Surf Wax America was just one of the catchy rockers off the first album by some cool nerds who called themselves Weezer.
Everyone who’s old enough remembers where they were, or in what general vicinity, when the Blue album came out. It fulfilled a need. The quartet offered a softer brand of alt rock, Fruit of the Loom-soft. It was needed in the still-seething wake of grunge.
It was the 1990’s already, and we had to move on. We had to jolly ourselves along. We needed a new soundtrack. Fuzzy guitars meet barbershop quartet in Weezer’s debut album. Waves of arpeggios form a foam, like sea bubbles. It makes the album buoyant and distinctly Californian.
It’s a heady if briny brew. I was first and foremost smitten with the mysterious and epic “My Name is Jonas” and the classic heartbreak joint “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here.”
But I’m getting more into the B-sides of the Blue album. (Just kidding. The There are no B-sides. The album is pretty much flawless. Every song is a gem.)
“Surfwax America” is a triumph of surf-rock. It belongs there with classics by the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and Dick Dale & the Deltones. The latter is not to be confused with the darker-leaning Deftones.
This album came out when I was 20, and I wore it out. Thirty-one years later, I’m still drowning in the suds. I’m still named Jonas. I still want a girl who will laugh for no one else. And I still can’t resist power chords gussied up with arpeggios.
–Sarah Torribio
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