There’s a point in Weezer’s existence where the band becomes this specific kind of creature: the unreleased demos tend are better than the often overproduced final release.
Two cases come to mind: Can’t stop partying, which started as a introspective lamentation and somehow lost all sense of irony (and emotion) once it got retrofitted for Raditude. Second case is This is a such pity.
Starting its life as a rocker not uncommon to what you would hear on the Green Album, This is such a pity’s life as a fledgling carried the name She who is militant. The song went nowhere but the riff was repurposed for Tell me what you did. Again, the sound was similar to that Green/Maladroit era: minimal production, cool guitar riff, quick drum beats.
The final form was This is such a pity. A quick 80s synth riff is now integral to the song, and the lyrics still have that Rivers Cuomo sentimentality. Rick Rubin’s overproduced the song, like everything on Make Believe, and I think that was Weezer’s major mistake with the album. It wasn’t the aping of Steve Miller’s The Joker, it wasn’t the last minute edit to We’re all on drugs. It was Rick Rubin who took a lot of what made Weezer who they are, and streamlined.
I see Make Believe as Weezer’s All that you can’t leave behind. It’s the moment they stopped caring on their music’s heart, and just went into spinning overproduced music. I find the odd song here and there that I quite like on their records, like I do with U2, but I no longer feel the same emotion as I had when I bought their first five albums.
I’m fond of Make Believe because it was a gift from my dad. We were at an FYI in New York during Memorial Day Weekend in 2005. The album was fresh off the presses, but already on discount. I was in-between jobs (i.e. unemployed) and he bought me the album to cheer me up. Any flaws the album has (and there are plenty to discuss) I just glaze over due to my dad’s generosity.
I had this novella idea that used all three versions of This is such a pity to match how a relationship goes under. She who is militant when everything is new and fresh, Tell me what you did when the road gets rocky, and This is such a pity for the inevitable break-up. In all three versions there’s this underlying sadness that is crucial to Weezer’s best work. Even Rubin’s shit work as a producer is superseded by Weezer’s nature.
-Sam J. Valdés López
