10 Best Pop-Punk Records
2. Blue Album - Weezer
Among most pop-punk acts, there is an element of showmanship with their looks. Many bands were known for looking like bratty kids with torn up jeans, piercings, and tattoos galore. Weezer...is not one of those bands.
When the pop-punk scene was dawning in the mid-90's, Weezer came out with their blue-colored debut, which set the rock world on fire. With production from Cars mastermind Ric Ocasek, the band took Rivers Cuomo's emotional pop songs and turned them into invigorating rock jams. On tracks like "Buddy Holly" and "In the Garage," the songs have incredibly infectious hooks but with the backdrop of hard-hitting rock music.
Sure, the band didn't necessarily look the part as a punk act, but all the ingredients for the pop-punk formula are already in place. These songs could easily just be pop songs, but the band took the guitars and dialed them in with just the right amount of crunch to turn them into something entirely different. In a genre dominated by society's misfits, Weezer became the nerdy misfits of the pop-punk scene that created a foundational pop-punk masterpiece. A great piece of punk goodness through the filter of nerd rock.