Pinkerton (studio album) by Weezer

From II 04/13/2025 13:57

One of the few albums on BEA that has a track rating average range of 86-90, which could mean according to BEA users that all the tracks in the album complement each other and create a balance of arguably no weak points. That astonished me when II first noticed it, since it's almost completely nonexistent on BEA, therefore, elevates the album's acclaim. Some track ratings have dropped a little bit, but it still has the same effect, and it is also impressively the 35th best album of all time on BEA by track rating average.

Musically and compositionally, it is very well made as it is balanced with each track flowing naturally from one to another with the Gb Major key being used several times, and there are also some key changes, tempo changes and dynamics changes in the songs usually as the 2nd chorus ends, which overall is not very common in rock music, hence, it enriches the compositional variety of the song's rock-ish instrumental capabilities and transcends the experience, and most importantly was inspired by the operas the frontman Rivers Cuomo was listening back at the beginning of the album's production, which more commonly feature the musical technicalities Pinkerton has.

Lyrically, it shares themes of rock-star fame issues, Japan, depression and struggling finding love and hoping to preserve it. Which makes the album more vulgarly adult-oriented in the lyrical sense and discusses on some inner-feelings and issues more relatable for people in the depressive sense, although some lyrics across the album can feel openly awkward (Across the Sea is the most lyrically uncomfortable song, and Tired of Sex is quite explicit as its title etc.), which is probably a main reason why the album got mixed reviews when it was released, but later on achieved probably one of the greatest positive changes of opinions regarding an album ever in modern music history, since Cuomo in this album is generally discussing about struggling unsuccessfully finding love and its consequences and not wanting being alone, something which people can relate to, and other than that, it's compositionally very well-made.

Pinkerton is one of few albums in modern music history which started out as a big project, which was supposed to be a rock opera called: Songs from the Black Hole. Cuomo was inspired to make one after listening to a recording of the 1904 opera Madama Butterfly, which the song Butterfly takes its title from and the album's title Pinkerton is taken from one of its main characters. The US & Japan themes are inspired of the opera's story and its sad themes inspired Cuomo to make sad music. However, the project was abandoned as he felt lonely studying at Harvard university at the time, and the project turned out be a short 34-minute 10-songs album, similar to how The Who's Lifehouse was shortened and how the Beach Boys' SMiLE would be recreated as was planned decades later.

An importantly great album which is an all-time favorite for me, because of the natural flow of the tracks' music.
II've always preferred it over the Blue Album since for me and as the track ratings on BEA shows: five songs of it are strong while the other five are weak, so it enlarges the imbalance, which Pinkerton doesn't have.
The album's B-side (tracks 6-10) is the strongest part of the album for me since it showcases strong tracks one by one, so it's possibly one of musically strongest B-sides on any album ever, and is thematically the album's climax.
Could it be one of best music albums of all time? Absolutely so! As it is very well-composed, planned & themed! It is the Pet Sounds of the 90s!

More overrated than Radiohead's OK Computer. Nope, I don't get it at all...

Album Rating: 87.20
(872/10)

Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Pinkerton

24.09.1996

1.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Tired Of Sex 95
2.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Getchoo 91
3.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - No Other One 80
4.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Why Bother? 81
5.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Across The Sea 84
6.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - The Good Life 93
7.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - El Scorcho 81
8.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Pink Triangle 90
9.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Falling For You 89
10.Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Butterfly 88

Ranked in order:

* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Tired Of Sex 95
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - The Good Life 93
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Getchoo 91
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Pink Triangle 90
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Falling For You 89
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Butterfly 88
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Across The Sea 84
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - El Scorcho 81
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - Why Bother? 81
* Weezer (Pink - US - Sep 96) - No Other One 80

Yeah, this album is very cringey at times, but at the same time it's irresistibly catchy power pop. If I ignore some lyrics and painful (at least for me) vocals I can vibe to it. I still slightly prefer Blue Album.

From pedro1976 09/17/2023 11:38

played this countless times since 96 and never understood why it's highly regarded, 2 or 2.5 stars at best - glad I kept chipping away at it as listening last night (Sept 17 2023) something just clicked into place! fantastic stuff..

An album that is quite honestly as fantastic as every Weezer fan says it is. This was Weezer at their artistic peak.

There is a lot of fun to be had with this record but there isn't much substance backing this up. The music isn't complex or multi layered which means it heavily relies on every hook hitting which it doesn't on here unfortunately. There are some obvious exceptions where the hook gets completely stuck in your head for ages but this is only on around 4 of the tracks on here. The rest of the music on here is mediocre and doesn't have much to keep you coming back as it is quite basic. Overall, this record is very over rated on this site which might lead to people over hating on it, with possibly myself included right now, but there just isn't enough quality on here for it to be amongst the greatest of all time.

More consistent than anything I heard from Weezer.

Solid album

From Jboy56 03/29/2022 07:08

I do not get the ratings in BEA, IMHO this is not 112th best album ever, no way.
I can barely stand it for the energy the joy of making. It sounds very garage the playing is nothing special here. Some fun songs, yes, But not 112th best., no