Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer

Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer

Scott M. Dutton

Wabounsee Community College

Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer
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Artist: Weezer

Title of work: El Scorcho

Date of work: 8/19/1996

Genre: Alternative

Medium: bass, guitar, vocals, drums

Time Form Texture Melody Rythem

:00 Intro Gargling followed None Slow, 2 beats
by drum fill, then per measure
acoustic guitar and
incoherent yelling,
then electric guitar
doubling acoustic
after two
measures.
:21 A Vocals, electric Vocals with no Same as intro
guitar doubled by distinct pattern
acoustic guitar.
Guitars cut out in
last two measures.
Additional singing,
mumbling and
yelling at some
points
:46 B Acoustic guitar Vocals with Same as A
removed. Bass, distinct pattern
additional vocalist and harmony
and additional
electric guitar
added.
1:12 A repeats Same as previous Similar to previous
part A, with electric repletion of part
guitar playing small A, with electric
lead part in first guitar adding an
four measures additional melody
1:38 B repeats. B pattern repeats.
2:03 C Vocals, guitars Different vocal Suddently
playing power pattern to go with quadruple
chords, bass new chord time from the
progression rest of the
song
2:16 D Same as C, with Slightly different Back to normal
guitar changing to a vocal pattern from
riff after two C
measures
Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer
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2:29 E Guitar, bass and Mainly guitar Same as A

vocals all improvisation.
improvising at the Bass and vocals
same time also have melodic
elements
2:42 A Two measures Similar to other
shorter than past repetitions
repetitions
3:05 B Additional vocals B pattern repeats
added. Repeats with additional
vocal harmonies

On July 7, I attended a Weezer concert at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. I’m a pretty big
fan of Weezer, and I actually bought the tickets on the first day they came out, so needless to say, I was
pretty excited, especially when I found out that it could count towards a school assignment. I also went
with my brother, who wasn’t very familiar with Weezer, but liked what he had heard from them. We
were in the lawn, so we didn’t have an ideal view, but it was good enough for me to enjoy the
experience. The show was a co-headliner with the Pixies, and both them and Weezer are alternative
rock bands that were at their peak in the nineties. As a result, the concert drew mostly people who were
college-aged or younger, like myself, but also had a large group of people in their thirties and forties
reliving their youths. It was interesting to see these very different groups that normally aren’t huge fans
of each other being brought together by music. I didn’t focus on the Pixies’ set too much, as I personally
wasn’t too interested in their music. Most people around me weren’t too interested either, except for
when they played “Where is my Mind” (the song from “Fight Club”), their one mainstream hit. From
when they left the stage to when the lights went out, we could feel the anticipation building around us.
When the recorded intro started playing, everyone freaked out, and when the curtain dropped,
everyone freaked out even more. In fact, most people just kept freaking out for the whole show.
Everyone was so enthusiastic about being there, including the band themselves, as the singer looked like
he was trying not to smile for the whole show. Almost everyone knew every word to every song, and
they sang at the top of their lungs the whole way through. The band members were constantly doing
weird little dances on stage while playing each note perfectly. Everyone was having the time of their
lives, as every concert should be.

The stage production itself was very elaborate. The set started with a background resembling a
college dorm/apartment, a nod to their core fanbase. There were several pennants with “Weezer”
written on them, as well as several other decorations and a large band logo above the drummer. They
even went as far as to make the keyboard rigs looks like wood cupboards. After a few songs, the crew
spun the background around while the band was still playing to reveal a garage with posters of classic
rock bands on it. This was representative of the bands early days, when they lived in the same house
together. During this part of the show, they played “In the Garage”, which was written about that very
garage. The song includes the line “I got posters on the wall of my favorite rock group, Kiss”, and their
singer singing that with a Kiss poster right behind him was an oddly beautiful moment. Later on, the
singer suddenly put on a sailors hat, grabbed a mini scooter, rode it off the stage and continued riding
around in circles while the rest of the band kept playing. He eventually came to a stop at a small stage
towards the back of the main seats, where there was an acoustic guitar and a microphone waiting for
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him. He played a beautiful solo rendition of the band’s biggest hit, “Island in the Sun”, followed by a
cover of “Wonderwall” by Oasis. The crowd sang louder than ever at this point, and I was very glad to be
a part of that experience. When the singer came back to the stage, it had changed again, now with
massive lighting fixtures surrounding the band and an enormous light-up Weezer logo that was almost
as tall as the stage right behind them. Together, these aspects created a phenomenal light show. During
the last song, a massive wall of sparks flowed for about a minute behind the logo, which was the perfect
way to cap off the amazing show. I wasn’t expecting such an elaborate production, but I was sure glad I
got it. My brother and I walked out of the venue extremely pleased with how it went, and it looked like
most people there shared that sentiment.

For this paper, I decided to write about the song “El Scorcho”, which is one of my favorite
Weezer songs and has been a regular at their shows for quite a while. This song is a very fascinating one
to analyze simply because of how strange it is. Unsurprisingly, the background of the song, is every bit as
strange as the song itself. The song is from their second album, which was the follow-up to their hugely
successful debut self-titled LP known as the Blue Album. The song featured the MTV hits “Buddy Holly”,
“Undone” and “Say it Ain’t So” and catapulted the band to rock star status. While I’m sure they enjoyed
touring the world and making millions, they didn’t really like being mainstream at first. As guitarist Brian
Bell stated, “We saw our audiences change from intelligent, hip-looking people to complete jocks who
just came because they saw the video. That’s the price you pay if you want to make a living at this.”
(Braun, 2016). Wanting to escape from his life of fame and luxury, frontman Rivers Cuomo decided to
become a full time student at Harvard, writing songs for the next Weezer record in his spare time. Also
around this time, he underwent surgery to correct a birth defect in his leg forced him to walk on
crutches and left him in constant excruciating pain for months (Braun, 2016).

Originally, Rivers planned for the new record to be a science fiction story based on an opera he
studied in one of his Harvard classes. However, he just couldn’t find a way to complete the storyline. He
eventually scrapped most of the songs that were going to be on the record and instead focused on his
personal experiences during his time at Harvard. The songs were deeply confessional, dealing with
things like coping with his newfound fame, dealing with his leg problem and, most of all, his experiences
with love and heartbreak, all of which had left him in a poor mental state (Braun, 2016). Specifically, “El
Scorcho” is about the struggle of trying to get to know someone he’s fallen for. The story presented in
this song actually continues in “Falling for You”, which is another “sloppily majestic song about a rocker
infatuated with a cellist” (Pareles). He struggled to come up with enough material for an album, but he
did and recorded and produced it with the band shortly after. While it wasn’t the intention of the band,
the bizarre lyrical content and cheap production fit in pretty well with the time’s indie scene, which was
defined by “stalwart refusal to compromise aesthetically despite promise of commercial success”
(Novara & Henry, 2009). This new aesthetic, combined with the hype created by the Blue Album,
resulted in one of the biggest commercial disasters in music history.

“El Scorcho” was the first single released for the album, and being the band’s first new song in a
pretty long time, it sold pretty well. However, when people actually listened to it, most weren’t too
happy with the new Weezer. Each subsequent single performed worse, and Pinkerton was voted as one
of the worst albums of the year by Rolling Stone (Braun, 2016). The harsh response to this album made
Rivers even more miserable than he was while making it and led to him hating the record, calling it a
“hugely painful mistake” (Pareles, 2010). His mental issues led to conflicts within the band, eventually
causing them to cancel all future plans and go on a five-year hiatus, during which bassist Matt Sharp left
Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer
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the band. Over time, the album has gained a cult following and served as the main inspiration for several
modern alternative bands (Braun, 2016). The band has even come to embrace it, hence the return of “El
Scorcho” to their concerts. However, it came from a very dark and low place, making it difficult for many
people to understand. At first listen, most wouldn’t be too keen on “El Scorcho”, simply because of how
weird it is. But after looking into the history behind it and analyzing the composition, the genius behind
it is revealed.

As with most songs, one of the defining elements of “El Scorcho” is the form. Despite the song
following a pretty simple and repetitive formula, there are several changes from part to part that
manage to keep it interesting. The song’s brief intro starts with a gargling noise, followed by what
sounds like a tuning exercise by the drummer. This does a good job of preparing the audience for the
weirdness of the rest of song. Afterwards, the guitar line and slow, steady drum beat that define the
song come in. They repeat a few times with no actual singing (but a little random yelling) to get the
listener used to it. After four measures, the vocals come in, beginning part A. The vocal melody doesn’t
repeat at any point and almost appears to be improvised, giving it an innocent feel to go along with the
relaxing environment created by the instruments. In the last two measures of part A, the guitars cut out
and the singer almost seems to start rapping before transitioning to part B, the chorus. The guitar line is
the same, but now distorted, and an extra chord is added in the fourth measure to diversify the rhythm
more. Also a bass is added in to provide some extra rhythm. The vocals now have a distinct melody, and
a harmony are added in the second half. This chorus is much cheerier and full-sounding than the verse
and provides a good resolution to the verse’s build-up. This pattern essentially repeats, with some
added lead guitar in part A providing more melody.

After this, the song shifts into part C, which completely turns the rest of the song on its head.
There are suddenly multiple layers of guitar playing distorted power chords with an extremely fast drum
beat. The song now has a very upbeat rock feel to it, contrasting the chill indie vibe of the rest of the
song. This ship wakes up the listener and makes them excited for what the rest of the song holds,
knowing such a big change could happen so quickly. After four measures, part D comes in, which keeps
the distortion and chord progression of C, but the pattern of the guitar part of part A and B comes back,
the drums slow back down and there’s a new vocal melody. This relaxes the song again and gives
listeners a chance to breathe before the song’s next change. Part E has the drums and quiet mood from
part A, but without the main guitar portion. Instead there’s just a guitar and bass seeming to improvise
simultaneously, not having much to do with each other. There’s also a vocalist matching the guitar, but
he just starts babbling when the notes get too high to sing. This part is weird to the point of being funny,
but it somehow works in the context of the song, which is weird by nature. The next repetition of part A
is two measures shorter. The first half has very quiet vocals followed by a stop in all instruments, and
when the song picks back up, the vocals get louder than the rest of the song. This is a great lead-up to
the peak in energy that is the final chorus. This chorus has extra vocal harmonies, and includes a second
loop with even more layers of vocals than the first. The song closes with a series of howls and a speedy
drum fill. It seems the whole song is a build-up to this last chorus, where all of the energy left over from
the rest of the song is released in one massive burst. It’s the perfect end to a phenomenal track.

The texture is also a crucial element of “El Scorcho”. At the very beginning, the song is just
drums and an acoustic guitar, and later, an electric guitar and vocals are added. This gradual build-up is
perfect for starting off a song, as it gradually introduces the listener to the concept of the song. This
formula of vocals, drum and two guitars continues through most of part A, with a quiet second vocalist
Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer
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occasionally popping into the song. In the last two measures, the guitars suddenly go silent and we’re
left with just drums and vocals. This decrease in overall texture in the song further amplifies the sudden
increase provided by the chorus. This chorus has two slightly louder drums than before, two distorted
guitars, two vocalists and a bass that seems to be somewhat distorted. This burst in depth creates a
great environment for a chorus. It’s something that takes the listener from nodding their head to getting
out of their seat and dancing around. After the chorus ends, the verse and chorus repeat, following the
same formula as far as texture goes. After the second chorus, the song gains even more depth when the
guitars start playing power chords instead of just one note at a time. While the guitars have the same
sound as before, playing multiple notes at once makes them adds a lot of texture to the sound and
almost makes it seems like there’s more guitars playing. After a few measures of this, the guitars go back
to playing one note at a time, and four measures later, the solo comes in. This solo features a bass and
guitar playing together with the quieter vocalist who occasionally appeared in the verses. This part is
much less deep than the previous verses, as is the start of the first verse, which has no electric guitar,
just acoustic. Later in the verse, the electric comes in, slightly more distorted than before. In this verse,
the guitars never cut out towards the end as they did in past verses. Instead, it just goes right in, which is
a good change to keep the song feeling unique. The last chorus also has extra depth through additional
vocal tracks. The overall increase in depth towards the end of the song adds a lot to it by providing a
final release of emotion left over from the rest of the song. The texture of “El Scorcho” is much more
fluid than most songs, changing multiple times in one section at some points, and I think that’s one of
the biggest contributors to the generally off feel of the song.

“El Scorcho” is also unique because of it’s melodic structure. In the verses, aside from the first
line, the song has no distinct melodic structure. The pattern of notes doesn’t repeat at any point, and it
appears the singer just came up with the melody on the fly. This is a unique way of going about vocals,
and it works well with the song’s weird indie vibe. Also, there are a few lines in the verses in which
another vocalist comes in and doubles the main melody an octave higher. This additional singer sings
these lines with a strange falsetto voice that is far from objectively good but has a unique quality to it
that adds to the songs overall weirdness. In addition, the second verse features a guitar playing a second
melody that’s completely different The chorus has a much more simple and repetitive melody and
multiple voices singing the same notes. This makes it pretty enjoyable to sing along to, and adds a bit of
catchiness to the song, which is otherwise pretty difficult to get hooked on at first. The bridge (parts C
and D) also have a more structures melody to go with the more intricate chord progression. The
weirdest melody of all comes in part E, which has three separate instruments all playing melodies. The
guitar and vocals tied together, with the vocalist copying the guitar directly until the notes get too high,
but the bass is completely separate from the two, yet just as prevalent. On top of this, there’s no
backing instruments to go with the melody. This really drives home the indie theme of the song and
demonstrates how weird it can get. The many changes in the song’s melodic style are an important part
of its unique sound, and each of these different melodies fit very well with the parts of the song they’re
in.

One more thing I wanted to touch on is the song’s rhythm. It doesn’t play a big part in most of
the song, as it’s mostly just a slow, simple drum beat with some short fills thrown in here and there.
However, it really becomes crucial when part C comes in. Here, the song suddenly shifts from the dull
rhythm that it had up to that point and goes quadruple time. This is an extreme shift in tempo the likes
of which rarely appears in music. It almost makes if feel like a completely different song, one that has a
Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer
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much more upbeat vibe to it. This sudden change breathes new life to the song, which has dragged on
for a while at this point. It’s very important to the song, and I thought it was worth noting, even though
it’s a very short part of the song.

I personally love this song, but I except that most people that hear it probably won’t. It won’t
appeal to everyone who hears is because it isn’t really meant to. Most popular songs are generically
relatable in some way. They deal with very generic themes that we all deal with, such as love, sadness
and anger, and both the music and lyrics reflect those themes. This song deals with the much more
specific theme of a very socially awkward person trying to get to know another very socially awkward
person, and the music conveys the hodgepodge of happiness and fear that comes with that by sounding
happy and simplistic, yet somewhat off. This is a theme that appears in most songs on Pinkerton, and
that pretty much explains why it didn’t sell well. Not everyone can relate to that since not everyone has
experienced that, but people who have, like myself, will establish a very deep connection to the song
since they relate to the experiences conveyed in it. While I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong
with mainstream music that anyone can connect to, it’s important to have more specific niche songs like
this that people can form an emotional bond with and listen to in order to get them through the difficult
experiences that the song describes.

I enjoyed this concert more than the majority of shows I’ve been to. I loved the songs and how
they were played, as well as the way the show was presented visually. But what really made me enjoy it
was the comradery I felt among those in attendance. “El Scorcho” is far from the only song that appeals
to the quiet outcast type. Most of their songs have similar themes, and their entire image is built on that
lifestyle. Naturally, these kinds of people (or at least people who belonged to that group at some point)
make up most of their concert attendants. Everyone there, regardless of age, race, gender or whatever
else seemed to be united by that one factor. It was an environment in which everyone there could be
comfortable with who they were, because everyone around them was just like them. Only music can
unite so many different people under a common identity is this way. While “El Scorcho” and Weezer as a
whole probably don’t mean much to most people, they mean everything to a lot of people, and that
makes it hard to argue against their importance. It’s important for all people to belong to a group of
some kind, because everything’s easier when you’re not alone.
Field Critique for “El Scorcho” by Weezer
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Bibliography

Song: [weezer]. (2009, 16 June). Weezer – El Scorcho (Director’s Cut) [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okthJIVbi6g

Braun, L. (2016, 23 September). How Weezer’s ‘Pinkerton’ Went From Embarrasing to Essential.

Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-weezers-pinkerton-

went-from-embarrassing-to-essential-105567/

Novara, V; Henry, S. (2009). A Guide to Essential American Indie Rock. Notes, 65(4), pp. 816-833.

Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27669942

Pareles, J. (2010, December 20). All Aboard an Alt-Rock Time Machine. The New York Times, pp. C1.

Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A244856502/AONE?u=lom_mtu&sid=AONE&xid=0a1eb78

Proof of attendance

Online receipt for my ticket:

This was in the essay, but I deleted it because my name and address were on it. Couldn’t figure out how
to get rid of these ugly circles, though. Sorry about that :(

I attached some random pictures I took just for good measure. These also show the set changes I was
talking about, but not too well since I was too far away for a good shot. If you have any trouble opening
the videos, let me know.

Early in the show:

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The garage:

Acoustic island (he’s under the palm trees):

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Last set with all the lights: