Pinkerton [Opaque White Swirl Vinyl]

1996 Sophomore Album Cited on Countless Best-of Decade Lists

Includes ''El Scorcho,'' ''Pink Triangle,'' ''Tired of Sex,'' and ''The Good Life''

Loosely Related to Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Confessional Album Lays Bare Frustration, Confusion, Awkwardness, and Loneliness Amidst Power-Pop Settings

Few records claim as bizarre a history as Weezer's Pinkerton. Upon release in 1996, the band's sophomore effort failed to meet sales expectations, lacked a hit single, and drew primarily negative reviews from the press. Then, via word of mouth and reevaluation, the Little Album That Could began build a reputation as an initially misunderstood masterwork - a bold, brave, and exposed creation that happened to have hyper-contagious hooks to accompany the confessional lyrics. Today, it's cited on virtually every Best Albums of the 1990s list in existence.

Weezer's aims on Pinkerton have connected with many that identify with its narratives and adore its surfeit of melodies. Surpassing cult-classic status and conquering fickle tastes, the record ranks in Guitar World's ''Top 100 Guitar Albums of All-Time''; Spin's ''100 Best Albums From 1985 to 2005''; Pitchfork's ''Top 100 Albums of the 1990s''; and Rolling Stone's Hall of Fame.

For all the malaise, Pinkerton also contains beloved wit and humor. Shyness and hands-in-pocket diffidence inform ''El Scorcho''; incongruity and surprise surround the simultaneously funny and sad ''Pink Triangle''; tedium and desire collide on the cynical ''Tired of Sex.'' Psychosexual confusion, unrequited passion, and good intentions elicit unintended sympathies, a trait that remains one of the record's brilliant turns.