The Music Theory of Pinkerton (Analyzing the First Five Tracks)
I don't know how many of you guys saw the post the other day where someone had Claude analyze all of the tracks on Pinkerton. I appreciate that guy's post and all the effort that he put into it. After all, there's a reason us virgins love this band so much--the music is GOOD, and good music deserves to be analyzed.
I thought I would take a crack at analyzing Pinkerton myself. I've been playing, performing, writing, and recording music for 20 years. Some of my notation may be wonky; feel free to offer suggestions for change.
My main thesis is that, rather than the bVII chord typifying the sound of Pinkerton (Claude's assertion), two other chords/progressions really define Pinkerton's sound:
- Moving from the minor 6th chord (vi) to the minor 2nd chord (ii)
- To a lesser extent, brightening the minor 6th chord (vi) to a major 6th chord (VI)
Weezer obviously isn't the first or only band to use either of these, but these are the two things that come to mind for me when I think of what chords/progressions are most common on Pinkerton.
Click here to see the full document with the first five tracks analyzed. I'm working on the back half now.