4/21/08 - Video Influence/Pick of the Week - "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer

Picked By: Chris (Vocals/Guitars)

Song: “Say It Ain’t So”
Artist: Weezer
Album: Weezer (Blue Album) – (1994)




So did you ever expect a band that has dark rock songs with samples and synths to cite Weezer as an influence? Weezer write songs called “Surf Wax America” and “Beverly Hills” and we write songs called “Death Clock” and “One Last Funeral.” Don’t you see the correlation??? Hahahaha. Get used to picks like this from me. I listen to a lot of stuff you would never expect to influence a band like ours. To be honest, I haven't heard of a lot of bands that most people expect us to be influenced by.

I picked this one for a few reasons – Weezer was one of my favorite bands growing up, and “Say It Ain’t So” was the first song I learned when I started taking guitar lessons. I was able to pick it up fairly quickly, but since it was the only song I knew how to play, I played it non-stop for weeks on end. I remember being in the car with my Mom one time and it came on the radio. She goes, “enough of this stupid song already!!!!!” – hahaha. I later learned to play a lot heavier songs and she probably wished she could go back to hearing a nice poppy tune.

I remember I got the “blue album” in one of those stupid 10 CDs for a penny deals from BMG. I never really bought CDs back then due to having no money (this is the pre-download days), but how can you refuse 10 CDs for penny? I think the other 9 CD’s I got sucked balls (sorry “Soul Asylum” fans) or had 2 good songs, but I remember liking every single song on this album. The music is fairly simple from a musician’s standpoint (though I wasn’t a musician when I first heard it), but just good catchy melodies on every song. There are some CD’s you look back 10-15 years later and go, “WTF was I thinking?” but I’m not embarrassed to say I still like these guys. Although my musical tastes have grown quite a bit since then, I can still listen to it now and enjoy it. To this day I’m still sucker for a catchy pop-punk tune (“Riot” by Paramore is probably my current guilty pleasure). For all you fans of the current emo scene – this is the album to look back to for a lot of influence. I consider them one of the original emo bands, even if the term didn’t exist back when they first started. A lot of emo bands will cite Weezer as an influence. In fact, I read a quote recently from lead singer, Rivers Cuomo – “"I don’t really know what emo means. But apparently I had something to do with it."

Well – we are in no way an “emo” band nor do we try to sound like one, but I think anytime you listen to a band as much as I listened to Weezer, it has to rub off in one way or another. They definitely show you the beauty behind the "less is more" approach.

-Chris

PS - You know you loved the hacky sack shots, and Rivers sippin on the juice box at the end of the vid!