Pinkerton

Weezer thought they were making their own In Utero with Pinkerton — an underproduced audience-shedding course corrective to out-of-control fame. In that, they succeeded a little too much. While it took years for this record to find appreciation with a future generation of emo fans, for better and for worse, it is very much of its time. The hooks that had propelled Weezer into the big leagues were still there, heard on “No Other One” and “Tired of Sex.” But that only makes the poison lyrics harder to swallow. Those songs, along with “Pink Triangle” and “Across the Sea” shine a harsh spotlight on the worst tendencies of the archetypal misogynist nice guy, and the words read like a teenage stalker’s diary. But Pinkerton’s unflinching, ugly honesty left quite an impression, and emo bands would retread its difficult themes and melodies for years after.