Rolling Stone

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Rolling Stone (sometimes abbreviated RS) is a United States-based magazine founded in 1967. Though its popularity and relevance has ebbed and flowed over the decades, it is one of the best-known publications in the world for music criticism. Weezer has appeared on its cover numerous times.

Rolling Stone and Weezer

Taken as a whole, Rolling Stone's critical response to Weezer has been generally positive. Most of the magazine's peers in music criticism have disparaged Weezer's 21st century output, with Pinkerton generally seen as the chronological dividing line between the band's acclaimed first-era work and panned second-era output. Make Believe, an album with a metascore of awarded 2005's Make Believe 4 stars out of 5.

Conversely, Rolling Stone's initial 1996 review of Pinkerton has come to be seen as emblematic of the middling reviews that the record received upon its initial release. Written by Rob O'Connor, the review faults the album for being juvenile and, interestingly given the present-day acclaim that the record receives for it's authenticity, insincere. Pinkerton went on to be named the third worst album of 1996 in the magazine's critics poll.

The magazine would eventually issue a new review of the album, written by Gavin Edwards in 2004, awarding it five stars.

Reviews

Albums

Release Rating Review date Author Excerpt
Pinkerton (1996)
Weezer Pinkerton.jpg
3/5 stars3/5 stars3/5 stars3/5 stars3/5 stars (3/5) 1996 Rob O'Connor "Weezer over-rely on catchy tunes to heal all of Cuomo's wounds. In "El Scorcho," the song's infectious chorus proves to be slim reward. "Tired of Sex," a look at a brooding stud's empty sex life, is as aimless as the subject's nightly routine."

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The Blue Album (1994)
Weezer The Blue Album.jpg
No rating given February 2, 1998 Paul Evans "But these four young survivors of the Los Angeles club wars can no doubt handle the mixed blessing of a novelty hit. Weezer's Rivers Cuomo is great at sketching vignettes (the Dungeons and Dragons games and Kiss posters that inspire the hapless daydreamer of "In the Garage"), and with sweet inspiration like the waltz tempo of "My Name Is Jonas" and the self-deprecating humor of lines like "I look like Buddy Holly/You're Mary Tyler Moore," his songs easily ingratiate."

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The Green Album (2001)
Weezer The Green Album.jpg
4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars (4/5) May 15, 2001 Rob Sheffield Cuomo assembles the old lineup to bash out 1994-style crunch-guitar nuggets like "Don't Let Go," "Hashpipe" and "Simple Pages." In the five years since Pinkerton, Cuomo has gotten more oblique about his girl troubles — there's no "El Scorcho" or "Pink Triangle" here, which is a shame."
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Maladroit (2002)
Weezer Maladroit.jpg
4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars (4/5) May 9, 2002 Ann Powers "Cuomo doesn’t want to wreck rock or even push too hard against its boundaries — the three-minute single is his favorite playground. Maladroit has a more disturbed edge than did the Green Album. Careening guitar solos stretch out the waistband on rockers such as “Fall Together,” while the teakettle harmonies on “Space Rock” recall Weezer’s forebears in hyperactivity, the Pixies."
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The Blue Album Deluxe (2004)
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4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars (4/5) April 19, 2004 Christian Hoard "Ten years on, as this double-disc reissue attests, these four thrift-store-clad guitar boys seem almost like visionaries. Crunchy nuggets such as "In the Garage" and "My Name Is Jonas" were fuzzed-out enough to blend in with other radio rock of the time, but Rivers Cuomo eschewed rock-star posing and relied on harmonies, big-ass choruses and tunes that attacked your inner lullaby."

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Pinkerton (1996)
Weezer Pinkerton.jpg
5/5 stars5/5 stars5/5 stars5/5 stars5/5 stars (5/5) December 9, 2004 Gavin Edwards "With all those true confessions, it's no wonder that Cuomo is somewhat embarrassed by Pinkerton now -- and that the record became a cornerstone of the late-Nineties emo movement. The self-produced album sounds as raw as Cuomo's lyrics, without any of the sheen that Ric Ocasek provided on the band's debut. But what makes Pinkerton more than a blog entry is Cuomo's unfailing gift for power pop."

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Make Believe (2005)
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4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars4/5 stars (4/5) May 19, 2005 Rob Sheffield "Not since Brian Wilson has an L.A.-pop mastermind gotten such musical mileage out of wanting to be an ordinary guy, not realizing that his psychosexual freakitude is exactly what makes him one."

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Raditude (2009)
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3.5/5 stars3.5/5 stars3.5/5 stars3.5/5 stars3.5/5 stars (3.5/5) November 2, 2009 Rob Sheffield "Raditude is full of gloriously cheesy Weezer tunes, led by the ridonk geek-love anthem “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To.”"

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Songs

Release Rating Review date Author Excerpt
"Memories" (2010)
Weezer memories cover.jpg
3/5 stars3/5 stars3/5 stars3/5 stars3/5 stars (3/5) August 13, 2010 Rob Sheffield "Now that Cuomo is a full-fledged adult charged with changing diapers and buying the family groceries, he's dreaming of the old days when people liked techno music, and he delivers the singalong chorus ("Memories make me want to go back there") with enough passion to make you think he's not entirely joking."

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Articles

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Date Title Author Archived link
November 3, 1994 "New faces, Weezer" Kara Manning
March 23, 1995 "Revenge of the Nerds" Mim Udovitch
August 23, 1997 "Weezer, That Dog Pay Tribute To Fans" Ari Bendersky
February 4, 2000 "Weezer Brace for Return" Jennifer Vineyard
May 30, 2001 "Q&A: Not So Serious Rivers Cuomo" Harry Thomas
September 13, 2001 "Weezer's Cracked Genius" Chris Mundy
January 22, 2002 "Weezer Ready "Maladroit"" Andrew Dansby and Jenny Eliscu
July 22, 2003 "Weezer, Rubin Get to Work" John D. Luerssen
September 26, 2014 "Matt Sharp on the Rentals’ 2014 Makeover, Hearing Weezer in Panera Bread" Simon Vozick-Levinson
December 13, 2004 "Weezer: Out of the Garage" John D. Luerssen
March 23, 2005 "Weezer Plot Comeback" Brian Hiatt
May 5, 2005 "Weezer's Invisible Man" Vanessa Grigoriadis
June 3, 2005 "Weezer Make Nice on Tour" Austin Scaggs
March 19, 2007 "When Rock Stars eBay!" Daniel Kreps
May 15, 2007 "Weezer: Album Six In The Works?" Daniel Kreps
October 17, 2007 "Rivers Cuomo Talks Solo Work, New Weezer Album, Ice Cube" Daniel Kreps
June 26, 2008 "Rivers Cuomo" Austin Scaggs
November 11, 2008 "Q&A: Rivers Cuomo" Kyle Anderson

See also

External Links