OK, so I'm a =W= Fan since my tweener years [15 years & counting...Wow, that's a while] and Blue was the very first CD I ever owned after my Jr. hi friends told me about crowd-surfing at Weezer's small show the night before Monday classes. I even requested the lyrics that the late Mykel & Carli sent direct to me (handwritten copies direct from Weezer stapled at the top like homework...hope to God I still have them somewhere in my rock-junk collection).
All that said, I'm not a hater at all (if this wasn't obvious), in fact they put on one of my fav live shows ever & sadly I've only seen them twice (surprised it's not 6-8 X's by now...must be due to where I live ;). I love the older albums & really dig some of the newer material from Make Believe & Red (so long as Rivers was singing...Pat's Automatic was good but they shoulda stopped there with the 'pass-the-mic' obsession). The huge collection of tracks from the unreleased 5th album was great (and shoulda been pressed to disc) & I honestly like a majority of all their post'99 material, particularly Maladroit, if I had to pick. But the pop-rock of Raditude is a bit sickening to me & reminds me Chris Cornell's recent garbage with Timbaland. He, too, put on an ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL show (2.5 hours) live < 2yrs. ago but then goes & releases an album that just isn't him...and yet he agreed to and recorded it...
Do I want Blue II or Pinkerton V 2.0? Well, I wouldn't turn it down & I'm certain it'd kick the crap out of Raditude which is only worth owning to me because of a small handful of tracks, -that I'll probably have to listen to multiple times just to realize which tracks they are- including those on the bonus disc that I paid an extra $5 for just to get a TOTAL of 50 minutes of music between 2 CDs (what a money-making joke that is). That said tho, the issue I have is that the last decade of Weezer may make you feel good, be a song to party to or scream-sing-along with in a group on a drive somewhere but album to album, they just don't 'grab' you the way their Matt Sharp albums did. And Pinkerton is a scary-short album like Raditude (< 35min.!) but there's a power and punch on even their mellow tunes that simply isn't there anymore, save for an occasional, at-random song.
I certainly believe that Rivers got too comfortable and seems to want to stay there for whatever reason. I don't like the Cars & I hear Rick's influence (don't mind Rick, just don't like his band) on this record in particular moreso than any other despite him not being around anymore. BUT...this isn't Rivers & Co., it's WEEZER! They collectively agree to record these tracks as a band and they're all responsible so I'm not one to blame it all on the lead guy (I hate that, actually). Overall, this disc reminds me of the simplistic stuff of Green but even poppier with worse guitars and too polished of a sound that, like others said, will probably be lost with all the other pop records of the last year by the time we reach the end of 2010...it'll be forgotten about, very unlike their first couple discs.
Weezer, I'm a fan for life. Even if you break up, I'd still consider you one of my fav bands. But I must say, this would be the last disc I would play for anyone who is generally unfamiliar with or on the fence about Weezer (unless they love Brittany, Lil'Wayne, Jay-Z & J.T.) as I think it'd turn them away right-quick & they may never look back.
Sadly, I may keep buying discs like this just to keep up with my collection & to have those couple decent tracks on a sub-standard album, so I'm a sucker that way. Fortunately, I got this with Christmas money, so I'm not out anything as there's no way I'd fork over $20 of my own money for 50 minutes of this...but I might spend $10 ;)
Weezer doesn't have to write pounding rock songs and have guitar solos in every track but they need to write ROCK songs, not flavor-of-the-month pop from a band with far too much talent to play to this level. Rock is about emotion, lasting memories that come from a catchiness almost undefined and that makes a listener like me want to spin the tracks again & again, never growing tired of them, even 15 years deep. That's the Weezer I know is in there but remains hidden for nearly a decade now...it's overdue to rise again. Hey, if Green Day can release some decent albums in the last 5 years after years of trash, certainly Weezer can far surpass those efforts!

Im a =w= fan from the start. Blue album was amazing, didnt like pinkerton. pinkerton became amazing, didnt like green. green became amazing, didnt like maladtroit. maladroit was amazing, didnt like make believe....so on so forth.
Buy it, hate it, listen to it, love it. complain about the next album and repeat.

weezer definitely isn't about being deep and sincere right now. maybe they are trying to make an important point by being really sarcastic? but i think it's really all in fun.
i mean they're even selling weezer snuggies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXqHfHN9dJs

weezer and it's weezy!!!! can't stop partying!!!! you'll catch me in VIP!!!!!

break out the goose!!!

first i gotta put my kids to bed.

You're really not a true Weezer fan unless you hate them for something or another.

Here is my review of this album for anyone who may be interested. It sounds like Weezer.

And I happen to like Weezer.

Listening to raditude makes me want to kill myself. Im so embarrassed listening to this absolute garbage that i almost feel the need to throw away their good albums. It ruined weezer for me.

too many critics, not enough fans in music today.

weezer's been a pop-rock group since conception (buddy holly; undone went highly unnoticed). if you want blue or pinkerton, listen to blue or pinkerton. i can see if you don't like can't stop partying if you don't party. i party. i want you to is a perfect pop song. put me back together should definately get some attention. out of the 10 official album tracks (minus deluxe and extras), i really only like a little over half, like the red album. this album should be rated higher than green and make believe at least even if you just want to hate it.

Great review.

We are lucky they are still making music. An album comes with a, wait for it, a tour! Weezer is a fantastic live band. If you have not been to one of Weezer's concerts you need to go.

This is easily the worst album of the year.

I think the last poster is the first one to get it. I'd say pretty much everyone concedes the first two albums are the best; they are catchy and clever and have a lot of depth. I think parts of each subsequent album are really good, and parts of them are forgettable at best. But, really, what makes Pinkerton and Blue special is that albums like that don't come along very often. Don't tear the band apart because they made two amazing albums and then couldn't replicate. That's two more great albums than lots of bands make. Besides, it's hard to be angst-ridden and dark when you're an uber-millionaire with legions of fans and a supermodel wife. Would you prefer that Rivers feign those emotions and write songs that are insincere to appease that crowd? I think those would be the lamest songs of all. Yeah, they have plateaued, but it doesn't make them horrible people or a horrible band. I read an interview with Rivers in which he basically admits that, yes, it is very difficult for him not to be content with his life right now, so he doesn't have much to say, but he is still writing songs because he enjoys. And so...we get a shallow album. I wish it was Pinkerton too, but I can live with this.

Pinkerton is sorta whatever for me. I really like the Green Album. Maybe I'm the only one, but I like that, Maladroit, and some of the Red Album. (And the first one of course) But man, I really hate everything I've heard on this one so far. The review seems to want to divide Weezer's fans up into Pinkerton vs. everything after, but I don't fall into that category at all. Just wanted to say that there are some people who like other Weezer things, but also do not like this album, and these people are not people who held Pinkerton up as some perfect album and felt betrayed by Rivers ever after. I just think the new songs kinda suck. And I like Troublemaker just fine.

the coldplay comment was pretty funny, considering rivers was quoted this year to say " i don't see why anyone could not like coldplay"

raditude just lacks any depth, but i'm still wondering if if this is all a joke or not. i watched a live thing where they played i'm your daddy, followed by why bother. it was surreal.

jonnyhero likes weezer. alot. maybe since way back. maybe not.
i remember weezers first album, great. weezers second took time, but ended up greater. THIS is the weezer many of us know. since then, we've been wondering what happened? NONE of the subsequent albums are the weezer we know. and don't tell us we don't get it. as fans of music we know what we like. what jonnyhero is talking about is unconditional fandom. appreciating the artists music as it comes, regardless if its no where near the quality or similarity of its prior efforts.
we get it. weezer lost it. probably on purpose. they choose that direction. i get it. they chose quantity over quality. (more younger fans in exchange for those fans who got them to where they are.) happens in music all the time.
its easier and it pays the bills. we get it. what i don't get, and haven't in long time is a new weezer album.

Thanks Jonnyhero for sticking up for Rivers! He is clearly having fun with what he does. Their are a million dark, brooding, "no one understands us" bands out there who take themselves way too seriously. It's a nice change of pace to listen to some escapist pop even though it may be cheesy. I am a long time weezer fan who loved the blue album and pinkerton but you can't expect them to put out albums that are exactly the same everytime. Bands and artists change, sometimes not necessarily for the better but at least their music isn't stagnant and it's better than most the stuff they play on pop radio these days.

This album is actually very good... incredibly poppy and tongue-in-cheek the entire way. I'm not sure whether or not the reviewer understands this...
It would seem he takes Weezer more seriously than Weezer does.

With lines like "How to justify I'm Your Daddy..." I just do not think that Mr. Kornhaber "gets it." That isn't to say that it's a deep album, or easy to not "get," but the title of the album alone sets the tone and the music is consistent to that tone throughout.

"I Don't Want to Let You Go" mirrors the lyrics of "Butterfly" in no way whatsoever. What it does mirror, is Butterfly's chord progression... it is a finished cut off of one of Rivers' solo albums that, honestly, was arranged to kinda sound like a Pet Sounds-ish Beach Boys ballad.... it is a good song, but, of course, to each their own.

Finally, accusing an artist of insincerity is a dangerous game. There is a way of being sincere without breaking down and crying on a record. Being sincere is nothing more than being true to your feelings, and Raditude sounds like Rivers is having a great time with life right now.

If you do not enjoy Weezer, you have no soul. This is clearly a great album. Go back to your torrent sites and download your piss poor, boring Coldplay discography, haters.

I've been trying to like Weezer's newer albums, and as much as I hate to jump on the elitist bandwagon, I gotta agree that some of the tracks are painfully generic. I'm not going to start hating them anytime soon just because of this, but the Red album will most likely be the last Weezer my iPod will ever see...

This album does suck, I've listened to it and it's terrible. The songs are so generic it hurts.

i just dont understand this world anymore.... how can razzthekid say that this album will be their worst by far when he hasnt even heard it? everyone needs to stop drinking the haterade and give it a chance. i bet that this reviewer had his mind made up before he even heard it, just like 90% of the prople who read these things

Well, for the most part this is fine, however the bit about Rivers using "homies", what is wrong with that? It's not like it's the first time he has used homies, look at Buddy Holly, one of their best songs, in which the first line is "What's with these HOMIES dissin my girl". What makes Raditude different so that the use of the word homies is now a problem.
=w=

Yeah, the date is wrong. But anyways, great article. I thought Red Album was a decent comeback from Make Believe...but even songs like Troublemaker and Everybody Get Dangerous were simply retarded. I mean, "everybody get dangerous, everybody get dangerous! Boo ya!" ?? Those songs may have been cool when I was in 5th grade. This album will by far be their worst....but it'll sell the most...because there are more lame music-listeners in this world than not.
I've already heard the rumors, but I just hope other bands don't start following in Weezer's shoes, like KOL.

R.I.P. Weezer.

Are you sure about the release date of Pinkerton you say in your article?