As part of this plan, the band once again hired Ric Ocasek to produce. Cuomo’s intention on Everything Will Be Alright In The End is thus crystal-clear: stop the rot by going back to basics and giving Weezer’s fans exactly what they want, namely a return to hard-hitting melodic rock.
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Sadly for Cuomo and his bandmates, no new audience arrived, their original fans were not impressed, and the band’s album sales plummeted even faster than those of the music industry in general. Luke, Polow da Don, Jermaine Dupri, Lil’ Wayne, Desmond Child, Greg Wells and Rick Nowels.
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Both were made in collaboration with producers, artists and songwriters working in the commercial pop, hip-hop and R&B arenas, such as Dr. Rather than repeat this formula, however, Cuomo’s restless creative spirit pushed him to continually experiment, and the band took their most dramatic change of direction with 2009’s Raditude and 2010’s Hurley. Produced by former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, its combination of raw, grunge-inspired rock and quirky power-pop gained it sales of over three million and classic album status. The quote refers back to Weezer’s eponymously titled 1994 debut album, also known as The Blue Album. Rarely has an artist expressed a mea culpa to his fans in such unequivocal terms. Thus sings Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo in ‘Back To The Shack’, the lead single from the band’s ninth studio album Everything Will Be Alright In The End. “Sorry guys I didn’t realise that I needed you so much / I thought I’d get a new audience, I forgot that disco sucks / I ended up with nobody and I started feeling dumb Take me back, back to the shack / Back to the Strat with the lightning strap / Kick in the door, more hardcore / Rockin’ out like it’s ’94.” For Rivers Cuomo and Weezer, going back to basics meant a reunion with one of the biggest names in rock mixing: Tom Lord-Alge.