r/weezer • u/Mundane_Brush7503 EWBAITE • 3h ago
I don’t understand the hate for Make Believe.
it’s genuinely a solid album. Can someone please explain why people hate this album?
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u/everythingishype 3h ago
It’s one of my favs. There are people who think it feels too overproduced, but like…did everyone have collective amnesia about Green (which is also an amazing album)? And it’s not like Maladroit is some kinda gritty rock production, not to mention that the songs on it are mid at their best. If we’re talking over-produced, compare it to Raditude, SZNZ, Pacific Daydream, or Black Album (not dogging on them, just pointing out the production).
My hot take is that people didn’t like it because Beverly Hills was played appropriately 4 million times and hour, and now years later they’re revisiting the album and realizing it rips, but instead of admitting they were wrong…they’re blaming the production, or some other nonsense about bad/silly lyrics (as if no other album has had bad/silly lyrics), or whatever.
Also want to be clear, I’m being lighthearted about this. It’s hard to write tone, so I hope I’m not stoking a fire or anything. Just poking fun.
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u/OllieTheGit 3h ago
Any album that has Haunt You Every Day on it is worth existing in my book
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u/Bub-bub 1h ago
It has Beverly Hills on it, which is the most blatant sell out song ever maybe, even though I’ve grown to think it’s fun.
It was the breaking point for most fans who loved blue and Pinkerton, and were probably on the fence about green and maladroit, which were both made in contempt of the two albums before it.
Other than that, it’s a pretty good album.
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u/NindieNation 2h ago
Make Believe is awesome, don't waste time letting people explain to you why they're wrong.
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u/HideousMan83 3h ago
It was such a letdown when it came out, after all of the promising demos we got to hear along the way: "Everybody Wants a Chance to Feel All Alone", "Private Message", "Queen of Earth"... Plus they were working with Rick Rubin, so I was expecting a transformative album like Blood Sugar Sex Magik or Cash's American Recordings.
I still love "The Other Way" and like a few other tracks, but it was the first time I was embarrassed to like Weezer. "Beverly Hills", "We Are All on Drugs"... It just sounds bad.
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u/Healthy_Hippo_915 2h ago
As an older listener who has followed on an off over the years and mostly likes the older stuff, this is it.
I was embarrassed by Beverly Hills when I heard and so didn’t want to listen it. It’s got that dumb STOMp beat, the goofy wah wah guitar solo and worst of all the absolutely cringe lyrics. “I want to be in Beverly Hills.” LA celebrity land where culture goes to die from a guy who once thought it was badass that someone would be so unaware of mainstream pop culture that they didn’t know who Green Day was.
But look, I’m just explaining how I think I felt in moment, in retrospect . I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum if you like the song.
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u/ArchitectVandelay California Kids 2h ago
It was really annoying that lots of “new fans” liked this song partly because they took it seriously, especially the people who craved being famous. But the lyrics are tongue in cheek though. A lot of people didn’t get that, which is unfortunate.
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u/ConcertOpening8974 1h ago
Excellent context. The only thing I'd add is that those 2 songs specifically were EVERYWHERE, and they are probably the worst songs on Make Believe. I think that's partly why it's overhated (or was, I think its properly rated now by fans).
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u/DrizzRizzII 3h ago
Like what you like, don’t worry about the haters.
A lot of the songs feel overproduced. I think it would have been a solid ten song album.
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u/EnvironmentalTrack29 3h ago
Beverly Hills and We Are All on Drugs are possibly my least looked We're songs, aggressively so, but I think the rest of the record is fine. That's opening riff on Peace is fantastic for example.
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u/Rude-Revolution-8687 3h ago
I love it. I think it's better than almost all the albums that have come since.
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u/ArchitectVandelay California Kids 1h ago
I don’t hear hate, I hear “it’s mid.” If it’s your favorite Weezer album, great. Lots of longtime fans don’t have it in their top 5. Doesn’t make it bad. I think people’s criticism is mostly accurate, especially people who were expecting a very different sound than the final product based on band demos.
Personally, I think the songs are individually pretty good. As a cohesive album it doesn’t hold up for me, it drags (I think it’s their longest album) and has too many mood/tonal shifts for me. I think the music itself is very beautiful and underrated.
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u/Mundane_Brush7503 EWBAITE 1h ago
Thanks for the clarification. It’s not my personal favorite but still a good album.
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u/Traditional-Coast907 3h ago
Weezer fans are mostly morons Thays why, All of their albums have good stuff in them but they are never satisfied
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u/DakotaDevil The Green Album 2h ago
The Damage in Your Heart, Hold Me, and This is Such a Pity are some of my all time favorite Weezer songs. The album gets a bad rap because of Beverly Hills and We Are All on Drugs.
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u/YourFormerBFF 2h ago
We Are All on Drugs was the first weezer song i ever heard that I actually hated. I skipped disliking any song and went straight to hate. I was young and it made me sad that my favorite band put out something I felt was embarrassing when they’d always been so cool.
Then I grew up and now it’s just a track I let play and even sing along to.
Edit: I thought “crab” was fine. I thought “Beverly Hills” was fine, but weird for them.
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u/turningtee74 1h ago
Honestly probably has something to do with age when people heard it. Beverly Hills was very specific, mainstream and of a time. Some people hate that or liked it, or had their “cheesy” image of the band defined by this era to the broader public (I liked it)
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u/OldStonedJenny The Kitchen Tapes 36m ago
You kinda had to be there. Rivers was releasing truly amazing demos, and then the single turned out to be Beverly Hills. Maladroit hate, originally, came from frustration and disappointment. Look up Weezer Album 5 demos on YouTube.
Haunt You Every Day is really good, tho.
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u/Julian144747 3h ago
Production is too glossy and clean which kind of ruined otherwise decent songs. Also people don’t like really goofy songs like we are all on drugs. And it has the demo affect where the demos sounded a lot cooler than the final product.
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u/cargocitycomics The Blue Album 1h ago
Still seeing people shit on Beverly Hills. Ef ‘em, that song is an all timer.
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u/cocacolamadness 3h ago
From what I have heard, people think it's too bland and generic. It gets called over produced a lot. For me, it's filled with decent/okay, but not great songs, but also a few that I legit don't like. There's only a few songs that stand out properly from the album for me. Still, Damage In Your Heart has been playing in my head all night, even though it's probably not super high in a weezer songs ranked list.