(DGC/Interscope) www.geffen.com

Sure, the video helped. But “Pork and Beans” put Weezer back on top in part because it sounds so much like what we’ve come to think of as a classic Weezer single – giant pop hooks driven home on a wave of distorted guitars and Rivers Cuomo serving melancholy with a side of quirk. “They say I need some Rogaine to put in my hair,” he begins, with a sigh. And before he’s through, he’s defended his right to eat his candy with the pork and beans and taken on the industry, mocking the thought of him working with Timbaland as a shortcut to success. Take that, Madonna.

Sadly, not much else on Weezer’s third self-titled album has the self-effacing charm or instant pop appeal of “Pork and Beans.” It isn’t funny, but you’d like to think he’s kidding on a lead-off track called “Troublemaker,” working a simple two-chord riff like BTO rolling the Stones while sputtering lines about how stupid books are and how one day, when he makes it as a famous rock star, you’ll have sex with him. Other tracks aren’t half that charming, whether Cuomo’s licking the roadkill off a knife for kicks (“Everybody Get Dangerous”) or insisting you’ll “come like a dog when I ring your bell” (“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”). Maybe that’s why the second best track here is also the sappiest – the acoustic-guitar-driven “Heart Songs,” where he name-checks everyone from Gordon Lightfoot to Cat Stevens with a straight face – Debbie Gibson even (although, in that case, he misfires, quoting a Tiffany heart song by mistake).

Standout Tracks: “Pork and Beans,” “Heart Songs” A. WATT