It was quite a difficult time for Rock music in 1994. Grunge was still omnipresent, despite the fact that Kurt Cobain had committed suicide that year, promptly leading to the eventual slow and gradual decline of the genre’s popularity. In late 1992, an unknown band named Weezer recorded a demo tape, convincing Geffen Records to sign them onto their label afterwards. After that occurred, the band decided to enlist Ric Ocasek of The Cars to produce this album, during which the band had a bunch of internal issues during the recording of it, in relation to personnel. Still, it was completed. This album, known to Weezer fans as the “Blue Album” was released to universal critical acclaim and sold fairly well over time. The music here is seen as a classic Alternative Rock album, which no doubt inspired quite a few to pick up the guitar to learn it. Without further delay, let’s jump in and take a listen to this album, and hopefully, it will live up to its promise of being an excellent listen.

My Name Is Jonas begins with acoustic guitar arpeggios, before quickly launching into a loud, overdriven and awesome tune with excellent electric guitars. This is the sort of music that social outcasts at high school or Napoleon Dynamite himself would listen to. The vocals are ambivalent but tuneful, and this sounds a lot unlike anything else out there. The guitars are so loud that during their breaks in the music, there is loud feedback erupting from the guitars themselves. An enjoyable listen, with interesting and articulate lyrics. This is a better listen than many others in the post-Grunge scene of the 1990s. In the second half, there is a tempo change and the music sounds fiery and excellent. The guitar solos here are short and sweet. A great song to listen to, there is a harmonica solo towards the end, which is definitely different. A great start to the album, it ends with the acoustic guitars, once again, and “My name is Jonas” is sung to conclude the track.

No One Else begins with some loud and heavily driven guitars, followed quickly by singing about one’s girlfriend. Again, this is a consistent and sensationally cool tune. This is about relationship issues, and the music here is super sweet. It’s not as aggressive as the Sex Pistols, nor whiny like Nirvana, it is just simple and powerful music that works. The ambivalent sounding singing is a real treat to hear. This album, along with others such as Oasis’s Definitely Maybe (released in the same year) is a great blueprint for 1990s Rock music and beyond. A cool tune, this is about breaking up with a bad girlfriend, just to look for another more promising girlfriend instead. The guitar solos on this tune really sound great, with a large amount of feedback and volume on it. A fantastic listen, this shows a rather witty and different perspective on relationships. Awesome to listen to. It ends with sustained guitars, straightforward and brilliant.

The World Has Turned And Left Me Here begins with a drum-led intro, powerful electric guitars and nicely plucked acoustic guitar parts. This eventually leads into a rather emotionally lyrically penned tune. Weezer plays very loud and decent guitar parts throughout. Again, this is another excellent and listenable tune that works very nicely. The chorus is singalong: “The world has turned and left me here, just where I was before you appeared”. A cool tune about more male-centered relationship issues, without sounding overly sexist, this works a real treat. Weezer obviously don’t necessarily fit into a particular genre of their own, they just make loud Rock music. All the same, this tune is an undeniably powerful one. There is a loud guitar solo throughout before the band launches back into the song section. A really fantastic and top tune, this is lyrically about alienation and such. The song sounds sweet with some good vocal overdubs and poses a question to the listener towards the end. A cool guitar solo finishes this off. Another interesting and consistent tune to hear, it ends with more acoustic arpeggios and guitar feedback. Sweet.

Buddy Holly is an ode to the famous guitar player. This is a strange tune to listen to but continues the theme and sonic consistency of the album. If anything, this music is very much proto-Blink 182 and the 1990s Punk bands that followed Weezer. An awesome listen that sounds very youthful and pure in its intent, this is a short and bittersweet lyrical tune, matched perfectly with simple singing and loud guitars. An awesome listen, and far better than some of the music coming out today. It is a warped and cool listen throughout. A cool tune about being in love and looking like Buddy Holly to a lady, this ends fairly quickly, running less than three minutes in length. Neat.

Undone – The Sweater Song begins with some brief drum rolls and launches into a strange melodic tune with clean electric guitars. This gets going with some samples of conversation that sound odd. It quickly launches into a passionate yet ambivalent sounding tune. This is an interesting song that has more snippets of conversation throughout, likely to imitate a house party situation with a guy who just doesn’t care about anything when spoken to. A weird listening experience, but a piece of music that is good and in line with the rest of the album. Towards the middle is a melodic key change with very loud and ecstatic guitar soloing. Undeniably, this is a cool tune to enjoy. In fact, this album oozes cool throughout, and this song is another tune to show that. A great listening experience, Weezer sound consistent and competent throughout this tune. Great to listen to, this is a very good quality and euphoric listen with simple, but heavy guitar riffing. Towards the end, this builds up dramatically with wonderful harmonies. A fantastic listen, it gets loud and chaotic to finish. It ends with sustained and feedback-laden guitars, with melodies repeating. A genuinely great listen. It ends with some warped piano sounds, odd alright.

Surf Wax America begins with clean electric guitar arpeggios, launching into a good and thrashy song that is powerful. Indeed, this is an ode to the joys of surfing. This is the sort of thing that The Beach Boys would do if they were a Punk band in the 1990s. Regardless, another joyous and pleasant listening experience that deserves to be heard by more people out there. A really fantastic listen, this is the sort of music that those who skate, surf, roller blade or do similar extreme sports should hear. There is a breakdown in the second half, with some gentle bass styled sounds and the chorus sung very gently. This is looped with other lyrics played as well. It then returns back into the main section of the song quite nicely. A genuinely cool listen, and it requires shades on to be heard. Sweet.

Say It Ain’t So begins with more odd and clean sounding electric guitar parts. It quickly gets going into a slow and gentle ballad piece that sounds really cool. The song here has a gentle, Reggae feel throughout. The lyrics are very socially aware in this song. Soon enough, this song gets heavy and loud guitars to enter during the chorus, and it all comes alive here. The tune goes between quiet/loud dynamics in the verses and chorus, which is a really Grunge sort of thing, ironically enough. The song is an enjoyable listen and does not have any screaming vocally, which is a good approach musically. This is another solid gold winner of a tune. Some of the lyrics present are quite humourous as well, this tune is a good one to listen to in that respect. Loud guitar solos make up the second half, and the group proves their worth in the Rock history books. Brilliant music, it ends with more guitar feedback and strummed clean electric guitar riffs. Excellent.

In The Garage begins with acoustic guitar and harmonica, before dirty guitars and vocals quickly enter. This tune is the ultimate piece of music that Garage bands should cover. Musically, this is a great social commentary on the sort of things that one can experience, being a young male. It does sound brilliantly awesome. A really sweet tune to hear. These songs are very relatable if you love Rock music and play guitar yourself. This is a cool tune, and a must hear for all Rock fans out there. A fine and fantastic piece about the joys of youth. There is a loud and weird guitar solo in the right channel, along with some other neat and noisy sounds. Great to hear, and it is a great musical statement to listen to. A really cool tune, and a very worthwhile addition to this album. It ends with loud guitars sustained out and more harmonica.

Holiday is not the famous Green Day song. It begins with loud guitars and keyboard in the background. It quickly launches into a joyous and upbeat tune about travelling with a girlfriend to various places across the world. A cool tune, once again. This sounds exceptionally awesome and cool to listen to. Ridiculously awesome and simple, this is what is intentionally worth playing on a road trip, or something similar. There is a breakdown with quietly spoken vocals, bass guitar, hi-hats and finger clicks. Soon enough, it launches into downstroked chords and returns back into the main section of the song. This is a pleasant listen, and it just sounds really great. Another worthy addition to this album. It ends with sustained singing and guitars that both hit the same note. Excellent.

Only In Dreams is the final track on the album, being an extended eight-minute long piece. It begins with some deep and dark bass guitar playing, along with hi-hats and acoustic guitar. This gradually has other musical elements enter, and sounds quite dark and eerie. This sounds quite different as a result. Eventually, singing emerges that sounds like a great narrative to the music at hand. Nonetheless, this slow music jam is a good listening experience that simply works well. The chorus has loud and noisy guitars galore, and this tune is okay, but not the best from this album. It’s not filler, it just takes a little while to get going. It is clearly on as the last song for various reasons. This is Weezer in storytelling mode. Interesting and deep listening anyway. The chorus has a loud set of guitars to match the theme of the song and album nicely. A good and different jam, without being absolutely fantastic, however. The midsection of the song has many loud guitars and loud singing which is good. The singing concludes for a bit, leaving just loud and noisy guitars. It goes back into the verses, with loud guitar swells and clean guitar playing in the right channel. This sounds good, even if the tune outstays its welcome a bit too long. Still, this sounds resounding good effort-wise, it is difficult to fault this album and as well, this song. A cool tune to listen to, it builds up with drum rolls and electric guitars towards the end. This is quite suspenseful as a result. It launches back into a jam section right towards the end, which is different. A good conclusion to a memorable album that is quite unlike anything else out there. It ends with bass guitar playing away.

This is a very good album that, despite having some flaws within it musically, particularly on the last track, works incredibly well and is a staple of USA culture today, in particular. The music here is a great listen and although some will not get some of the lyrics or playing upon hearing it, this is the best album that sums up the way young people can relate to. Should you listen to this album? Give it a go, especially if you like loud guitars and ambivalent singing to match. Weezer fans should note that there are re-releases of the album with extra tracks, so seek that out if you are interested.

A cool album for younger people to enjoy.

8/10