Songs from the Black Hole

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Songs from the Black Hole (SFTBH) is an unreleased, unfinished Weezer album. A space themed rock opera/musical, it was originally envisioned as the follow-up album to The Blue Album, but over the course of recording, the album's concept was discarded and the album was transformed into Pinkerton. Some of the SFTBH songs ended up on Pinkerton (or as b-sides), some slightly altered lyrically and sonically. SFTBH was, in the words of songwriter Rivers Cuomo, "supposed to be a whole album of songs transed together," meaning a seamless flow from one song to the next (previous examples of this technique include the closing medley of The Beatles' Abbey Road and various Pink Floyd albums including The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. In a 2007 Rolling Stone Rock & Roll Daily feature the album was called one of rock music's "mythical lost masterpieces."^[1] In an April 2007 issue of the Australian weekly print mag "Zoo", the album was named number 7 in their "Top 10 Never Released Albums" list.^[2] Songs from the Black Hole also ranked #7 on a list of the top ten albums you have never heard.^[3]

History

Most of the album was written and recorded solely by Rivers Cuomo on 8-track at his home in Connecticut in 1994.^[4] The characters were to be Jonas (voiced by Rivers), 'Laurel' (voiced by Rachel Haden of that dog.), Maria (voiced by Joan Wasser of the Dambuilders), Wuan & Dondo (voiced by Matt Sharp and Brian Bell of Weezer), and a robot, M1 (voiced by Karl Koch, a friend of the band and roadie at the time).^[5] At the time, Joan was unaware of Rivers' intention of having her play a role on the album. In the words of Rivers, taken from an interview in the November 15, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone, "There's this crew - three guys and two girls and a mechanoid - that are on this mission in space to rescue somebody, or something. The whole thing was really an analog for taking off, going out on the road and up the charts with a rock band, which is what was happening to me at the time I was writing this and feeling like I was lost in space." Over the course of writing the album, Rivers, who'd enrolled at Harvard in the fall of 1995, changed his focus from the space rock opera theme of Songs from the Black Hole to the Madama Butterfly theme of Pinkerton. Pinkerton was released on September 24, 1996, and included the songs "Tired of Sex", "Getchoo", "No Other One", and "Why Bother?", which were left over from the Songs from the Black Hole concept. Further leftovers "Devotion", "Waiting on You", and "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" surfaced as b-sides to the Pinkerton singles. "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" is notable as it features Rachel Haden singing lead vocals. The song is probably the most complete studio recording of any SFTBH material. In 2002, several Songs from the SFTBH demos were 'leaked' on the internet. These included "Blast Off!", "Oh No This Is Not For Me", "Come to My Pod", "Tired of Sex" and "Longtime Sunshine". Another demo, "You Won't Get With Me Tonight", was officially released on a Buddyhead compilation in 2003. A very short clip of the band rehearsing "Superfriend" in Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, in January 1996, was released on the Weezer DVD Video Capture Device in 2004. Sheet music and lyrics for several unreleased Songs from the Black Hole tracks were made available by Rivers on his MySpace blog starting on April 30, 2006. Lyrics were posted for "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Oh Jonas", "Please Remember", "Oh No This is Not For Me", "She's Had a Girl", and "Now I Finally See", while sheet music was posted for "She's Had A Girl", "Who You Callin' Bitch?" and "Oh Jonas". It remains to be seen whether this will continue for the rest of the SFTBH material. He also posted that the song "Lisa", long thought to be part of tracklist 2 and the name of the second female character, was not actually part of SFTBH. This left the character's name to be unknown. Rivers could not recall the name, but referred to her as "the good girl." In the Alone booklet, Rivers writes (after having reviewed his journal notes of SFTBH) that the Good Girl's name is "Laurel." In a November 2006 interview with a Bloomfield Hills local radio station Pat Wilson told two students that he remembers being caught in Germany and Rivers using a recording studio to record what he wanted to be a rock album. Pat stated that he never knew more about SFTBH other than Rivers wanted to make a concept album. On December 18th, 2007, Rivers Cuomo released a collection of his home demos entitled Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. The collection contained demos from 1992 until 2007. The collection also included five demos for songs intended for Songs From the Black Hole, "Longtime Sunshine", "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Dude, We're Finally Landing", and "Superfriend. This was the first time fans got to hear "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Dude We're Finally Landing", and a high quality version of "Superfriend". Three copies of the album are known to exist in CD-R form. Two of them are in the care of Karl Koch, while the third copy is in Rivers' personal archive. These CDs contain the tracks from tracklist 2 (see below).

Track listing

Of the two track listings composed for the album, the second track listing is supposedly closer to what the finished album's track listing would have looked like. Rivers compiled the second track listing 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' second album songs, or due to simple creative changes of heart. Track listing 1

1. "Blast Off!" (2:02)
2. "You Won't Get with Me Tonight" (3:28)
3. "Maria's Theme" (0:30)
4. "Come to my Pod" (1:33)
5. "This Is Not for Me" (0:44)
6. "Tired of Sex" (2:42)
7. "Superfriend" (4:30)*
8. "She's Had a Girl" (0:55)
9. "Good News!" (1:05)
10. "Now I Finally See" (0:40)
11. "Getchoo" (2:54)
12. "I Just Threw out the Love of My Dreams" (2:38)
13. "No Other One" (2:46)
14. "Devotion" (3:16)
15. "What Is This I Find?" (1:20)
16. "Longtime Sunshine" (3:17)
17. "Longtime Sunshine (reprise)" (0:30)

Track listing 2

1. "Blast Off!" (2:02)
2. "Who You Callin' Bitch?" (0:45)
3. "Oh Jonas" (renamed from "Maria's Theme") (0:30)
4. "Please Remember" (0:40)
5. "Come to My Pod" (1:33)
6. "Oh No, This Is Not for Me" (0:44)
7. "Tired of Sex" (2:42)
8. "She's Had a Girl" (0:55)
9. "Dude, We're Finally Landing" (renamed from "Good News!") (1:05)
10. "Now I Finally See" (0:40)
11. "I Just Threw out the Love of My Dreams" (2:38)
12. "Superfriend" (4:30)*
13. "Superfriend Reprise" (0:25)
14. "You Won't Get with Me Tonight" (3:28)
15. "What Is This I Find?" (1:20)

*Length inferred as total tracklist 2 time is understood to be around 24 minutes

Other Songs

1. "Why Bother?"
2. "Waiting on You"
3. "Longtime Sunshine: Special 'Coda' Mix experiment"

Note: these songs are not officially on either tracklist but were worked on along with the rest of the SFTBH tracks at the time. The Special Coda Mix is an overlapping medley of vocals from "Longtime Sunshine", "Why Bother?", "Waiting on You", "Blast Off!", and possibly other songs. 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" and "Waiting on You" may be found on "The Good Life" 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 included on Pinkerton. Recently, "Longtime Sunshine", "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Dude We're Finally Landing", and "Superfriend" were officially released on Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.

Tracks and Plot

Blast Off!

The leadoff track for Songs from the Black Hole is a dramatic rock song with a high-reaching melody and shifting dynamics. The lyrics are a conversation between the main character Jonas and his shipmates Wuan and Dondo. Jonas is excited yet reserved about the prospect of doing what he thinks is his dream job. Wuan and Dondo are much more upbeat about the experience. In the middle of the song M1 interjects via vocoder to remind them of the task at hand. In the last verse we find that a female character has entered the scene and that Jonas had a ‘relationship’ with her back at Star Corps Academy. Although previously leaked, this song was released on Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.^[6] An interesting parallel in this song (and indeed the whole album) is the space mission concept being a metaphor for the rock star life that Rivers was about to embark upon.

Who You Callin’ Bitch?

The lyrics and music for this unheard song were made public by Rivers. The song is similar to the officially-released You Won’t Get With Me Tonight, though it is shorter. In it, Jonas and Maria continue the conversation started in Blast Off! Karl described the song as being “slow but huge, rocking.” This song was released on Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.^[6] The song is about how angry and upset Maria gets after she hears Wuan and Dondo's dirty language and she explodes with anger, while Jonas try's to calm her down.

Oh Jonas (aka Maria's Theme)

In another unheard song, Maria reveals her feelings for Jonas.

Please Remember

The lyrics to this unheard song were released by Rivers on his blog, but he failed to note the order in which they are sung. Karl divulged that the song uses back and forth dialogue much like "Who You Callin' Bitch?". Like "Who You Callin' Bitch?", the lyrics are similar to those found in "You Won't Get With Me Tonight".

Come to My Pod

This is another one of the internet-released demos. A short song, it features acoustic guitars, sparse drumming, and some synthesizer, Electronic Music Laboratories Electrocomp 101. The song is a duet between Jonas and Maria, continuing their earlier conversation. Here, Maria convinces Jonas to come to her private chamber and be with her.

This Is Not For Me

In the song directly following Come To My Pod, Jonas realizes the mistake he's making and puts a stop to it. Maria tries to convince him to stay, but he's had enough.

Tired of Sex

Once Jonas pulls away from Maria, he realizes that his lifestyle is unfulfilling. He wants love, not sex.

She's Had a Girl

A significant amount of time has passed on the ship. Maria has given birth to Jonas' daughter. In this song, Jonas laments what has happened.

Dude, We're Finally Landing (aka Good News!)

This song was released on Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.^[6] In the song the three main male characters, Jonas, Wuan, and Dondo sing about how the ship is finally landing after 327 days on it. It shows how excited and more upbeat Wuan and Dondo are and how timid and quiet Jonas is about the situation of landing.

Now I Finally See

This song has Jonas (presumably) echoing the sentiments from She's Had a Girl.

I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams

In this officially-released song, Laurel is upset about throwing away her love. She is torn between what she thinks she wants and what she thinks is right. It is unclear whether this means she has rejected Jonas and is now doubting herself or if she's singing about someone else she may have left for Jonas ("I... see him every day, even though my love is a world away"). On the released version where Rachel Haden sings lead vocals, Rivers joins in on the last verse to make the song a duet. It is not known whether this represents Jonas, as the recording was completed after the scrapping of Songs from the Black Hole. This song makes extensive use of the Electrocomp 101.

Superfriend

This song is one that has become a "most wanted" by Weezer fans. On Video Capture Device, you hear Weezer recording this song, though the sound quality is not very good, and it is interrupted by a phone call in the recording studio. You also hear a short clip of Rivers playing Superfriend acoustically with no lyrics at one point during VCD. The song is a conversation between Jonas and (presumably) Laurel. In it, Jonas chides himself for giving into the seduction of Maria, even though he does not love her. Laurel urges Jonas to grow up and be better than that. Jonas finds himself smitten with Laurel, but she can see through his act and tells him to get real. This song was released on Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.^[6]

Superfriend Reprise

Karl once stated that this song is an instrumental Superfriend part.

You Won't Get With Me Tonight

This officially-released 8-track demo recording was done completely by Rivers, who sings both parts. The song is a conversation between Jonas and Maria. The vocals are panned in order to differentiate them. In the Gimme Skelter liner notes, Karl wrote that Joan Wasser was to play the other character. The song is high-energy with a fast tempo and features a synthesizer/guitar duet during the instrumental break. In the song, it's another conversation between Jonas and Maria. Maria wants to get with Jonas so badly, and Jonas does too, but he realizes that he only wants to be her friend, not her lover. He knows that she will use him for sex, not love. Jonas also tells Maria that he will protect her from Wuan and Dondo, making sure they won't bother her any more.

What Is This I Find?

The lyrics to this song are unknown. Karl once stated that "This is about some package that was discovered opened. 'I wonder which of us best of friends opened and used it?'"

Demand for SFTBH

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 reached its goal of 1000 signatures on March 1st, 2006. On October 4th, 2005 during a Weezer show at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, the band invited a fan up onstage to play the rhythm guitar for Undone - The Sweater Song. The fan took advantage of this moment to attempt to get the band to play "Blast Off!" by beginning to play the intro to the song and sang the first four lines of the song before Rivers laughed and jokingly pushed him away from the mic. After they finished "Undone", Weezer guitarist Brian Bell and Rivers all laughed at the fan's idea.^[7] In early 2006 a low-quality video bootleg of the show began to circulate around various Weezer message boards and included the fan's special performance of "Undone" and Rivers' subsequent reaction. Once Rivers posted the lyrics and music for some of the SFTBH tracks, fans were able to cover the songs despite not having heard them. Rivers has even posted comments about the covers he has heard: "By the way, I'm very disappointed not to be hearing any women out there singing Maria's parts. What gives?" (on "Who You Callin' Bitch?") and "Good luck figuring out the time changes... No one's gotten it yet. Look at it this way: 3 beats in a 3/4 measure go by in the same amount of time as 2 beats in a 6/4 measure. Also, these last two sawngs (sic) are elided so that the pickup note of "Oh, Jonas" is the last beat of the last bar of "Who You Callin'" (on "Oh Jonas")."

The future

The image of the "Wonder Twins" that appeared on Rivers Cuomo's MySpace page leading to some fans to speculate that the long-awaited "Superfriend" was going to be released

Rivers Cuomo has stated on his 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 2006 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. Rivers' 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 believed that this was a sign that the 2005 holiday treat would be a high quality mp3 of "Superfriend" but this was later proved to be false. On April 30, 2006, Rivers released this statement in his blog, and in the process confirmed that the home recordings of the Black Hole songs will be released sometime in the future: "Thanks for your interest in these songs! I'm putting up the lyrics now because I suddenly realized that I can. I'll also put up the sheet music (when I have time) so that you can play them for each other! I'll release my home demos as soon as I am legally able." It is unclear however if the recent online petition which garnered over 1000 signatures has influenced his decision. On October 15, 2007 Rivers posted a blog on his official blog stating that he had permission from Geffen to release a collection of demos spanning 1992-2007, Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. Shortly after, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Rivers revealed that many of the songs on the CD will be unreleased demos from Songs From The Black Hole.^[8] A news post on Geffen's official website read, "The vast majority will be new to even the most die-hard Weezer fan," hinting that the SFTBH demos will be songs previously never heard.^[9] In an Alternative Press interview from October 30, 2007, Rivers revealed that "Blast Off!", "Who You Calling Bitch?", "Dude, We're Finally Landing" and "Superfriend" are slated to be on the album.^[10] It has been reported that "Longtime Sunshine" will also be on the record. A clip of this song was posted on weezer.com on November 27, 2007, along with clips of "Superfriend" and "Blast Off!", confirming that it will also be on Alone. On November 22, 2007, Rivers updated his blog, stating "I want to share with everyone the excitement I felt when I went back and heard the original master tapes of these demos. In most cases, they sounded much better than the mp3s I've been listening to for years--clearer, warmer, deeper. I highly recommend that listeners buy the CD rather than the digital version so that they can enjoy the highest quality listening experience."

Possible connection to The Rentals

When Rivers was asked on a chat room interview what the reason was for not releasing Songs From the Black Hole, he simply stated "ROTR". He was referring to Weezer bassist Matt Sharp's then new band The Rentals, whose first album was titled Return of the Rentals (ROTR). This album was released in 1995, in between Weezer's first two albums. Cuomo has further hinted that sonically and aesthetically, Sharp's Return of the Rentals borrowed much of its sound from Rivers drafts of Songs from the Black Hole, thus discouraging Rivers from further pursuing the sound out of fear of the public thinking he was "stealing" Matt's sound with the Rentals. However, some Weezer fans have speculated that originally both Matt and Rivers were writing songs for Songs From the Black Hole. Once Matt decided that he wanted to take his songs to The Rentals, the weight of the album rested solely on Rivers shoulders, and eventually he decided to scrap the idea.

Lyrics

It should also be noted that a song Rivers and Matt wrote together, "Mrs. Young", found its way onto ROTR under the name "Please Let That Be You", with some altered lyrics. Some portions of the lyrics have some themes that could be linked to the space theme of Songs From the Black Hole.

Furthermore, an early version of 'The Love I'm Searching For' can be found on the Rentals' bootleg 'Excellent Stocking Stuffer.' In this earlier take, the lyric "you should be with me" is revealed to have originally been "the mission must be complete." This ties into SFTBH in that several songs from the known SFTBH track list also mention a mission. In 'Blast Off', there are lyrics referring to 'the purpose of the mission.'

In another interesting twist of events, when the Rentals reunited in 2005 and began touring, the band would cover Weezer's "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams", a song originally intended for Songs from the Black Hole. Rachel Haden, who performs vocals on the Weezer version, handles lead vocal duties when played live with the Rentals, as she is part of the newly formed incarnation of the Rentals. It is presently unknown if there is any truth to these theories or if they are simply speculation on the part of fans.

References

See also

• Pinkerton

External links

• Weezer Recording History Page 7
• Songs from the Black Hole fan site
• Songs from the Black Hole Sheet Music
• A Close Look at the Mythology Surrounding the Unreleased Album 'Songs From the Black Hole' by David Lawson
• Fan circulated online petition to get 'Songs from the Black Hole' released
• Songs from the Black Hole at MusicBrainz