Weezer

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• boy meets girl
• cardigan
• freak someone out
• mainstream

• phase
• nerd
• poppy
• single

• bubble gum pop
• newfangled

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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We all go through different phases, and not all of them are pretty. Just look through anyone’s family photo albums if you want proof. You’re sure to find least a couple awkward snapshots.

But when a band goes through a weird phase, the whole world hears about it. Weezer has gone through a number of different phases already, from their adorably nerdy early years, to the experimental approach of their 2002 album Maladroit, to the poppy tunes of their most recent record, Ratitude.

Beren and Devan were both big fans of Weezer when they first became popular in the 1990s. Find out what they think about the band’s latest phase.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Beren

Devan

Beren:  Have you heard the new Weezer single? I think it’s called “I Want You To.”

Devan:  Is that on the new album?

Beren:  Ratitude?

Devan:  Yeah, it’s called Ratitude.

Beren:  I heard the song and I didn’t know it was Weezer, and I thought it was some newfangled pop band. I thought it was like…not Fallout Boy but something similar. The lyrics are really boy meets girl, kind of young seeming.

Devan:  That really doesn’t surprise me because Weezer has changed so much over the years. Like I always forget that they’re still a band, and then all of a sudden I hear an album’s coming out, but if I hear anything from it I’m like, “This is not the Weezer I knew and loved growing up.”

Beren:  What happened? What happened to Rivers?

Devan:  I don’t know. When I was a kid, I loved that album Pinkerton.

Beren:  Oh, that was the best.

Devan:  It was just like a very troubled album. It was very honest. That was back in his days of his black-rimmed glasses and cardigans, and when he was just singing about his girl problems. But I think it was maybe a little bit too much honesty for him, you know, and I think it kind of freaked him out. So I think he’s just decided since then to go with mainstream bubble gum pointless pop that doesn’t really have any meaning.

Beren:  It’s so bizarre. The last album I bought was The Green Album.

Devan:  I think that was probably the last decent one.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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