The rock band Weezer is one of the few bands I actually like. Ask anyone who knows me personally, I always care more about listening to movie scores rather than listening to what some would deem "real music". As far as "real music" goes, to me Weezer is the best, and their new album, Hurley, is quite possibly their finest since the '90s. It is Weezer's most complete, most Weezerish sounding, Weezer album since their second, Pinkerton. This is high praise for a Weezer fan, but I think I wasn't the only one who was initially scratching their head at the naming of Weezer's newest album, Hurley. The CD cover art is simply a picture of actor Jorge Garcia, smiling; Garcia most well-known for playing the character Hurley on the hit sci-fi show LOST. So what does this album have to do with the character of Hurley other than his namesake? Simply, the album is a perfect companion to Hurley's character.
The album consists of ten songs, many of the songs having similar themes running through them. Beneath all the lyrics about women, Hurley's songs all bear a message of hope and fighting the establishment. While these songs can be seen as Weezer's journey to rediscover themselves and go back to their roots after departing the corporate label system that had controlled most their albums for the past decade, I think that this journey applies same to Hurley from LOST.
In LOST, Hurley is easily the most lovable character. No one doesn't like Hurley. He is the geek of the island, often not thought of by his fellow castaways as nothing more than the warm, fuzzy big guy, but in the war to save the island, Hurley fights the establishment to rise the ranks and become protector of the island. On Weezer's album, the first song, "Memories," just sounds like something Hurley would love in all his nostalgia, not to mention the final song, "Time Flies". Then songs like "Trainwreck" and "Unspoken" detail how Hurley feels about his constant battle with the cursed numbers that have ruled his life. Even songs like "Smart Girls" can be mirrored in LOST in Hurley's love and relationship with Libby, who is arguably a smart girl. Finally, the songs, such as, "Hang On," display the optimism of Hurley, and, "Brave New World," can be seen as Hurley's theme of being made the new Jacob of the island and the ultimate venturing forth into the after life with the entire crew of Oceanic Flight 815.
Regardless, to say, Weezer is back, but maybe the choice to have Jorge Garcia's mug on the front cover wasn't just a play at randomness? Or maybe I've just grasped at straws.
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