Middle school is an awkward and difficult time for most kids, myself included, but there was one band that helped me through such a scary string of social situations: Weezer.

            I started listening to Weezer in 7^th or 8^th grade due to a recommendation from my good friend Phil Chang – almost 10 years after the band’s debut album. Their simplicity, catchy hooks, honest lyrics, and dorkish tendencies captured my heart at an age when I was just learning who I was.

The Blue Album was released in 1994 and is easily one of my favorite albums of all time. Almost anyone can recognize the popular single “Buddy Holly” and can remember that innovative video that incorporated various clips from the show Happy Days. “Say it Ain’t So” and “Only in Dreams” are two songs that inspired me to pick up playing guitar; I told myself, “I want to make people feel like that.”

The following album, Pinkerton, is a cult classic; while it received terrible reviews and low commercial sales, die-hard fans view the work as an unprecedented display of raw energy coupled with some of Rivers Cuomo’s most inner feelings. Songs like “El Scorcho” maintain a simple song structure while quirky lyrics drive to the heart of the piece. Other songs like “Falling for You” or “The Good Life” examine the angst and insecurities that ride shotgun alongside love.

The next three albums produced by Weezer – The Green Album, Maladroit, and Make Believe – had a few songs that caught my interest and a number of notable singles, such as “Hash Pipe,” “Keep Fishin’,” and “Beverly Hills,” but I did not enjoy them as collectively as the first two releases; these albums, however, did not cause me to shy away from the band.

So where’s the band now?

After Cuomo finally tied the knot and a short-lived break-up of the band, Weezer is returning to produce a sixth album for early 2008. In addition to that up and coming album, a collection of rough demos written and recorded by Cuomo from 1992 through 2007 will be released on December 18^th, 2007 in a packaged titled Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.

Due to certain circumstances, I was never able to see Weezer perform live, and it is with my sincerest hope that with the release of their sixth album, I will be able to see the band that gave me the foundations for my now vastly different musical aspirations.

             It was a good feeling revisiting The Blue Album and Pinkerton this past weekend; it was like seeing an old friend again and making up for lost time. While Weezer is undeniably different from my current musical tastes, it’s safe to say that the band that boasted, “I’ve got a 12-sided die” will stay close to my heart.