| "Pork and Beans" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byWeezer | ||||
| from the albumWeezer (The Red Album) | ||||
| Released | April 22, 2008[1] | |||
| Recorded | February 2008 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:09 | |||
| Label | Geffen | |||
| Songwriter | Rivers Cuomo | |||
| Producer | Jacknife Lee | |||
| Weezer singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Pork and Beans" onYouTube | ||||
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the Americanalternative rock bandWeezer, released on the group's 2008 self-titled albumWeezer, also known as the Red Album. It was released to radio on April 22, 2008[1] and released in digital form on April 24.[3] The track debuted at number 19 onBillboard'sModern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. The song charted in many countries such asCanada,Ireland, theUnited Kingdom, and theUnited States.
Amusic video of the song, which incorporated manyYouTube celebrities andmemes with the band, premiered onYouTube and was one of the most popular videos in the weeks following its release. The video won aGrammy Award forBest Music Video at the51st Annual Grammy Awards.[4]
Rivers Cuomo, lead singer and guitarist for Weezer, wrote the song in reaction to a meeting withGeffen executives, who told the band members that they needed to record more commercial material.[5]Cuomo remarked, "I came out of it pretty angry. But ironically, it inspired me to write another song."[6]Jacknife Lee produced the track with the band in early 2008 in what was the third and final recording session for the album.[7] The many references to popular culture in the song are said to be a "statement of defiance" according to Internet reviewer David Ritter, who later describes it to be an "anti-anthem anthem" that opens up a "broad space for critical exploration of what it means to be an aging band in the major label system".[8]
According to the director of the video for "Pork and Beans", the song is about "the idea ofbeing yourself, of being happy with who you are".[9] In the album notes, Cuomo compares this toTimbaland's music, "It actually sounds like a Timbaland kind of production; he haslittle baby crying type of sounds."[10] A reference is also made to Timbaland in the second verse with the line "Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the chart".[11] The song similarly refers to items such asRogaine andOakleysunglasses.[12]
The song has been generally well received by critics.[7] Many reviewers were pleased with what they saw as a return-to-form sound reminiscent of theBlue Album (1994) andPinkerton (1996) albums.[8][13][14][15]Pitchfork Media writer Marc Hogan gave the song a positive review and described the song as, "a catchy, self-referential rocker, with the buzzsaw guitars and big choruses of Weezer's glory days, and that familiar, self-assured lameness."[16] Simon Vozick-Levinson ofEntertainment Weekly also gave the song a positive review, saying "That chunka-chunka guitarhook is pure [Weezer] gold, so much so that I didn't focus on Rivers Cuomo's very clever lyrics at first."[17]Stereogum was also impressed with the song, stating it was a "sweet, savory dose of self-referential, self-deprecating Weezer rock ... This stuff sounds very familiar in a good, good way."[18]NME described the song as having "[Cuomo's] best chorus in ages".[12] However, Internet reviewer David Ritter suggested that the song was either "voided by the wholesale capitulation involved in going home and writing said commercial material" or "a calculated attempt to boost record sales by wrapping faux-defiance in pretty paper,"[8] going on to compliment its "Scorcho-y acoustic guitar," he then said that this, along with the "keyboard twinkles" and "squeals and squeaks", has little effect on the song and that they barely register on top of the much more noticeablelead vocals andpower chords.[8]
In terms of chart performance, "Pork and Beans" is one of Weezer's most successful singles in its 25-year career. Debuting at number 19, the song reached number one on theBillboardHot Modern Rock Tracks charts in only its third week on the charts. It became the group's ninth Top 10 hit on this chart and third number one overall and spent 11 weeks at number one,[19][20] making it one of only 17 songs to ever sit at number one on that particular chart for 10 weeks or longer and one of three songs to have spent 11 weeks at number one. It also represented its fastest rising single ever, reaching number one after a mere 11 days after release.[7] It debuted at number 39 on theBillboardHot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it is peaked at number 25 and debuted in theBillboardHot 100 at number 84 with 17,000 downloads of the song oniTunes and peaked at number 64.[21][22] "Pork and Beans" was voted number one on Toronto radio station102.1 the Edge's list of Top 102 Songs of 2008.[23] This song was number 30 onRolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.[24]
The song was featured in the 2009 film trailers forYes Man andWhip It!,[25][26] and is a playabledownloadable song for theRock Band video game series.[27] It is also a featured song inDance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3 and in theSpill.com podcast "The League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen".
Themusic video for "Pork and Beans" was directed byMathew Cullen of the video production company Motion Theory[28] and was first released onYouTube by the band on May 23, 2008. The video features manyinternet phenomena.[9][29][30] ManyYouTube celebrities joined with the band to film in the video, including Mark Allen Hicks (the "Afro Ninja"),Gary Brolsma ("Numa Numa"),Tay Zonday ("Chocolate Rain"),Cara Cunningham ("Leave Britney alone"),Caitlin Upton ("Miss South Carolina"),Liam Kyle "Kelly" Sullivan ("Shoes"), Kicesie,Ryan Wieber, Michael Scott,Judson Laipply, and Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz performingDiet Coke and Mentos eruptions. In addition, the video references other YouTube personalities such asKevin Federline andLim Jeong-hyun. Other internet memes mimicked in the video include theDramatic Chipmunk andMini Moni,parodies ofG.I. Joe public service announcements, catching Raybans with one's face, "All Your Base Are Belong to Us", theDancing Banana, "Will It Blend?", theSoulja Boy dance,"Daft Hands" and "Daft Bodies", the Sneezing Panda,Charlie the Unicorn, theDancing Baby, DoctorLegua's dancing CGIDonald Duck and gorillas,[31] and the hoax UFO sighting in Haiti. Dan Dzoan, former world record holder for solving aRubik's Cube with one hand in 17.90 seconds, was present for the shooting but does not appear in the video, though there are Rubik's Cubes in the video, and Dan is present in another video posted by Weezer to YouTube.[30]Neil Cicierega'sPotter Puppet Pals were slated to be in the video but were left out due to problems with shipments of props. A mock-up of the Dumbledore puppet can be seen in the video nonetheless.[32]
The video shares some thematic similarities with the music video for theBarenaked Ladies single "Sound of Your Voice", which also featured multiple YouTube celebrities. According to Cullen, the video was to be a "celebration of that creativity",[33] an idea that went over well with the members of the band.[34] Cullen wanted to embrace the concept of "about being happy with who you are".[33] Cullen hopes that the video will be "a living thing on the Internet"; as the video itself was a mash-up of Weezer's favorite stuff, Cullen hopes others will use the video to create their own mash-ups.[35] The YouTube celebrities were flown intoLos Angeles, California to work with the band for the four-day shooting of the video.[34] The video, which quickly became popular, reached more than four million viewers in its first week and was that week's most-watched video.[33][34][35] It was the most popular video of the month in June, reaching 7.3 million views by June 16, 2008.[36][37] It was nominated for Best Editing for the 2008MTVVideo Music Awards[38] and for Favorite Online Sensation at the35th People's Choice Awards.[39] The video won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video at the 51st Grammy Awards Show.[4]
On June 2, 2008, a video of anacoustic version of the song, withBrian Bell on guitar and Tay Zonday on vocals, was released on Weezer's official YouTube channel.[40]
On January 12, 2009, aremix version of the "Pork and Beans" video was released to YouTube, which included additional footage not previously used in the original video.[41] The new video, in addition to including footage of Dan Dzoan and Potter Puppet Pals, adds in more internet memes and celebrities, including "Badger Badger Badger",Little Superstar,Philippine prison inmates dancing to "Thriller",Leeroy Jenkins,Ronald Jenkees,BigDog,Ask a Ninja,Back Dorm Boys,Line Rider, "I Like Turtles",Techno Viking, andPickle Surprise, and ends with the viewer beingrickrolled.[42]
Radio only promo CD
UK retail CD
UK retail 7″ #1
UK retail 7″ #2
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[43] | 95 |
| Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia)[44] | 23 |
| CanadaHot 100 (Billboard)[45] | 29 |
| CanadaRock (Billboard)[46] | 4 |
| European Hot 100 | 92 |
| Irish Singles Chart[47] | 42 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[48] | 33 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[49] | 64 |
| USAdult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[50] | 33 |
| USAdult Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[51] | 25 |
| USAlternative Airplay (Billboard)[52] | 1 |
| USMainstream Rock (Billboard)[53] | 25 |
| USPop 100 | 70 |
| Venezuela Pop Rock (Record Report)[54] | 6 |
| Chart (2008) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canada Rock (Radio & Records)[55] | 18 |
| US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[56] | 3 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[57] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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