Songs from the Black Hole is an unfinished album by the American rock band Weezer, recorded between 1994 and 1996. The songwriter, Rivers Cuomo, conceived it as a rock opera that would express his mixed feelings about the success of Weezer's 1994 self-titled debut album. Its characters were to be voiced by members of Weezer, plus the guest vocalists Rachel Haden (of That Dog and the Rentals) and Joan Wasser (of the Dambuilders).
Cuomo recorded demos for Songs from the Black Hole over Christmas 1994, and Weezer held recording sessions over the following year. In late 1995, Cuomo enrolled at Harvard University, where his songwriting became darker and more confessional. Weezer abandoned the Black Hole concept and their second album became Pinkerton (1996), which incorporated some songs once intended for Songs from the Black Hole.
Two Songs from the Black Hole tracks, "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" "You Won't Get With Me Tonight" "You Gave Your To Me Softly" "Waiting On You" "Longtime Sunshine" and "Devotion", were released as Pinkerton B-sides. Demos, lyrics and sheet music were released on Cuomo's compilations Alone (2007), Alone II (2008), Alone III (2011), and on the 2010 Pinkerton reissue. The songs received positive reviews. Rolling Stone described Songs from the Black Hole as a "lost mythical masterpiece".
Background
alt=Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo pictured in the 1990s, a young white man with long dark hair|thumb|175px|Songwriter [[Rivers Cuomo (pictured in 1997) conceived the space opera as a metaphor for his mixed feelings about music success.]]
Weezer's self-titled debut album was released in May 1994, and was certified platinum in January 1995 for sales of more than one million. The songwriter, Rivers Cuomo, had mixed feelings about the success and was uncertain if he was suited to the life of a rock star.
While touring with Weezer, Cuomo listened to the operas Aida (1871) and Madama Butterfly (1904), the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), and the musical Les Misérables (1980). Inspired by how these works married music and narrative, he wrote a rock opera to explore his feelings about relationships, fame, and life as a touring musician.
Cuomo conceived the story as a metaphor for his conflicted feelings about touring in a successful rock band.
Recording and abandonment
alt=The exterior of the Electric Lady recording studio in New York City|thumb|[[Electric Lady Studios in New York City]]
Cuomo recorded demos for Songs from the Black Hole on an 8-track recorder at his family home in Connecticut over Christmas 1994. Most of the songs already existed and were rewritten to fit the Songs for the Black Hole concept. By February, he had completed an initial track list.
Recording began in August 1995 in Electric Lady Studios, New York City, where Weezer had recorded their debut album, but the sessions were not productive.
thumb|"I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" is a synthesizer-led rock song with [[Rachel Haden on lead vocals and Cuomo on backing vocals.]]
At the end of 1995, wanting to "escape the limelight", Cuomo enrolled at Harvard University to study classical composition. In January 1996, Weezer restarted recording in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios with new material. The Songs from the Black Hole tracks "Superfriend", "She's Had a Girl" and "Dude, We're Finally Landing" were recorded, but shelved. His decision was influenced by the release that year of Return of the Rentals, the debut album by Sharp's band the Rentals, as Cuomo felt it shared many musical and lyrical themes. In June 1996, Weezer recorded the Songs from the Black Hole tracks "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" (with Haden on vocals) and "Devotion" as B-sides for the Pinkerton singles "The Good Life" and "El Scorcho". In 2007, after further negotiation with Geffen, Cuomo released Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, a compilation of his demos recorded from 1992 to 2007. It includes five Songs From the Black Hole demos: "Longtime Sunshine", "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Dude, We're Finally Landing" and "Superfriend". In 2008, Cuomo released Alone II, which includes "Oh Jonas", "Please Remember" and "Come to My Pod".
In 2010, Geffen released an expanded reissue of Pinkerton, including Cuomo's demo of "You Won't Get With Me Tonight" and a version of "Longtime Sunshine" recorded at Electric Lady Studios in August 1995. In 2011, Cuomo released Alone III: The Pinkerton Years, including a "Suite from the Black Hole" comprising "Oh No, This Is Not For Me", "Tired of Sex", "She's Had a Girl", "What is This I Find?", "Now I Finally See" and "Longtime Sunshine". Alone III was sold exclusively with a book, The Pinkerton Diaries, which collects Cuomo's writing from the era, including Songs from the Black Hole lyrics and sheet music.
Legacy
Reviewing Alone, the Pitchfork critic Jason Crock felt that the Songs from the Black Hole demo "Blast Off!" was the "crown jewel", writing: "It is such a fleeting rush of distortion-driven joy that the edges of the supposed dialogue are entirely blurred, and are hardly essential to enjoy it." He described it as at least on par with the "stellar" Pinkerton B-sides once intended for Songs from the Black Hole.
In 2007, Rolling Stone included Songs from the Black Hole on its list of rock music's lost "mythical masterpieces". Complex included it on its 2012 list of "50 unreleased albums we'd kill to hear", writing that most of Weezer's best material came from the era. In 2014, NME included it on its list of "25 unreleased albums we'd really love to hear", but wrote that Pinkerton was "not exactly the worst second prize". Vice wrote that Songs from the Black Hole "deserves to be ahead of most records in every Weezer fan's collection", declaring it better than most of Weezer's output since.
Track lists
Cuomo compiled two Songs from the Black Hole track lists: the first in February 1995 and the other in late 1995.