Maladroit
Encyclopedia
Maladroit is the fourth studio album by American
alternative rock
band Weezer
, released on May 14, 2002 on Geffen Records
. The album is the band's first to feature bassist Scott Shriner
, following the departure of former bassist Mikey Welsh
in 2001. Maladroit features heavy metal
riff
s, uncommon to Weezer's previous releases.
As of December 2007, the album sold 605,000 copies in the United States, having reached a high of #3 on the Billboard 200
and quickly going gold.
format on their weezer.com website every day while in the studio working on Maladroit. This resulted in dozens of different versions of over thirty different songs circulating on the Internet before the album was released.
The idea was to keep solid communication open with their fan base on their official message board as well as, more crucially, on unofficial message boards such as the Rivers Correspondent Board (which was closed to the public at Cuomo's request, chiefly so that members of the press could not gain access). Yet frontman Rivers Cuomo
and the fans strongly disagreed on a number of creative aspects of the album. One thing they did agree on was bringing back the old summer 2000 song "Slob" for use on the album. Cuomo commented, "I never would have thought to put the song 'Slob' on the record if the fans did not request it. Scott Shriner also wanted a hidden track, 'Are You Gonna Be?,' for the album." Regardless of disagreements, Weezer fans are still "specially thanked" in the album's liner notes
and the album title itself was suggested by a board member on the Weezer message boards who went by the screen name of Lethe.
The band's uploading of MP3 demos onto their website resulted in many major radio stations playing the still unreleased (and sometimes unfinished) songs on the radio for the masses to hear. In the week it was leaked to radio stations, the lead-off single "Dope Nose" reached #25 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks
chart without an official single having been issued.
Unfortunately, the airplay resulted in a gag order being issued by Geffen Records in which they requested that Weezer return the master tapes from the Maladroit sessions and apologize to each radio station that played the song. The band resisted, citing that they had funded all the sessions themselves and that apologizing seemed pointless. The fans resisted as well, forming an online group called "Unreleased Weezer for the Masses" that rallied for the release of the album.
The hit songs "Dope Nose" and "Hash Pipe" (off The Green Album
) were both written using the same method on the same night, with Rivers Cuomo allegedly taking "a bunch of Ritalin
and ... like three shots of tequila" to write the songs.
The album cover was chosen from a contest. Weezer, through their website, asked for submissions. Their favorite of these submissions was chosen as the cover seen today.
, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic gave the album four stars, saying that it "retains the high quality of The Green Album".
Spin Magazine ended up calling it the 6th best album of 2002, and Rolling Stone
readers voted it as the 8th best of the year. In another Rolling Stone readers poll, it was voted the 91st greatest album of all-time.
In June 2009, Magnet Magazine
had an article on the five most overrated and underrated Weezer songs. "All of Maladroit" was ranked number one on the list of the underrated half.
The European and Australian version of Maladroit features "Island in the Sun" from The Green Album as a bonus track. Some of the European issues also contain the single b-side "Living Without You," sequenced between "December" and "Island in the Sun." On the numbered edition of the album, it features 7 enhanced videos - "The Quiet Storm", "Dope Nose (live)", "Death And Destruction (live)", "Burndt Jamb (live)", "The Cobo Challenge", "Keep Fishin' (live)", and "Take Control (live)".
Singles
Certifications
Other personnel
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
, released on May 14, 2002 on Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
. The album is the band's first to feature bassist Scott Shriner
Scott Shriner
Scott G. Shriner is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.-Early life:Shriner was born in Toledo, Ohio. He took up bass in high school. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he found his high school bass teacher Mark Kieswetter, with whom he studied until moving to Los...
, following the departure of former bassist Mikey Welsh
Mikey Welsh
Michael Edward "Mikey" Welsh was an American artist and musician, best known as the former bassist of Weezer. He played with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo during Cuomo's time in Boston during the hiatus in the band Homie...
in 2001. Maladroit features heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s, uncommon to Weezer's previous releases.
As of December 2007, the album sold 605,000 copies in the United States, having reached a high of #3 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and quickly going gold.
Background and recording
For their fourth studio album, Weezer attempted to incorporate an innovative system in which they'd release demos in MP3MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format on their weezer.com website every day while in the studio working on Maladroit. This resulted in dozens of different versions of over thirty different songs circulating on the Internet before the album was released.
The idea was to keep solid communication open with their fan base on their official message board as well as, more crucially, on unofficial message boards such as the Rivers Correspondent Board (which was closed to the public at Cuomo's request, chiefly so that members of the press could not gain access). Yet frontman Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
and the fans strongly disagreed on a number of creative aspects of the album. One thing they did agree on was bringing back the old summer 2000 song "Slob" for use on the album. Cuomo commented, "I never would have thought to put the song 'Slob' on the record if the fans did not request it. Scott Shriner also wanted a hidden track, 'Are You Gonna Be?,' for the album." Regardless of disagreements, Weezer fans are still "specially thanked" in the album's liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
and the album title itself was suggested by a board member on the Weezer message boards who went by the screen name of Lethe.
The band's uploading of MP3 demos onto their website resulted in many major radio stations playing the still unreleased (and sometimes unfinished) songs on the radio for the masses to hear. In the week it was leaked to radio stations, the lead-off single "Dope Nose" reached #25 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart without an official single having been issued.
Unfortunately, the airplay resulted in a gag order being issued by Geffen Records in which they requested that Weezer return the master tapes from the Maladroit sessions and apologize to each radio station that played the song. The band resisted, citing that they had funded all the sessions themselves and that apologizing seemed pointless. The fans resisted as well, forming an online group called "Unreleased Weezer for the Masses" that rallied for the release of the album.
The hit songs "Dope Nose" and "Hash Pipe" (off The Green Album
Weezer (The Green Album)
Weezer, also known as "The Green Album" due to the lime-green cover, is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Weezer, released on May 15, 2001. Produced by Ric Ocasek, it was the band's third studio album released on Geffen Records. This is the first, and only Weezer album to...
) were both written using the same method on the same night, with Rivers Cuomo allegedly taking "a bunch of Ritalin
Methylphenidate
Methylphenidate is a psychostimulant drug approved for treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and narcolepsy. It may also be prescribed for off-label use in treatment-resistant cases of lethargy, depression, neural insult and obesity...
and ... like three shots of tequila" to write the songs.
Packaging
The first 600,000 copies of the album were specifically numbered, with the number located on the back of the CD case near the lower right-hand corner.The album cover was chosen from a contest. Weezer, through their website, asked for submissions. Their favorite of these submissions was chosen as the cover seen today.
Reception
Maladroit received received generally favourable reviews. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic gave the album four stars, saying that it "retains the high quality of The Green Album".
Spin Magazine ended up calling it the 6th best album of 2002, and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
readers voted it as the 8th best of the year. In another Rolling Stone readers poll, it was voted the 91st greatest album of all-time.
In June 2009, Magnet Magazine
Magnet (magazine)
Magnet is a music magazine which generally focuses on alternative, independent, or out-of-the-mainstream bands.-History:The magazine is published four times a year, and is independently owned and edited by Eric T. Miller. Music magazines with a similar focus in the 1990s era included Option,...
had an article on the five most overrated and underrated Weezer songs. "All of Maladroit" was ranked number one on the list of the underrated half.
Track listing
Bonus tracksThe European and Australian version of Maladroit features "Island in the Sun" from The Green Album as a bonus track. Some of the European issues also contain the single b-side "Living Without You," sequenced between "December" and "Island in the Sun." On the numbered edition of the album, it features 7 enhanced videos - "The Quiet Storm", "Dope Nose (live)", "Death And Destruction (live)", "Burndt Jamb (live)", "The Cobo Challenge", "Keep Fishin' (live)", and "Take Control (live)".
Charts and certifications
Charts| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
3 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
16 |
| Sweden | 22 |
| Norway | 4 |
| Finland | 11 |
| Netherlands | 95 |
Singles
| Year | Song | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Modern Rock Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
UK Top 40 |
||
| 2002 | "Dope Nose Dope Nose "Dope Nose" is a song by American alternative rock band Weezer. It is the first single off the band's fourth album, Maladroit. It was officially released in 2002, though it had been performed live and in the studio during the band's 2000 summer tour comeback after hiatus."Dope Nose" was said to... " |
8 | - |
| 2002 | "Keep Fishin' Keep Fishin' "Keep Fishin" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer. It is the second single off the band's fourth album, Maladroit. It peaked at #15 on the US alternative charts.-Music video:... " |
15 | 29 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Gold |
Personnel
Band- Rivers CuomoRivers CuomoRivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
- lead vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Pat WilsonPatrick Wilson (musician)Patrick "Pat" George Wilson is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Weezer. He joined the band in 1992. In addition to his work in Weezer, he also fronts his own band, The Special Goodness....
– drums - Brian BellBrian Bell (musician)Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
– guitar, backing vocals - Scott ShrinerScott ShrinerScott G. Shriner is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.-Early life:Shriner was born in Toledo, Ohio. He took up bass in high school. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he found his high school bass teacher Mark Kieswetter, with whom he studied until moving to Los...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals
Other personnel
- WeezerWeezerWeezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
– producer - Chad Bamford – additional production, engineer
- Rod Cervera – additional production
- Jordan Schur – executive producer
- Tom Lord-AlgeTom Lord-AlgeTom Lord-Alge is a four-time Grammy Award–winning record producer and mixer. He is the youngest of Vivian Lord's five children, Mark Lord-Alge, Lisa Lord-Alge, Chris Lord-Alge, Jeff Lord-Alge and Tom Lord-Alge...
– mixing - Christopher Carroll – additional engineering
- Carlos "Loco" Bedoya – additional engineering
- Femio Hernández – assistant engineer
- Darren Mora – assistant engineer
- Steven P. Robillard – assistant engineer
- Stephen MarcussenStephen MarcussenStephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer of Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California. Marcussen is one of the most sought-after mastering engineers in the music industry and his expertise has been coveted by a wide range of artists over the years...
– mastering - Karl Koch – "Farm Hand"