VIDEO: Weezer + Kenny G (naturally)

I try not to post anything about bands I don’t like, or even material I don’t like from bands I do like – because there’s just too much good music being made out there to dwell on the bad stuff.

That’s probably why I don’t write much about Weezer. They authored two albums that helped musically define my adolescence and then vanished. Earnestly hoping for them to make music again was like the holy grail of my high-school years, and I cherished every shred of information I could get. I made do with The Rentals releases, collected B-sides and EPs, jammed to that one Homie song; I discovered the internet and used it to watch the “Buddy Holly” video over and over. All the while I was listening to “Only In Dreams” on late-night drives and learning to play guitar by playing “My Name Is Jonas” and “The Good Life”.

Then the summer before my senior year, Weezer made a last-minute appearance at The Warped Tour in Ventura. For a 17-year-old who’d been waiting his whole high-school career to see them, that was life-changing. Later that year I snuck into their record release show at a Virgin Records in Hollywood and stood about 3 feet away from Rivers as my buddy and I finally rocked out to NEW WEEZER SONGS.

That day The Green Album was released. It wasn’t bad. But after all the years of emotional investment I’d placed in it, it was definitely a let down. I mean, how could it not have been. It had all my adolescent hopes and dreams riding on it. Now that I’m a bit older and wiser I can see that clearly. But I think I can also say (and fairly) that The Green Album is more than just a little bland, and all their records since then have been varying degrees of vapid. Fun. But essentially fluff. I don’t hate them – I mean, how could I? Rivers is so excited about what he’s doing – whether it’s a sing-a-long hootenanny or a Lil’ Wayne collaboration – and the songs are all hooky and a good time. I just can’t get behind any of it. Because it just doesn’t move me the way I always hope it will. I mean, can you believe the same guy who penned “Say It Ain’t So”  is writing songs like “Can’t Stop Partying” and “The Girl Got Hot”? Not that there’s anything actually wrong with that, it’s just not what I need from this relationship. You know?

BUT BESIDES ALL THAT, I think we can all agree that this video is pretty much the best thing on the internet (starting at 1:50):

Seriously. Can you even stop smiling? Because I can’t. It almost makes up for everything I wrote about up top. Almost. (You can check out the rest of Weezer’s AOL session HERE.)