How letting go of control helped Weezer’s 20th album shine

When I was a kid, I can clearly remember my best friend’s older brother showing me Weezer‘s debut — the Blue Album — and instantly falling in love with it. These were rock songs with huge hooks that were fun but also had depth, with a vulnerability and nerdiness that made the band feel like relatable underdogs.

The album was a huge success and went on to become enormously influential, but back then, I probably never would have guessed that Weezer would one day be playing stadiums. More than three decades later, that’s exactly where they are.

They’ve just released their 20th album. It’s technically self-titled, but it’s been nicknamed “the Gold Album.”

Today, frontman Rivers Cuomo and bassist Scott Shriner join World Cafe to talk about making the new album together, their creative partnership and friendship, and the band’s early days in Los Angeles.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe‘s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.