Music

Weezer and Trent Reznor both released songs about NASA's Juno spacecraft

by Jesse Locke

In an alternate reality, Weezer’s follow-up to their 1994 self-titled debut (a.k.a. The Blue Album) could have been a “science fiction rock opera” called Songs From The Black Hole.

This unfinished, unreleased album has become legendary among Weezer fans over the years after it was shelved by songwriter Rivers Cuomo for being “too whimsical.” Black Hole songs “El Scorcho” and “The Good Life” eventually ended up on the band’s proper follow-up Pinkerton, while other space-themed tunes like “Come To My Pod” and “Dude, We’re Finally Landing” have leaked out in various forms. Some ambitious fans even recreated the album in full as Operation Space Opera several years back. (Listen here while you can.)

Today, Cuomo got a chance to continue his space fascination with a new song about NASA’s Juno spacecraft, the unmanned solar-powered probe that will arrive in Jupiter’s orbit on July 4th. According to Stereogum, NASA asked the Weezer frontman to write a song about Juno and he delivered as only he can with “I Love The USA.” The synthy slow-burner swipes a few moves from Rihanna’s “Stay”, but she would never deliver a chorus like “I love the USA / Fuck yeah, this place is great” or a refrain of “God save the king” or ripping guitarmonies this ridiculous. Blast off!

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and his soundtrack collaborator Atticus Ross aim for a bit more subtlety on their song “Juno.” This moody instrumental shares more in common with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois’ 1983 space-themed ambient album Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks and actually features the sound of Jupiter “singing.” Reznor and Ross’s first new collaboration since 2014’s soundtrack for Gone Girl is available to stream or download on iTunes.