During the mid-90s, Robert Pollard — frontman of the then-infallible Guided By Voices — was making fascinating songs at an unprecedented rate. He was working as an elementary schoolteacher when considerable indie rock fame came to him on the brink of his 40s, and, as he released scores and scores of songs per year, he had some fascinating things to say about his creative method. Speaking of his inhumanly prodigious (and, at least then, surprisingly consistent) output, he boasted, “I can write 5 songs while on the toilet — and 3 of them will be good.”
Even more interesting was his tendency to title songs before they were written. “If I write a whole page of great titles, I have to give them personalities and write songs for them,” he said in an interview circa 1995′s classic Alien Lanes. “I just can’t stop.” After all, he reasoned, how could songs with titles like “Tractor Rape Chain” and “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” be bad?
He wound up being right — and with a title like “We Are All On Drugs,” how could Weezer go wrong? That seemed to be the consensus among fans when tracklists of acoustic Make Believe demo sessions began trickling into Weezer.Com updates, anyhow. After all, with a title that bizarre, daring, ridiculous…how could a guy like Rivers Cuomo mess it up? Brian Bell’s commentary on the song, which was released in tandem with the album, seems to suggest as much:
I remember the first time Rivers played it for me, and just felt this, like, ‘can we do this?’ You know, I mean, this is a hit song, without a doubt. Just singing that chorus the first time, when we played these songs acoustically in the office, it was just a riot because it was just so much—it was like I felt like we were doing something illegal by saying that. And there were thoughts like, how are parents going to like this? Or you know, are we going to be banned from kids, you know, listening, whatever, their album collections?
That’s the feeling Bell got on first listen — so what on earth might’ve changed between then and the final mixdown of the album version, which the ever-snarky Pitchfork review sharply summed up as having “an anti-drug message stiffer than Nancy Reagan’s Diff’rent Strokes cameo”? In the same conversation, it is mentioned that the original version was much quieter and “all mellow” — perhaps there were different lyrics, or a different tone and feel. Band historian/archivist Karl Koch has recently said as much about the Make Believe sessions in general. But if one thing’s for certain, it sounds like Bell’s anxieties about the release of the song — at least given the version we have — are a bit superfluous.
To the man’s credit, however, the guitar intro he contributed to the song is one of the Make Believe version’s sole redeeming factors. It’s a big rock sound — Pat Wilson apparently pushed the song in that direction — and Bell’s intro serves its purpose nicely. When Scott Shriner’s bass pans hard into the mix (well, as hard as one can pan into a mix this compressed), it’s a nice, elevating little moment. And then the verse drops.
The chugga-chugga riff is the song’s least significant problem — in fact, a complete vocal and lyrical revamp could actually make this song pretty decent, at least with a little more space to breathe in the mix. It’s energetic, Bell’s aforementioned intro works nicely, the solo rips, and the bridge contains the first reappearance of the “Hash Pipe” *uhn!* Aside from that minor victory though, the vocal fore is where this song utterly falters.
Firstly, those lyrics. It’s embarrassing enough that Cuomo references Mercedes-Benz (in the first line), but it’s even worse that he does it with such angry, jealous high schooler conviciton — and, very transparently, because he wanted an easy rhyme for “When you’re out with your friends.” Hm. “In your new Mercedes-Benz,” perhaps? Yeah, let’s go with that one, Rivers.
Couple that with the melody and meter in which these words are sung and it’s nigh unbearable. As has been pointed out countless times, the verse very blatantly nicks its grating melody from the old “Diarrhea Song” that proliferates through the minds of third graders every school year. You know, “When you’re drivin’ in a Chevy / And you feel something heavy…” Which sadly suggests that even the ole Mercedes-Bens line was grifted shamelessly from the messy bowel anthem — a quick Googling reveals that at least *six* verses of “The Official Diarrhea Song” include reference to driving, several of which explicitly name a car brand (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 — man, footnotes would be nice right about now). Just replace the “diarrhea, diarrhea” refrain with a double-tracked “Ooooon druuuugs,” and there you have it — besting both “I Do” and “Dreamin’” (both FAR better songs, besides) as the most humiliating, cringeworthy rip-off in Weezer history.
Lyrically, the chorus is no better: “We are all on drugs, yeah / Never gettin’ enough / We are all on drugs, yeah / Give me some of that stuff.” Shriner’s backing vocal — “Never get enough!” — is generic and obvious, as is the “Whoo!” that gleefully slams our collective head against the cold, hard curb that is the returning verse.
The bridge is something of a respite — I do dig those “ahhhh” backup vocals, the progression and lead melody’s driving force, and the unknown tongue that is that glorious “uhn!” — leading us into a scorching solo (I think Cobain), a tasty fill from Wilson, and a delectably noisy build back into the chorus (actually one of the most alive, tantalizing musical segments in Weezer’s output of this decade, if you care to isolate it from its context). The bridge is also an interesting story: on the album’s first pressing, Cuomo sings, “I want to confiscate your drugs / I don’t think I can get enough.” Shortly thereafter, Koch posted an update on .Com saying that this was a mistake, and that future pressings would contain the “correct” bridge — which wound up going, “I want to reach a higher plane / Where nothing will ever be the same” (taken on its own, that might as well be one of Cuomo’s recent paeans to Vispassana meditation).
That bridge is the one that was released on the “Drugs” radio single that, despite Bell’s confidence in its hit potential, failed to perform. Some have speculated that this could be due to Geffen Records (“pure evil,” as David Lawson suggests) demanding that Cuomo re-cut the vocal to make an even MORE sanitized version of the song, the painful nadir known as “We Are All In Love.” Click to witness an aural and visual (courtesy director Justin Francis) abomination that stands as very nearly the worst song and worst video Weezer has ever released. I know I was just singing praises for the bridge/solo segment of this song, and there are certainly Weezer songs lacking even that much merit (mostly left to rot in the vaults of 2001 and 2002, thankfully), but the places where this song embarrasses are otherwise so copious and so great that it’s hard to give it a free pass based solely on a good bridge. We’ve discussed this theme once before, with “I Don’t Want Your Lovin’.”
In the end, Cuomo is, in many ways, not all that different from Mr. Pollard. It’s just that, while Pollard’s likely to write 5 songs in a sitting — 3 good, 2 bad — and release all of them, Cuomo’s likely to do the same and squirrel away all but maybe one of them. Whether it’s a good one or a bad one is a crapshoot — and “Drugs” is as good an indication as any that even he himself has a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff, nowadays.
63 Comments
IF ANYONE SAYS THIS SONG IS: “BAD, BUT HAS GOOD QUALITIES” “UNDERRATED” ECT. I will implode or explode. Don’t do it people. Please.
Instead though, while on the toilet, Rivers writes 5 songs, all terrible, but Brian Bell thinks they are all “hit’s” “without a doubt.”
I agree with everything. I like how you pointed out the “uh”, the intro and the bridge as being pretty cool, yet being completely overshadowed by the awful lyrics.
As soon as you hear that “Mercedes-Benz” line you know this song is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Bell has the best taste in Weezer, he wanted Miss Sweeney instead of though I Knew and he is the first to admit if he thinks something went wrong in recording (as seen in MB commentary). He also saves that song with his intro, he should get writing get credit for it. (Although his CV will look better without this song on it.)
I’ve never heard the diarrhea song, but i remember loving WAAOD when it came out and i was 13 or 14 and thought it had a good sarcastic message and it appealed to me. Make Believe is definitely a young teenagers album.
Despite my general distain towards all things Make Believe, I always sorta enjoyed this. I mean, it IS shit but I don’t know, it just doesn’t irk me. Maybe its because it doesn’t feel like squandered potential, or maybe its the intro or the kind of badass solo. Regardless, we need a VCD 2 so Rivers can talk us through his EPIC performance in the EPIC video.
this intro sounds like a 13-year-old 80s pudelmetal head practicing his first solo. i don’t get how it can “save” anything. this song is overall a one big dumb 80s arena rock song with cuomo trying to rock out like in long gone avant guard days. and it fails, avan guard, with all it’s cheesyness, was a lot better.
I never cared for this song. I always remember articles at the time of release comparing it to having a huge Def Leppard style chorus. As you mentioned Soy, it sounds extremely compressed, has an awful verse melody like the diarrhea song, and the lyrics are pretty terrible. I remember my non-weezer fan friends lamenting “ANOTHER new weezer song that mentions drugs?!”
I heard this song about a month before the cd release and prayed it wouldn’t be a single, but alas, it was, and i remember it was somehow a shock to many board members that the video and song were not a big hit. I would have preferred Perfect Situation be the second single and Pity be the third. Pity at had less of the compressed sound like seemingly all their post-2k singles has during the chorus “explosion” I think people were just starting to get tired of it at that point. I know I was.
Also, does anyone remember the rivers interview where he was asked about the “love” edit and actually said it was better than “drugs” and he wished he had thought of writing it that way originally? I guess that was right around the time of his whole “here are my demos, you guys all do what you want with them” phase.
>I would have preferred Perfect Situation be the second single and Pity be the third.
pity is one of the greatest songs PP, it would bring weezer back to more mature audience, imo. it’s such a cool song i sometimes can’t believe it was written in that phase.
Chuck: I would expect you to hate this song 100% (I’m close to that point myself), but do you really think 5 out of 5 songs Rivers writes nowadays are failures? And if so, why do you bother still devoting time to them? I’ll admit that I am far from a fan of the vast majority of the PP material, but if there was absolutely zero beacons of light to keep me going, I would stop listening to this band entirely. (Which is what I did sometime around a year after MB)
JustBlueMyself: Yep. A taste about on par with…well, blowing yourself, probably.
Yellowcamaro: I can’t find a definite version, but this will give you an idea…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln_crYIBw00
Low: Surely nothing about this song actually redeems “WAAOD” in the sense that “it’s a good song, but only because of that Brian Bell intro,” or something. As you can see, I gave this one the Very Worst distinction.
Sandwiches: Ugh, right — the Def Leppard comparisons I had long forgotten. To begin with, a fucking awful band to mimic…
Haha, yeah — WAOOD, “Dope Nose,” and “Hash Pipe.” Are there other =W= drug songs?
Where the hell is that “In Love” quotation? In any case, that’s a horrific thought…C’mon, Rivers…
Here I will list some my many grievances with this song:
1. Conceptually stupid. And not in a quirky, endearing ‘Sweater Song’ kind of way. Rivers’ explanation that this was supposed to be a serious song about society and over-stimulation is more disturbing than anything else, because it just comes across as another big, dumb rock song about nothing… a la Maladroit.
2. Compressed to hell. Like the rest of the album, any life that might have been found in the studio performances are sucked out by the mixing style they’ve adopted.
3. Another lame, lifeless, Maladroit-style guitar solo. Sorry guys, this is not good guitar work. It’s not musically interesting, and there’s just absolutely no finesse to the performance. Double-tracking solos and panning them to the side can be cool as a certain effect, but to me it seems like Rivers resorts to it because his tone is weak and the performances are too limp to carry themselves. Amatuer shit.
4. Rivers ALWAYS goes for the easy rhyme. This was a central problem of MB. Although it was good to finally have songs that weren’t obviously just nonsense again, the cheap easy rhymes really kill the record for me. Rev covered the idiocy of the ‘Drugs’ lyrics well enough, so I’ll leave it there.
5. WAAIL uber-fiasco. Rev covered it.
6. Bridge lyrics uber-fiasco. Sort of says something about how little they cared about this record artistically, since they went in TWICE after the initial release to make pointless amendments to it.
7. Shriner’s BGV’s. A huge problem that carried over from the early A5 sessions; these are obvious, artless choices that serve to irritate the listener rather than add to the energy of the track. The dude just has bad taste, folks. He’s proven this over and over.
“Whether it’s a good one or a bad one is a crapshoot — and “Drugs” is as good an indication as any that even he himself has a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff, nowadays.”
Priceless. Just…priceless. I couldn’t have said that better myself. The one defense I will give this song is that when totally wasted in dancing around an apartment with friends, it puts everyone in a festive mood.
@soymilk
i was referring to yellowcamaro’s post. i have nothing to add to yours, i think.
SoyRev….
http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1837
Third fan question down, towards the end of the response. It wasnt EXACTLY how i remembered it, but apparently rivers credits Brian with the idea.
So once again, its just from that phase in his life where he was pretty hands off and crediting others with making his songs better than he originally made them.
also, an interesting tidbit from that article, given what happened with the Red Album…
What’s the most metal thing about Weezer?
SLAYER99, NORTH FORK, CA
The guitar sound. I don’t really think it’s changed much from my metal days, and I don’t think that came from any other influences — it had to come from the Scorpions or Judas Priest. And also guitar solos. We suddenly realized we’re one of the only bands that play guitar solos. I couldn’t imagine not having a guitar solo; that’s just what happens after the second chorus.
WAAOD is complete bullshit. It fucking sucks. I will admit that with pride.
But I have grown to enjoy it. Same with BvH. but more so with BvH.
they should reuse Bell’s intro in a better song. it deserved better.
@Art V.: I disagree w/respect to the guitar solo. Maladroit was just noodling, there’s some actual melodic direction to the guitar solo in WAAOD and it transitions nicely back into a reprise of Bell’s guitar intro.
The music rocks. The lyrics suck giant coconut balls.
Hey don’t be dissin’ Def Leppard godamnit!
Rivers saying he can’t imagine a song without a guitar solo makes him a lying son of a bitch. I wonder what happened between MB and Red to make him change his mind.
Oh and I thought the bridge lyrics were “I wanna reach a higher plan, where things will never be the same.” Not that it matters, the lyrics still suck.
And of course I meant “higher plane,” not “plan.”
Art: Excellent points, all. And yeah, I really do hate to rag on the guy, but time and time again, Scott has proven that he likes the most pedestrian shit, and doesn’t seem to understand or appreciate what this band is actually good at. With Matt Sharp, Cuomo lost his best critic, and with Mikey Welsh, he lost someone who at least had a musical aesthetic that fits and gels with what Brian and Rivers (or at least, Rivers then) are into.
Sandwiches: Yeah, perhaps Rivers felt like it was a cliche of his songwriting that he wanted to spice up a little (by omitting it). He’s also said that omitting solos allows you to spend more time on the “storytelling” of the song, which is a shame because that overlooks the concept of the narrative solo, which, as we’ve discussed before, works to beautiful effect in “Across the Sea” and “In The Garage.” Imagine those songs without their solos…:|
Will: I have a hard time separating my experience of this song from its lyrics. I wonder how I would react to it if I never heard the song before, and was handed an instrumental as my only indication of what it is.
Ludicrosity: Okay, I’ll admit I know jack shit about Def Leppard…other than “Pour Some Sugar On Me” (or whatever), which is not a song I think Cuomo needs to turn to for guidance.
I’ll edit the post to amend the lyrics there — I was going from memory and frankly didn’t want to bother looking up the “re-released” version.
def leppard’s drummer lost his arm and is playing only with the one that’s left. or, at least, that’s what i’ve heard. it’s all i know beside the fact, that it’s a essencially shitty soft-metal band from the 80s.
now, on the other hand, van halen’s debut album quality rocking out would be a great move for weezer. not fucking europe quality. eh.
I kind of worded my analogy wrong.
but
in universal terms it means this
Matt Sharp leaving/getting fired + Scott Shriner’s “awesome” musical tastes + Rick Rubin marked the end of Weezer, at least a full album of “good” Weezer.
I’m past the point of expecting an all-the-way-through “good” album from Weezer anymore — whatever modicum of hope remained there died with TRA. I mean, had you subbed off the four worst songs and put on the Deluxe tracks, it might be a different story, but…
That said, TRA at least revived my hope in getting legitimately great, A+ Weezer songs again. We got a small handful of ‘em, and for that I am extremely grateful. Makes me think that Album 7 might get us another good handful, or might even be a better on-the-whole record. I won’t get my hopes up, but we’ll see what’s in store yet. I’m excited.
I think it’s interesting how both the most amazing and the most horrible songs inspire very thoughtful and lengthy blog posts. Just shows that Weezer, good or bad, is always interesting to discuss and debate, and that’s probably one reason I love following their exploits so much.
SOYREV: I can’t wait until you do TGMTEL, i.e. THE most singularly overrated song in Weezer history. It will be fun.
I’m really glad I found this website. Anyways, yeah this song is pretty terrible. Definitely my least favorite on Make Believe, which I think is a pretty decent album, actually. I agree with the noisy build-up before the last chorus being really really good. It’s better than the rest of the song!
This is the worst song that Weezer has ever released on an album. Period. The only reason it’s not the worst Weezer song ever is because “I Don’t Want Your Lovin’” exists.
About the bridge: I actually think the original lyrics were better. Not because they’re better lyrics, but because they made the song more hilarious and therefore more bearable. “I want to confiscate your drugs”? Golden!
And about Rivers quotes on “We Are All in Love”: My personal favorite is, “In my mind, love and drugs are the same thing.” Dude went to Harvard.
Chuck: Whenever that one comes up in the mix, it’s going to be an epic post — less an essay than a dissertation. I keep running notes on Weezer songs as thoughts come to me for future posts, and the raw notes for TGMTEL are already longer than some of the posts on this website…
Brado8: I’m glad you found it too!
Red: I think “Cold Dark World” takes that award. Worst Weezer song, released or otherwise…
Haha, good point about the “love and drugs” quote. C’mon Rivers, you’re better than that…
You know, I like the verse and bridge of the song, at least musically. The chorus just totally destroys the song for me. If they were all on drugs, they probably would have written a better tune.
After the intro, this song is the biggest letdown on a Weezer album and the one song I consistently skip on MB or in Winamp. I like the intro, I like the solo. Hell, I even get the message of the song- but the execution, in terms of the verses and chorus (not to mention the ‘confiscate/higher plain’ mixup), this song is unlistenable. CDW is much better.
I don’t know if it’s me, but it seems like Brian Bell was calling everything (maybe not everything, but this song and Beverly Hills) a ‘Hit Song’ back in aught-five. Say what you will about Scott’s influence on the band, but Brian’s attitude, to me sometimes, is the worst non-Rivers transgression.
You think so? That’s funny; to me, “Cold Dark World” isn’t even the worst on the album it comes from. I think it’s definitely better than “The Spider” (sorry), “King”, “Heart Songs”, and “Everybody Get Dangerous”. The verses are pretty terrible, but the chorus and bridge are kinda cool – at least the song lives up to the “darker” tag that Cuomo was giving the album before it came out. But I guess that’s another post for another day.
Brado8: Haha, that was the assumption a lot of people made when first seeing the track title. A song where they’re all on drugs!? It’s gotta be great!!
Gumby: Brian’s influence PP has definitely been the best and most well-meaning out of anyone in the band, by far.
Red: CDW BETTER THAN “THE SPIDER” holy fuck I’m going to go blow up a boat
That’s how I feel about you saying “Knock-down Drag-out” is better than “Smile”!
It’s not a better song, necessarily. But it achieves what it’s going for much more thoroughly, and I credit it for that. That’s why Maladroit is so unsatisfying — there’s not a single song on that album, with the possible exception of “Burndt Jamb,” that truly achieves what it’s going for. Brian Bell has (lightly) implied as much.
I am sorry but I think The Spider is one of the most over-rated Weezer songs ever. That synth is terrible and drowns out what could be a great song. I also hate how damn whiney Rivers sounds in that song. It just sounds like a crappy attempt at emo to me.
I don’t doubt that it could’ve been an excellent song but they took the wrong approach with it, imo. The line about stars being unable to speak makes me cringe.
We’ll talk about “The Spider” later, but the synth is probably the best part. I’m not really sure what it has to do with emo, either.
I like the thought about the stars, but I do think Cuomo’s lyrics conveyed it less-than-eloquently. I also dislike the “I’m insane” conclusion. Other than that though, I have no gripes…But again, a discussion for another day.
It’s just the way he sings in the song that reminds me of emo, but I will stop hijacking the discussion on WAAOD. lol
Just listened to We Are All In Love… wtf is up with the gay harmony whenever they sing “In looove” during the verses? I didn’t think it was possible but that really made the song worse. I think it’s an interesting idea, depecting how love makes people crazy and comparing it to a drug but… ugh, this is dumb.
Why is Brian’s calling this song a hit such a bad thing?
This song has hit written all over it. People ate up BvH. This is BvH 2.0.
Whether us hardcore fans hate this or not, it’s still radio gold. People think it’s funny, it’s catchy as hell, and it’s rawkin’.
And with Brian’s comments, it can obviously be discerned that he hates the living shit out of this song. He was trying to tip-toe around it, but you can tell he doesn’t like it.
And personally, I’ve just become so saturated in Weezer that i enjoy this song now. I don’t skip it anymore. I kinda felt like I was skipping it cuz i was far too hip and pretentious for that kind of cheesy song.
“Why is Brian’s calling this song a hit such a bad thing?”
Only insofar that he was proven wrong.
“And with Brian’s comments, it can obviously be discerned that he hates the living shit out of this song. He was trying to tip-toe around it, but you can tell he doesn’t like it.”
Where do you pick up on that?
Ludicrosity: Yep, the “iiiin loooove” harmonies suck. They sound really weird, almost off…
Also, just realized that out of the last 10 songs discussed on this songblog, only 2 have been album tracks! Sheesh.
DID THAT GUY REALLY SAY “CDW” IS BETTER THAN ANY SONG?
Christsakes, I didn’t know people like that are in existence. I don’t even really like “The Spider” that much but it still completely and utterly SHITS on CDW.
From the comment you left, I’m going to give you some links to music you need to listen too, instead of CDW. Fuck.
Start with this
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=zewwjr1s
May god have mercy on your soul.
“God Only Knows” is one of the 10 best songs of all time (if you’re asking me). I like listening to Smile more than Pet Sounds on the whole, though.
I agree, but a basic radio-bred person like that would never understand the artistic, pop-avant-garde genius (which was the music Brian Wilson actually liked making)of an album like SMiLE, he’d probably write off Pet Sounds, as “boring.”
To me though, “God Only Knows” has totally lost its true musical meaning. So many people I know go ‘Man, I love “God Only Knows”‘ but they have no clue about Pet Sounds, SMiLE or any album The Beach Boys made. They pretty much consider Brian Wilson “Little Duce Coupe”
Cabin Essence + Song for Children (mostly that opening horn) suite, one of the most amazing musical suites ever made.
soyrev – Obviously it didn’t do well as a single. But I think he was trying to say (and so am I) that this song is nothing but radio trash. complete radio bullshit, made to be a hit for 13 year old girls.
And you don’t get a vibe from that Brian quote that he was tip-toeing around trying to say that this song is nothing other than generic fluff?
disclaimer: I still listen to and enjoy WAAOD.
Chuck: Give me a fucking break. I never said “Cold Dark World” was a good song. I just said it was better than some other shitty songs. You jump to conclusions way too fucking fast, man. You need to breathe a little.
By the way, Pet Sounds is one of my favorite albums.
I understand what Trainer is saying on CDW vs. Spider. If you put a gun to my head, I would tell you I prefer CDW over Spider, even though I think both are mediocre. To me, Spider feel’s like Red’s version of Freak Me Out — Really cool idea, but somewhere it derailed for me. Sure the lyrics are nice, and the melody is pretty, but it just DRAGS like no other song on that album. And I’ll be the first to say that I don’t have a musical ear, but to me the lyrics are getting drowned out by the noise behind it in the middle. At least CDW has that nice little bridge by Rivers that breaks up the monotony. In fact, I think it was that one item that caused me to rank CDW ahead of Spider.
This is way off topic…. we need to discuss another songblog!
MNIJ: Eh, I don’t know if I see it. Anyone else have a take on this?
Red: I agree. Chuck, we love having you here, but please, relax a little…I like having extreme opinions represented here (just adds to the discussion), but you get so confrontational and defensive about your points that it sometimes borders on paranoia. For example, Red loves Pet Sounds — you don’t have to try to “educate” him on music just because one of his opinions really doesn’t jive with you (though in my opinion, he’s putting one of Weezer’s worst songs above one of their best!).
Tsar: I won’t get too deep into defending “The Spider” right now because it’s not the time for that quite yet…But my lord, I have never found a more universally misunderstood and undervalued Weezer song. YES the synths obscure the vocals at times, that’s the point…
And yes, I’d like another song entry too, but that’s going to have to wait till this exam subsides. I actually posted WAAOD early, it’s technically still “this week’s post.”
OK,
Sorry REV, I don’t take back anything I said, but i do take back the way it came out.
Thanks. : ) All in all though, don’t change!
Rivers’ revelation in Alone 2 about the “Say It Ain’t So” “vocal belting” explained the existence of “We Are All On Drugs” to me. The choruses both come from the same place vocally, yet are miles away in their lyrics (and in the fact that one has an awesome verse and another has crap). WAAOD seems to be from another one of his experiments: vocal belting – personal lyrics + crap verse. I also can’t believe that this song was chosen as a single before “Perfect Situation”. Pretty much killed Make Believe’s radio momentum after the success of “Beverly Hills”.
That’s “vocal belting – personal lyrics + crap verse + tea,” walfred. ; )
Yeah, imagine if MB’s singles progression was BvH, PS, “The Other Way” (all appropriate for the summer months following MB’s release), then “The Damage In Your Heart” and potentially TISAP (good fall/winter tunes). Would’ve been ideal! Like you said, WAAOD just killed it.
“Lyrically, the chorus is no better: “We are all on drugs, yeah / Never gettin’ enough / We are all on drugs, yeah / Give me some of that stuff.” Shriner’s backing vocal — “Never get enough!” — is generic and obvious, as is the “Whoo!” that gleefully slams our collective head against the cold, hard curb that is the returning verse.”
Haha, damn! I need to get back to this style of writing for posts, it’s very entertaining for me to reread.
I hate to say it Soy, but you are at your best when the song sucks.
I still think “This is Such a Pity” would have been a solid single after BvH and PS-”Hold Me” may even have been a nice radio ballad. The amount of effort put forth towards this song (big budget video, special “LOVE” edit, etc) is stunning. I really hope the eventual “Greatest Hits” album will not include this, seeing how it is neither “great” nor a “hit”. Do they even play this one live anymore?
Sorry for the double post, but I didn’t see this in the comments earlier-there is NO WAY Rivers didn’t realize that this was the “diarrhea” refrain. The fact that he uses the Mercedes-Benz lyric almost seals it. I can give him a pass on the Dreamin’/Bagel Bites thing, but I swear he knew what he was doing, and might have thought it was a nice hook, despite the elementary school vibe.
The elementary school vibe might be what he was going for, actually. For tha kidz
And no, this song has never been played live after the Make Believe tours. I share your concern about it potentially appearing on a Greatest Hits disc, but I have hopes that they’re not that dense.
Surprisingly, WAAOD sounds descent live. Although almost all of MB sounds better live.
Also, for a Greatest Hits, this would certainly make it. Its actually fairly well liked.
Their live sets pretty much feel like greatest hits compilations, and WAAOD is no where to be found… now how many discs will a weezer greatest hits album be?
I mean, it’s obviously not a GOOD song… but I do enjoy cranking it up whenever it happens to come on the radio. Although I really only do that because I still find the thought of this being a radio single laugh-out-loud funny.
I just wanted to say that I just remembered that where I live this was a bigger hit then Perfect Situation. I heard this CONSTANTLY after it was released, I heard Perfect Situation maybe once.
Also, I dont have much of a problem with this song. The lyrics are crap, yeah, but its ridiculously energetic and catchy. Not GREAT, but fun enough to rock out too.
Where do you live?
Vancouver, and I when I actually got into Weezer I was shocked that this actually wasnt a hit song.
I actually remembering it being a small hit here in South Jersey. Beverly Hills was the huge hit, and I think Perfect Situation played less than WAAOD.
It suits the radio well; that crazy loud beginning isn’t nearly as gnarly as when you’re having a peaceful ipod sesh.
I really hate Make Believe songs showing up on shuffle, it’s the loudest album that I have and WAAOD, Peace, and MBF all hurt my ears when they start.
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