Weezer - Pinkerton

Weezer
Pinkerton 
Geffen / UMe 40136 - re-issue LP

Pinkerton is the second studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on September 24, 1996, by DGC Records.  After abandoning plans for a rock opera entitled Songs From the Black Hole. Weezer recorded the album between the songwriter Rivers Cuomo's terms at Harvard University, where he wrote most of the songs.To better capture their live sound, Weezer self-produced Pinkerton, creating a darker, more abrasive album than their self-titled 1994 debut. Cuomo's lyrics express loneliness and disillusionment with the rock lifestyle; the album is named after the character BF Pinkerton from Giacomo Puccini's 1994 opera Madama Butterfly, whom Cuomo described as an "asshole American sailor similar to a touring rock star". Like the opera, the album contains references to Japanese culture. 
While the album failed to meet sales expectations, Pinkerton has since been reassessed and has achieved acclaim, as several publications have named it one of the best albums of all time. It was certified platinum in 2016. It was the last Weezer album to feature the bassist Matt Sharp.