The Wentals

I'm going to cheat.
I have no other option.
Sorry.
It started like this:
I would drive each morning the same infernal road to work, the world a collage of brake lights and unhappy joburgers. Seeing unhappy joburgers always brightens my day, so i started bobbing my head to the new mp3 compilation pilfered from my brother, and thoughts turned to the number 3 slot of The Greatest Bands Ever. There where two bands i had in mind, intertwined and laced with the love and hate that only siblings can feel, so equally profound and deserving of the award. The enormity of the task weighed heavy on me, and the more i relistened their back albums, the more i realised they had to share the slot. Not because I'm trying to cheat and fit in more bands, its just that they are like two parts of one final philosophy that hasn't yet been written. I hope you agree.

So without further ado, I give you two of the Greatest Bands Ever, Weezer and the Rentals.

Weezer. i don't know where i'd be without them. Honestly. I've been sitting here for half an hour thinking of how to start this, and I can't. So let me just start at the beginning hey?
In the late spring of '94, an aspiring dj and mate of mine called Mike Austin hooked me up with some new music. In the pile was a tape by a band called Weezer, it was their first album and it didn't have a name, it was just called the Blue album because of the cover. Now if i ever met a genie, and got three wishes, the first one would be to see every drop of beer, liquor and spirits I've ever drunk placed in a big warehouse. I'm just so curious about that. The second would be to ask which album I had listened to most in my life. And I'm almost certain that it would be a waste of a wish, cos I know the genie's gonna say "Weezers Blue album dude."
I had that tape in my kak aiwa tapedeck on constant repeat. It was perfect. We used to haul deck chairs up onto my tin roof and crack open a beer, and pretend we where far away from Aukland Park and the skyline was a blue ocean. And if you where listening to Weezer, man, it wasn't hard at all. How can two guys, Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp, just get together, and in one year invent an entirely new genre in music?? But they did, now we have something called Emo, and bands like Jimmy Eat World, Saves the Day and Ozma are the living echo's of that seismic union between Rivers and Matt.

Rivers played guitar and sang, Matt played bass. They got a drummer and extra guitarist and within one year where getting played on radio stations from Tokyo to Johannesburg. Most reviewers like to label them geek-rock, but thats such a misnomer. Somewhere between surf, fifties and post punk rock is where you'd best find their irrepressible melodies and totally forgivable sentimentalities. Geeks, they are not.
They followed up the Blue album with Pinkerton, a very different affair, complicated and nowhere near as accessible. The sounds where dirtier and looser, and Pat sounds like he's playing a marching band drum set he found in some old ladies attic. The stories are definitely Weezer though, full of insecurity and innocence (or loss of..), but.. just... weirder. "I'm dumped she's a lesbian", or the song about the young (very young..) girl waiting for Rivers in Japan.. man,.. , it just got a bit.. (eyebrow raising motion..).. hmmmmmm...

Anyway, i still liked it and had it on one side of a tape i played in my beetle for about four months (the other side was Squeal's Long Pig). But the public didn't buy it, the sales flopped and i think Rivers called it a day. Not Matt Sharp though, he had some (i think) brilliant ideas for a different type of sound. So he formed The Rentals and recorded their first album 'Return of the Rentals'. It was so different to Weezer in its use of heavy distorted moog synths, and beautiful female vocal backings, it was alot more pop than rock albeit slower and darker. But it was again so similar to Weezer in its belief in melody and hooks you could sing along to. I think in a way Matt was alot more creative in his vision than Rivers, but his vocals would never reach the same heights as Rivers could. In a way they both sold themselves as the musical underdog, but it was Matt who could wear this badge a bit more honestly.

So where are we? Ok, the next thing that happened was that me and my girlfriend went to Portugal and backpacked to Spain and one fiery summers afternoon found shade in a local music shop. About to pay at the check out for my Manic Street Preachers album, i found myself staring at the 'New Releases' section where at No 1 was the Rentals brand spanking new album 'Seven More Minutes'. I love Spain. So did Matt. He wrote most of the album there and much of it is a homage to the Catalan way of life, one so easy to fall in love with. Even the cover is a blurry Barcelona alleyway.
Now by now our Matt was looking and acting alot cooler (quite like me at the time too I must say). He was hanging with alot of cool british folks, and you can hear people like Justine from Elastica and Damon from Blur on the album. I have absolutely no idea what Damon's on about in 'Big Daddy C' though, god i think he's awful. But the rest of the album is like a severely troubled child, one that you love unconditionally if its yours. I was also happy to see that Rivers wrote the title track for Matt, the world was a better place knowing that Matt and Rivers where still mates.

Now comes a bit of a lull, because Seven More Minutes doesn't sell. It would turn out to be the last Rentals album, a goddam pity i say but so be it. It would be a full two years before I found myself in New York City, at Tower Records, buying the brand new Weezer 'Green' album the day it was released. Its grown and grown on me since that day, listening to it while driving across north america in a big van helped fill me with images of endless prairies and unquestioned answers that bubble up whenever I hear the opening thuds of 'Dont Let Go'. Its a teriffic album, and even simpler and more accessible than the Blue album. My only gripe is the length though. I remember being priviledged enough to spend time with Kim Deal while she was recording a new Breeders album in Chicago, and the moment we spoke about the Green album we both said 'But its sooo short?!...'. I think it clocks in at under half an hour, what Rivers was doing for five years is anyones guess.

Since then Weezer released two more studio albums, of debatable quality, and Matt has released a solo EP and a solo album. The only one I haven't heard is Matt's solo album, but judging from his EP its pretty heavy listening, almost alternative country in a way. He's looking a tad haggard on the cover too.. (sorry Matt). But then the news that truly bothered me:... Matt was suing Weezer for proceeds from the Sweater Song, a single way back on the Blue album. Thats 12 years ago now!?. What was it all about? Was Matt done in by his former band mates? Or was it greed? Jealousy?

I don't want to know.
I'd rather leave you with this undeniable truth:
Somewhere there's a lake trapped in an eternal summer, where a nineteen year old you spends its infinite days swimming and falling in love and wondering why you feel so safe even though you're so far from home. And thats when Matt and Rivers will be there, to tell you why.
Weezer and the Rentals.
They are, and will always remain, two of the greatest bands ever.