Just heard an interview Rivers gave to Rick Rubin where he said that he wanted to write a song on drugs. So he took a bunch of Ritalin and drank three shots of tequila and wrote that song really fast then took a long nap.
He literally has a spreadsheet of neat phrases categorized by rhythm and syllable count so that he can word salad a song together. I love Weezer songs, but the lyrics have no meaning beyond what the listener brings with them.
Here's the Song Exploder episode for anyone interested. The other episodes are also always really interesting even when I don't know the band or song they break down.
So, when I first saw your comment I was pretty sure I'd heard this on a podcast, and yep, it was the episode from your edit! I'd have to listen again to see if Rivers got specific about when he started with the spreadsheet system, but I don't think it's something he's always been doing.
But back when I listened to the episode, finding out about the spreadsheet made a ton of sense, because I'd low-key suspected Weezer lyrics to be jumbles of random ideas… though I don't get that feeling from the first two albums, at least.
I was in a ska band in high school, and we played this song at the school twice. After the first time, the school administration requested we censor a few lines, notably "I'll even cut my lyrics off for you."
Close, but sadly no. The fedora was green, and the shoes were black converse with white-out checkers.
The administration was actually fairly reasonable about it. It was being broadcast on the school's TV station, and they had fcc concerns so they cut the end our performance of that one song. For future performances they asked for playlists in advance. We thought they would object to the song because it is about lesbians, but it was just the line about cutting off your penis that they felt was about self-harm. So we changed it to "lyrics" for the next show. They didn't cut the broadcast for How's My Driving, Doug Hastings, or Stuff, but asked us not to play either one again. I think we snuck Doug Hastings in as an encore once, but didn't face any repercussions.
Honestly, it was a long time ago so I might have the details wrong.
Electric Wizard is pretty damn popular amongst metal heads at least. But this song is my favorite of theirs.
Fun story, my buddy and I got really stoned and he had just gotten this on vinyl. We were listening to the whole thing, and at the very end the record is designed to skip back and keep playing the creepy laugh over and over. Weirded us out because we were so high.
We were listening to the whole thing, and at the very end the record is designed to skip back and keep playing the creepy laugh over and over.
So that's where that trick came from! I have Soma by Windhand on vinyl, and the CD/digital recording has ~10min of ambient wind noise at the end, but on the record they did the same trick after ~1min of wind noise. The first time I listened to it I was doing some housework home alone in the dead of winter, so it took me a long time to even realize the record was still playing and that it wasn't just the real wind outside.
That's awesome. Also Windhand is amazing live if you ever get the chance to see them. I saw them here in Columbus with our hometown stoner/doom bands - Lo-Pan and Weed Demon. Tons of fun
I've heard a bit of Lo-Pan; sounds like a killer show. I live out west, so Windhand doesn't make it out here too often (but we do get YOB and Acid King on a semi-regular basis, so it evens out)
This song was produced by the same engineer as Holiday in Cambodia, Geza X. He also recorded with Black Flag and Germs. He had a band called Geza X and the Mommymen. Their album is critically underrated.
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