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The Good Life (Weezer song)

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"The Good Life"
Single by Weezer
from the album Pinkerton
ReleasedOctober 29, 1996
RecordedSeptember 1995 – June 1996
GenreAlternative rock, power pop, emo
Length4:17
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)Weezer
Weezer singles chronology
"El Scorcho"
(1996) 		"The Good Life"
(1996) 		"Pink Triangle"
(1997)
Alternative cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

"The Good Life" is a song by American alternative rock band Weezer. It was released in October 1996 as the second single from the band's second album Pinkerton as well as an EP in Australia. It was rush-released by the record company to try to save the commercially failing album, but was not successful.

Content

In 1996, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo underwent a corrective operation for his leg and was in a leg brace. The brace was debilitatingly painful[2] and inspired the lyrics to the title song. The inside picture in the CD's booklet is an X-ray of Rivers' leg brace.

The B-sides include "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" (featuring Rachel Haden of That Dog on vocals), a song once intended for Weezer's unreleased album Songs from the Black Hole.[3] The live songs were taken from a set played by the band at Shorecrest High School near Seattle. The school had won a contest and got Weezer to play during lunch in 1997.[4] A very young Daniel Brummel of Ozma can be seen in the upper right side of the EP's cover.[5]

Music video

File:Thegoodlifemusicvideo.png
A frame from "The Good Life" music video illustrates the fractured camera angle technique used throughout the video.

The song's music video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, features a pizza delivery girl (played by Mary Lynn Rajskub) on her route, highlighting the monotony of her job. The music video is noted for its use of simultaneous camera angles appearing on screen as a fractured full image in a technique[6] jokingly described by Weezer bassist Scott Shriner on the band's March 2004 DVD Video Capture Device as being "so innovative, I've never seen it since." Blink-182's video for their November 2004 single "Always" used a similar technique. The video's directors would go on to cast Mary Lynn Rajskub as Pageant Assistant Pam in their first feature-length motion picture Little Miss Sunshine.

Release

"The Good Life" single and EP was released in the spring of 1997 at the behest of the band's label DGC. Pinkerton had not received the same response that the group's first eponymous album did, and the single/EP was issued in an attempt to score a hit, but was not successful.[4][7]

Track listing

UK, Europe and Japan CD
  1. "The Good Life" – 4:19
  2. "Waiting on You" – 4:13
  3. "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" – 2:39
Australian EP
  1. "The Good Life" – 4:19
  2. "Waiting on You" – 4:13
  3. "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" – 2:39
  4. "The Good Life (Live Acoustic)" – 4:40
  5. "Pink Triangle (Live Acoustic)" – 4:26

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (1997) Peak
Position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 88
US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard) 32

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ "River's End". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Weezer Recording History page 8". Weezer.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Luerssen D., John. Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story. ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-619-3 p. 222
  5. ^ "Pinkerton era releases (1996-1999)". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2007-09-05. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 221
  7. ^ "Pinkerton era releases (1996-1999)". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2007-09-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
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