(antiMusic) The label bossed told Weezer's Rivers Cuomo "more cowboy, more cowbell!" So he gave them "Pork and Beans" in response. Cowbell being a mindless pop hit, and "Porks and Beans" being the song that was inspired by being told to dance by the label. That's the story that Rivers is telling when he is asked about the first single from the band's new album. He related the tale of woe of a meeting where the stuffed shirts at DCG rejected the songs the band had demoed for the new Weezer album. They needed "more cowbell" damn it! It's not like Rivers has a long track record and has released several successful albums, they didn't think the new songs "pop"ped and ordered him to write one that did.
"I came out of it pretty angry," Cuomo told Rolling Stone of the meeting with the corporate shirts. But out of diversity comes inspiration. "But ironically, it inspired me to write another song." That song was "Porks and Beans". The fitting inane title is sometime used as a euphemism for the "lowest common denominator". And Rivers attacked that mentality with a gusto with the lyrics, while at the same time giving the suits a one finger salute.
Exhibit one about the lowest common denominator: "Everyone likes to dance to a happy song / With a catchy chorus and beat so they can sing along / Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the chart / Maybe if I work with him I can perfect the art."
Exhibit two is the finger: "I'mma do the things that I wanna do / I ain't got a thing to prove to you - I don't give a hoot about what you think"
Hopefully we'll be able to hear the songs the suits didn't like and Rivers can prove them all wrong when the new album hits stores on June 24th. Now about the cover, maybe that was a middle finger about "cow bell" too? Just a thought.
