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Mar 02, 2020 By Max Pilley (As Told To) Photography by Gregoire Alexandre Metronomy

This album seemed relevant because of my new record, and me thinking about the kind of stuff that was released when I was a teenager and impressionable.

To set the scene, it came out in the first year of secondary school. I’d been playing drums for a couple of years and I was beginning to move out of that period when you’re just listening to The Beatles and starting to find your own music. There was a show called Top of the Pops 2 where they would show nostalgia, not my nostalgia but somebody else’s, and you would find out a lot of old music that way. At the end of each program they would show a new music video and I remember seeing stuff like PJ Harvey’s “Down By the Water,” and “Basket Case” by Green Day-it was always quite an interesting choice. And one week they had “Buddy Holly” by Weezer and I remember being completely blown away by it. It was referencing Happy Days and I had a mental confusion about Happy Days, I thought it was filmed in the ‘50s, I couldn’t understand. And then to see a band playing super contemporary alt-rock referencing Happy Days, I just found it super exciting.

My sister was watching the same thing, and she had a bit more of a disposable income than me, she was 14, and she bought the album, and I was a bit pissed off because I felt like it was my thing. I’d had a bit of a Nirvana moment, but Weezer was melodically more pop-it felt kind of hard but also pop. It felt like a discovery and new, whereas Nirvana was quite universal. Weezer felt like something that could be my thing.

This album became the soundtrack to my early teenage years. I remember going to awkward parties and sleepovers listening to it, and having it in the car with my parents and going on school trips and having it on my Walkman. It became totally the thing I would obsessively listen to. And then with Pinkerton I remember being equally blown away. It kept up with my rate of growth.

If I listen to either of those first two records now, lyrically there are some moments where you feel a bit like, “I’m not sure if it could fly nowadays,” some it feels a bit clunky. But there are certain songs, like “My Name is Jonas,” that are like being punched by a wave of nostalgia.

The thing I didn’t know at the time was that it was produced by Ric Ocasek from The Cars. Growing up and hearing local radio and hearing something like “Just What I Needed,” there were songs that you liked more than others, so then realizing there was a link between the pop/rock sound that I’d already liked and Weezer was cool. Every time I’ve written a chuggy guitar rock song, they’ve been the reason that I do it. I welcome their presence in my music.

(Joseph Mount is the vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer for the British band Metronomy, whose sixth album, Metronomy Forever, is a 2019 release on Because Music. He has also collaborated with Robyn, Roots Manuva, Jessie Ware, and others. Portions of Joseph Mount’s conversation have been abridged and edited for structure and flow.)

[Note: This article originally appeared in Issue 66 of Under the Radar’s print magazine, which is out now. This is its debut online. For the issue we interviewed musicians and actors about their all-time favorite album.]

www.metronomy.co.uk

www.weezer.com

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