Image Courtesy of Emily ShurRivers Cuomo is a man who wears his influences on his sleeve. For Rolling Stone’s “Expert Opinion” column, the Weezer frontman gave his thoughts on two songs that have made a big impact on him: Rush’s “Limelight” and Nirvana’s “Aneurysm.”
Though he says he was not a big fan of Rush when he first heard them, Cuomo tells Rolling Stone that “Limelight” has become one of his favorite songs.
“The solo is incredibly sad, and the emotion of the song just builds and builds,” he says. “It's an odd track -- this singer with a really high-pitched voice, and these intellectual-sounding lyrics.”
Of Nirvana’s “Aneurysm,” Cuomo says that it’s his “very favorite Nirvana song to play as a performer.”
“To me [“Aneurysm”] has the best balance of the Bleach-era guitar riffage and the melodic catchiness and chord simplicity of Nevermind. You get the best of both worlds,” he continues. “All the parts are super-catchy and grinding, and it has that trademark soft-loud-soft-loud Nirvana dynamic.”
In addition to some of his favorite older tracks, Cuomo also reviewed some of today’s hits, including Hozier’s gospel-tinged alternative anthem “Take Me to Church.”
One thing that struck me about [“Take Me To Church”] is that his voice is bathed in reverb. I never use any reverb on my voice at all,” he says. “I also noticed that not only are the chord progressions very unusual in the verse and chorus, but the verse and chorus progressions are different to each other, which is increasingly rare.”
Cuomo added that he liked Hozier’s “religious language,” but that he feels “anxiety” when he hears the chorus.
It's very wordy, and there's not a lot of room to breathe, and it's kind of in a high range,” Cuomo says. “I just start to feel very tense. It would be tough for me to sing.”
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