Background
After the multi-platinum success of Weezer's self-titled debut album, also known as The Blue Album, the band took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays in late December 1994. Rivers Cuomo traveled to his home state of Connecticut and began preparing material for Weezer's next album using an 8-track recorder.
Cuomo's original concept for was for the album to be a space-themed rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole. It would feature songs that segued seamlessly and end with a special coda that briefly revisited the major musical elements of album. The band began developing the concept through intermittent recording sessions in the spring and summer of 1995. During this time, Cuomo, who was born with one leg shorter than the other, received leg surgery intended to lengthen his right leg, followed by painful physiotherapy sessions; this affected his songwriting, as he would spend long periods hospitalized, unable to walk without the use of a cane, and under the influence of painkillers. In the same period, Cuomo applied to study at Harvard University with an application letter describing how disillusioned he was with the rock lifestyle, writing:
"Fans ask me all the time what it is like to be a rock star. I can tell that they are dreaming, as I dreamed, when I was a kid, of someday ruling the world with a rock band. I tell them the same thing I would tell any young rock-star-to-be you will get lonely. You will meet two-hundred people every night, but each conversation will generally last approximately thirty seconds, and consist of you trying to convince that no, you do not want their underwear. Then you will be alone again, in your motel room. Or you will be on your bus, in your little space, trying to kill the nine hours it takes to get to the next city, whichever city it is. This is the life of a rock star."
By spring 1996, the Songs from the Black Hole album concept had been abandoned. The album would instead feature songs written while Cuomo was at Harvard, chronicling his loneliness and frustration, or what Cuomo referred to as his "dark side".
Read more about this topic: Pinkerton (album)
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