After the affable power pop that brought Weezer an international audience, Pinkerton is a blindsiding tempest of guitars and high-volume bash, featuring singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo in the throes of cathartic, articulate nerd rage, ready to vent about sexual frustrations and obsessions with half-Japanese girls. A sales dud at the time of its release, the record's standing has only grown in the years since. And rightly so -- it's brilliant.