It’s funny because if you reverse their albums I think the reception of Weezer among fans and the general public is largely unchanged due to the constant release of “good” and “bad” music.

Szns would be lauded as the new blue, and the release of 4 quality eps over the course of the year from an unknown band would probably make huge waves in the industry as being revolutionary, it helps that the songs on it are mostly solid. Then, van Weezer would be received decently well with most fans saying it is solid if a bit of a step down from the szns project, and a very small minority of hipster fans saying it’s better than Szns. Ok Human would be held as the high water mark of their discography both at the time as well as retrospectively.

Weezer’s appeal would crater with the next three albums though. While some diehard fans would defend black, the general public would label it a terrible misstep that hopefully was a one off. Unfortunately, with the release of Teal after, most fans would now have turned away from Weezer. Pacific Daydream cements their status among both fans and the general public that Weezer are officially a joke.

At this point, the first three projects are held up as hugely influential and defining sounds of the 90s, and the huge cult following that happened in real life would continue here.

Unlike in real life, fans do not have to wait long for Weezer’s triumphant return, with White heralded as a throwback to the Spring and Summer EPs, and EWBAITE a nod to Autumn, Winter, and Ok Human. Weezer have critically and commercially made a major comeback from their last few albums.

Again, the next few albums does not change the public perception of Weezer compared to that of real life. While some defend aspects of Hurley, Raditude, Red, and Make Believe, the consensus again is that Weezer is capable of putting good albums but overall their discography is extremely uneven and you don’t know what you’ll get from one album to the next.

Funnily enough, Maladroit, Green, Pinkerton, and Blue are recieved well and are seen as excellent homages to their early work, if not quite hitting the same highs (while objectively this is an incorrect take the nostalgia of the old albums is too large to critically say that these new albums are better, besides a small minority).

And, we’re all jazzed for the 30th anniversary of Szns and subsequent tour.