Weezer

The Six Most Uncool Members Of Cool Bands

Last week in this very column, we counted down the six coolest members of uncool bands. This week, we flip the script. Here are the six most uncool members of cool bands, and they're all probably really nice people. See Also: -The Six Coolest Members of Otherwise Uncool Bands

The St. Louis Cardinals and Let's Get It Started: How Songs Choose the Moment for us

Every year the United States graduates hundreds of thousands of students who will bawl over, who will treasure forever, who will associate their most heightened and individual and important memories with, a song called "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"--a song that has no specific connection to th ... More >>

Weezer's Lost "Songs From The Black Hole" Album Finally Released... By A Message Board

Twenty years ago, the people who yesterday released a complete, remarkably full-sounding version of Songs from the Black Hole, the lost Weezer rock opera begun and abandoned before Pinkerton, probably would have just started a zine or something. The internet's amplified a lot of things--celebrity s ... More >>

Music Music vs. Words Music

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. Earlier this week, I wrote a piece for RFT Music poking fun of the modern concept of genre that spawns ph ... More >>

Music Games Decline to Rage Against the Censorship Machine

Censorship is one of music's longer running conflicts, a struggle where the desire for marketability often trumps creative freedom. That's been the case for every music video game in existence, titles that constantly walk the aforementioned tightrope. One of the more challenging songs to appear in ... More >>

Five Aborted Prequels To Kevin J. Anderson's Rush Novelization

People are going to think I'm making fun of this, and what I'd like to make clear in this disclaimer is that I'm not making fun of this: Kevin J. Anderson, noted author of a bunch of Star Wars expanded-universe stuff I read in high school, is going to create a novelization of -- and this is the part ... More >>

Ten Musicians Wearing Vans: R.I.P. James Van Doren

Roy Basten​Vans co-founder James Van Doren died in October at his home in California. The news went public last week; he was 72 years old. James started the company that made the essential skate shoe with a group including his brother Paul back in 1966. Vans are among the most iconic shoes ... More >>

The Six Best "Bad" Guitar Solos

Eddie Van Halen demonstrates the exact opposite of this idea.​The guitar solo has become an integral part of the rock and roll formula, either as a melodic counterpoint to a vocal line or an excuse for showing off. But there's a different kind of solo out there. The kind that, by all technical ... More >>

Tokyo Police Club

8 p.m. Monday, September 12. The Gargoyle, 6445 Forsythe Boulevard.

The Weezer Cruise: A Beginners' Guide To Fitting In

​I'm half-convinced, after yesterday's news, that I'm living inside a Pitchfork blogger's fever dream: There is in fact a Weezer Cruise scheduled for next January, and it is exactly what it sounds like: Weezer will be on board, performing with a swarm of indie and indie-ish bands, and everyone ... More >>

Weezer Covers "Paranoid Android," Runs Out Of Weird Things To Do

If this were the cover of an actual Weezer album, the title would be neither "Weezer," nor "OK Computer," nor "Raditude."​As a Weezer fan I've learned to think in phases. I'd like to think it keeps me sane to understand that no direction they move in, good or bad, will last too long. For insta ... More >>

Need Insurance? Like a Good Neighbor, Weezer Will Sell It to You

​You know, A to Z has a love-hate relationship with Weezer. The band has the capability to write crunchy, catchy pop tunes -- see the strummy single "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" -- and replicate its best-known tunes; the Blue Album/Pinkerton tour was, by all accounts, ... More >>

Power-pop cult heroes Ultimate Fakebook are back together playing shows, but it's strictly for fun

Ten Artists We'd Like to See at LouFest 2011

Last week LouFest announced the dates of its second festival and immediately started selling discounted two-day passes to brave souls willing to buy without knowing the line-up in advance. No word on when an official announcement will be made about who'll be playing. But in the meantime, it's fun ... More >>

Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship and Vintage Vinyl celebrate Weezer's Hurley - and rumored "Blinkerton" tour - with a cover show

Corey Goodman​Corey Goodman, also known as Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship, loves Weezer - a lot. So much so, in fact, that he had to do something to keep himself occupied in the weeks leading up to the release of the band's new album, Hurley. "Well, I used to listen to only Marilyn Manson and h ... More >>

Weezer's Six Greatest Shark-Jumps

Oh, Weezer. Why would you name your upcoming album Hurley, and feature the namesake Lost character on the cover? Have you run out of colors? Or is this just the next in your trend piggy-backing, like last year's "I Can Haz Cheezburger"-inspired cover for Raditude? There was a time when your music ... More >>

Interview: Tokyo Police Club's Graham Wright Discusses Stress and the Art of Hype Maintenance

Chrissy PiperTokyo Police Club​Toronto's Tokyo Police Club is an economical bunch. A two-minute song can pack in around a dozen unique hooks, which made 2006's A Lesson In Crime EP more rewarding than most bands' entire discographies. Although its touring schedule is almost as relentless as it ... More >>

Video: Ludo Gets Its Collective Hands (And Faces) Dirty With "Whipped Cream"

Ludo's new record, which is due August 19 17 on Island/Def Jam, is called Prepare the Preparations. The first song to emerge from it is "Whipped Cream." Now, the video below isn't the official video; the band just made it so people could hear the song -- which is one of the band's fuzzy, Weezer-inde ... More >>

With its fourth album, The Constant, Story of the Year stays the course

Homespun: HUMDRUM, Individual Man

In this week's paper, Christian Schaeffer reviews HUMDRUM's CD, Individual Man. He had this to say: If you were to break a certain folksy dictum and judge HUMDRUM's CD by its cover, you'd be right to assume that space is the place for this local quartet. The artwork for Individual Man features a h ... More >>

Battle of Wits: Who's better: Blink-182 or Weezer?

Rumor: Blink-182 May Not Perform in St. Louis on Thursday

Last night, pop-punks Blink-182 cancelled their show in Saratoga, New York, citing the death of DJ AM, a close friend of drummer Travis Barker. (Barker and AM survived a horrific plane crash last year.) Weezer, Taking Back Sunday and Chester French still played, however. A statement on Blink's websi ... More >>

And the Blink 182 St. Louis Show Opening Acts Appear to Be...

Weezer, Taking Back Sunday and Chester French, according to Alternative Press. The Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre hasn't confirmed the show yet, but widely published reports set it as Thursday, September 3. If tickets go on sale next weekend, however, then count on a show announcement late ... More >>

Blink 182, Weezer and Fall Out Boy at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, September 3

This is either someone's dream line-up -- or your worst nightmare: According to reports, Blink 182's reunion tour is coming to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Wednesday, September 3 (that's one day after my 30th birthday -- mark your calendars). Openers announced so far include Weezer and Fall ... More >>

Second Spin: Fig Dish, That's What Love Songs Often Do

Artist: Fig Dish Album: That's What Love Songs Often Do From: The Record Exchange, North Olmsted, Ohio Year: 1995 Label: Polygram Records What it sounds like: The post-Weezer feeding frenzy, when major labels signed any band with tendencies toward grungy power-pop and heartfelt melodies. Also ... More >>

Ear Burns: Our critics spew some haterade about 2008's bummer songs, albums and events

Run Run Run at Off Broadway, Monday, September 29

Incubus Guitarist Mike Einziger Heads to Harvard

B-Sides traces the history and evolution of the power ballad in honor of Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick, and examines An Under Cover Weekend's '80s and '90s participants

Tonight! So Many Dynamos Does Weezer, Target Market Slacks off as Pavement at Off Broadway

Weezer Announces Tour Dates -- In a Clever Way

Interview: Nada Surf's Matthew Caws

Video: Weezer, "Pork and Beans"

MU330

3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue

The Pink Spiders

7 p.m. Sunday, February 24. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois.

The Rentals

7 p.m. Wednesday, April 15. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois

This Past Week on A to Z

The Lashes

Thursday, May 11, at 8 p.m. Mississippi Nights (914 North First Street)

Arctic Monkeys

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Domino)

Nada Surf

The Weight Is A Gift (Barsuk)

Lazer Mountain

Thursday, July 7; Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center (3301 Lemp Avenue)

The Academy Is...

Tuesday, July 5; Creepy Crawl (412 North Tucker Boulevard)

Fountains of Wayne

Out-of-State Plates (Virgin)

Hype Goggles

What will the beloved bands of '05 look like when the buzz wears off?

Best Cover Band

Paint the Earth

Volcano, I'm Still Excited!!

Wednesday, February 11; Rocket Bar

Rental Unit

Matt Sharp proves there's life after Weezer

Weezer

Maladroit (Geffen)

Superdrag

Friday, May 24; Galaxy

Beck to the Future