Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
American Songwriter
Entertainment Weekly	B
Los Angeles Times
NME	7/10
Pitchfork	10/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin	7/10

Pinkerton is the second studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on September 24, 1996 on DGC Records. After abandoning plans for a rock opera titled Songs from the Black Hole, Weezer recorded Pinkerton between songwriter Rivers Cuomo's terms at Harvard University, where he wrote much of the album. It was the last Weezer album to feature bassist Matt Sharp.

To better capture their live sound, Weezer produced Pinkerton themselves, creating a darker, more abrasive album than their 1994 self-titled debut. Cuomo's lyrics express disillusionment with the rock lifestyle; the album is named after the character BF Pinkerton from Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madama Butterfly, whom Cuomo described as an "asshole American sailor similar to a touring rock star". Like the opera, the album contains references to Japanese culture.

Pinkerton produced three singles: "El Scorcho", "The Good Life" and "Pink Triangle". It debuted at number 19 on the US Billboard 200 and fell short of sales expectations after the success of Weezer's debut. It initially received mixed reviews, but went on to achieve cult status and wide acclaim years later; the 2010 "Deluxe Edition" reissue holds a perfect score on aggregate review website Metacritic.

In 1994, after the multi-platinum success of Weezer's self-titled debut album, Weezer took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays. In his home state of Connecticut, songwriter Rivers Cuomo began preparing material for Weezer's next album using an 8-track recorder. His original concept was a science fiction rock opera titled Songs from the Black Hole that expressed his mixed feelings about success. Weezer developed Songs from the Black Hole through intermittent recording sessions throughout 1995.

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Wikipedia