Written by Chris Osifchin
One of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had at a concert was during Weezer’s 2011 summer tour with the Flaming Lips. What I thought would be a cool matchup, turned into something wild that I never would have imagined, as Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo and Lips front man Wayne Coyne came out to a blistering version of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” played by both bands… in human hamster balls. From that point on, each band switched off playing three or four songs. It was surreal and downright weird to go from Weezer’s pop punkish sound, to the Flaming Lips psychedelic onslaught. But Weezer really brought it that night, pulling out Blue and Green album hits, as well as a few other surprise covers with the Lips.
News broke late last night that Weezer took a look back at the color wheel and will be returning to the road with their tenth LP titled, The White Album. (No, not that white album. Although a Weezer Beatles cover album would be tight)
With the announcement came a new single, “King of the World.”
Could this be a return to form, or a rebirth for Weezer? Mediocre output over the last few years have tamped down excitement surrounding the band, but if the three singles released so far are any indication, The White Album is looking like a gem.
Hearkening back to the sound of the Blue and Green albums, and even some of the Red album, “King of the World” kicks ass with classic Weezer crunch. The song tells a story of what life is actually like versus what it would be like as king of the world. Rivers Cuomo sings typically sharp, observant lyrics like “Three hundred died in an airplane wreck/And you think of all the people suffering/And you bury that pain.” Despite the depressing line, Cuomo writes with the hope and feel-good vibes fans have come to associate with Weezer, singing that the king of the world wouldn’t let his girl feel any pain unless she wanted to.
The singles are good, the news is great and hopefully the album will return Weezer to their rightful place on the pop-punk throne.
