In general rock crit parlance, “space rock” refers to a subgenre innovated by bands like Pink Floyd in the 1970s, then revived and updated a couple decades later by the likes of Spacemen 3 and Failure (particulary on the latter’s masterpiece, Fantastic Planet). In Weezer parlance, however, “Space Rock” refers to probably the worst song off of Weezer’s probably worst album (another close contender being “My Best Friend,” from Make Believe).
At least this one is short. In fact, at a paltry 1:53, it’s the shortest album track Weezer has ever released. But it wastes no time of its brief life, from the aural barf of the instrumental track to Rivers Cuomo’s embarrassingly self-righteous lyric. “Space Rock” is a song about the intense level of online communication with his fanbase he maintained at the time, during a brief period in ’01/’02 (the somewhat less offensive “Private Message” also addresses this subject, as does an unsurfaced song called “Message Board”). Here Cuomo complains, “You wanna cry / When you’re dealing with the kids,” referring to the fans who were giving him negative feedback about The Green Album and the increasingly lackluster Maladroit session samples Weezer were then uploading to their homepage every few days. “They know it all / And they’re pinning you to boards” is a double entendre referring to both the fans’ complaints and the medium through which they voiced them, These backhanded insults might have had some bite were they actually placed in a decent song, but “Space Rock” sounds like an argument being lost.
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