Forum Overview :: No Stairway to Heaven :: Re: I think you guys are discarding the Sharp theory too easily.

[quote name="Fullofkittens"][quote name="Choson"][quote name="Fullofkittens"] It's not a giant leap to say that Pixies - Breeders = Frank Black, and it's not a giant leap to say that old Weezer - New Weezer = The Rentals. Does that mean that Deal and Sharp were secretly cowriting songs with their bandleaders? No, but the possibility is very strong that having these talented people with strong opinions about music in the band caused Charles Thompson and Rivers Cuomo to work harder and more in a certain vein, in an attempt to appeal to those non-toady bandmates.[/quote] The problem with this argument is that you frame it like it's some obvious scientific equation. "Pixies - Breeders = Frank Black", isn't obvious to me. "Weezer - New Weezer = The Rentals"? No, more like "Weezer - New Weezer = Matt Sharp", whose current solo work doesn't sound anything like Weezer to me. I mean, you can fudge this stuff all you want, it doesn't boil down that easily. If anything, I think you're putting the cart before the horse -- both bass players were a lot more likely to leave because they weren't being listened to and weren't actually involved in the majority of the writing than if the music was actually changed to accomodate their non-toadyism. I mean, if they were listening to these strong opinions in the end, why the departures? [/quote] Re: the departures, both bands basically broke up. It's not like there was some big storming out in tears by either Deal or Sharp. There was a good 5 year gap where Weezer didn't tour or go into a recording studio, why would Matt Sharp (who had another successful band) wait around? Other than that, see motherfuckerfoodeater's post. If we're going to continue to mine into the tortured psyche of Rivers Cuomo (I'm fine if we don't), there's a real <b>Theory #4</b> that shouldn't be overlooked either: "Worst Album Of The Year." Having your lovingly handcrafted masterpiece called the worst album of the year would be hard for anyone to get over, even if the criticism was unfounded and insanely wrong. Aim that kind of critical death ray at an introspected self-hater like Rivers Cuomo, it's not a huge surprise that he never recovered. [/quote]