Maladroit

Maladroit
Studio album by Weezer
Released	May 14, 2002
Recorded	December 2001 - January 2002
Studio	Cello Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Alternative rock power pop pop punk emo
Length	33:43
Label	Geffen
Producer	Weezer
Weezer chronology
Weezer (2001) Maladroit (2002) The Lion and the Witch (2002)
Singles from Maladroit
"Dope Nose" Released: March 26, 2002 "Keep Fishin'" Released: September 20, 2002

Maladroit is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on May 14, 2002, through 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 riffs, uncommon to Weezer's previous releases.

As of December 2007, the album has sold 605,000 copies in the United States, having reached a high of #3 on the US Billboard 200 and quickly going gold.

Background and recording

For the band's fourth studio album, Weezer attempted to incorporate an innovative system in which the group would release demos in MP3 format on the band's website every day while in the studio working on Maladroit.^[1] 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 the band's fan base on the group's 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."^[2] 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.^[3]

The band's uploading of MP3 demos onto its website resulted in many major radio stations playing the still unreleased (and sometimes unfinished) songs on the radio for the masses to hear.^[3][4] Due to a spat between Cuomo and the record label Geffen/Interscope, Weezer self funded the recordings for Maladroit and the label was unaware of the recordings at all until the radio began to play them. It is said that Cuomo was so excited for fans to hear the music he personally mailed copies of 8 out of the 13 songs on Maladroit to key radio stations and press outlets.^[5] 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.

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.^[6][7] The band members resisted, citing that they had funded all the sessions themselves and that apologizing seemed pointless.^[8] The fans resisted as well, forming an online group called "Unreleased Weezer for the Masses" that rallied for the release of the album.^[9]

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.^[10][11]

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.^[12]

The album cover was chosen from a contest. Through the band's website, Weezer asked for submissions. Their favorite of these submissions was chosen as the cover seen today.

This was the first Weezer album to contain lyrics in the album insert.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[13]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[14]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[15]
Los Angeles Times	[16]
NME	8/10[17]
Pitchfork Media	5.4/10[18]
PopMatters	8/10[19]
Robert Christgau	B–[20]
Rolling Stone	[21]
Spin	7/10[22]
The Village Voice	mixed[23]

Maladroit received generally favorable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72.^[13] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four stars, saying that it "retains the high quality of The Green Album".^[14] PopMatters gave the album an eight out of ten, saying "Maladroit keeps it short, keeps it simple, keeps it honest, but also importantly, they keep it coming. Thank Weezer for that."^[19] However, IGN later gave the album a score of five out of ten, and called it a "mixed bag", stating, "If you want to listen to a terrific Weezer cover band, proceed directly to Maladroit. Going by title alone, it's exactly as advertised. But, please, in the future, let's leave Weezer to their own devices. Ours aren't working."^[24]

Spin ended up calling it the 6th best album of 2002,^[25] and Rolling Stone readers voted it as the 8th best of the year.^[26] In another Rolling Stone readers poll, it was voted the 91st greatest album of all-time.^[27]

In June 2009, Magnet 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, where they comment "Maladroit, the band’s fourth album, is actually really good: not exactly deep, but it has some really stellar pop songs ... Sure, Maladroit never became a cultural touchstone the way the band’s first two albums did, but it deserves more credit than it ever got."^[28]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Rivers Cuomo. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"American Gigolo"	2:42
2.	"Dope Nose"	2:17
3.	"Keep Fishin'"	2:52
4.	"Take Control"	3:05
5.	"Death and Destruction"	2:38
6.	"Slob"	3:08
7.	"Burndt Jamb"	2:39
8.	"Space Rock"	1:53
9.	"Slave"	2:53
10.	"Fall Together"	2:02
11.	"Possibilities"	2:00
12.	"Love Explosion"	2:35
13.	"December"	2:59
Total length:		33:40

Bonus tracks

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".

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard 200[29]	3
UK Albums Chart[30]	16
Sweden[31]	22
Norway[32]	4
Finland[33]	11
Netherlands[34]	95

Singles

Year	Song	Peak positions
		US Modern Rock [35]	UK Top 40 [30]
2002	"Dope Nose"	8	-
2002	"Keep Fishin'"	15	29

Certifications

Country	Certification
United States	Gold[36]

Personnel

Weezer[37] Rivers Cuomo - lead vocals, guitar Pat Wilson – drums Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals Scott Shriner – bass, backing vocals

Additional personnel[37] Weezer – producer Chad Bamford – additional production, engineer Rod Cervera – additional production Jordan Schur – executive producer 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 Marcussen – mastering Karl Koch – "Farm Hand"

Notes

1. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 398
2. "Odder Than Hell". Guitar World. Archived from the original on 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2005-07-09.
3. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 405
4. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 406
5. Orshoski, Wes. "Geffen's Weezer on 'Maladroit'." Billboard - The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment May 11 2002: 1,1, 72. ProQuest. Web. 21 July 2015 .
6. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 410
7. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 411
8. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 413
9. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 412
10. Eliscu, Jenny. "Rivers Cuomo's Encyclopedia of Pop". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-10-21. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
11. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 420
12. Luerssen D., John. Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story. ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-619-3 p. 432
13. "Maladroit - Weezer: Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
14. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Maladroit - Weezer". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
15. Browne, David (2002-05-24). "Maladroit Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
16. Cromelin, Richard (2002-05-12). "From Weezer, Exuberant 'Maladroit' Is Anything But". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
17. Beaumont, Mark (2002-12-21). "Weezer : Maladroit". NME. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
18. Mitchum, Rob (2002-05-27). "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Weezer: Maladroit". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
19. Damas, Jason (2002-06-28). "Weezer: Maladroit". PopMatters. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
20. Christgau, Robert (April 22, 2003). "Not Hop, Stomp". The Village Voice (New York). Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
21. Powers, Ann (2002-05-09). "Maladroit by Weezer". 'Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
22. Sinagra, Laura (June 2002). "Rivers' Edge". Spin. pp. 101–102.
23. Nick Catucci (2002-06-18). "Tired, So Tired - Page 1 - Music - New York". Village Voice. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
24. JR (2007-05-14). "Weezer - Maladroit Review". IGN. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
25. Spin Magazine Staff. "Best Albums of 2002". Spin Magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
26. "Rolling Stone Readers' Top Ten of 2002". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
27. "2002 Rolling Stone Readers' 100". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
28. "The Over/Under: Weezer". Magnetmagazine.com. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
29. "Billboard 200". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
30. "UK album chart archives". everyhit.com. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
31. "Sweden Chart Archives". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
32. "Norway Chart Archives". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
33. "Finnish Chart Archives". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
34. "Netherlands album chart archives". dutchcharts.com. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
35. "Weezer Artist Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
36. "Gold & Platinum – Search Results: Maladroit". RIAA. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
37. Maladroit (liner). Weezer. Geffen Records. 2002.

External links

• Maladroit at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
• Maladroit at MusicBrainz (list of releases)