Pinkerton: Difference between revisions

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* [[Creator Breakdown]]: [[Word of God|Rivers]] admitted some of the material was inspired by the isolation he felt at Harvard, when he could only write "while the dinner was in the microwave" because he was otherwise either doing homework or lying in bed on painkillers. "The Good Life" is most heavily inspired by this, nodding to his slovenly appearance and the "old man cane" he needed to walk with during leg surgery.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Big time compared to ''The Blue Album''.

* [[Dreadful Musician]]: Alluded to in "Falling for You", where Rivers tries to play the cello but fails miserably ("I can't believe how bad I suck, it's true"). This could be more [[Self Deprecation]] since he is a bit of a multi-instrumentalist, or simply a reflection of the fact that the cello is quite hard to play for beginners.

* [[Dreadful Musician]]: Alluded to in "Falling for You", where Rivers tries to play the cello but fails miserably ("I can't believe how bad I suck, it's true"). This could be more [[Self-Deprecation]] since he is a bit of a multi-instrumentalist, or simply a reflection of the fact that the cello is quite hard to play for beginners.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Surprisingly averted: Geffen was very pleased with the album, and A&R representative Todd Sullivan even described it as "very brave". However, the fact that it sunk so badly made Geffen refuse to allow Weezer to self-produce ''The Green Album''.

* [[Emo (Music)|Emo]]: ''Pinkerton'' has commonly been cited as an influence not only on [[Alternative Rock]] in general but on [[Emo]] specifically, possibly due to its raw production and the lyrics painting what Pitchfork called "an uncomfortably honest self-portrait" of Cuomo. However, unlike later [[Emo]] bands that cited it as an influence, ''Pinkerton'' contains a few songs where the band's [[Power Pop]] roots shine through ("The Good Life" and "Across The Sea"), some clearly less angsty moments ("Falling for You") as well as a sense of humour, chiefly in the [[Self Deprecation|self-mocking]] lyrics of "The Good Life" and "El Scorcho" as well as Matt Sharp's backing vocals and interjections ("I've ''HAD'' it!") and the videos for "El Scorcho" and "The Good Life".

* [[Emo (Music)|Emo]]: ''Pinkerton'' has commonly been cited as an influence not only on [[Alternative Rock]] in general but on [[Emo]] specifically, possibly due to its raw production and the lyrics painting what Pitchfork called "an uncomfortably honest self-portrait" of Cuomo. However, unlike later [[Emo]] bands that cited it as an influence, ''Pinkerton'' contains a few songs where the band's [[Power Pop]] roots shine through ("The Good Life" and "Across The Sea"), some clearly less angsty moments ("Falling for You") as well as a sense of humour, chiefly in the [[Self-Deprecation|self-mocking]] lyrics of "The Good Life" and "El Scorcho" as well as Matt Sharp's backing vocals and interjections ("I've ''HAD'' it!") and the videos for "El Scorcho" and "The Good Life".

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: The bridge of "Across the Sea" tries to invoke this.

* [[Heroic Self Deprecation]]: Considering some of the lyrics the "heroic" part may be in question, but on some songs Cuomo goes to worrying extremes with the self-criticism, such as asking for his head to be cracked open in "Why Bother?".

* [[Heroic Self-Deprecation]]: Considering some of the lyrics the "heroic" part may be in question, but on some songs Cuomo goes to worrying extremes with the self-criticism, such as asking for his head to be cracked open in "Why Bother?".

* [[Ignored Epiphany]]: Several songs have moments where Rivers acknowledges that his behaviour is wrong, like in "Tired of Sex" ("I know I'm a sinner"), "Getchoo" ("You know this is breaking me up/You think that I'm some kind of freak"), the chorus of "Across the Sea" ("I think it would be wrong"), "The Good Life" ("Excuse the bitching/I shouldn't complain" and "Who do I got to blame?/Nobody but me"), but it takes about a half-hour before "Butterfly" drops the self-pity and [[Playing the Victim Card]].

* [[I'm a Man I Can't Help It]]: Some of the lyrics enter this territory, especially "Tired of Sex" ("I'm sorry, here I go/I know I'm a sinner/But I can't say no!") and "Getchoo" ("But if you'd come back to me/Then you would surely see/That I'm just fooling around").

* [[I'm a Man, I Can't Help It]]: Some of the lyrics enter this territory, especially "Tired of Sex" ("I'm sorry, here I go/I know I'm a sinner/But I can't say no!") and "Getchoo" ("But if you'd come back to me/Then you would surely see/That I'm just fooling around").

* [[Love Hurts]]: The general theme of ''Pinkerton''. Variations include:

** [[Ladykiller in Love]]/[[True Love Is Exceptional]] ("Tired of Sex")

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** (A very confused) [[Love Confession]] ("Falling For You")

** [[Not Staying for Breakfast]] ("Butterfly")

* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: Out of the two bounciest, most accessible tracks on ''Pinkerton'', "The Good Life" is Rivers freaking out about [[What Have I Become]], and "El Scorcho" cheerfully mentions going into a girl's room and reading her diary.

* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: Out of the two bounciest, most accessible tracks on ''Pinkerton'', "The Good Life" is Rivers freaking out about [[What Have I Become?]], and "El Scorcho" cheerfully mentions going into a girl's room and reading her diary.

* [[Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness]]: Most of the ''Pinkerton'' is about a 5, with "Tired of Sex" and "Getchoo" pushing the album into a 6, and the acoustic "Butterfly" representing a 1.

* [[Most Writers Are Male]] And [[Angst|Angsty]]: The lyrics of ''Pinkerton'' are essentially a [[Too Much Information]]-sharing of Rivers Cuomo's romantic misadventures, so at some points they can come across as creepy or self-centered.

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* [[Reality Subtext]]: Rivers once admitted to fans one of the original lines in the second verse of "Tired of Sex" was "Tuesday night I'm making Gwen". Gwen happened to be a real person he was dating but her family disliked him somewhat, so he changed the name to "Lyn".

* [[Self Deprecation]]: "The Good Life" and "El Scorcho", while inspired by Cuomo's real life angst at being lonely, are mostly of the joking variety. "Falling for You" also contains the line "What could you possibly see in little ol' three-chord me?", [[Hypocritical Humour|coming right after one of the more complex chord progressions and solos of the album]].

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: "The Good Life" and "El Scorcho", while inspired by Cuomo's real life angst at being lonely, are mostly of the joking variety. "Falling for You" also contains the line "What could you possibly see in little ol' three-chord me?", [[Hypocritical Humour|coming right after one of the more complex chord progressions and solos of the album]].

* [[Shout Out]]: The album's title comes from the main character of ''[[Madame Butterfly]]''.

** The album itself is loosely based on the same opera.