Pinkerton and The rise of “incels”

Weezer’s album Pinkerton over the years has become a cult classic despite critical

reviews at the time of release. With its “emo” influence and personal lyrics, many seem to relate

to the lyrics. One group we see that relate to this album heavily is the “Incel” community. Incels

are known as Involuntary Celibates and usually comprise of white cisgender straight men. They

are known for the misogyny of some of their members, heteronormativity, and their fascination

with traditional values. Pinkerton grew to be an anthem for these young men.

In Rivers Cuomo’s stay at Harvard and the release of “Weezer” more commonly known

as the Blue Album, He started producing his next album which was originally a “science fiction

rock opera” which then developed into Pinkerton, which has a more “emo” inspired production

and lyrics. We see it in the more distorted guitars and poignant lyrics. Weezer said that they

were exploring "deeper, darker, more experimental stuff" with their upcoming album. We can

see it in their lyrics which are a stark contrast of the more lighthearted lyrics of the “Blue Album”.

A great example of the more “emo” style is the track Pink Triangle which makes the 8th

appearance on this album. This song Highlights Cuomo's infatuation with a girl who he thinks is

a Lesbian, which a year after the albums release discovers she was just an ally of the LGBTQ+

community. In the 2nd verse of this song he sings “When I think I've found a good old-fashioned

girl/Then she put me in my place/Everyone's a little queer/Oh, can't she be a little straight?” he

is expressing his frustration that she’ll never love him back. Similarly The 4th song “Why

Bother?” also brings up Cuomo’s misfortune with relationships. Unlike Pink Triangle, Why
Bother discusses Cuomo’s fear of being hurt in a relationship, and the joys of a relationship is

shadowed by the heartbreak.

Incels as a community grew with the advent of the internet and the growth of anonymous

message boards such as 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit. Incels are mainly straight, young, and

disenfranchised men who mainly blame their problems seeking a relationship on degenerate

women, men, and modern society. They usually believe in traditional values and try to justify

their beliefs with “biology” and the rise of degeneracy in modern western society. Many incels

decide to take the “redpill”. The “redpill” is a phenomenon in many internet communities in

reference to the Matrix, where you find out the “truth” in the world. The “truth” being a right wing

view on politics, social values, and society. These values being chauvinism of the male and

national variety, homophobia, white nationalism, and conservatism. Some incel idols include

Donald J. Trump, Jordan Peterson, and the Joker from D.C. comics. One of the main reasons

young men become incels is unaddressed mental illness. Many incels suffer from depression,

anxiety, or are neuro-divergent. Many have got out of the community and they tell their stories of

their escape.

Pinkerton is a good representation of incel culture and I would consider it an anthem for

incels in general. We see in it the song “Across the Sea” where it says “You are Eighteen year-old

girl Who live in small city of Japan” and in “So fragile, so refined” This shows rivers cuomo using a

racist stereotype of asian women and referring to them as fragile and refined. Many right-wing incels

fetishze asian women and regard them as more traditional and obedient than other races. Another

direct example of the album's correlation to “inceldom” is in the song “El Scorcho”. It is an unusually

lighthearted song in the album and it details his pathetic quest to ask out a woman. With lyrics such
“ Goddamn you half-Japanese girls” and “How stupid is it? For all I know you want me too And

maybe you just don't know what to do And maybe you're scared to say: 'I'm falling for you' We see

the fetishization of asian women once again and the notion that women want him too but they are

scared to approach as much he is to approach them. One final line I would like to highlight is one

mentioned previously in “Pink Triangle”. The line is “When I think I've found a good old-fashioned girl”

This correlates to the obsession with traditional values many incels want.The notion of “Tradwife” or

a traditional wife is very common in the incel community. They desire a woman who follows tradition

values, dresses modestly, and wants to “settle down”.

As shown previously, the album Pinkerton by rock band weezer exemplifies the values of

many incels. It can be considered an excellent representation of what many incels feel and even an

anthem for them.