Where other rockers would have ignored or bitterly dismissed fans endlessly asking for remakes of their first two albums as “entitled” and “just not getting it,” Cuomo took ownership over the falling out between his band and their audience by making promises to both them and himself to do better. Yet Cuomo deserves considerable credit for nevertheless persisting in his journey to discern musical right from wrong. That was the Weezer brand sinking to Nickelback levels, but worse because the hate was coming from their own fans. That moment - when someone publicly offered the band $10 million to break-up - wasn’t just another dissatisfied listener let down once again it was one saying you provide the world more pain than pleasure, that you cause hurt to “our brothers and sisters, our friends, our lovers.” Weezer responded tactfully to the blatant troll, with Patrick Wilson quipping on Twitter, “If they can make it 20 we’ll do the ‘deluxe breakup,'” but even still the incident and the subsequent press attention it received must’ve cut deep. If Rivers Cuomo’s behavior in the ’90s suggests anything, it’s that he sincerely cares how his band is received, although for years he went on making decisions counterintuitive to every notion of feedback he must have heard.Įven if Cuomo wound up numb to the constant criticism, the petition still must have been a guttural blow. This wasn’t just a band failing to reach previous heights they became one seemingly motivated to see how low they could go, to the extent that it became increasingly difficult to simply toss them into the legacy bin and enjoy greatest hits sets every other time they came to your town. Where most bands beloved for their first few albums typically fade into passive disinterest when their music starts to yield diminishing marginal returns, Weezer somehow courted active malice. Weezer had been collecting ill-will for years by 2010.