Weezer (The Green Album)

Weezer, typically referred to as The Green Album, is Weezer’s third studio album, released May 15, 2001, nearly five years after Pinkerton. It is Weezer's first "post-Pinkerton" album, their comeback album, and the first Weezer album to feature Mikey Welsh. It is notable for its short, poppy, and punchy sound.
==Background==
Weezer's sophomore record, Pinkerton, failed to achieve the same success of the band's debut album, polarizing critics and failing to meet sales expectations. Frontman Rivers Cuomo subsequently distanced himself from Pinkerton for the next several years, calling it a "hideous record" in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2001,Brunner, Rob. "The truth behind Weezer's crack up" Entertainment Weekly. 22 May 2001. adding, "It was such a hugely painful mistake that happened in front of hundreds of thousands of people and continues to happen on a grander and grander scale and just won’t go away. It’s like getting really drunk at a party and spilling your guts in front of everyone and feeling incredibly great and cathartic about it, and then waking up the next morning and realizing what a complete fool you made of yourself." Rather than return to Harvard, Cuomo instead opted to focus on songwriting again, performing shows with friends in the Boston music scene.Koch, Karl. Weezine Issue #11 - Fall 1997 Cuomo fronted a handful of small-venue concerts to try out new material and audition potential new bassists for Weezer following the departure of Matt Sharp, experimenting with both "goofball" songs (under the moniker "Homie") that didn't fit with the darker, more personal songs of Pinkerton, as well as minimalist, "drone rock" compositions utilizing as few chords as possible (a reaction to the negative response to Pinkerton, which featured numerous chords and key changes).
Cuomo ultimately selected bassist Mikey Welsh to join Weezer, and the two moved into a townhouse at Park La Brea in Los Angeles with drummer Pat Wilson.Mikey Welsh Facebook post. Original link: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10150292201982717Weezerpedia Discord Q&A with Karl Koch - April 2023 Weezer resumed rehearsals, primarily at T.K. Rehearsals in Los Angeles.Weezer Recording History - Page 10 Cuomo and Welsh later moved into an apartment on Sepulveda Boulevard. By the beginning of 1999, however, Cuomo had failed to write any material in which he felt confidence.Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo liner notes "My band-mates each were pursuing other projects." Cuomo reflected in 2008, "Weezer's manager and record company rep stopped calling me regularly. Friends and family grew distant. I encouraged the space so that I could be alone. I determined that with enough concentration and effort, I could analyze my way out of the predicament I imagined myself to be in, the predicament of 'poor songwriting'." Cuomo began an analytical process of regarding his songwriting sessions as "experiments," assigning each a number and maintaining a log dubbed "The Catalog o' Riffs." "I analyzed a large number of writing methods, varying what seemed to be every possible facet of the process: the order of the steps (guitar, melody, lyric, beat, riff, etc.); the tempo; the feel; the level of distortion on the guitar; whether I was composing aloud or in my head; the time of day; my emotional state; whether I had eaten or not; the number of drinks I had imbibed, if any. My goal was to ascertain the one method by which I could write the best songs." Meanwhile, he unplugged his phone, painted the walls and ceiling of his apartment bedroom black and covered the windows with fiberglass insulation.Rockland, Kate. "Student With a Past" The New York Times 16 February 2006.Brunner, Rob. "Older & Weezer" Entertainment Weekly. 25 May 2001. (Transcript)Cuomo, Rivers. "What I've Been Up to Since I Left School" Essay. 2004. He began studying and dissecting the songs of the bands Nirvana, Oasis, and Green Day, assembling his studies into a three-ring binder he called "The Encyclopedia of Pop," in hopes of discovering a formula for writing pop songs.Eliscu, Jenny. "[How the Weezer frontman cracked the code of the perfect song" Rolling Stone, Issue 898. 20 June 2002. Archived by Wayback Machine. (Transcript) By late summer of 1999, Cuomo felt despondent in his efforts and briefly considered returning to school, but missed the registration deadline. Weezer performed secret shows during this time—under the pseudonym "Goat Punishment"—wherein the band (sans Pat Wilson) covered songs from Nirvana and Oasis' respective debut albums. 
In December of 1999, Cuomo moved into a house and built a rehearsal studio in the garage. After receiving an offer to join the Vans Warped Tour, Weezer prepared by performing a number of shows at smaller venues (under their own name) in June of 2000. The subsequent Warped Tour revitalized the band's confidence. "I was practically in tears," Cuomo later said, "After years of isolation and being 100% certain that no one cared about us anymore at all, then to step out in from of 20,000 people that are screaming their heads off because of us was really cool." Weezer continued touring throughout the rest of that summer.
By mid-August of 2000, Weezer had begun meeting with various producers, learning and rehearsing new songs in their new garage, and ironing out plans regarding the recording of a new album.Karl's Corner - 08/18/2000 The band met with several potential producers, including (formerly of ), (known for his work with Blink-182) and (of ).Karl's Corner - 11/09/2000 Ultimately, though, the band decided to work with Ric Ocasek, who had previously produced their first album.
==Recording==
On November 15, Karl Koch confirmed that a third Weezer album had been greenlit by Interscope/Geffen and that recording would begin in December. In total, there were at least 75 initial songs in contention for the album, based on band demos and solo demos by Cuomo from the prior two years.Karl's Corner - 11/26/2000 Through the remainder of the year, Cuomo continued composing new songs while the band collectively rehearsed and pared down the list of potential songs.Weezer Recording History - Page 12 Ric Ocasek arrived in Los Angeles on December 10Karl's Corner - 12/10/2000 and the band pared down the list of songs to 24.Karl's Corner - 12/11/2000
On December 27, 2000, Weezer entered Cello Studios to begin officially recording the new record. Koch extensively documented the day-to-day recording activities via daily updates on weezer.com.Koch's updates (too numerous to list here) are archived on Weezerpedia beginning with an entry on December 27, 2000 and concluding with an entry on February 10, 2001 Cuomo, who had been writing new songs right up until the band entered the studio, continued writing during production on the album, developing the song (and eventual B-side) "I Do" on January 6 on a Wurlitzer organ. The song "Always," written more than a year prior, was revisited for the first time in the studio, and features a string trio led by arranger David Campbell.
Recording and mixing for The Green Album concluded on February 10, 2001.Karl's Corner - 02/10/2001
==Artwork==
The art direction of the album was handled by Chris Bilheimer with photography from Marina Chavez and Karl Koch. The album cover was shot in between band practices. It features Mikey Welsh, Rivers Cuomo, Brian Bell and Patrick Wilson standing left to right in front of a lime-green backdrop, in a manner similar to the band's debut album. The liner notes feature the text: "Torniamo all'antico e sarà un progresso," a quote from Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi meaning "Let us turn to the past: that will be progress."https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi
During an interview for the iTunes Originals compilation in 2010, Cuomo noted that the cover was initially supposed to be white and therefore the picture was shot in front of a white backdrop. In addition to his requested version, the art director provided Cuomo with alternate copies featuring different-colored backgrounds. After printing them out and putting them on record store shelves, he decided that green was the best choice, as it stood out the most.
The inside picture of the CD booklet is a photo of Weezer playing live. In the lower right hand corner of the image the shadows of Mike Nelson, Tom Servo, and Crow from the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. Best Brains, the production company that produced MST3k, is credited in the liner notes. Under the CD tray of the album on the white paper's edge, the word "no" can be found. Some fans speculate that this is a response to Radiohead's album OK Computer which has the text "I like you. I like you. You are a wonderful person. I'm full of enthusiasm. I'm going places. I'll be happy to help you. I am an important person, would you like to come home with me?" This has, however, not been confirmed. The band's official explanation was vague, simply stating, "No means no."
The album is dedicated "In loving memory of Mykel and Carli" for Mykel and Carli Allan, the sisters who founded the Weezer Fan Club, who died in a car accident in 1997.
==Reception==
===Critics===
====Individual songs====
==Track lists==
<tabber>
|-|Original album=
|-|United Kingdom release=
|-|Japanese release=
|-|Unmastered leak=
</tabber>
=== Other songs recorded during Weezer (The Green Album) sessions ===
*"Always"
*"Break Up"
*"Brightening Day"
*"Christmas Celebration"
*"The Christmas Song"
*"Cryin' and Lonely"
*"Homely"
*"I Do"
*"No More Disappointments"
*"Oh Lisa"
*"Starlight"
*"Sugar Booger"
*"Teenage Victory Song"
==Early leak==
Around early 2001, fourteen songs from the album session were leaked. Most of them featured slightly different edits or song parts, all were unmastered. Some of the songs appeared under early titles. It is unknown who leaked the songs.
==Personnel==
*Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
*Patrick Wilson – drums
*Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
*Mikey Welsh – bass guitar, backing vocals
*Ric Ocasek – producer
*Tom Lord-Alge - mixing
*Ken Allardyce - engineer
*Alan Sanderson - assistant engineer at Cello
*Femio Hernandez - assistant engineer at South Beach
*Carlos "Loco" Bedoya - additional engineering
*Vlado Meller - mastering
*Pat Magnarella - management
*Karl Koch - "boot knocka", photographer
*Bobby Schneck - "guitarchitect"
*Atom Willard - "drum god"
*Chris Bilheimer - art director
*Marina Chavez - photography
==See also==
*The Green Album demos
*Thoughts from a Green Mind (or, It’s Not Easy Being Green) - An essay by Karl Koch on the album's 20th anniversary
==References==
==Footnotes==
Category: Weezer albums
Category:Self-titled records
Category:Weezer albums produced by Ric Ocasek
Category:2001 releases
Category:Mikey Welsh
Category:Geffen Records