The problem with approaching any post-"Pinkerton" Weezer album is that you have to weed out what's accidentally stupid from what's willfully stupid, ("ironic", the kids would say), and Rivers Cuomo does NOT make it easy. "Raditude" is all but bursting with catchy stupidity (just like "Make Believe", "Maladroit", and "The Red Album" were). Weezer built itself on awkwardness, so how sincere can things be when Cuomo boasts about his deep posse alongside Lil' Wayne in "Cant' Stop Partying"? (Yes, Weezer and Weezy were meant to happen.) Everything about "Raditude", from the title onwards, is moronic and insincere...
but BUT BUT
Who said rock had to be erudite or confessional? This is a 40-year-old singing about mall escapades, Slayer T-shirts, moon-walking on the dance floor, watching Titanic with your sweetheart (and maybe getting to second before her parents storm through the front doors.) It's all so-1997, it's FAKE AS ALL GET OUT, but if you're not unreasonably invested in Weezer's early work, why care? (Face it, they were NEVER as good as you remember them being.) "Raditude" may be vapid rock-out-on-your-car nonsense, but darn it, it works in those terms. Ignore the nods to bands like The Offspring, the much-too-late Bollywood intrusion in "Love Is the Answer", and the entirety of "Don't Want To Let You Go" (Ripping off Hoobastank?!? Really, Rivers? Really?!?). Enjoy "I'm Your Daddy", "The Girl Got Hot", "Put Me Back Together" and "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To."
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