10 Perfect Rock Albums For Pop Fans

10. The Blue Album - Weezer

As the '90s rock scene unfolded, not a lot of the stuff that managed to chart was exactly the most lighthearted thing in the world. In the wake of the alternative scene bubbling up from the Seattle underground, much of the songs that charted were a bit on the darker side of life, which reached its morbid conclusion when Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home in 1994. The grunge wave may have been starting its downward trend, but a couple of nerds from California helped point the direction forward.

Then again, it's not like Weezer's colorful debut was meant to be one of the greatest records of all time or anything. Going through each of these songs, part of the appeal is just how dorky some of these tracks come off, playing up the whole nerdy aesthetic to a tee on songs like In the Garage or Buddy Holly. Beyond just the aesthetic though, this was the alt rock answer to something like the Beach Boys, with every song having a knockout chorus, even if not every track had the best ending like Undone (The Sweater Song).

Even though there were definitely some tropes that were left over from the Seattle-ification of the rock scene, Weezer weren't looking to become one of the biggest rock bands that the world had ever seen. They were just a bunch of dorks looking to write some kickass tunes, and when you have the hooks to back it up, sometimes that's all you really need.