Simply State
Apr 21, 2024
Simply State isn't really on a Weezer album. It's a demo made by Rivers Cuomo in 1992, after Weezer had formed but before their identity was really set in stone. Simply State would never be released in its original form until 2020, but it formed the basis for Negativland, which formed the basis for Blast Off!, which formed the basis for El Scorcho. It's a pretty important song, spawning two other great melodies, but how is it as a song? It's not as flashy or as well-developed as any of the tunes it inspired, not even close. The bridge is a bit awkward, the ending is abrupt and weird. Still, I find something comforting in its simplicity (fitting, I guess). It has an innocent sound to it, it feels almost confidential. Which, I suppose it was, considering the demo was never intended for the public until it was just randomly dropped in a huge pile outta the blue. The lyrics are very rudimentary. They feel like the first tentative experiments of a teenager who just got his first guitar, but I think this adds to the innocent mood the song sets. Overall I really like Simply State, even if it doesn't have the same punch as a fully-formed song.
No One Else
Feb 29, 2024
No One Else, the 2nd track from Weezer's debut album, might feel simplistic at first. It's the most "punk rock" of any song that ended up on Blue, with its fast tempo and straight power chords. Heck, it even lifts its opening riff from the bridge of Paperface, easily Weezer's most Nirvana-ish song from the 90s (and a damn fine one at that). Karl Koch noted in a Super-Chrono post recounting September 15th, 1992, that it was this song that "started to steer the band in a previously invisible direction." This song is likely where the Blue Album as a whole began to form, though the majority of it had already been written by the time No One Else was first played. The lyrics are simple yet introspective on a closer look, depicting the narrator as an abusive boyfriend who's too egotistical to realize how irrational he is. The World Has Turned And Left Me Here, the next track on the album, was written roughly half a year earlier, yet it seems to continue this "story" by placing a similar narrator at the end of his relationship, still unable to see his own shortcomings. The rest of Blue is autobiographical, a SHOCKING exception being that no, his name is not really Jonas. Despite its character-driven concept, though, the overall tone and lyrical content of No One Else are foundational to the Blue Album's overarching themes.