Weezer deadpans ‘No Scrubs’ in surprise new album
TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
Weezer belts out everything from “No Scrubs” to “Take on Me” on their surprise new album of covers, “Weezer (The Teal Album),” which dropped early Thursday morning.
If you’ve ever wondered what Weezer would sound like covering R&B girl group TLC and ’80s synthpop band A-ha, you’re in luck.
The rock band belts out everything from “No Scrubs” to “Take on Me” on their surprise new album of covers, “Weezer (The Teal Album),” which dropped early Thursday morning.
The new album also includes Weezer’s cover of Toto’s “Africa,” which they first released last May after a viral online campaign begged them to do so. Their version of “Africa” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in August, Weezer’s first No. 1 single since 2008’s “Pork and Beans.”
On their interpretation of TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and company deadpan lyrics like, “No, I don’t want no scrubs, A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me. Hangin’ out the passenger side of his best friend’s ride, Trying to holla at me.”
So far, fans seem into it. “Dear god this just fulfilled another unknown Weezer fantasy I just discovered I had,” one wrote in the comment section for the song on YouTube.
Others tried to wrap their heads around it, but embraced it. “This whole album is like when you pay for parking and get silver dollars back as change,” another comment reads. “Did I ask for it? No. Did I want it? No. But it’s kind of cool and now I just wanna hold onto it.”
The band’s adaption of A-ha’s “Take on Me” is only slightly less upbeat than the original 1984 hit, whose video was repeatedly played on MTV and scored six awards at the cable network’s 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. The video famously featured A-ha members in a live-action pencil-sketch skit.
Other covers on “The Teal Album” include “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by The Eurythmics, “Happy Together” by The Turtles, “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath, “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra, and “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King.
Weezer’s version of “Billie Jean” even comes complete with their interpretation of The Gloved One’s signature high-pitched hollering of “Whooo.”
