Weezer (Green Album)

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2. "Island in the Sun"Released: August 28, 2001
3. "Photograph"Released: May 15, 2001

Weezer (also known as the Green Album) is the third studio album by the American rock band Weezer. It was released on May 15, 2001, by Geffen Records. It was the second Weezer album produced by Ric Ocasek, who produced their debut album, and it is the only Weezer album to feature bassist Mikey Welsh, who replaced Matt Sharp.

After the disappointing reception for their second album, Pinkerton (1996), Weezer went on hiatus and the band members worked on side projects. During this time, their fanbase grew online and Pinkerton's standing improved. After a comeback performance at the Japanese Summer Sonic Festival, Weezer began rehearsing and recording new material. Following the ambitious compositions and confessional themes of Pinkerton, songwriter Rivers Cuomo wrote simpler songs with less personal lyrics.

Weezer received generally favorable reviews. It debuted at number four in the United States, where it has since sold over 1.6 million copies. Three singles were released from the album: "Hash Pipe", "Island in the Sun", and "Photograph". "Hash Pipe" was a worldwide hit, charting on seven different charts.

## Background

Weezer's second album, Pinkerton, was released on September 24, 1996. It sold poorly compared to Weezer's 1994 debut, perhaps due to its darker, more abrasive sound. Following the Pinkerton tour, Weezer went on hiatus. Frontman Rivers Cuomo returned to Harvard University to finish his studies, but dropped out to focus on songwriting. During this time, he formed a new band, Homie.

By February 1998, Cuomo had disbanded Homie and headed to Los Angeles to begin work on Weezer demos with guitarist Brian Bell and drummer Patrick Wilson. Bassist Matt Sharp was absent from rehearsals and became estranged from the band. On April 8, 1998, Sharp announced his exit from Weezer to devote his energy to his band the Rentals. It was quickly announced that former Homie bassist Mikey Welsh would take over on bass for Weezer.

Frustration and creative disagreements led to a decline in rehearsals. In late 1998, Wilson left for his home in Portland pending renewed productivity from Cuomo. Cuomo became depressed; he painted the walls of his home black and put "fiberglass insulation all over the windows and then black sheets of fiberglass so that no light could get through". During this time, he isolated himself and abstained from contact with the outside world. He also had braces put on his teeth, further damaging his self-esteem.

By 1999, the members of Weezer had again gone their separate ways; Wilson resumed work with his band the Special Goodness, Bell worked on his band Space Twins and Welsh toured with Juliana Hatfield. Meanwhile, Cuomo wrote 121 songs, nearly half of which would become demos. Bell would occasionally visit Cuomo and play songs with him.

Unbeknownst to the band, their fanbase was connecting and growing on the internet, and Pinkerton's critical and commercial standing was improving. Weezer accepted a lucrative offer to perform in Japan in August 2000 for the Summer Sonic Festival; rehearsals for the show reinvigorated the band. They returned to performing in June 2000, playing low-key shows around Los Angeles under the pseudonym Goat Punishment, ensuring that Weezer would only perform for longtime fans who would recognize the name.

Eventually, Weezer performed higher-profile gigs such as the Warped Tour. Cuomo said: "We went in there fully expecting to be booed and to have things thrown at us. But it was exactly the opposite, people were singing along to all the songs and just going crazy, giving us the best support. And I think that gave us the confidence we needed." The response led to further shows. MP3 demos captured live on the band's mobile unit and soundchecks surfaced on file-sharing services and eventually were released as downloads on the Weezer website. These songs are often referred to as "Summer Songs of 2000".

## Recording

On October 23, 2000, Cuomo announced that Weezer would start recording material "with or without" a producer. However, the band's record label decided to have the band employ a record producer due to the commercial failure of their self-produced album Pinkerton. The band began rehearsing and arranging both the Summer Songs of 2000 and newer material Cuomo had written at his home with engineer Chad Bamford. The band eventually decided to hire Ric Ocasek—who had also produced their debut album—as producer, and began sending demos to Ocasek during the summer of 2000. There was much debate among the band members as to whether they should record in Los Angeles or Ocasek's New York home, with the band eventually deciding to record in Los Angeles at Cello Studios. The band continued to demo new music daily and started to weed through more than seventy-five demos, eventually homing in on twenty-five potential album tracks in anticipation of Ocasek's arrival. Ocasek worked with the band to trim these down further to eighteen songs.

After the mixed reception to Pinkerton, Cuomo wrote simpler songs with less personal lyrics; he stated the songs "very intentionally not about me. Not about what was going on in my life, at least in a conscious way." Recording sessions began in early December, with Ocasek providing feedback by telephone. On December 27, the band embarked on what would be close to six weeks of studio work by playing songs repetitively in order to track the bass and drums parts. They also did "scratch takes" of the vocals and guitar, designed to get accurate rhythm tracks before being redone more efficiently later in the recording process. While recording the album, the band continued to perform gigs under the pseudonym Goat Punishment.

During the recording sessions, an executive at the band's label, Geffen Records, visited to observe the band's progress and expressed dissatisfaction with several tracks. This feedback eventually forced the band to discard a few of the album's possible songs. The band relocated for three weeks to a smaller studio in another part of Cello Studios where Cuomo and Bell worked on guitar takes while the entire band recorded vocal tracks. Ocasek said: "Rivers always does his guitar parts in one take." Mixing began on January 31 by Tom Lord-Alge at South Beach Studios inside the Marlin Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida.

## Track Listing

* 1. Don't Let Go
* 2. Photograph
* 3. Hash Pipe
* 4. Island in the Sun
* 5. Crab
* 6. Knock-down Drag-out
* 7. Smile
* 8. Simple Pages
* 9. Glorious Day
* 10. O Girlfriend