Let's write a sawng

May 31, 2008 4:50 AM

Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer) picks the theme, "80s radio," and develops a song, step by step, collaborating with some of his fans. Watch some of the responses. It's not his first collaboration, and he's no stranger to the internet.
posted by zippy (16 comments total)

I heard him on the Stern show saying how he takes an extremely formulaic approach to song writing. He basically understands what elements make a hit and always includes a few of these elements in every song.

Maybe that's why I absolutely fucking hate Weezer.
posted by autodidact at 6:45 AM on May 31, 2008 [2 favorites]

You're going to get a barrage of comments from people complaining about the super obnoxious overuse of dumb effects in those videos (the constant speeding up/slowing down of his voice, etc.).

But I thought it was fun despite all that.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 7:38 AM on May 31, 2008

That was fantastic. Steps 8 and 10 where plays the song the first few times and overlays the 80's dance videos are brilliant. And there was genuine input from random people on Youtube.
posted by fire&wings at 7:51 AM on May 31, 2008

Seems like there's very little input from Rivers at all, aside from picking which parts to use, which is cool.
posted by empath at 8:46 AM on May 31, 2008

So who gets the royalties?
posted by spiderskull at 10:47 AM on May 31, 2008

Maybe that's why I absolutely fucking hate Weezer.

Well -- there is only one solution: Destroy all their sweaters!
posted by RubberHen at 11:04 AM on May 31, 2008

I don't know why they wouldn't split the royalties between everyone whose parts he used.
posted by empath at 11:05 AM on May 31, 2008

Me likee, but DANG that guy is smoking something good.
posted by Dizzy at 11:06 AM on May 31, 2008

autodidact -- basically all modern Western music is centered around patterns anyway, and I think Cuomo differs from other musicians in that he admits he has a formula. The others either don't vocalize it or don't realize it.

In general, people don't like non-patterned and non-repetitious music -- it goes against their definitions.
posted by spiderskull at 12:16 PM on May 31, 2008

I have such a love/hate relationship with Rivers Cuomo. It goes like this: I listen to Weezer's first three albums and I love him, I listen to Make Believe and I want to slap him. Also, he wouldn't add me as a MySpace friend!

He doesn't seem to value his music, the process he goes through to make the songs seems so devoid of any emotion and in many of the songs that's detectable (with the exception of self-loathing). It upsets me because they're very catchy but I feel less connected to them if I can't tell that there's an emotional value to it.
posted by liquorice at 4:17 PM on May 31, 2008

Neat process, but oh lordy, why do people think this man can sing?
posted by bettafish at 9:28 PM on May 31, 2008

What fun! (But listening to the Part 10 - I have to admit I thought the lyrics were fairly lame.) Still, seems like he's managed to get everyone to write a fairly typical Weezer song. I wonder if this could be taken as evidence for auteur film theory working in music as well.
posted by awfurby at 11:43 PM on May 31, 2008

awfurby, you might like this video response to Step 12 - Wish List. It's about the lyrics.
posted by zippy at 12:48 AM on June 1, 2008

can the song be called,
"rivers is actually steve zahn"?

From the first video's comment section. Heh. Who says that Youtube comments are never any good?
posted by hincandenza at 1:13 AM on June 1, 2008

The fact that Rivers Cuomo used to be a fantatic songwriter notwithstanding, Rivers Cuomo is a terrible songwriter. But he doesn't have "a formula" any more than anybody else who writes a lot of songs in a particular style.

That said, I thought the videos were absolutely hilarious. The result was of course doomed to be crappy because anyone who in 2008 is still into weezer enough to want to participate has shitty taste. Although it could've been a lot worse. Might as well have skipped the "arrangement" step, though. I mean, "Hey guys I have this great idea for an arrangement it will have distorted guitars and a drum kit!"
posted by ludwig_van at 11:48 AM on June 1, 2008

The song seems to be coming together quite well, actually.
posted by empath at 11:09 AM on June 22, 2008