So his original idea was to create a space themed rock opera about his struggles with fame, but after a leg injury the band decided to use the demos recorded beforehand. This is what became the 1996 masterpiece Pinkerton. Pinkerton was a deeply emotional record that was panned by

critics across the board. he painted all the walls in his house black and installed windows that didn’t allow for sound to travel through. after the crushing reception to pinkerton, the band returned to a more poppy and mainstream sound on their second self titled record, green

After the mainstream sound of green was more or less liked by the masses, they began experimenting again with their 4th studio album, maladroit. This album took many more risks in sound and is widely regarded among weezer fans as an underrated gem in the discography.

The sound of maladroit is short lived, however, with the release of make believe (2005), which is one of weezer’s most mainstream and generic projects yet. this album took even less risks than green, and is regarded as one of their worst by many weezer fans

Weezer would make a return in 2008 with their 3rd self titled record, the red album. This record was a return to form in a way but also took some risks that were not all successfully executed, especially allowing the other members of the band to write and sing on their own songs.

This album was met with very mixed reviews, once again allowing rivers to drift back into mainstream music with a record that is infamous for being bad, 2009’s raditude. The sound of this record is the most poppy yet. Rivers stopped playing guitar in live shows

What would follow raditude was a renaissance era for the band, starting with hurley. This album is often overlooked for its goofy album art and strange lyrics but is actually a very great record once you look past a few mid tier tracks.

After hurley, Everything Will Be Alright In The End was released, which was essentially rivers saying that he knows there have been ups and downs throughout their discography, but they were back and ready to get back to making great records

This all culminates in the 2016 masterpiece the white album, this record took their sound back to the blue/pinkerton days with a modern spin. After white, things were looking up for the band until the 2017 album pacific daydream. This record was a return to radio-friendly pop

which is widely disliked by fans. during a lull between albums, a twitter account that begged weezer to cover toto’s classic track africa emerged, and their wish was granted. weezer released rosanna and africa in 2019, eventually culminating in their cover album, the teal album

which was released alongside their newest release, the black album. both albums are mostly considered as essentially soulless albums which may contain weezer’s worst song to date, “the prince who wanted everything”

Moving back to before the release of black, in an interview rivers said he was working on three new albums, the black album, which at the time was considered a dark version of white, ok human, a more piano based album and van weezer; which was revealed to be the bands next album

that would be releasing in may of 2020, however due to the pandemic of covid-19 the album was delayed with no release date confirmed