Another Art Attack has come and gone but the band on the top of this year’s concert bill leaves us wondering.

Weezer put on a generally well-received show April 30 at Byrd Stadium. The Diamondback article covering the event (“Nerds with Raditude,” May 3) quotes students describing the performance with such flattering adjectives as “incredible” and “awesome.”

But the only thing incredible about Weezer is how terrible the band has become in the last decade. The group’s Art Attack appearance showcased almost everything currently wrong with the band.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo stalked the stage in true jackass fashion. He shouted along to the band’s horrifically dumb new songs like “Troublemaker” and “Let It All Hang Out” while deliberately knocking over mic stands and, on several occasions, punching or pushing bassist Scott Shriner.

And let’s not forget the trampoline Cuomo used to make his rock star leaps.

Cool, man! Hey, somebody’s microphone stand is still standing upright. Why don’t you go whack it to the ground pointlessly while looking really mean? That’d be awesome!

All four core members of the band played some type of guitar at some point. Drummer Patrick Wilson was relieved of his percussion duties — those went to touring drummer Josh Freese — and for most of the show, Wilson played his green electric guitar.

Thanks to this lineup variation, Cuomo was free to just sing and act like a jerk.

This type of Weezer concert is not unusual — the band has been performing in this configuration for some time now.

It’s just hard to believe the creative minds behind 1990s alternative rock masterpieces such as Weezer, known as the Blue Album, and Pinkerton could be capable of crap like last year’s Raditude and 2008’s Red Album.

The group’s 1994 self-titled debut is an essentially perfect collection of catchy rock songs with plenty of sincere guitar bravado. You could even find some honest emotion in songs such as “The World has Turned and Left Me Here” and “Say It Ain’t So.”

That album’s brooding brother, 1996’s Pinkerton, is mixed with a good bit of fun, but focuses on the darker end of the spectrum with tracks like “Tired of Sex” and “Why Bother?”

On standout album cut “Across the Sea,” Cuomo sings to a young Japanese girl whose fan mail he received. The somewhat creepy Cuomo wishes they were closer together and knew more details about each other.

“Why are you so far away from me?” he ponders. “I need help and you’re way across the sea.” Heartbreaking imagery, right?

Fast-forward 13 years and we’re witnessing crimes against humanity with the likes of Raditude‘s “Can’t Stop Partying.”

“Just follow the smoke, they’re bringing bottles of the goose/ And all the girls in the corner getting loose,” Cuomo claims. Deep.

We’ve seen Weezer shift from a moody outfit of guys still trying to figure out the world to cocky rockers who are always looking for a party — or so they tell us.

Why has there been this gradual change? Lead singer-songwriter Cuomo is a married father and turns 40 years old next month. What explains his current fascination with a life lacking substance? Is it escapism? Parody?

But these questions give the man too much credit. How could an album titled Raditude be smart social commentary when we’ve seen a decline in Weezer’s lyrical and musical quality since 2001’s Green Album?

But maybe the band has been fooling us all along.

One of its biggest singles, “Buddy Holly” from the Blue Album, is an authentic classic of ’90s rock. But I’m not sure we would feel that great about it if it were released by the band today.

Much like how Cuomo proclaims, “I don’t give a hoot about what you think” on the Red Album’s “Pork and Beans,” he sings of how he “don’t care ’bout that” on “Buddy Holly.” And in the context of when it was released, what kind of pretentious joker compares himself to pop great Holly on his first album?

The band’s followers might never know the answers to most of these questions. But like Cuomo sings on Pinkerton, why bother knowing the painful truth behind an excellent band’s decline?

“It’s gonna hurt me/ It’s gonna kill when you desert me,” he acknowledges on Pinkerton‘s “Why Bother?”

Weezer’s disappointing devolution is complete.

rhiggins@umdbk.com