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Hurley (album)

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Hurley
Studio album by
Weezer
ReleasedSeptember 10, 2010 (2010-09-10)[1]
RecordedJuly–August 2010
Genre
Length34:16
LabelEpitaph
Producer
Weezer chronology
Raditude
(2009) 		Hurley
(2010) 		Death to False Metal
(2010)
Singles from Hurley
  1. "Memories"
    Released: August 10, 2010
  2. "Hang On"
    Released: February 15, 2011

Hurley is the eighth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on September 10, 2010. It is Weezer's only album released by Epitaph Records. The album was produced by Rivers Cuomo and Shawn Everett, and, similar to their previous album Raditude, features songs co-written with songwriters outside of the band.

Preceded by the single "Memories", Hurley debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200, with over 45,000 units sold in its first week of sales.[2]

Background

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In late 2009, Weezer revealed the group's seventh album, Raditude. Compared to the band's other albums, it received a lukewarm response. In December, it was revealed that the band was no longer signed to Geffen Records. The band members stated that new material would still be released, but were unsure of the means, whether it be self-released, released online, or released via another label.[3] Eventually, the band was signed to the independent label Epitaph.[4]

Composition

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Critics have labeled the album as alternative rock,[5] power pop,[6] and pop rock.[7]

Music and lyrics

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In July 2010, Weezer began recording the follow-up to Raditude. Frontman Rivers Cuomo said of the album, "There's definitely going to be more raw rock energy on this one."[8] In August 2010, the track list was revealed.

The first track and single from the album was "Memories",[9] also featured in a Guitar Hero track pack alongside "Buddy Holly" and "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To", released simultaneously with the album on September 14.[10] The second single released was "Hang On" on February 15 to U.S. Alternative radio.[11]

The music video for "Memories" also features members of Jackass on backing vocals, and clips from the upcoming movie Jackass 3-D.[12] AP magazine described the high-energy track as "Andrew W.K. covering The Killers."[13]

The string tracks in "Memories" and "Unspoken", as well as in bonus tracks "All My Friends Are Insects" and "Represent", were recorded at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta, Canada.[14]

"Hang On", co-written by Rick Nowels, features Canadian actor Michael Cera on backing vocals and mandolin.[13]

The album's closer, "Time Flies", co-written by country singer and songwriter Mac Davis,[15] features a lo-fi, folk-country sound, while also being compared to the music of Led Zeppelin.[13]

Artwork and title

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The album's cover is a picture of American actor Jorge Garcia, who portrayed Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on the television series Lost from 2004 to 2010. The photo itself is a small cropping of an original picture of Cuomo being embraced by Garcia, taken in the green room of Lopez Tonight while Weezer and Garcia were taping segments for separate shows on the same day.[16]

Originally, the band was going to self-title the album for a fourth time, but decided against it, since the band figured most fans would simply refer to the album as the "Hurley" album.[12] Guitarist Brian Bell stated publicly that the record was named after clothing company Hurley International, whose bosses he said funded the recording and provided a studio for recording sessions.[17] Bell later claimed that he was mistaken and that the album was in fact named after the Lost character and not the clothing company.[18] However, the group subsequently worked with the clothing manufacturer to create a Weezer-branded clothing line.[19]

Promotion

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Weezer used internet streaming service YouTube as a way to promote the album. Weezer loaned itself to 15 amateur online video producers, "going along with whatever plans the creator could execute in about 30 minutes." The band used many of the popular channels to promote themselves, such as Barely Political, Tay Zonday, Dave Days, Magic Hugs, Fred Figglehorn, Ray William Johnson, and Annoying Orange.[20][21] The Gregory Brothers solicited musical and vocal contributions from the band on one of its signature topical compositions—built around melodically enhanced speeches by Rep. Charles Rangel and President Obama. Weezer called the promotion "The YouTube Invasion".[22] With the exception of the lead single, none of this album has been played live, though "Hang On" and "Unspoken" were played at several late 2010 concerts.[citation needed]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?5.9/10[23]
Metacritic68/100[24]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[25]
Alternative Press[13]
The A.V. ClubB−[26]
Billboard[27]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[28]
The Guardian[29]
NME8/10[30]
Pitchfork5.0/10[31]
Rolling Stone[32]
Spin7/10[33]

The review aggregator website Metacritic gave the album an average score of 68%, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[24] After the album was leaked to the internet, Weezer made it available for free streaming on the band's MySpace page.[34][35] Many music sites and magazines used this as an opportunity to review the album before it was tangibly released to the public.

Michael Roffman of Consequence of Sound wrote "From the get-go, Hurley feels more personal and at heart than anything on Raditude".[36] NME's Rob Parker comments "...it’s got the charm and spark of the Weezer of old, and that’s a quality you just can’t fake."[30] The New York Times writer Jon Caramanica regards it as "the group’s strongest album in recent years."[37] Adam Thomas at Sputnikmusic considered it an improvement over the band's previous three albums, saying "Hurley proves that Rivers still has some gas left in the tank."[38] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly regarded it as a "...terrific rebound, a blast of sonic sweetness that finds the band integrating '60s pop influences".[28] At AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted "Sometimes, the quirks become overwhelming...but usually the melodies and riffs are clean, simple, and powerful, hooking immediately and sticking around for a while.[25]

Many critics favorably compared the songs on Hurley to the songs from Weezer's first three albums. Scott Heisel at Alternative Press and Ben Patashnik of Rock Sound compared the song "Ruling Me" to the songs from the band's self-titled debut and second self-titled album. Alternative Press said that the song "is a distant cousin of both the Blue Album's "No One Else" and the Green Album's "Don't Let Go", serving as a straight-ahead slab of power-pop."[13] Rock Sound said that "The chugging guitars of the verse [of "Ruling Me"] hearken back to Green-era Weezer, which is all very pleasant, but it's the chorus that rockets "Ruling Me" into a different league."[39] Rolling Stone's Jon Dolan called the song "Where's My Sex" "Pinkerton-esque".[32]

Accolades

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Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Drowned in Sound UK Albums of the Year 2010 13[40]

Commercial performance

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Hurley debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 with 45,000 units sold, making it Weezer's sixth top 10 album, as well as the band's sixth top 10 album in a row.[2] Despite peaking higher than Raditude, Hurley sold 21,000 fewer units in its first week than the former.[2] During its second week of release, the album fell to number 24, selling 11,235 copies.[41]

Track listing

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Standard edition[42]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Memories"Rivers Cuomo3:16
2."Ruling Me"Cuomo, Dan Wilson[43]3:30
3."Trainwrecks"Cuomo, Desmond Child3:21
4."Unspoken"Cuomo3:01
5."Where's My Sex?"Cuomo, Greg Wells3:28
6."Run Away"Cuomo, Ryan Adams[44]2:55
7."Hang On"Cuomo, Rick Nowels3:33
8."Smart Girls"Cuomo, Tony Kanal, Jimmy Harry3:11
9."Brave New World"Cuomo, Linda Perry[45]3:57
10."Time Flies"Cuomo, Mac Davis[15]3:42
UK + Deluxe edition bonus tracks[42]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."All My Friends Are Insects"Adam Deibert1:53
12."Viva la Vida" (Coldplay cover)Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin4:06
13."I Want to Be Something"Cuomo2:56
14."Represent" (Rocked Out mix)Cuomo, Nowels4:13
Japanese edition bonus tracks[46][42]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Unspoken" (Sam Farrar remix)Rivers Cuomo3:09
16."Memories" (instrumental)Rivers Cuomo3:15

Personnel

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Charts

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Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[48] 55
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[49] 93
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[50] 11
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[51] 98
French Albums (SNEP)[52] 131
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[53] 63
Irish Albums (IRMA)[54] 64
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[55] 24
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[56] 34
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[57] 29
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[58] 87
UK Albums (OCC)[59] 49
US Billboard 200[60] 6
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[61] 1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[62] 3

References

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  1. ^ Koch, Karl (2010-09-10). "2010/09/10 Sirius-XM Radio Hurley in PacSun Memories Video Atlanta". Interscope. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  2. ^ a b c Caulfield, Keith Linkin Park and Trey Songz Debut At Nos. 1 & 2 on Billboard 200 Billboard.com Retrieved 2010-09-23
  3. ^ Lindsay, Andrew (2009-12-17). "Weezer become free agents". Stereo Kill. Archived from the original on 2010-03-02. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
  4. ^ "Weezer Signs To Epitaph, New Album in September". Drivenfaroff.com. 2010-08-04. Archived from the original on 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  5. ^ "Weezer Reveal Ridiculous Album Cover". Pitchfork. 9 August 2010.
  6. ^ Ian Cohen (2010-09-17). "Weezer: Hurley Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-07-16.
  7. ^ Riley, Jill (September 10, 2010). "Album Review: Weezer - Hurley". The Current. Retrieved January 25, 2023. The songs are very Weezer-ish pop/rock tunes with an interesting twist.
  8. ^ Wawzenak, Bryan (2010-07-16). Weezer’s New Album to Be Released September 13 Archived 2010-07-19 at the Wayback Machine Gibson.com. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
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  10. ^ Citizen, Jessica (2010-09-15). "Weezer graces Guitar Hero on iPhone". MusicPron. Archived from the original on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  11. ^ "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations, Independent Artist Song Releases |". Allaccess.com. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
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  13. ^ a b c d e Heisel, Scott (August 12, 2010). "Weezer – Hurley". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on August 29, 2010. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  14. ^ Sperounes, Sandra. "Weezer's connection to Banff". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
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  24. ^ a b "Reviews for Hurley by Weezer". Metacritic. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  25. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Hurley – Weezer". AllMusic. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
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  27. ^ Wood, Mikael (September 3, 2010). "Weezer, "Hurley"". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
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  37. ^ Caramanica, Jon (2010-09-12). "Critics' Choice - New Albums - Weezer, The Drums and Ryan Bingham". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  38. ^ Adam, Thomas. "Weezer - Hurley (Staff Review)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
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  41. ^ HITS Daily Double: Building Album Sales Chart Archived 2014-09-15 at the Wayback Machine HitsDailyDouble.com Retrieved 2010-09-30
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  44. ^ Reilly, Dan (2010-08-11). "Weezer Get 'Crazy' With Ryan Adams, Johnny Knoxville on 'Hurley'". Spinner. Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
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  46. ^ "Hurley (album)". Epic/Sony. Sony Music Japan. 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  47. ^ Hurley (booklet). Epitaph. 2010.
  48. ^ "The ARIA Report: Issue 1073 (Week Commencing 20 September 2010)" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-10-10. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  49. ^ "Ultratop.be – Weezer – Hurley" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  50. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  51. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Weezer – Hurley" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  52. ^ "Lescharts.com – Weezer – Hurley". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  53. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Weezer – Hurley" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  54. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Weezer". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  55. ^ "ハーリー - ウィーザー". oricon.co.jp. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  56. ^ "Charts.nz – Weezer – Hurley". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  57. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Weezer – Hurley". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  58. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Weezer – Hurley". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
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  60. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  61. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  62. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
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