With Weezer dropping their latest album Oh Human this month, I thought it would be fun to look back at their discography. The golden period of Weezer ended in 2001 (or did it?), and the perception is that their subsequent albums were either hit-or-miss or just plain awful. I maintain Weezer have achieved greatness a few times since the Green Album, though you'd be forgiven for having missed it. The low points in their career have been really low, and many fans checked out a long time ago. With the hopes of bringing some of you back into the fold, I present Weezer's albums ranked from worst to first.
I genuinely thought that the Red Album would herald a purple patch for Weezer but Raditude proved me wrong. Raditude was an ill-conceived cock rock album with members of the Hollywood elite tagging along for laughs and it showed. It tried to be funny but ended up being the album that broke my trust with the band (and probably lost them a lot of fans). There isn’t a salvageable song on the album. 1/10
Where has Weezer gone? The Black Album is a funk/disco/pop record that doesn’t really reflect “old” Weezer in any way or do justice to the genres it toys with. I‘m not actually sure who this is for, to be honest. This is the point where lyrically Rivers is trying too hard to stay contemporary and appeal to a younger audience, rather than growing old gracefully. This is a another huge mis-step. 2/10
The album where Weezer and notably Rivers confounded us again. The band totally change their sound here and lost all the momentum and good grace of the White Album. That album's sound is pushed aside for what is ostensibly a boring, pop/disco pastiche. Lyrically it reverts back to the Raditude-era, featuring crass, poorly-rhymed couplets. Opener ‘Mexican Fender’ is designed for summer concerts and is actually not too bad. Everything else on here is just baffling. I’m all for the band trying new things but Pacific Daydream doesn't feel sincere. It’s slightly more palatable than Raditude though. 3/10
The one where Rivers sold his soul to the industry, wrote some terrible songs and probably made a shit load of money! ‘Beverly Hills’ was the single that took them stratospheric with its vacuous lyrics and poor white boy rapping, and ‘We are all on Drugs’, the song that the white middle class folk rallied around at keg parties. I cannot forgive Weezer for this one. It nearly ruined their legacy for me. 4/10
The Teal Album is a covers album and the single, a cover of ‘Africa’ by Toto initially showed promise. But in reality, there is not much to shout about here. The covers are all relatively inoffensive and not overly adventurous. Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid‘ is given an interesting re-working, and ‘Africa’ received huge airplay. A few more rock songs could have possibly made this set of songs more interesting. As it is, its an interesting curio, but it doesn’t really deserve a “color” album cover. 5/10
Originally an odds and sods collection of tunes that didn’t make it on Hurley, Death to False Metal finds Weezer turning up the riffs again. The album is more reminiscent of Maladroit in that regard. DtFM was missed by most people, but it's genuinely an interesting addition to their catalogue. Some of the lyrics are a bit cringe worthy, particularly those to ‘Blowin My Stack’. Ultimately, this is a fun and raucous record, worthy of It’s inclusion into their discography as a "proper album". 6.5/10
This was a surprise release brought forward by the pandemic and finds Weezer with the guitars turned off and a 36 piece orchestra brought in—and y’know what? It works! It really does. Lyrically this is the Weezer we have been asking for. It probably should have followed the White Album, as it feels conceptually tied to that record. OK Human is a welcome addition to their catalogue and is a genuinely interesting album. 6.8/10
Hurley marks the start of the band's late-career purple patch. Weezer clearly took the public feedback for Raditude onboard, because Hurley is reminiscent of their early records, and has some great tunes on it. Songs such as ‘Memories‘ and ‘Trainwreck’ show the emotional vulnerability from Rivers that was missing from Raditude, while ‘Where’s my Sex’ was a play on words for laughs. This is as sincere as they got for a while and a welcome return to form that gave us hope for what might come next. 7/10
The album that really made me start to think that Make Believe and Raditude had been bad dreams. The band continued to get us excited with a beautiful and sincere sounding record featuring a fuzzy analogue production that took you back to their 90s peak. ‘California Kids’ could be the sister song to ‘Only in Dreams’ due to its comparable soundscape. There are a couple of lyrical mis-steps here—notably on ‘L.A Girlz‘ and ‘Do You Wanna Get High’—but otherwise this is another glorious record, best listened to during the summer months or lazing at the beach. 7.5/10
The Red Album is what redemption looks like. I love this album! ’Troublemaker’ and ‘Everybody Get Dangerous’ may have been a bit too funky with their RHCP vibes, but ‘The Greatest Man That Ever Lived’ is one of the band's best songs and ‘Pork and Beans‘ was a fun lead single. ‘The Angel and the One’ was a great ballad too. Here Rivers let the other band members contribute, and I think that is why it's such a resounding success. 8/10
This is where the purist Weezer fans will tell you that the band started falling apart. I, however, will tell you that Maladroit is one of my favorite Weezer records. I remember Rivers describing it at the time as their “metal” album, and you can definitely feel that in the songs. They are grungier, heavier, longer and not as quite as polished as those on the Green Album. However ‘Dope Nose’, ‘Take Control’, ‘Fall Together and ‘American Gigolo' are all absolute bangers. 8/10
This is how you come back from a 7 year hiatus! I still remember the hyperbole about this record on its release in 2001. It’s not perfect, but it's consistent and delivers some truly great songs with ‘Crab’, ‘Don’t Let Go’, `O Girlfriend`, and the massive single ‘Hash Pipe’. It’s a cracking album. 8/10
This is it! The album where they nearly re-wrote all the wrongs of the past. EWBAITE is a near perfect Weezer record. Lyrically its River’s best since the Blue Album. It also features guest vocals from rock royalty with Justin Hawkins of the Darkness making an appearance. It also has a very atypical (for Weezer) three song prog-rock suite to close out the album, and is one of their most fun and adventurous records. I like it a lot. 9/10
An album hated by its author and hated by the public at its time of release. It's since become a benchmark “emo” album and has aged incredibly well considering the lyrical nature of the songs. Darker, heavier and an emotional rollercoaster. ’Tired of Sex’, ‘El Scorcho’, and ‘Butterfly are perfect in every way. These first two albums are still played regularly on my stereo. This one’s another 10/10.
The alternative rock album that managed to be one of the defining records of the post grunge era. It also happens to be one of the most perfect records laid to tape. Pop hooks aplenty, huge guitars and excellent songs. ‘Buddy Holly’, ’The Sweater Song’, ‘Say it Ain’t So’, ‘Only in Dreams’. It doesn’t matter which one you pick—every song on the album is a stone cold classic. It’s the album all other Weezer albums are judged against. 10/10
