Pork and Beans (song)

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“Pork and Beans”
“Pork and Beans” cover
Single by Weezer
from the album Weezer
Released June 16, 2008
Format CD, Vinyl
Recorded 2008
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:09
Label Geffen
Producer Jacknife Lee
Weezer singles chronology
"This Is Such a Pity"
(2006)		 "Pork and Beans"
(2008)		 "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)"
(2008)

"Pork and Beans" is a song from alternative rock band Weezer's 2008 album, Weezer. It was released in digital form on April 24, 2008.[1] It was released in a physical format in the United States on June 3, and in the UK on June 23 as part of the album, Weezer (Red Album). The track debuted at #19 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, the best opening there since Foo Fighters' single "The Pretender" debuted at #16 in August 2007.[2]

This was written by Rivers Cuomo as a reaction to a meeting with Geffen where the band was told it needed to record more-commercial material.[3] Cuomo remarked, "I came out of it pretty angry. But ironically, it inspired me to write another song."[4]Jacknife Lee produced the track with the band in early 2008.[5]

On April 15, 2008 KROQ world premiered the song live and fans' requests made it the number one song request of the night. According to Mediabase, the song has been added to several other alternative rock formatted radio stations since April 15.[6]

Weezer played an acoustic version of "Pork and Beans" on the May 30th, 2008 episode of Alternative Nation on Sirius Radio.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

UK Retail CD / US Indie Retail 7" (Red Vinyl)

  1. "Pork and Beans"
  2. "Are 'Friends' Electric?" (Gary Numan)

UK Retail 7" #1

  1. "Pork and Beans"
  2. "Love My Way" (Richard Butler, John Ashton, Tim Butler, Vince Ely)

UK Retail 7” #2

  1. "Pork and Beans"
  2. "Oddfellows Local 151" (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe)[7]

[edit] Reception

The song has been generally well received by critics and fans alike.[5][8] Many reviewers were pleased with what they saw as a return-to-form to the sound of the group's earlier power pop sound, which was present on The Blue Album and Pinkerton.[9][10][11][12] Pitchfork Media writer Marc Hogan gave the song a positive review and described the song as, "a catchy, self-referential rocker, with the buzzsaw guitars and big choruses of Weezer's glory days, and that familiar, self-assured lameness."[13] Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly also gave the song a positive review, "That chunka-chunka guitar hook is pure gold, so much so that I didn't focus on Rivers Cuomo's very clever lyrics at first."[14] Stereogum was also impressed with the song stating it was a "sweet, savory dose of self-referential, self-deprecating Weezer rock...This stuff sounds very familiar in a good, good way."[15]

The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts in only its third week on the charts and has become their ninth Top 10 hit on this chart and 3rd Number One overall and is now spending its 6th week at #1.[16] It also represents their fastest rising single ever, reaching #1 after a mere 11 days after release.[5] It debuted at #39 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it is currently at a peak of #27 and debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 at #84 with 17,000 downloads of the song on iTunes.[17][18]

Chart (2008) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 1[16]
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock 27
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 64
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 76

[edit] Music video

The music video for "Pork and Beans" was directed by Mathew Cullen[19] of Motion Theory and prominently features many YouTube celebrities.

On May 23, 2008, the video premiered on YouTube. It features many YouTube stars and Internet memes,[20][21][22] including Gary Brolsma, Matt McAllister, Mark Allen Hicks ("Afro Ninja"), Chris Crocker, Caitlin Upton, Judson Laipply, Kicesie, Tay Zonday, Kevin Federline (archival footage), Liam Kyle Sullivan, Ryan Weiber, Michael "Dorkman" Scott, Jeong-Hyun Lim, and the Star Wars kid, as well as references to the Dramatic Prairie Dog (including lookalikes of J-Pop group Mini Moni, who were in the original TV clip the Dramatic Prairie Dog originated from), Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz's Diet Coke and Mentos eruptions, parody G.I. Joe PSAs, catching Raybans with one's face, the Free Hugs Campaign, the Dancing Banana, Will It Blend?, All Your Base Are Belong to Us, One Man Band by Connor Berge, Daft Hands, Daft Bodies, the Sneezing Panda, the Soulja Boy dance, a CGI Donald Duck and King Kong, Charlie the Unicorn, and the UFO sighting in Haiti Hoax video. The video shares some thematic similarities with the music video for the Barenaked Ladies single "Sound of Your Voice", which also featured multiple YouTube celebrities. According to Cullen, the video was to be a "celebration of that creativity",[23] an idea that went over well with the members of the band.[24] In contrast to an earlier South Park episode, "Canada on Strike!" which parodied the YouTube celebrities, Cullen wanted to embrace the concept of "about being happy with who you are".[23] Cullen hopes that the video will be "a living thing on the Internet"; as the video itself was a mash-up of Weezer's "favorite stuff", Cullen hopes others will use the video to create their own mash-ups.[25] The YouTube celebrities were flown into Los Angeles, California to work with the band for the four-day shooting of the video.[24]

Dan Dzoan, current world record holder for solving a Rubik's Cube with one hand, was present for the shooting but does not appear in the video, though there are Rubik's Cubes in the video, and Dan is present in another video posted by Weezer to YouTube.[21] Neil Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals were slated to be in the video but were left out due to problems with shipments of props. A mock-up of the Dumbledore puppet can be seen in the video nonetheless.[26]

The video had over 1.2 million views in its first 24 hours up on Youtube[27] and 3.6 million by May 27, 2008.[23] As of May 29, 2008 it has reached over four million views.[24] The video quickly became the most-watched video on the internet on the weekend following its release.[25]

[edit] Personnel

[edit] References

  1. ^ Koch, Karl (2008-04-18). 04/18/08 Triunfa Del Fjord. Weezer.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  2. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (2008-04-21). New Weezer Single Scores Quickly At Radio. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  3. ^ Weezer Make First New Album Track Available. Uncut. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  4. ^ "Spring Album Preview", Issue #1050, Rolling Stone, p. 32. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. 
  5. ^ a b c Weezer CD Coming 3 Weeks Early. antiMUSIC.com (2008-05-13). Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  6. ^ Weezer: Pork And Beans by Spins This Week. Mediabase. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  7. ^ Drowned in Sound - News - Watch: new Weezer video plus exclusive single details
  8. ^ Pork and Beans By Weezer: Reviews and Ratings. Rate Your Music. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  9. ^ Gresehover, Ehren (2008-04-14). Weezer Return to Their Blue Period. New York Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  10. ^ Hear It Now: Weezer's Single "Pork and Beans". The Herald (2008-04-16). Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  11. ^ Goodman, William (2008-04-21). New Weezer Album Out June 24. Spin. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  12. ^ Ritter, David (2008-04-19). Track Reviews: Weezer: Pork and Beans. Coke Machine Glow. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  13. ^ Hogan, Marc (2008-04-17). Pitchfork Forkcast: New Music: Weezer: "Pork and Beans". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  14. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (2008-04-17). Snap Judgment: Weezer's Delectable 'Pork and Beans'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  15. ^ New Weezer - "Pork and Beans" (Full-Length Track). Stereogum (2008-04-17). Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
  16. ^ a b Hasty, Katie (2008-05-08). Leona Lewis Holds Onto Hot 100 No. 1. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  17. ^ Molanphy, Chris (2008-05-02). Forever Leavin' Pork & Beans: Big Chart Moves By Summer Single Contenders. Idolator.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  18. ^ Hasty, Katie (2008-05-01). Leona Lewis Regains No. 1 On Hot 100. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  19. ^ Koch, Karl (2008-05-12). 05/12/08 the immensity of the pork and the bean. Weezer.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  20. ^ Carlson, Nicholas (2008-05-24). Weezer understands how to work YouTube: allude to these 24 viral videos. Valleywag. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  21. ^ a b Spot the memes in Weezer's Pork and Beans. News Limited (2008-05-28). Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
  22. ^ Sarno, David (2008-05-30). Mathew Cullen, director of Weezer's 'Pork and Beans,' shares some secrets. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
  23. ^ a b c Wortham, Jenna (2008-05-27). Weezer's Memetastic Video Director Spills the 'Pork and Beans'. Wired. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
  24. ^ a b c Snider, Mike (2008-05-29). YouTube stars, Weezer dine out on 'Pork & Beans'. USA Today. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
  25. ^ a b Wang, Cynthia (2008-05-27). Viral YouTube Hit 'Pork and Beans' Shoots to No. 1. People Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
  26. ^ Cicierega, Neil (2008-05-23). Pork 'n' Beans. Neil Cicierega. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
  27. ^ Wallace, Lewis (2008-05-24). Net Gorges on Weezer's 'Pork and Beans' -- but Will It Blend?. Wired. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"Rise Above This" by Seether		 Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
May 17, 2008 - present		 Succeeded by
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