Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson (drums), Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner.
They have sold 10 million albums in the United States and over 35 million worldwide.
members: Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, Scott Shriner, Jason Cropper, Matt Sharp, Mikey Welsh
formed in: Los Angeles, California
labels: Universal Music Group, DGC Records, Epitaph Records, Republic Records, Interscope Records, Geffen Records
genres: alternative rock, garage rock, indie rock, rock music, emo, power pop, pop-punk, geek rock
influenced by: Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Beach Boys, Oasis, Kiss, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Metallica
awards: MTV Video Music Award – Breakthrough Video, MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video, MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing, MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction, Grammy Award for Best Music Video
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Lead vocalist and guitarist Rivers Cuomo moved to Los Angeles from Connecticut, in 1989 with his high school metal band, Avant Garde, which was later renamed Zoom. After the group disbanded, Cuomo met drummer Patrick Wilson and moved in with him and Wilson's friend Matt Sharp. Cuomo moved away from metal and explored alternative rock influences such as Nirvana, the Pixies and Sonic Youth. He and Wilson formed a band, Fuzz, and enlisted Scottie Chapman on bass. Chapman quit after a few early shows; the band reformed as Sixty Wrong Sausages, with Cuomo's friend Pat Finn on bass and Jason Cropper on guitar, but soon disbanded. Cuomo moved to Santa Monica, California, and recorded dozens of demos, including the future Weezer songs "The World...
Weezer has sustained a cult following throughout its career. Stephen Thomas Erlewine conferred the title of "alt-rock icons of the '90s" on Weezer, and also called them "one of the most popular groups to emerge in the post-grunge alternative rock aftermath". James Hickie of Alternative Press Magazine stated that the band's second album Pinkerton is "considered something of an emo cornerstone", and stated his belief that it influenced "a generation of emo bands", despite Weezer not being an outright emo band. Weezer has sold 10 million albums in the United States and over 35 million worldwide.
Underlined songs have their story further down.
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"Buddy Holly" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It was written by Rivers Cuomo and released by DGC Records as the second single from the Weezer debut album, Weezer (1994).
The lyrics reference the 1950s rock-and-roll singer Buddy Holly and the actress Mary Tyler Moore.
Rivers Cuomo was inspired to write "Buddy Holly" after an incident where his Weezer bandmates made fun of his friend from the Santa Monica College Choir. He originally planned to exclude it from the album; he felt it was "cheesy" and perhaps did not represent the sound he was pursuing for Weezer. Producer Ric Ocasek persuaded him to include it. In the book River's Edge, Ocasek is quoted saying: "I remember at one point he was hesitant to do 'Buddy Holly' and I was like, 'Rivers, we can talk about it. Do it anyway, and if you don't like it when it's done, we won't use it. But I think you should try. You did write it and it is a great song.'" Bassist Matt Sharp recalled: "Ric said we'd be stupid to leave it off the album. We'd come into the...
Steve Baltin from Cash Box commented, "You’ve gotta love a song that makes reference to Mary Tyler Moore. Slightly poppier in its guitar sound than their first single, [...], this Ric Ocasek-produced song could help expand their already-growing fan base. Besides that, it mentions Mary, the woman who could turn the world on with her smile. Therefore, it has to be a hit." John Robb from Melody Maker opined, "Weezer sound like The Proclaimers jamming with The Knack. This is pop-punk-by-numbers." Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Made loud to play loud and sing along, it's the ideal power pop to cruise round this summer. That silly twin synth/guitar, betrays producer Ocasek, the one-time driver of New York's Cars." A reviewer from...
According to Matt Sharp, Spike Jonze came up with three ideas for the accompanying music video for "Buddy Holly". Sharp stated that two of the ideas "weren't great". When Jonze pitched the idea that came to be the song's video, Sharp told Jonze "I don't think you'll be able to pull it off", but the band agreed to do it. The video was filmed at Charlie Chaplin Studios in Hollywood over a single day and portrays Weezer performing at Arnold's Drive-In from the 1970s television show Happy Days, combining footage of the band with clips from the show. Happy Days cast member Al Molinaro makes a cameo in character as Al Delvecchio, introducing the band and describing them as "Kenosha, Wisconsin's own Weezer". In fact, Molinaro was from Kenosha,...
In 2004 and 2010, Rolling Stone ranked "Buddy Holly" numbers 497 and 499 in its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2021, the song was raised 15 spots in their updated list. In December 2007, VH1 ranked it as the 59th greatest song of the 1990s. In 2024, Forbes magazine ranked it number 45 in their list of "The 50 Best Songs of the 1990s", writing, "Weezer's 'Buddy Holly' isn't your average alt-rock anthem — it's a quirky, nostalgic trip back to the 1950s. With its catchy hooks and geeky charm, it's no wonder it captured the hearts of listeners everywhere. Lead singer Rivers Cuomo was a perfect fit for the song, which seemed to compare him to the late Holly in a fun way."
"My Name Is Jonas" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It is the first track on the band's self-titled 1994 debut album, also known as The Blue Album as well as being the only promotional single off of the album.
It was written by guitarist/vocalist Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson and guitarist Jason Cropper, and produced by Ric Ocasek. Cropper wrote the song's acoustic intro; it is one of his only Weezer songwriting credits, as he left the band before the release of its first album.
The song was inspired by Cuomo's brother, who was having insurance problems after a serious car crash while at college. According to Cuomo, the song "explains how The Plan is reaming us all, especially my brother."
Melissa Bobbitt at LiveAbout named "My Name Is Jonas" the seventh best Weezer song, writing that its lyric "the workers are going home" was "a righteous way to kick off a weekend". Michael Gallucci from Diffuser named it the third best Weezer song. In his 2010 book Music: What Happened?, Scott Miller describes the song as "musicality everywhere, theatrical dynamics, little golden lyric details where the subplot reveals the whole mood."
"Only in Dreams" is a song by American rock band Weezer. It is the tenth and final track on their 1994 self-titled debut album.
At 7 minutes and 59 seconds, it is Weezer's longest song to date. It is noteworthy for its three-minute crescendo of the three guitars, bass, and drums, in which the dynamics gradually increase and the timbre builds up layers until the climaxing guitar solo at the end.
The song's lyrics tell of a man’s infatuation with a girl he does not think he can be with, only able to fantasize about being with her in his dreams, hence the title of the song. In a 2010 interview with Rolling Stone, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo stated, "I think most of our audience always thought it was a song about a girl when I'm really singing about my artistic process." In a 2023 interview with Chris Shiflett, Cuomo said the long instrumental portion of the song was inspired by the jam band Phish and their guitarist Trey Anastasio. Cuomo said, "I went to Phish shows and had the tapes, and it was like, man, this is just so transcendent, the way [Anastasio] plays – and that's kind of what I wanted to do." Cuomo recalled that many of their...
When asked in 2006 which Weezer guitar solo he is the most proud of/likes the most, Cuomo answered, "I'd have to go with 'Only in Dreams' and [Make Believe track] 'Haunt You Every Day' for sheer length. Epic, epic, epic. So few people play these kinds of solos anymore."
"Say It Ain't So" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It was released as the third and final single from the band's self-titled 1994 debut album on May 15, 1995.
Written by frontman Rivers Cuomo, the song came to be after he had all the music finished and one line, "Say it ain't so." Cuomo made a connection to an incident in high school where he came home and saw a bottle of beer in the refrigerator. He believed his mother and father's marriage ended because his father was an alcoholic, and this made him fear the marriage between his mother and stepfather would end this way as well.
"Say It Ain't So" is an alternative rock and emo song with a duration of 4 minutes and 18 seconds. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Hal Leonard Music, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate rock tempo of 76 beats per minute in the key of C minor.
The music video for "Say It Ain't So", directed by Sophie Muller, was met with less success than the previous two Weezer videos, which were directed by Spike Jonze. However, the song still successfully climbed to the top 10 of the Modern Rock Tracks chart. As noted in the Weezer DVD collection Video Capture Device and the slip cover of the re-released special edition of the group's debut album, the band filmed the music video at the house where the band used to rehearse and record. The video also features a cameo by the band's webmaster/band photographer/archivist and close friend for many years Karl Koch. A small poster of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond frontman King Diamond is visible several times throughout the video, most clearly during...
"Say It Ain't So" is a playable track in the video games Rock Band and Rocksmith 2014, in addition to appearing on an episode of the television series Hindsight (2015).
"Island in the Sun" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It was released as the second single from the band's third album, Weezer, in July 2001; in Australia, it served as the lead single, as "Hash Pipe" was not released there.
The song was not originally planned to be on the album, but producer Ric Ocasek fought for its inclusion. The song also appears as a bonus track on the European and Australian versions of Weezer's follow-up album, Maladroit.
"Island in the Sun" is an alternative rock and power pop song that is about three minutes and twenty seconds. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Hal Leonard Music, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 114 beats per minute. The sheet music shows a key of G major, while the vocal range spans just over an octave, from the low note of F♯3 to the high note of G4.
Melissa Bobbitt of About.com ranked "Island in the Sun" as the 12th best Weezer song, saying it "exemplified a relaxed Southern California spirit". It was named as one of the 12 best post-Pinkerton Weezer songs by The A.V. Club, where they refer to it as "...a reminder that Cuomo really does deserve Brian Wilson comparisons for reasons beyond being a hermetic weirdo with a solid grasp of pop songcraft". On the other hand, Emily Tartanella of Magnet considered it to be the most overrated Weezer song, stating it should be "retired" from commercials and radio stations. Tartanella described it as "so laid back it's practically catatonic".
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on the group's 2008 self-titled album Weezer, also known as the Red Album. It was released to radio on April 22, 2008 and released in digital form on April 24.
The track debuted at number 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. The song charted in many countries such as Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Rivers Cuomo, lead singer and guitarist for Weezer, wrote the song in reaction to a meeting with Geffen executives, who told the band members that they needed to record more commercial material.
According to the director of the video for "Pork and Beans", the song is about "the idea of being yourself, of being happy with who you are". In the album notes, Cuomo compares this to Timbaland's music, "It actually sounds like a Timbaland kind of production; he has little baby crying type of sounds." A reference is also made to Timbaland in the second verse with the line "Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the chart". The song similarly refers to items such as Rogaine and Oakley sunglasses.
The song has been generally well received by critics. Many reviewers were pleased with what they saw as a return-to-form sound reminiscent of the Blue Album (1994) and Pinkerton (1996) albums. Pitchfork Media writer Marc Hogan gave the song a positive review and described the song as, "a catchy, self-referential rocker, with the buzzsaw guitars and big choruses of Weezer's glory days, and that familiar, self-assured lameness." Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly also gave the song a positive review, saying "That chunka-chunka guitar hook is pure [Weezer] gold, so much so that I didn't focus on Rivers Cuomo's very clever lyrics at first." Stereogum was also impressed with the song, stating it was a "sweet, savory dose of...
The song was featured in the 2009 film trailers for Yes Man and Whip It!, and was released as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game series. It is also a featured song in Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3 and in the Spill.com podcast "The League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen".