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Weezer

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The album cover of Make Believe

Weezer is an American rock and roll band. Their genre of music is related to alternative rock. Formed on February 14, 1992, they have released five full length albums, an EP, a DVD, and a two-disc set, deluxe remastered edition of their debut album with the addition of b-sides and imports. Their latest album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005.

History

The band formed on February 14, 1992, in Los Angeles, California. The original members were Rivers Cuomo (pronounced KWOH-mo), Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper. Five weeks after forming, they had their first gig, opening for Dogstar (featuring Keanu Reeves) at Raji's Bar and Ribshack on Hollywood Boulevard. Weezer began playing clubs to small audiences around L.A. and recording home-demos. Soon the band began to receive attention from various A&R reps, and were signed on June 25, 1993 by Todd Sullivan, an A&R rep from Geffen Records. The band were signed onto the DGC label (which later became Interscope).

The Blue Album

Weezer began recording their debut album in late August 1993 at the Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Ric Ocasek, former singer/songwriter for The Cars, was chosen as producer. After the recording of the album, guitarist Jason Cropper was fired from the band by Cuomo. Cropper was replaced by guitarist Brian Bell, a former member of the band Carnival Art. Cropper's guitar parts were rerecorded by Cuomo, and Bell replaced Cropper's vocals. The recording of the album finished in early October 1993, and the band headed back to L.A.

On May 10, 1994, Weezer released their self-titled album, which became known as The Blue Album (see 1994 in music). The Blue Album included the hit singles "Buddy Holly," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," and "Say It Ain't So." The video of "Buddy Holly" was included on the CD-ROM of Windows 95.

In late December 1994, Weezer took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays. Rivers Cuomo traveled back east to his home state of Connecticut, and using an eight-track recorder, he began piecing together demo material for Weezer's next album. Cuomo's original concept for Weezer's sophomore effort was to be a space-themed rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole. The album would feature songs that flowed together seamlessly, and end with a special coda that briefly revisited the major musical elements of the piece. The band began demoing and working on Cuomo's concept through intermittent recording sessions in the spring and summer of 1995. Ultimately, the Songs from the Black Hole album concept was dropped, but many of the songs from the sessions were used on their second album.

Pinkerton

Weezer's sophomore effort, Pinkerton, was released on September 24, 1996 The album opened to mediocre reviews, and sales of the album were low compared to their debut. The title of the album was inspired by a character in the opera Madame Butterfly written by one of Cuomo's favorite operatic composers, Giacomo Puccini. Cuomo wrote songs like "The Good Life" and "El Scorcho" (the first single taken from the album), which feature personal reflections on the change from anonymous student to rock star, during his time at Harvard. From an industry perspective, the album was not originally seen as a critical or financial success. Over the years, the album grew in popularity and is now considered an alternative rock masterpiece by many critics. In 1996 Rolling Stone magazine gave the album only 2.5 stars and Pinkerton received the second most reader votes for the Worst Album of the Year. Rolling Stone updated its view in 2004 and inducted Pinkerton into its Album Hall of Fame, giving a brand new five-star review rating. Spin Magazine named the album number 61 in its top 100 albums from 1985 to 2005.

On Hiatus

Weezer completed their touring for Pinkerton in the summer of 1997. The members of the band took a break, with drummer Patrick Wilson returning to his home in Portland, Oregon to work on his side project, The Special Goodness, Matt Sharp left to complete the follow-up album for his group The Rentals, and Brian Bell went to work on his group, Space Twins.

Rivers Cuomo returned to Boston, but dropped out of Harvard to focus on songwriting. He formed a solo group, The Rivers Cuomo Band. Cuomo used the group to try out songs intended for the next Weezer album and also to showcase songs written by Rivers however never recorded by Weezer. The band played their first show at T.T. the Bear's on October 8, 1997. Future Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh was part of the solo band's line-up. The Boston songs were later abandoned and not used on the next Weezer album, but live recordings of the Boston shows are openly traded on the internet. In February of 1998, Rivers left Boston and Harvard academia behind and returned to Los Angeles.

Pat Wilson and Brian Bell joined Cuomo in L.A. to start work on the next album. Matt Sharp did not rejoin the band and officially left the group in April of 1998. The group decided on Mikey Welsh as Sharp's replacement. Weezer continued rehearsal and cut demos until the fall of 1998. Frustration and creative disagreements led to a decline in rehearsals, and in late fall of 1998, drummer Pat Wilson left for his home in Portland pending renewed productivity from Cuomo.

The band would not reunite until April of 2000, when the Fuji Fesitval in Japan offered Weezer a high-paying gig to play in August 2000. The festival served as a catalyst for Weezer's productivity, and from April to May, 2000, the band rehearsed and demoed new songs in Los Angeles. The band returned to live shows in June 2000, but without the Weezer name. Instead the shows featured the group's first use of the pseudonym Goat Punishment.

On June 23, 2000, the band, now back under the Weezer name, joined the Warped Tour for eight planned dates. Weezer were well-received at the festival, leading them to book more tour dates for the summer.

SS2K - The Summer Sessions

In the summer of 2000, Weezer (now consisting of Rivers Cuomo, Mikey Welsh, Pat Wilson, and Brian Bell) were back on the road. Weezer's setlist consisted of 14 new songs, but 13 of them were later scrapped and replaced with what was to become Weezer. Fans labeled these songs the Summer Songs of 2000 (commonly abbreviated, SS2k), and are all fan-favorites. Three SS2k songs, "Hash Pipe", "Dope Nose" and "Slob," were recorded properly for studio albums (with "Hash Pipe" appearing on the Green Album and "Dope Nose" and "Slob" appearing on Maladroit).

A collection of these is located on the referenced site below available for free downloads.

The Green Album & Maladroit

File:BeverlyHillsSingle.jpg
Beverly Hills Single

Eventually, the band went back into the studio to produce a third album. Weezer (2001) chose to repeat the self-titled name of their first release. This album quickly became known as The Green Album due to its distinctive bright green coloring. Shortly after the release of The Green Album, Weezer went on another American tour, attracting many new fans along the way due to the strength of hit singles "Hash Pipe" and "Island In The Sun", both of which had videos that received regular rotation on MTV.

Much to the ire of their recording label, Weezer decided to forgo the industry-preferred waiting period of 2 to 3 years between albums, and soon began recording demos for their fourth album. The band took a experimental approach for the recording process by allowing fans to download the demos from their official website in return for feedback. After the release of the album, the band subsequently stated that the process was somewhat of a failure, as the fans did not supply them with cohesive constructive advice. Only the song "Slob" was included on the album due to general fan advice.

The fourth album, Maladroit, was released in 2002 (see 2002 in music) with Scott Shriner replacing Mikey Welsh on the bass, and served as a harder-edged version of their trademark catchy pop-influenced music. Although met with generally positive critic review, its sales were not as strong as The Green Album. As soon as Maladroit had wrapped up, the band immediately began work on their fifth album, recording numerous demos between tours for Maladroit (often recording as much as 24 songs in a day). These songs were eventually scrapped and Weezer took a well-earned break after their one-two punch of The Green Album and Maladroit.

Make Believe

From December 2003 to the summer and early fall of 2004, the members of Weezer recorded a large amount of material intended for a new album to be released in the spring of 2005 with producer Rick Rubin. That album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005 to mixed reviews. The album's first single is the song "Beverly Hills," and its second single is "We Are All On Drugs." As of the "Make Believe" tour of 2005, Cuomo has been allowing other members of the band to step under the spotlight of certain songs, allowing Bell to perform lead vocals on Pinkerton's "Getchoo" and "Why Bother?" and Shriner singing lead on Maladroit's "Fall Together."

General Info

The band's name, "Weezer," comes from a nickname of Rivers Cuomo when he was younger. Cuomo suggested it while the band was searching for a name. Original member Jason Cropper, in a candid interview, later pointed out the irony of the band being called Rivers' nickname, as it soon became apparent that Cuomo had defining control of the band. Weezer have also played several shows under the pseudonym Goat Punishment. Their first shows under the pseudonym featured the new Weezer lineup (now featuring Mikey Welsh) playing covers of songs by Nirvana and Oasis. Later the name Goat Punishment was used for secret warm up gigs in an effort to play to smaller crowds. The members of Weezer also recorded a show for the HBO concert series, Reverb.

Weezer are also renowned for their music videos. Weezer's first two videos, for the singles "Undone (The Sweater Song)" and "Buddy Holly", were directed by Spike Jonze. The "Buddy Holly" video featured footage from episodes of the classic television show Happy Days, spliced together with scenes of the band performing in a remade "Arnold's Diner," a setting frequently featured in the show. The video had heavy rotation on MTV, and went on to win Jonze and the band four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards . Weezer's Pinkerton videos for singles "El Scorcho," directed by Mark Romanek, and "The Good "Life," directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, didn't obtain as much airtime as the singles from their debut album. The video for first green album single, "Hash Pipe," (from the The Green Album) directed by Marcos Siega featured sumo wrestlers. They then recorded two videos for "Island in the Sun," one by Marcos Siega the first focusing on a Mexican wedding, and the second by Spike Jonze involving Weezer with animals in a wildlife reserve. Their video for "Photograph," shot and put together by Weezer friend and unofficial "5th member" Karl Koch, had heavy rotation on Much Music USA (now Fuse). Maladroit's "Dope Nose" featured a Japanese motorcycle gang, and was put into regular rotation. The following music video for "Keep Fishin'" combined Weezer with The Muppets, and had heavy rotation on MTV. Both videos were directed by Marcos Siega. Also directed by Siega is the video for "Beverly Hills," which features the band and its fans interacting with Playboy Bunnies and Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. The video has been nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2005 MTV Music Awards.

In March of 2004, Weezer released their first DVD. Entitled "Video Capture Device", the DVD contains all of their current music videos, live concerts, and homemade movies. The DVD hit hard on the DVD compilation charts and was declared "Gold" on November 8, 2004.

As of July 2002, Weezer had sold more than 5,000,000 copies of their albums in the US.

Members

The band currently consists of the following members:

Former members:

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

From Weezer, a.k.a. "The Blue Album":

From Pinkerton:

From Weezer, a.k.a. "The Green Album":

From Maladroit:

From Make Believe:

Other Songs

  • "Jamie" appears on the compilation album DGC Rarities, Vol. 1.
  • "Susanne" is a song by Weezer for the Mallrats movie soundtrack.
  • "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" is a song by Weezer for the Angus soundtrack.
  • An extensive library of rare Weezer recordings can be found at WeezerNation.com in the Media section.
  • There is also another Weezer music library located at Weezer Sweden

Fan Sites

References

John D. Luerseen: Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story (2004), ISBN 1550226193 An unofficial history of all things Weezer up to the year 2004.

Weezer Summer Songs of 2000 - http://www.weezerss2k.com/index.html

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