Weezer, the quirky American rock band assembled somewhere on the streets of Los Angeles in early 1992, has for decades produced popular albums with the help of a truly commendable work ethic—a can-do attitude that has motivated the group to produce yet another album with the fervor of a band that thinks it’s still relevant. Unfortunately for Weezer, however, the new “California Kids” video exposes a stark truth that the beloved but outdated 24-year-old outfit isn’t nearly as “hip” as it thinks it is.
In the new video, frontman Rivers Cuomo finds himself in a series of incredibly odd situations. Presented with a towering pile of cream-filled cannolis, Cuomo forgoes his table manners and unapologetically attacks the dessert plate. Without an iota of explanation, he spends entirely too long smearing the pastry all over his face and in his hair before tipping the entire tray over on his head.
If Cuomo’s cannoli episode isn’t confusing enough, the lead vocalist trudges to the beach, where he experiences vivid flashbacks to stealing an innocent beachgoer’s bag of chips and frolicking along the coast with a female bodybuilder.
In a desperate attempt to lure millennials into its quickly diminishing fanbase, Weezer invites the teenage creators of the viral “Damn, Daniel!” meme to make a quick (and incredibly cringe-worthy) cameo.
Perhaps the video, with its highly filtered footage that resembles a shoddy series of Instagram posts as well as its awkward allusions to today’s pop culture, is secretly some kind of ingeniously coded criticism of contemporary adolescence. More likely, however, is that the puzzling video was created in an attempt to prolong Weezer’s tenure in the industry and promote its eccentric identity. This failure to preserve the band’s signature cool, meta identity of its heyday is especially disheartening for a rock group whose lead vocalist boasts an incomparably cool name.
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Why bother taking the ten minutes it would take to watch the three videos that lead up to this one when you can just take those ten minutes and write this boring article about being how upset you were that you got confused during this video.
Why bother? It’s gonna hurt me.
I see what you did there Pedro…
umm. California Kids’ music video brings together the last three videos that Weezer has released to promote the white album. Thank God for GIrls, LA Girlz and King of the World. The “odd situations” are from the other music videos. A little research goes a long way. This article just seems to be negative for the sake of being negative. Also for anybody reading. yeah the songs are pretty damn good.
Hannah doesn’t believe in the “research” part of journalism. She feels that it is very overrated. Understanding the context of a piece of media is unimportant when you can sound as smart as she does. She speaks of “meta identity” and “ingeniously coded criticism,” which really impresses me. Don’t expect someone this smart to waste their time writing something meaningful when her editor asks her to write about a band that she finds to be irrelevant.
Hannah, you should do a column where you review the last movie in a series. The kicker would be that you haven’t seen the movies leading up to it. You can fill the article with phrases that make you sound like a good writer and make no mention of the previous films. Then bash the film that you are reviewing as nonsensical and unhip. Pitch it to your editor!
Great review idea for Indiana Jones 5 @nikkogiovino:disqus !
The film fails to explain how exactly this geriatric adventurer decided to chase the “fortune and glory” that his young Asian sidekick (pandering to the ethnic viewer) speaks of. His outdated machismo reeks of desperation, and the audience continues to wonder why Indiana has chosen to leave the nursing home to find the buried treasure. If Disney thinks they can start a franchise with this horribly unfashionable film, they should think otherwise.
I know I’m late to the party here, but Jesus, what a woefully ill-informed piece of hack journalism. There are lots of things to criticise Weezer about – most of their output over the last 15 years, for example. But making a video that amusingly refers to their last three videos isn’t one of them. Also, where are the figures for your claim that “Weezer Fails to Recruit Young Fans with Confusing “California Kids” Video”? You can’t just make a claim like that because it backs up your opinion of the video.
Honestly, next time try doing some research.
I was going to make an impassioned comment about the ignorance of this article, but literally every other comment up to this point has got it covered for me. Nice work, Team Internet!