Weezer

In the last post, I referenced NPR's podcast on breaking up with a band. They carried the metaphor pretty far, making analogies of breaking up with a band, having them break up with you, growing apart, "It's not you, it's me" vs "It's not me, it's you" and the idea of never letting go. They mentioned Weezer in part because the idea of giving up on them due to their transgressions is so popular and implicit in this argument is that somewhere along the line, Weezer changed making it impossible to like them anymore. Now, I still like Weezer. I do like the first two albums more but to say they changed seems wrong to me. I don't see the evidence of a change in their musicianship ("obvious guitar solos" being one of the complaints), songwriting, or sound. They have always written and performed slick sounding power pop about being a lonely loser. I think many times the listener has changed enough to no longer appreciate their new work but not enough to no longer appreciate it in their earlier work. Maybe, it is you, not them if you no longer like them. By the way, I think the same argument can be made regarding the Star Wars franchise. The accusations often thrown at the prequels can just as easily be leveled against the original trilogy.