Weezer’s 1996 album, “Pinkerton,” is the rare mainstream rock record about being a giant creep. Not in a lecherous Rolling Stones way, nor like Radiohead’s mopey early career. No, “Pinkerton” is the kind of record on which the band’s Rivers Cuomo seethes that a girl won’t reciprocate his love — for the totally unjustifiable reason that she’s a lesbian. It tapped a vein of Asian-female fetishizing among white male indie rockers — the thing is an emo album as an Orientalist fantasy featuring cellist girls who pen love letters on delicate stationery. Any woman who in real life encounters the flailing, vengeful passive-aggressive narrator behind songs such as “No Other One” should run screaming for the fire exits.

Linkin Park, the hard rock pride of Agoura Hills, ushers in the music industry's busy fall and winter release schedule, leading a charge of six new albums into the top 10 of the U.S. pop chart. The act's "Thousand Suns," which showcases a moodier, gentler and more contemplative Linkin Park, sold 241,000 copies in its debut week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. 

Though Linkin Park has no doubt successfully shifted out of the rap/rock-metal scene of the mid- to late '90s, becoming one of the few hybrid acts from the era to demonstrate some career longevity, it isn't immune to the general industry downturn facing the music biz. The band's 2007 effort, "Minutes to Midnight," bowed with a much-mightier 623,000 copies, according to the Billboard archives. This could be a transitionary moment for the band, as initial fan reaction to the less hard-hitting sound appears to be mixed. 

Nevertheless, Linkin Park still outsold the latest from R&B artist Trey Songz, icon Robert Plant, still-rising country star Jamey Johnson and Weezer, who jumped from the Universal Music Group empire to locals Epitaph Records. The fourth effort from Trey Songz, "Passion, Pain & Pleasure," narrowly missed the top spot, selling 240,000 copies in its first week. That's actually a career-best for Trey Songz, who Billboard notes has never sold more than 131,000 albums in a single week. 

Further down, mainstream country's rougher-and-tougher Johnson entered at No. 4 with "The Guitar Song," an album that sold 63,000 copies, while Plant's "Band of Joy," which continues his atmospheric explorations into the American songbook, bowed at No. 5 with with 49,000 copies.

Weezer's "Hurley" didn't arrive with quite the same fanfare as last year's "Raditude," which saw the band selling Snuggies and collaborating with Lil Wayne, yet it did see the act taking greater ownership of its career. For the album, Weezer started its own W Records and licensed the effort to Silver Lake's Epitaph. The independent move still gives the band a top 10 album, as "Hurley" opened with 45,000 copies sold. That is, however, a little less than "Raditude's" debut, as that effort bowed with 66,000 copies sold.

Other notes from this week's chart:

The veteran alt-rockers get back to their roots with the help of body spray, My Chemical Romance and that dude from "Lost."

Miracles, as the Insane Clown Posse might helpfully point out, are all around us. Just look at Weezer. Fourteen years ago, they were a band at rock bottom: "Pinkerton," the group's painfully vulnerable follow-up to its multi-platinum self-titled debut (better known as "The Blue Album"), was savaged by critics and spurned by fans with a harshness that dwarfed frontman Rivers Cuomo's most embarrassing narratives of romantic failure. All these years later, a generation of teenage fans knows all the words to "The Sweater Song" and have probably never read Spin magazine. Water into wine? Close enough.

Things could certainly be worse for the alt-rock lifers, who played a secret show on Tuesday night at the Dunes Inn Hotel in Hollywood as part of Axe's One Night Only music series. (Rapper T.I. played the first installment last month in New York City.) Cuomo earned his paycheck, name-dropping the body-spray brand at least three times during the band's one-hour show.

Like asking Yankees chief Joe Girardi if he would be willing to leave New York to manage the Chicago Cubs, peppering a famous musician with inquiries as to where his band may or may not sign is a line of interrogation that's sure to be met with vagaries (warning: this post has them). Yet Wilco's Jeff Tweedy knows the questions will come his way, and understands that speculation could point the daring Chicago pop band to a certain L.A. indie.

On Tuesday, Epitaph's multi-genre imprint Anti- Records will release "You Are Not Alone" from Chicago soul luminary Mavis Staples, a refined collection of gospel-tinged folk and blues that was produced by Tweedy in Wilco's Windy City studio. As detailed in Sunday's Calendar story, Staples is experiencing a late-career rejuvenation. The 71-year-old and 60-year-recording vet is now on her third album from Anti-, and the artist said she's noticed a boost in attention since linking with the respected label, where legends (Roky Erickson) stand alongside the elegant (Neko Case) and the out-and-out weird (Man Man). 

The label's multi-genre approach is not too different from that of Warner Music Group imprint Nonesuch Records, where Wilco has just completed its recording contract. With Tweedy recently telling Billboard that it "seems unlikely that we will be under the umbrella of a major label" for future albums, has his experience working with Anti- on the Staples album put the Silver Lake-based label in the running as a future Wilco home?

 
Any live music maven in the second decade of the 21st century knows that a plain old rock band has a little problem. Shows have become so elaborate, overstimulating fans with lights shows, props, dancers and other distractions, that three or four people banging away on standard instruments can seem awfully dull.

Weezer leader Rivers Cuomo has overcome this disadvantage by diving deep into the rock and roll frontman's smelly trick bag and refreshing its contents with the kind of energy you'd expect from a young brat, not a 40-year-old dad with 15 years of stardom under his corduroy-hoisting belt.

Performing Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Cuomo spent more time in the audience than he did onstage. He climbed onto camera dollies, played catch with giant Nerf footballs and several beach balls, and consistently invaded the personal space of his screaming fans. The madman routine was sharp as an ice pick -- Cuomo nailed every vocal in Weezer's wordy hits, led the band and pulled out several large guitar solos to boot.

The undeniable fun of the Weezer show made clear that this alternative rock mainstay is still ready to take any comers. Freshly signed to the Los Angeles indie Epitaph Records after parting from its longtime label DGC/Geffen, Weezer is promising a return to the raw melodicism of its best-loved records. We'll be spending more time with Weezer in anticipation of that release, but for now, Cuomo clarified the band's arrangement with Epitaph and answered some other pressing questions about Weezer's current state -- and his killer live attitude -- via e-mail.

The big news is that Weezer will release a new album, "Hurley," on Epitaph Records on Sept. 14. This announcement ends the rampant speculation about how you would  release your next musical project. Why did you decide to go with Epitaph, rather than self-releasing via the Internet, or selling the music out of your garage, wrapped in a Wuggie?

Technically "Hurley" is released on our own record label, W Records, and it's just being licensed to Epitaph.  So far we've had a really good creative collaboration with Brett Gurewitz and the other people at the label, and I'm looking forward to collaboration with other like-minded alternative music fans at the label.

I've only heard one track from the album so far -- the super-punchy twist on nostalgia, "Memories" -- but that one indicates that this album will be pretty raw. This seems like a departure from the pop experimentation of your last album, "Raditude." Is it a deliberate about-face, or just another side of what you do so well?

We all felt that the really intense, raw emotional side of Weezer is what's going to make everyone the happiest at this moment.

No press release, and no further comments from the Weezer or Epitaph camps, but the band has announced that it has signed with the local indie label. The punk-leaning, Silver Lake Lounge-adjacent Sunset Boulevard fortress that Bad Religion and Offspring built will release the band's new album, "Hurley," on Sept. 14, according to Weezer's Twitter page and official website.  

Weezer will join Social Distortion as veterans to recently join the Brett Gurewitz-run Epitaph fold. It appears that that the band will release its album under the Epitaph brand as opposed to the imprint's more eccentric Anti- label, which is home to Neko Case, Nick Cave's Grinderman and the wonderfully weird Tim Fite, but Weezer's relationship-focused pop gems have always had a shade of the Ramones and Buzzcocks, and the act recently toured with Blink-182. 

Weezer's contract with Geffen expired after the release of last year's "Raditude," bringing to end a 15-year relationship with the major label. Weezer used Rolling Stone to help unveil the news, and leader Rivers Cuomo had this to say in explaining the move to an indie: "At this moment in our career, it feels like we don't need a major label, and the major label culture isn't inline with our values," Cuomo said. "We like Brett Gurewitz, and it feels like a smaller and more appropriate operation for what we like doing at the moment."

-- Todd Martens 

Photo: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Rock band Weezer was able to avoid a significant tragedy after an early December tour bus crash, but the band has still had to bring a halt to its partying. Weezer announced today that it is canceling its Jan. 11 stop in Irvine at the UCI Bren Events Center. Previously, the band had only postponed its December tour dates.

As previously noted, leader Rivers Cuomo was said to have suffered three cracked ribs after a tour bus crash on Dec. 6. The accident occurred about 40 miles west of Albany, N.Y.,  on Interstate 90, according to the band. The bus was described as losing control after hitting a patch of black ice.

On its site today, the band wrote, "due to the recent bus crash involving Rivers Cuomo, as per doctors orders all previously scheduled December and upcoming January Weezer shows are cancelled. At present, neither the December shows nor the upcoming January shows are being rescheduled."

The band is touring in support of its recently released "Raditude." In six weeks on the chart, the album has sold 140,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

-- Todd Martens

RELATED:

Album review: Weezer's 'Raditude'

Weezer celebrates the art of cuddling

Photo: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Weezer has canceled its remaining December tour dates after a a tour bus crash early Sunday left lead singer Rivers Cuomo with three cracked ribs. The band's next stop in Southern California in support of its recent release, "Raditude," is currently scheduled for Jan. 11 in Irvine at the UCI Bren Events Center, followed by a Jan. 13 date in La Jolla. As of now, those dates are still on.

The accident occurred about 40 miles west of Albany on Interstate 90, according to the band. The bus was described as losing control after hitting a patch of black ice. "The driver employed every ounce of skill he had in fighting to keep the bus upright, as the vehicle violently fishtailed over the highway," according to a post on the Weezer website.

Cuomo's injuries are described as "mostly minor but very painful internal damage."  His assistant and nanny were also reportedly injured in the accident, but the rest of the band, as well as Curomo's wife and daughter, appear to have survived the crash without any major injuries.

Weezer may be cozying up to rapper Lil Wayne and singing songs such as "I'm Your Daddy" on its new album, "Raditude," but the band hasn't completely abandoned its persona as rock 'n' roll's lovable geeks.

With the release today of the band's new album, the act followed through on its promise (threat?) to release a Weezer-branded Snuggie -- a blanket with sleeves for those who don't watch a lot of late-night TV.

The promotional item is available for purchase on the Weezer website for $30, and the "Snuggie bundles" come complete with the Weezer CD. The band also recorded a fake TV ad for the product (watch it after the jump), and a news release described the blanket as "made of lightweight, soft fleece that keeps people of all ages warm indoors and out, with large, roomy sleeves allowing for free movement."

The Weezer-branded Snuggie is made in conjunction with Allstar Products Group, which also sells the blankets without the Weezer name. Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo described the product as a "Wuggie" in an interview with Rolling Stone, and has donned the kitschy product on stage. There's also a $50 zebra-printed "Snuggie Safari" package that includes a deluxe edition of "Raditude," complete with four extra tracks.

Read the Pop & Hiss review of Weezer's "Raditude." Watch the Weezer informercial:

To those taken aback by Rivers Cuomo's newfound embrace of songs about slaying honeys in the club while downing Patron shots on "Raditude," he has this to say to you -- "If you was me honey, you would do it too."

Grammar aside, there's a real kernel of truth to this lyric. Name any neurotic, lovelorn bedroom rocker who, upon achieving unlikely arena-filling status, wouldn't take full advantage of having Lil Wayne on speed dial, as evidenced by the rapper's cameo (Weezer and Weezy, get it?) on "Can't Stop Partying."

The weird aftertaste of "Raditude" isn't that Cuomo has so surrendered the oddball charm of his band's first two albums, though. It's that his late-career pursuit of mindless, opulent fun is so transparent that it almost taps a deeper vein of interior sadness than anything on "Pinkerton." Imagine a kind of "Sunset Blvd." set amid the stuccoed wreckage of post-'90s KROQ stardom.

Cuomo still turns out more functional hooks before his breakfast tequila than most bands get in a career. "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" and "Put Me Back Together" reclaim gum-snapping pop-punk from Weezer's myriad hijackers. But how does one appropriately respond to tracks like the buffet-soundtrack sitar jam "Love Is the Answer" and the Warrant-worthy ode to post-puberty "The Girl Got Hot?" 

Maybe just relax and order a double.

-- August Brown 

Weezer
"Raditude"
DGC/Interscope
Two stars (Our of four)

There's a large faction of rock fans who have turned hating on Weezer and the band’s leader, Rivers Cuomo, into something of a sport. The guy can’t seem to do anything -- including name a new album, in this case the forthcoming “Raditude,” due in stores Oct. 27 -- without igniting a whirlwind of controversy.

Cuomo’s pal Rainn Wilson has had enough.

It’s Wilson who's credited with naming “Raditude,” which has been openly derided on the Internet via blogs and fan sites. Yet during a recent interview with ABC in advance of the coming season of “The Office,” he dismissed anyone who had issue with the title.

Is the mini-brouhaha due solely to Wilson's actor status? Wilson thinks so.

He theorized that if Charlie Sheen had been the one who coined the name for Radiohead's 2007 album "In Rainbows," the world would be against it.

"People would be like, ‘In Rainbows,’ that’s stupid,’” he joked to interviewer Dan Harris. “It happens to be the best album of the last decade.”

There’s also footage in the ABC clip of Wilson playing the bongos on Weezer’s cover of Joan Osborne’s “What if God Was One of Us?” Music is a focus of the interview, as Wilson goes on to discuss how a tape of the Clash’s “London Calling” changed his life.

-- Scott T. Sterling

Photo: The Associated Press

There are precious few rock bands that elicit such extreme and disparate reactions as Weezer. It seems people are either vying to be the president of lead singer River Cuomo’s fan club, or dream of seeing him publicly executed. There is very little room for apathy in the wild world of Weezer.

True to form, the interwebs have lit up with insta-reviews of the freshly leaked new Weezer single -- the oddly titled (“If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” from the act's upcoming seventh album, awesomely named “Raditude.” The album is due out on Oct. 27.

Reactions include allegations of it being a Cheap trick rip-off -- probably because of the song title’s similarity to CT’s classic single “I Want You to Want Me” -- and claims of it being a return to form. The upbeat, acoustic guitar-driven tune rides a swing beat similar to the Jam’s 1982 hit “Town Called Malice.” It gallops along before erupting into a hard-rocking and customarily catchy chorus.

With the single not officially released until Aug. 25, it’s fast being pulled from blogs and YouTube by the band’s label, Geffen, as fast as fans can re-post it. At press time, the fans were winning and the song could easily be heard on a variety of sites.

Is "(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” the next great Weezer single, or yet another rusty nail absently driven into the rickety coffin they keep jumping out of? We lean toward the former, but that's why there's a comments section. You know what to do, people.

--Scott T. Sterling

(Photo: Rivers Cuomo performing with Weezer at the 2009 KROQ Weenie Roast; Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)