Cover songs, and to a lesser extent, cover albums, have always been integral to the musical medium and industry. They allow artists to perform established songs with their own unique interpretations, sometimes facilitating a new musical subgenre or even eclipsing the original song in popularity or iconicity in the process. When someone thinks of “All Along The Watchtower,” do they think of Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix? When someone thinks of “Hallelujah,” do they think of Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley? When an artist covers a song, they have the creative opportunity to make someone else’s work their own; when Johnny Cash covered Trent Reznor’s “Hurt”, Reznor lamented, “that song isn’t mine anymore.”
It’s strange, then, that alternative rock band Weezer’s fifth eponymous album, also known as The Teal Album, was released without any prior advertisement on January 23 despite featuring a tracklist comprised solely of cover songs, primarily iconic tunes from the 1980s. But first, some context: Weezer, famous for songs like “Buddy Holly” and “El Scorcho”, had recently hit public success with a cover single of Toto’s “Africa” prior to the release of The Teal Album. The single, made as a meme to capitalize on the cult Internet status of “Africa”, hit unexpected success, reaching number one on the Billboard charts. Its music video, starring Al Yankovic, has over seven million views. The cover was even acknowledged and approved by Toto, who covered Weezer’s song “Hash Pipe” in response. Rivers Cuomo, frontman for Weezer, motivated by his success, likely concocted The Teal Album to make use of his adrenaline high.
But is The Teal Album a good cover album in its own right? Not really. The Teal Album reminds me of what makes a good cover album instead: a unique interpretation of the songs being covered by the artists covering them. Is there really a reason to listen to any of Weezer’s covers when I can just as easily listen to the original songs? No. Cuomo and his band don’t really experiment with any of the material they’re given; Weezer’s instrumentation and vocal performance for every song almost always matches their respective original down to a T, which makes every track seem more like Cuomo’s private karaoke session rather than a serious project. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The covers are still fun to listen to, and for the most part, retain the original spirit and energy of its original. They show off Cuomo’s vocal flexibility and consistency as he jumps with relative grace from songs like Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” to R&B tracks like TLC’s “No Scrubs.”
Ultimately, though, it’s worrying and apparent that The Teal Album is a petty grab for relevance and for money, seeing as they covered iconic songs for the attention with no actual intention of putting their own unique spin on them. Its timing was suspect, given that it came weeks before the release of Weezer’s The Black Album, set to release on March 1st. Rivers Cuomo obviously didn’t decide to cover “Billie Jean” with the intention to beat Michael Jackson at his own song. It’s disappointing to see such obvious cynicism in The Teal Album: that music is no longer sold for the sake of music, but instead primarily for monetary and media recognition. The Teal Album, overall, is a half-decent album with covers that may spark some interest from listeners, but the covers are far too familiar and lackluster to be worth anyone’s time.