This is one of the interstitial pieces from Songs From The Black Hole, a project previously discussed here in greater detail. Clocking in at around 44 seconds, it’s a short song more notable for its purpose in the rock opera’s story arc than it is for its musicality. Rivers Cuomo apparently found it integral to the story: “Oh No This Is Not For Me” is on both of the beta tracklists for the unfinished opus.
The song is a brief continuation of the conversation Jonas (Rivers’ character) and Maria (Joan Wasser’s character, although she was never contacted for the project) have been having for the past few songs, most recently “Come To My Pod.” Jonas realizes he is leading on his fellow space cadet and realizes he must put a stop to it; Maria (here voiced by Cuomo himself, although pitch-shifted up to sound a little girlier) tries to soothe him, but Jonas is too ashamed — seguing into the next song in the arc, “Tired Of Sex” (later finished and released as the opener to Pinkerton). Musically, “Oh No” is a jarring, staccato rocker that quickly transitions into legato to symbolize the emotional release felt by Jonas in his admission of guilt. It’s a cool little transition piece — one strangely not on Cuomo’s proposed tracklist for Alone 2 — but one that would need to be in the context of a finished Songs From the Black Hole to be fully appreciated. Perhaps someday…
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This is my favourite of all the “shorter” songs from SFTBH.
Rivers sings with great emotion in the Jonas parts and the melody reminds me of Pinkerton.
Sure it’s short but it’s a really great piece of music! And having it moving into Tired of Sex would have been a genius move.
While I’ll never even consider agreeing with anything Melack has to say, after he professed his unabashed love for The Relationship/Thought I Knew. He does make a nice point.
Just the basic transition from this song into “Tired of Sex” is one of the most underrated, genius ideas that Rivers has ever had. He could have been a (much) lesser version of Brian Wilson; i.e. pop genius/revolutionary, but settled or a much lesser version of himself in the end.
Chuck – you’re quite the negative Weezer fan.
I do agree, though, with that last statement of yours.
and back on topic – the first time I heard this song I turned if off within the first 5 seconds. It took me a long time to actually enjoy it. Now I really like it.
I must agree with at least the design of Chuck’s approach to analyzing Weezer’s music, though; I’m not here to provide a strictly akousmatikoi analysis of the band’s canon, but rather one that keeps its context in mind. In discussing a turd like “Space Rock,” we must be at least aware of the fact that this was made by the same author as songs like “Across the Sea,” “Falling For You,” “Say It Ain’t So,” etc. I think we’re all sober enough to admit that if Maladroit were Weezer’s only album, none of us would care about them at all.
Never said that I loved Thought I Knew, it’s an ok song. Though I get your point Chuck
Dear SOYREV,
I honestly believe that “Say It Ain’t So” may possibly be the most overrated song in Weezer’s entire canon. Maybe because I’ve heard it so many times or maybe just because beneath it’s lyrics it kind of lacks a lot of depth.
Side Note: I was innocently watching “Say It Ain’t So” (Acoustic) and it was really, really, really wonderful until the…………chorus. Thanks Brian!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsfYmMH1hOA
Since I am blind, would it be possible at all for someone to type out that proposed Alone 2 tracklist and post it in a comment here?
I think this song is neat but female-Rivers really freaks me out whenever I hear it. It’s kind of scary/creepy to me.
Hey Ludicrosity:
1. Paper Face
2. Thrown It All Away
3. Don’t Worry Baby (Beach Boys cover)
4. The Purification of Water
5. I’ll Think About You
6. Walt Disney
7. Come to My Pod
8. Oh Jonas
9. Please Remember
10. The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World
11. I Want to Take You Home Tonight
12. I Was Scared
13. Bad Girl
14. My Day Is Coming
15. I Don’t Wanna Let You Go
16. Softies
Ah, more Black Hole…
Not much to say about this bit, other than that it’s a nice lead in to Tired of Sex, and doesn’t have a ton of impact as a standalone.
I liked the idea of the Black Hole plot, but some of it (and definitely this tune) is built around sentiments I don’t really relate to anymore. Jonas’ biggest moments of drama and emotional crisis are because he porked down some chick he wasn’t necessarily in love with. It’s like… dude, you just stuck your dick in a floozy… it happens sometimes, get over it.
Thanks for that tracklisting, that is most interesting. Seems like there are more unknown songs on that one than there was on the last one. I wonder what the Rivers solo demo of Paperface will sound like and hooray for Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World!
His ‘female’ voice really freaks me out.
just a random little note: there’s a wikipedia entry on Alone 2 that explains where all the songs came from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_2
My lord, I want that disc so badly.
Whoo, I created that Wikipedia page! That was a project for me to figure out how to work Wikipedia. Glad to see it’s of some use.
Anyway, I really like this song. It’s got some really interesting theatrics to it; I also like your point about it changing from stacatto to legato as a release for Jonas – interesting, too, that Maria doesn’t come in until it goes legato.
Also, yes – I can just barely hear this song segueing straight into “Tired of Sex” in my head, and it’s incredible.
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