by Stephen Thomas ErlewineTwo periods of phenomenal success have obscured Rivers Cuomo's true status as a pop eccentric, a singer/songwriter whose ear for oddity is as sharp as his ear for melody. Success has the tendency to make the unusual seem common, but that wasn't quite the case with Cuomo, as Weezer's hits rarely showcased his wayward traits: they were so hooky, so anthemic, they roped in millions of listeners who never might have dug deeper into the albums, discovering his heartbroken ballads and skewed humor. The latter was certainly evident on the band's big 1994 breakthrough, "Buddy Holly," which helped kick off Weezer's first period of great success, but the cuteness of the chorus led some detractors to peg the group as a novelty, thereby ignoring the great songwriting that fueled "Buddy Holly" and the rest of the debut album. That novelty reputation dogged Weezer throughout their extended late-'90s hiatus, but when they returned in 2001 with another eponymous album, they kicked off a second great period of popularity, one where they banished the novelty tag, but once the band became a working concern again, releasing albums regularly, many fans carped that they -- meaning Rivers -- had become too predictable, favoring big rock hooks to the idiosyncratic pop of Pinkerton, the 1996 sophomore album that bombed commercially yet remains most beloved of all by hardcore Weezer fans, as it retained much of the quirkiness of the debut yet punctuated it with Cuomo's most emotionally naked songwriting.... Read More...