Nearly two decades after they debuted with their eponymous Blue Album, Weezer returns with Ratitude, an album that is a throwback to their ebullient debut, reminding their longtime fans why they continue to stick with the band, long after their brand of power-pop became passé.

When they burst onto the scene with their debut in 1994, the band made its name with a series of ridiculously-catchy pop songs which were paired with quirky, pop-culture-drenched videos; geek favorites which proved a welcome alternative to those who were overwhelmed with grunge’s bleakness.

Interestingly, it was their 1996 follow-up, Pinkerton, which cemented the band’s future – though it didn’t seem that way at the time. The disc was far darker than the debut, and could not match the commercial success of the first album. The disc spawned no obvious hit; frontman Rivers Cuomo lost interest in creating the quirky, cool videos that propelled the success of the debut.

While the members of the band, as they have often during their time together, went their separate ways, the negativity associated with Pinkerton faded and by the time the group returned with 2001’s Green Album the commercial magic seemed back, aided by the success of tracks like “Hash Pipe” and “Island in the Sun.’

A year later, the group released Maladroit and after splitting to work on their side projects, the group reunited in 2004, where they worked on their fifth full-length disc, 2005’s Make Believe, which was buoyed by the success of “Beverly Hills”.

Three years passed before the band released its Red Album in 2008. The disc was well-regarded critically, but was not an overwhelming commercial success. Breaking with tradition, the band members did not leave to work on side projects. Instead, they returned to the studio to record Raditude, which has received strong early reviews. FM radio might be dead, but nobody told Weezer, and for the band’s fans, that is a very good thing.