Weezer - Pinkerton
Critic Score
Based on 10 reviews
1996 Ratings: #75 / 127
User Score
1996 Rank: #28
Liked by 884 people
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Tiny Mix Tapes

Each song on Pinkerton has its own emphasis on an overall concept, adding up to a great, consistent album that never loses its edge. Please, PLEASE, listen to this album. No matter what genre you want to file it under, it's truly one of the best albums of the 20th Century.

100
AllMusic

In short, it sounds like the work of a live band, which makes it all the more ironic that Pinkerton, at its core, is a singer/songwriter record, representing Rivers Cuomo's bid for respectability.

75
Pitchfork

Pinkerton might actually be a bit much for fans who were wooed with the clean production and immediately accessable sound of these guys' debut, but if given a chance, it might surprise even some anti-Weezer folk.

75
Entertainment Weekly

Pinkerton should please all those indie-rock purists who like their pop sloppy and raw, but it’ll disappoint anyone who prefers a candy coating on the bubblegum.

70
NME
By the time the affecting acoustic lament 'Butterfly' wafts in like Big Star at a wildlife protection meeting, 'Pinkerton' starts feeling like a truly moving album.
70
SPIN
Forget Erich Segal. In this etiquette manual for today's sensitive young man, being in love means always having to say you're sorry.
60
Rolling Stone

As a songwriter, the band's singer and guitarist, Rivers Cuomo, takes a juvenile tack on personal relationships. Throughout Pinkerton, he pines for all the girls he can't have, the girls he can have but shouldn't, the girls who are no good for him and the girls about whom he just isn't sure.

20
NOW Magazine

It's difficult to say whether Weezer intentionally made Pinkerton unlistenable or if they've simply lost the plot.

ElectricMess
78

loses major points for me having to hear about RIVERS CUOMO's sex life

morningsbell
69

Here lies
Twin Fantasy's hetero prototype
With which I can't vibe
So I'm giving it a 6ix9ine

Favorite track: maybe Falling for You
Least favorite track: Tired of Sex or Across the Sea

exception
99

So it has been quite some time since I listened to Pinkerton for the very first time. And oddly enough, I listened to it on the same day that I first listened to Weezer's debut as well. That is a decision that I ultimately regret. Both albums are extremely similar, yet extremely different. Blue was Weezer's breakout, and rise to fame. Pinkerton was their fall from the top, as it was claimed to be a critical failure.
But what I think many of the harsher critics of this LP fail to realize is ... read more

tompa
82

MOM I FOUND OUT HOW TO PUT A PEN BACK TOGETHERRRRRR

Lucatoscan
96

I lost a girl to my best friend. Then they broke up and she didn't wanna be with me cause i am too short. Great album btw

86

Pinkerton was really close to being a 100/100. If Weezer committed to the concept of Songs from the black hole, it would have been revolutionary in the way that OK Computer was. Listening to this feels like listening to the remnants of something that could have been so beautiful but was given up on. Regardless, this album has a unique personality I have never seen any other project replicate. It's like the blue album's evil twin, in the sense that it's raw and awkward atmosphere is almost like ... read more

Purchasing Pinkerton from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement

Track List

1Tired of Sex
3:00
91
2Getchoo
2:52
89
3No Other One
3:01
88
4Why Bother?
2:08
88
5Across the Sea
4:32
85
6The Good Life
4:16
92
7El Scorcho
4:03
89
8Pink Triangle
3:58
89
9Falling for You
3:47
88
10Butterfly
2:53
86
Total Length: 34 minutes
Sign in to comment
9h
4d
1w
2w
1mo