Abandonment of their old song along with a Lil’ Wayne cameo leads Weezer astray on “Raditude”

Since Weezer’s debut album in 1994, the band has been known for its trademark grinding electric guitar and straight-faced, geekish image. Lead guitarist Rivers Cuomo, with his signature pair of thickly rimmed black specs, has been the mastermind behind hard-hitting alternative rock classics such as “Hash Pipe,” and also several successful pop songs like “Island in the Sun” and “Beverly Hills.” Rivers’ imagination and “You take your car to work / I’ll take my board” mentality has always been the heart of Weezer.

But with their new album “Raditude,” Weezer has lost their creativity and sound more like contestants in a middle school battle of the bands. The best way to describe the majority of “Raditude” would be as swimming pool rock. Imagine walking barefoot on wet concrete as a kid, eating a drumstick and pretending to look at the diving boards that happen to lie just beyond the older girls sunbathing in bikinis. Then recall the pop rock song playing on Mix 93.3 in the background.

Diehard fans would probably retort that part of Weezer’s charm has always been the catchiness and simplicity of their songs. On “Raditude,” they’ve kept the simplicity but none of the old emotion or creativity.

The album’s second song, “I’m Your Daddy,” should be the theme song for the guy at every rock concert who seems like he gorilla-glued his hands to his girlfriend’s stomach before the show. From cheesy lyrics like, “I swear I ain’t like those other boys, I’m a special kind” to the monotonous melody, it’s the kind of thing Weezer has done before in a much more original way with songs such as “Buddy Holly.”

Even after that, I kept telling myself that the band was just warming up with a couple of guaranteed radio hits, until I heard the fourth song, “Can’t Stop Partying.” With hardly any guitar playing and a synthesizer looped over a popping beat a la Lady GaGa, it initially seems like Weezer is making fun of all of the hit factory songs crowding the FM today.

But then Lil’ Wayne’s croaking voice appears out of the blue for all of 30 seconds to remind the listener for about the millionth time that he also parties pretty hard and needs to “stop mixing alcohol with pharmaceuticals.” It’s possible that they added this to strengthen the humor of their take on a formulaic party song, but it comes across as a serious attempt to make it onto everyone’s Saturday night playlist.

I’ve come to expect the “let’s throw Lil’ Wayne in for a few verses and it’ll automatically be a hit” strategy from artists like Jay Sean, but it’s completely out of place on a Weezer album. The first three songs on “Raditude,” while nowhere as good as classic Weezer songs like the fluently syncopated “Say it Ain’t So,” are okay if taken for what they are: simple pop songs. But with “ Can’t Stop Partying,” Weezer takes selling out to a whole new level.

The other song on “Raditude” that really misses the mark is the seventh track, “Love is the Answer.” With rhythmic Indian drumming, a sitar and a high-pitched female voice singing in Hindi, it would be hard to tell that this song is even by Weezer if it weren’t awkwardly sandwiched in the middle of the album like a psychedelic Sergeant Peppers interlude. It’s not a terrible song, but like “Can’t Stop Partying,” it’s nothing compared to the quirky, hard-rocking Weezer that I’ve always loved.

While Cuomo does rip out a cool solo on the ninth track “In the Mall,” and the second to last song “I Don’t Want to Let You Go” has an interesting three part harmony and a doo-woppish bass line, it’s too little too late. “Raditude” is mostly a swimming pool pop rock album with a couple of incredibly boring songs such as “Put Me Back Together,” which sounds like it was written by an overly emotional humpty dumpty.

I’m all about hearing my favorite bands experiment with new things musically, but Weezer has definitely gone in the wrong direction with “Raditude,” which is the latest in a string of questionable albums for the band. Their other latest releases, “The Red Album” and “Make Believe” have failed to reach any popularity beyond their initial singles.

Ironically, “Raditude” definitely isn’t radical, and has very little, if any attitude. Hopefully Weezer can write this off as an experimental album and get back to the crunchy-yet-witty brand of rock that they do best.