Can't Stop Partying"	(3/10)	October 30, 2009	Scott Plagenhoef	"Problem is, the joke/comment here on "Can't Stop Partying" is one-note and, ultimately, a snooze." Read full review

Other

• Pitchfork's staff ranked The Blue Album and Pinkerton as the 26th and 53rd best records of the 90s, respectively.
• "Pork and Beans" was ranked as the third-best video of the 2000s, and included in the list of the top 40 music videos of 2008.
• "We Are All On Drugs" was chosen as one of the 15 worst releases of 2005.
• Weezer's performance at Lollapalooza in 2005 was reviewed by the site.
• The album cover of "Maladroit" was chosen as one of the worst record covers of all time.
• A 2021 feature by Pitchfork ranked Weezer as the artist with the lowest average Pitchfork review score of any artist with ten or more reviews.
• The 2021 Weezer single "Tell Me What You Want" explicitly references Pitchfork in its lyrics. ("Don't be influenced by an office full of dorks / I won't mention any names... [coughing] Pitchfork")

External links

• 2007 Interview with Rivers Cuomo
• 2008 Interview with Rivers Cuomo