Post-Pinkerton

"I've Had It Up To Here" is the fifth track off of Everything Will Be Alright in the End, a return to form for the band and John's favorite Post-Pinkerton album. In discussing this song, John makes the case that it helps illuminate how the guy who wrote Pinkerton isn't as different from the guy who wrote Raditude as you might think.

"Any Friend of Diane's" is the only Weezer song named after an episode of Cheers. That's only one of many facts you'll learn about this song, the final track on the band's most recent album. John is joined by Richard Sallis, the lead vocalist of The Cameraman, to talk about not only the song, but his Weezer cover album Somebody's Daydream.

"Private Message" saw a lot of iterations in its lifespan as an Album 5 Demo. It's been a Weezer demo written by Rivers Cuomo, a demo re-worked with piano, a demo re-worked as acoustic, a song given to Brian Bell and The Relationship, and then a song stripped down and re-born as a Brian Bell original. John walks you through every step of this song's lifespan on today's show.

"All My Friends Are Insects" is an unusual Post-Pinkerton track for many reasons: it's not written by any band members, it's for children, and ... it's almost universally loved by the fans. John is joined by returning guest Diana Metzger -- and his daughter! -- to talk about Weezer's one and only appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba!

John is joined by Diana Metzger of Brightest Young Things to discuss "Don't Let Go," her favorite track off of The Green Album. Diana talks about what this song means to her, the extent of her relationship with the band over the years, and why the tweaked version of the song the band started performing live doesn't do it for her.

The common joke about "Misstep" is that it was, well, a misstep for the band. But, more than anything, this demo illustrates the ways that Weezer's experimental recording process in 2001 and 2002 constrained their ability to play around by publicizing almost all of their studio work.

"Trampoline" is a song from the mysterious Weezer period of the late 1990s, but fans didn't get to hear it until it surfaced on the compilation Death to False Metal in 2010. Learn about the song's history on today's show, and how it illuminates both sides of the "Is this an album?" debate raging amongst diehard Weezer fans since Death to False Metal's release.

"I Wanna Know" is one of Weezer's most forgettable songs, which is why John and his guest Scott Auth (I Miss the Old Weezer) spend most of the episode talking about their Top 5 songs that evoke the classic 1990s Weezer sound.

John welcomes Scott Auth (I Miss the Old Weezer blog) to the show to discuss "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter," what it has to do with the band Wavves, the specific way it invokes Pinkerton, and the broader ways it plays around with the '90s Weezer sound.

"Preacher's Son" is a curious song in Weezer's history, because while it's ostensibly in some part about Rivers Cuomo's relationship with his father, the song mostly avoids talking about that relationship at all. 

"Memories" holds a strange place amongst Weezer's Post-Pinkerton work: dismissed by fans upon release, only to later inspire what might be the band's most beloved tour of the Post-Pinkerton era. John discusses all of this, plus the song's connection to the cast and crew of the Jackass franchise.

If you like Weezer demos, then you've come to the right episode, because we've got a bunch of them in today's show about "Burndt Jamb." The Maladroit track started as a silly parody of jam bands and evolved into something much different during album production. John tracks the journey -- and explains why we even have access to all of these recordings -- during today's show.

John is once again joined by Alex Rice, co-host of the Bruce Springsteen Song of the Week podcast, to discuss "The Organ Player," a demo from Weezer's scrapped fifth album sessions. John and Alex talk about why the song marks a pivotal turning point in Rivers Cuomo's evolution as a songwriter.

John is joined by Alex Rice, the co-host of the Bruce Springsteen Song of the Week Podcast, to talk about Weezer's "Heart Songs," why it mentions Bruce Springsteen, and similarities between the two groups he's spent most of his life listening to.

Weezer kicks off a nationwide tour with the Pixies this weekend, so what better way to celebrate than with Weezer's cover of The Pixies' "Velouria." John discusses why this song was so important to the start of the Post-Pinkerton and which famous musician thinks this is the best Pixies cover of all-time.