This is the film that begs the existential question "Why?" on so many levels it could drive the most sublime Buddhist nuts. How bad is this nit-wit teen surf romp? Jazz singer Diane Shuur, whose unfortunate nickname happens to be "Deedles," sued the film's distributor, claiming it made her look bad! The soundtrack is indeed better than the film, leaning on heavy doses of late '90s ska revivalism for its charms. "Hawaii Five-O" with a blue beat? You betcha! And one more question, Grasshopper: Is the tail (the soundtrack) now wagging the dog (this big, bad bow-wow of a movie)? --Jerry McCulley
Jerry McCulley wrote (still writes?) for Rolling Stone and this is what he had to say about Meet the Deedles, both the movie and the soundtrack. I have no idea if this was written for said national publication. This blurb is the featured review for the soundtrack on Amazon, this is not a user review. Apparently, this is the best review they could find about Meet the Deedles, "it's better than the movie."
This movie came out in 1998 and even though I was a teenager, I had good enough judgement to know this movie was going to be awful. This movie came out a few months before the Rotten Tomatoes came online, but it's pretty clear this movie would've been rated in the single digits if not a flat out 0 if we were to take an aggregate of critics' reviews. So why do I know anything about this movie or it's soundtrack? One reason: I loved Weezer.
Now if you take a look at this track listing, there's no mention of Weezer. There are definitely lots of ska bands, some swing, and surf rock legend Gary Hoey. Homie was a Rivers Cuomo sort of one off project featuring Matt Sharp (Weezer, The Rentals), Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing), Greg Brown (Cake) and Adam Orth (Shufflepuck). It's a collection of musicians that seems both random and totally logical at the same time. Cake, Soul Coughing and Weezer were all getting radio play in the mid 90s so it would make sense they would've crossed paths during a tour or at a Weenie Roast. I'll be honest, I had never heard of Shufflepuck until I decided to confirm who was in the band. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a super group.
Homie's contribution to Meet the Deedles is an original song called "American Girls". It definitely does not sound like a Weezer song, but it is definitely Rivers Cuomo singing, and it's definitely clear that he wrote the lyrics for the song. For example:
"Lady, you knock me on my knees and I can't stand up
You got the look in your eye and you smack my butt
Why are all American girls so rough?
Why do all American girls act so tough?
Why are all American girls so rough?"
There are pianos, acoustic guitars, and some very Cake-esque guitar riffs throughout the song but none of that signature Weezer distortion. It's kind of an important song in Weezer-lore since I believe this is the last Rivers/Matt Sharp recorded collaboration. I'm not interested in re-igniting the Weezer Matt Sharp debate that SNL perfectly parodied but I do think that Weezer's collaborative spirit, or ability to discern good collaboration opportunities left when Matt left the band and it didn't really return unless you count the time that Lil Wayne showed up. For perspective, the following year on The Rentals' album, Seven More Minutes, Sharp would go on to recruit Maya Rudolph, Ash's Tim Wheeler, and Blur frontrman / pre-Gorillaz Damon Albarn.
Now 1998 was during the Harvard era of Weezer where they were technically on hiatus and Matt Sharp was technically still considered a band member. Weezerpedia's entry on Homie is convoluted at best. There are live bootlegs of a "harder rock" version of the song but it's still not really a Weezer song. It's odd to me that the one officially finished Homie song would get buried on a soundtrack, but perhaps that's how they wanted it to be. It's a good song, but not one that would justify me coughing up $16.99 at a Sam Goody. There's definitely enough in this song that made me want to hear more from Homie, but maybe this is the best that came out of their sessions. Their hopes and dreams of becoming the new Traveling Wilburys were immediately dashed. Clearly, Rivers is doing fine these days without Homie.
If you don't know who Soul Coughing is, they had a song called "Super Bon Bon" that got some radio play. I liked them quite a bit even though they clearly don't like each other. If you're still not sure who Soul Coughing is, then you definitely don't know who Geggy Tah is, another one of the few non-ska/swing/surf bands on this soundtrack. Geggy Tah had a single "Whoever You Are" that is pretty catchy. It got some radio play but it didn't necessarily propel them to super stardom, though it ended up getting licensed in a Mercedes Benz commercial years after the song was released. Geggy Tah co-founder Greg Kurstin would eventually become a world conquering pop producer. Also featured on the soundtrack is ska/punk band Goldfinger, whose lead singer John Feldman would take a similar path but his path would be slightly more rock oriented.
I'm not trying to build a narrative that that these super producers wouldn't of become who they are today because of Meet the Deedles, but it's a reminder of how many careers in the music business aren't linear progressions. Obviously, there were a lot of stops between point A and B. It's not like Greg Kurstin quit the music industry and 20 years later he randomly received a call from Adele's manager asking if he's the guy from Geggy Tah. 5 Seconds to Summer wasn't the first act that John Feldman was able to work with. His rise to producer fame is a little less jarring than Kurstin's since he worked and still works with a lot of 90s bands that would be considered peers of his old band like blink 182, Good Charlotte, and 311. Also, he hasn't been on stage accepting the Album of the Year Grammy with Adele.
These sorts of pivots will be highlighted throughout this series. Being a decent musician is tough, making a living off of being a musician is damn near impossible. It would be a disservice to call Kurstin and Feldman "lucky" to be where they are since they had to grind their way to where they are through session work and writing for other artists before becoming industry giants, but they are definitely fortunate to be the exception to the rule. While some of the bands on the soundtrack are still functioning entities, Rivers Cuomo and Greg Brown are probably the only ones enjoying the same sort of success that they had in the 90's, though it seems that nostalgia is starting to smile more fondly on ska, but I may only think that because I live in Southern California and have friends that were part of the scene in ska's heyday.
With Meet the Deedles arriving on a streaming service for the 1st time, I'd be lying if I expected anyone to revisit the soundtrack because of that. Perhaps, the movie can find a cult following as a "so bad it's good" entry but I don't expect the soundtrack to take off with it. It'll be there to remind me of high school, where swing and ska found 15 minutes in the mainstream, and the time where we were uncertain of the future of Weezer. Rest in peace Homie. May you continue to delight and confuse Weezer fans with your existence.
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