#365songs (166 / 365)

Each of Weezer's first 4 albums had their day in the sun with me, and I'm not a Blue Album purist, but I do think "Say It Ain't So" is their best song. I spent a fair amount of time learning the guitar riff, which is surprisingly intricate for the generally power-chord-loving Weezer, but easy enough to play.

The songs on the Blue Album are, of course, great, but a lot of them feel pretty insubstantial. Weezer would famously swing real hard in the opposite direction on their next album Pinkerton, with Rivers Cuomo baring his apparently real and frequently ugly feelings over frequently nasty-sounding guitars. It mostly doesn't glamorize those ugly feelings but enough of them are either romanticized or straight-up misogynistic that the album as a whole hasn't really aged well for me. "Say It Ain't So" strikes the balance between the Blue Album and Pinkerton, with earnestness that doesn't tip over into cringe and the kind of big juicy chorus that the Blue Album thrives on. Throw in the Pixies-ish quiet-loud verse-chorus song structure and, yeah, I dunno. Not a bold or contrarian opinion but this is probably the best Weezer song.