I have been pretty unthrilled by Weezer’s output as of late, but their new single, the parenthetical-wielding “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” is surprisingly catchy and not as cloying as some of the other songs that they’ve been unleashing on the public as of late. “(Want)/Want” is a 3:30-and-out bit of powerpop that’s peppy and snappy, with a little bit of a bottle-assist on percussion, and I can see it becoming one of those songs that achieves omnipresence via use in film and TV medleys very soon. Hear it before it gets used in a lot of rom-coms after the jump!
Idea: Someone should mix this with Girls Aloud’s “Love Machine.” It worked last time, you know?
Weezer - “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” [YouTube]
Banana’s Music Club [Tumblr]
listening station
Weezer: Giving The People What They Want
Categories:
listening station
listening station
Hate it, sorry.
Similarities in the title aside, to me it’s coming off as a Cheap Trick/”I Want You To Want Me” rip off. Honestly, sing Cheap Trick along with the verse…or chorus.
@brasstax: haha, you don’t need to apologize to me!
@brasstax: Oh, and I’m with you.
I don’t know, ripping off Cheap Trick is the most direct path into my left ventricle, which will then pump it to the rest of my system and allow me for a few minutes to feel nothing but elevated and numb.
(You can tell I am a Smashing Pumpkins fan from way back, chorus to “Cherub Rock” and all.)
This is probably the catchiest thing they’ve done since Maladroit.
Not to rehash an old argument, but can we finally admit that Rivers Cuomo has never been the musical genius he’s consistently reported to be? Matt Sharp hung around for two VERY GOOD albums and then, once he left, Weezer released four NOT SO SPECIAL AT ALL albums (and are about to release a fifth if this and the two other songs we’ve heard are any indication). Coincidence?
Rivers is a cutie and has a neeto voice and all, but he’s clearly been the hack in the band from the beginning.
@brasstax: I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a hack, but I would say that he consistently gets the wrong idea about what fans like(d) about his music. Sure, Pinkerton was initially pilloried by critics, but the whole reason it became a cult fave was the combination of the tongue-in-cheek with the heart-on-the-sleeves lyrical content (and fairly complex music as far as power-pop goes). So he comes out of hiatus and releases the dashed-off Green Album, and people were so excited to have him back that they didn’t notice that it just wasn’t very good. I think he took from that album’s success that people don’t really give a crap what he does, ignoring the fact that he had tremendous goodwill built up among fans, and he began to turn Weezer into a novelty act. People liked Pinkerton because it wasn’t novelty songs like the first album, but he just keeps on with the blue and green album retreads like Dope Nose and Beverly Hills and Pork and Beans and (shudder) Heart Songs.
Weezer trying to borrow from Cheap Trick, perish the thought. (I’ve been saying similar about Weezer for about a decade plus. Have I mentioned I am a Cheap Trick freak?)
Butch Walker co-wrote and produced this, so of course it’s going to be poppy and catchy!
MAURA:
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs164.snc1/6133_554357820419_9800945_32866836_1047928_n.jpg
That is me. And that is Ida. And that is me in heaven.
This only resembles Cheap Trick so far as it’s fun and catchy, singing I Want You To Want Me along with it is a mess. And it really bugs me this lazy critical dismissal of everything post-Pinkerton… I’m pretty sure no one listened to Make Believe cuz popdork gave it a 0.0. The Damage in Your Heart is amazing, same with This is Such a Pity… Reminds me of people who think …Are Black Star is the pinnacle of hip hop. All you are is excessively fond of your teenage years.
On the contrary, Make Believe is the only one I thought was more than half-decent out of the post-Pinkerton catalogue.
I wouldn’t mind a studio version of the MGMT/GaGa mashup, though. I found it kind of fun.
@LeighBlack: For people who have lived near Atlanta, we remember that Butch Walker was also in Marvelous 3, Floyd’s Funk Revival, and Southgang so that’s not a given.
@Lucas Jensen: There’s plenty of us outside of Atlanta who remember all that stuff too. I’ve been a fan since Tainted Angel and I live in the good ol’ Midwest.