Songs from the Black Hole
Songs from the Black Hole is an unreleased, unfinished Weezer album. It was originally intended to be a follow-up to The Blue Album, but over the course of recording the album was eventually transformed into what is now Pinkerton. Some of the SFTBH songs ended up on Pinkerton (or as B-sides), but in different form and with different lyrics. SFTBH was, in the words of frontman Rivers Cuomo, "supposed to be a whole album of songs transed together," meaning a seamless flow from one song to the next (see side 2 of The Beatles Abbey Road for an example of this technique).
History
Most of the album was recorded by Cuomo in 8-track form at his home in Connecticut. On these tapes he wrote all the lyrics and music, and played all the parts himself. The characters were to be Jonas (played by Rivers), Lisa (played by Rachel Haden), Maria (played by Joan Wasser), Wuan & Danno (played by Matt Sharp and Brian Bell), and a robot, M1 (played by Karl Koch).
To this day, SFTBH tracks remain a holy grail for many Weezer fans. Over the years several petitions have been started with the aim of making the band release the lost "Black Hole" demos much in the same way the ss2k songs were released; the most recent petition was launched by Weezer fans on November 27th, 2005, with the goal of reaching 1000 signatures (it has reached 587 signatures as of January 15th, 2006). Seven of the album's tracks are available online (including a poor quality version of "Superfriend") , and several more were modified and added to Weezer's second official release, Pinkerton. Nevertheless, many fans hope to one day see the entire album released in its original form (as unfinished as it remains).
Track listing
Of the two tracklists composed for the album, the second tracklist is closest to what the finished album's tracklist would have looked like. Rivers compiled the second tracklist using several newly recorded songs and one mid 1994 demo that was not previously part of the album concept, and took out numerous songs that apparently were no longer needed, either due to their new status as “real album 2” songs, or due to simple creative changes of heart.
Tracklist 1
- "Blast Off!"
- "You Won't Get With Me Tonight"
- "Maria's Theme"
- "Come to my Pod"
- "This is not For Me"
- "Tired of Sex"
- "Superfriend"
- "She's Had a Girl"
- "Good News!"
- "Now I Finally See"
- "Getchoo"
- "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams"
- "No Other One"
- "Devotion"
- "What is This That I Find?"
- "Longtime Sunshine"
- "Longtime Sunshine (reprise)"
- "Why Bother?" (note: placement in this tracklist is unknown)
Tracklist 2
- "Blast Off!"
- "Who You Callin' Bitch?"
- "Oh Jonas"
- "Please Remember"
- "Come to My Pod"
- "Oh No This is Not for Me"
- "Tired of Sex"
- "She's Had a Girl"
- "Dude, We're Finally Landing"
- "Now I Finally See"
- "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams"
- "Lisa"
- "Superfriend"
- "Superfriend reprise"
- "You Won't Get With Me Tonight"
- "What is this I find?"
Songs 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 12, and 16 on tracklist 1 are available online. "You Won't Get With Me Tonight" may also be found on the compilation disk "Gimme Skelter" by Buddyhead Records. "I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams" may be found on "The Good Life OZ EP" single and "Devotion" may be found on the "El Scorcho" single. A poor quality version of "Superfriend" can be found on the Weezer DVD, Video Capture Device. Formal studio versions of "Tired of Sex", "Getchoo", "No Other One", and "Why Bother?" are available on Pinkerton.
The Future
Rivers Cuomo has stated on his myspace blog that he is unable to release any of his demos (including Black Hole songs) because of his contractual obligations to Geffen Records. Geffen has the exclusive right to release his music:
"...Someday that may change but it won’t be anytime soon...Until I can figure out a way to compensate Geffen records (and in the case of covers songs, the songwriters) I can’t give away my recordings."
In his blog, Rivers also talked about playing his demos to Jordan Schur, the president of Weezer's label, Geffen Records:
"...when we were starting to work on Make Believe in 2003, I sat down with Jordan and played him hours of my old demos, going all the way back to the beginnings of Weezer. He didn’t think any of them were album-worthy. Neither did I. The one song he thought was good was “Blast Off” but it “needs a new chorus.” I agreed."
But Rivers did leave fans with some hope that the songs could eventually be heard:
"Thanks to all who have expressed their interest in my unreleased recordings. I hope that everything of quality is eventually made available."
In a recent interview, commenting on speculation that Make Believe would be Weezer's last album, Pat Wilson (the band's drummer) stated that he would be interested in releasing a compilation of "lost" Weezer tracks. This fueled rumours that the band would release previously unheard Black Hole songs or a completely re-worked version of the "Songs from the Black Hole" concept album in the near future.
River's photo on his mySpace page on December 25th, 2005 was an image of the Wonder Twins, "sidekicks to the Super Friends in the Hanna-Barbera animated television series of the same name". Some fans believe this is a sign that the 2005 holiday treat will be a high quality mp3 of "Superfriend" but this yet to be confirmed.