Weezer

Weezer is an American alternative rock band. 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. Besides these official releases, they are notable for having released dozens and dozens of otherwise unreleased material onto the internet from their official website and having hundreds of songs which have never been heard by the listening public. 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, 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 was signed onto the DGC label (which later became Interscope).

Related Topics:
February 14 - 1992 - Los Angeles - California - Rivers Cuomo - Patrick Wilson - Matt Sharp - Jason Cropper - Dogstar - Keanu Reeves - June 25 - 1993 - Geffen - Interscope

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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.

Related Topics:
1993 - New York City - Ric Ocasek - The Cars - Brian Bell - Carnival Art - L.A

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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.

Related Topics:
May 10 - 1994 - The Blue Album - 1994 in music - Buddy Holly - Undone (The Sweater Song) - Say It Ain't So - Windows 95

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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.

Related Topics:
December - 1994 - Songs from the Black Hole

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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.

Related Topics:
Pinkerton - September 24 - 1996 - Madame Butterfly - Giacomo Puccini - Harvard - Rolling Stone - Spin Magazine - 1985 - 2005

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Pink Triangle was supposed to be the third single off of Pinkerton. While it never received a proper release, a promotional single and a music video for the song were released. Although it received almost no airtime, the video can be found on the Weezer DVD, Video Capture Device.

Related Topics:
DVD - Video Capture Device

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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.

Related Topics:
1997 - Portland - Oregon - The Special Goodness - The Rentals - Space Twins

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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.

Related Topics:
Boston - October 8 - 1998

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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.

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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.

Related Topics:
2000 - Japan

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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.

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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).

Related Topics:
Weezer - Slob

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

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The Green Album & Maladroit

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.

Related Topics:
Weezer - 2001

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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.

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As reported on August 16th, 2001, by MTV, bassist Mikey Welsh was checked into a psychiatric hospital. His whereabouts were previously unknown, as he mysteriously went missing before their second filming of the "Island in the Sun" music video, featuring the band with various animals. Weezer was prompted to find a temporary replacement for Welsh. Through a mutual friend, Cuomo received Scott Shriner's number and asked if he was interested to fill in for Welsh. Shriner, at first believing it was a prank phone call, accepted.

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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.

Related Topics:
Maladroit - 2002 - 2002 in music

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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 more recently "Smile" from the Green Album, Shriner to sing lead on Maladroit's "Fall Together" and Wilson to perform the Green Album's "Photograph" whilst playing lead guitar. In September 2005, Weezer set out on a tour with the Foo Fighters, which to many is simply called Foozer.

Related Topics:
December - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - Rick Rubin - Make Believe - May 10 - Foo Fighters - Foozer

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The future

In September 2005, one source (MTV.com) reported that the band has decided to be on hiatus again and not record another album in the near future or may, according to several rumors, break up all together.

Related Topics:
September - 2005

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According to Karl Koch, the article by MTV was slightly misleading and said on the Weezer news page:

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"...The real message is simply one of not knowing what the future holds - same as ever, really. In that same article you have Rivers talking about writing new songs: 'I have a lot of ideas for songs, a lot of things I want to try, and a lot of new ways of writing I want to explore, and I'm very excited about trying all of that.' In my opinion, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Que sera sera, and viva la Rock!"

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There also some talks of a future album, as Cuomo said during a concert in Detroit, MI, on October 7th, 2005: "Today in the hotel room, I wrote a new song. It's called Piece of the Pie. We can't play it for you, because you'll record it and put it on the internet. And by the time the new album comes out, you'll all be sick of it!"

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