Weezer

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Weezer

Weezer is a band from Los Angeles, California. They have released five full-length albums, two EPs, a DVD, and a two-disc, deluxe, remastered edition of their debut album with the addition of b-sides, compilation tracks, and unreleased songs. Their latest album, Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005. They have sold over 7 million records to date.

History

Early days (1992-1993)

Weezer formed on February 14, 1992, in Los Angeles, California, by 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 26, 1993 by Todd Sullivan, an A&R rep from Geffen Records. The band was signed onto the DGC label (which later became Interscope).

The Blue Album (1993-1994)

The self-titled debut, Weezer, commonly referred to as the Blue Album, was released May 10, 1994. The album was produced by former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek and recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. During the recording of the Blue Album, Jason Cropper left the band and was replaced by Brian Bell, a then bassist from a band called Carnival Art.

"Undone - The Sweater Song" was released as the first single. The music video was directed by Spike Jonze. Filmed in an unbroken take, it featured Weezer performing on a sound stage with various amusing studio antics, including a pack of dogs swarming the set.

Jonze also directed the band's second video, "Buddy Holly." The video featured footage from the television sitcom Happy Days spliced with the band performing in a remade "Arnold's Diner," a familiar setting from the series. The video achieved 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. The success of the video arguably pushed the band into the mainstream spotlight. Highlighting this was Microsoft choosing to include the video on the CD-ROM for the initial release of Windows 95 to demonstrate the multimedia capabilities of the operating system.

The video for Weezer's third single, "Say It Ain't So," was directed by Sophie Muller. It featured the bandmates playing hacky sack and performing in the band's original rehearsal space and home in California. A photo of what the band calls the "Garage" is featured on the inside cover of the album. The house featured in the video has since been demolished.

The Blue Album is currently certified triple platinum in the United States, making it Weezer's all-time best seller. It is one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums. It was re-released and repackaged in 2004 as a Deluxe Edition, which included a second disc of b-sides along with other previously unreleased rarities.

Pinkerton (1995-1997)

In late December 1994, Weezer took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays. 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 was intended to 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. The album would instead feature songs composed before their first album (which had briefly been incorporated into the space-opera) as well as some new ones written while Cuomo was at Harvard.

Weezer's sophomore album, Pinkerton, was released on September 24, 1996. Due to initial weak sales (it peaked at #19 in the U.S.), the album was, at first, viewed as a commercial failure, especially when viewed in light of the multi-platinum success of their debut album. The album failed to gain traction in the mainstream music world, perhaps due to a darker, more abrasive sound on the album. Pinkerton was labeled "one of the worst albums of 1996" by a Rolling Stone Magazine reader poll. However, word-of-mouth kept the trickle of sales going, and the album eventually achieved a cult status. As if to validate this, in 2004, Rolling Stone changed their rating to 5 stars and inducted Pinkerton into the Rolling Stone Hall Of Fame. A large contingent of critics and fans currently view Pinkerton as Cuomo's artistic peak, despite the album being outsold by three of the five albums.

Three singles were taken from the album: "El Scorcho", "The Good Life" and "Pink Triangle". Music videos were released for "El Scorcho", directed by Mark Romanek, who later removed his directing credit from the final version due to creative disagreements with the band, and "The Good Life", directed by the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.

The title of the album comes from the character Lieutenant Pinkerton in Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly. The entire album is heavily influenced by the opera's story line. Madame Butterfly is mentioned under her real name, Cio-Cio San, in "El Scorcho." The song "Butterfly" is written from Pinkerton's point of view at the end of the opera.

The album's title was the source of a legal challenge. Pinkerton Securities of Encino, Calif., filed a temporary restraining order against the band and its Geffen record label for copyright infringement two days before the album was to be released on September 24, 1996. A judge ruled against the security company and the album was finally released.

On Hiatus (1997-2000)

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, Massachusetts, but took a break from Harvard to focus on songwriting. Cuomo gathered together Boston-area musicians and rehearsed unreleased material, including possible new songs for the next Weezer album. The group, referred to by fans as the Rivers Cuomo Band, had several different lineups and played several shows at local clubs, including their first show at T.T. the Bear's on October 8, 1997. Future Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh was a constant of the group's evolving lineups. Pat Wilson eventually flew to Boston to sit in on drums. 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 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. Rivers Cuomo went into a period of admitted depression, painting the walls of his home black and putting "fiberglass insulation all over the windows and then black sheets of fiberglass so that no light could get through."

The band would not reunite until April of 2000, when the Fuji Festival 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 was well received at the festival leading the band to book more tour dates for the summer.

SS2K - The Summer Sessions (2000)

In the summer of 2000, Weezer (now consisting of Rivers Cuomo, Mikey Welsh, Pat Wilson, and Brian Bell) went on tour. Weezer's setlist consisted of 14 new songs that fans have labeled the Summer Songs of 2000 (commonly abbreviated, SS2K). When 13 of these songs did not appear on Weezer's next album, fans of the songs started a petition demanding the release of studio versions. Eventually, mp3s of live recordings of the songs were made available on the band's official website for download. Three SS2K songs, "Hash Pipe", "Dope Nose," and "Slob," have appeared on studio albums ("Hash Pipe" on the Green Album and "Dope Nose" and "Slob" appearing on Maladroit).

The Green Album & Maladroit (2001-2003)

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. They attracted a new generation of fans thanks to heavy MTV rotation for the videos of their hit singles "Hash Pipe" and "Island in the Sun."

The video for "Hash Pipe," directed by Marcos Siega featured sumo wrestlers and was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. The drug-centric title and chorus of the song lead to a "censored" version, retitled "Half Pipe", to be released to some US radio/television outlets. Two videos were recorded for "Island in the Sun." Marcos Siega directed the first, which focused on a Mexican wedding, and Spike Jonze directed the second, which involved Weezer with animals in a wildlife reserve. Their video for "Photograph" was shot and put together by Weezer friend and unofficial "5th member" Karl Koch.

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.

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 began recording demos for their fourth album with the hope of releasing it within a year. The band took an 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. Cuomo eventually delegated song selection for the album to their original A&R rep, Todd Sullivan, stating the Weezer fans chose the "wackest songs." Only the song "Slob" was included on the album due to general fan advice.

In early 2002, before the release of the fourth album, Cuomo sent out a mixed version of the song "Dope Nose" to select radio stations, without the knowledge or consent of their record label Interscope. The song began to receive airplay. The record label, citing marketing concerns for the upcoming album, had Cuomo send out a letter to radio stations requesting the song be pulled until an official, sanctioned single was released. Interscope also briefly shutdown Weezer's audio/video download webpage, removing all the mp3 demos. Online Weezer fans staged a brief protest with several websites proclaiming "Free Maladroit."

In April 2002, former bassist Matt Sharp sued the band, alleging, among several accusations, he was owed money for cowriting several Weezer songs. The suit was later settled out of court.

The fourth album, Maladroit, was released on May 14, 2002. The album served as a harder-edged version of their trademark catchy pop-influenced music. Although met with generally positive critical reviews, its sales were not as strong as The Green Album, and it remains their worst-selling album to date.

Two singles were released from the album. The "Dope Nose" music video featured a Japanese motorcycle gang, and was put into regular rotation. The music video for "Keep Fishin'" combined Weezer with The Muppets, and had heavy rotation on MTV. Both videos were directed by Marcos Siega.

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 many as 24 songs in a day). These songs were eventually scrapped, and Weezer took a break after the release of two albums in quick succession.

In March of 2004, Weezer released their much-delayed first DVD which chronicles the band through Summer 2002, beginning with the recording of the Blue Album and ending with Maladroit's Enlightenment Tour. Titled Video Capture Device, and compiled by Karl Koch, the DVD tells the Weezer story through home video footage, music videos and television perfomances. The DVD was certified "gold" on November 8, 2004.

Make Believe (2003-2005)

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. The band's early recording efforts became available to the public through the band's website. The demos, entitled the Album Five Demos (or album 4.5), were a big hit with fans but only one song, "Hold Me", would be included on the finished album. That album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005.

The album's first single, "Beverly Hills," became a hit in the U.S. and worldwide, staying on the charts for several months after its release. The video for "Beverly Hills", directed by Marcos Siega, featured the band and a select choice of fans interacting with Playboy Bunnies and Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. It became the first Weezer song to hit #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The song was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the first ever Grammy nomination for the band. The video for the song was also nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.

During the "Make Believe" tour of 2005, Cuomo allowed other members of the band to step into the spotlight of certain songs:

Brian Bell: "Getchoo" and "Why Bother?" (from Pinkerton), "Smile" (from "The Green Album"), and "Keep Fishin'" (from Maladroit)
Scott Shriner: "Fall Together", and "Dope Nose", and "In the Garage" (from "The Blue Album")
Patrick Wilson: "Photograph" (from "The Green Album"), "Song 2" (Blur cover, whilst playing lead guitar)

From September 8 to October 28, 2005, Weezer set out on a tour with the Foo Fighters, which, to many, was simply called Foozer. The Foozer tour was awarded "Most Creative Tour Package" at The 17th Annual Concert Industry Awards.

On December 13th, 2005, Winter Weezerland EP was released on iTunes. The EP was essentially a re-release of the 2000 Weezer christmas CD which featured "The Christmas Song" and "Christmas Celebration".

Also, in late 2005 the band released the second single off Make Believe, called "We Are All on Drugs" (a retitled version of the song, "We Are All in Love," was also released), and the music video was directed by Justin Francis.

In early 2006, it was announced that Make Believe was certified platinum, and "Beverly Hills" was the most popular download on iTunes for 2005. ^*

Also in early 2006, Make Believe's third single, "Perfect Situation", spent four weeks in a row at the #1 spot on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, a personal record for Weezer. The Perfect Situation video starred Elisha Cuthbert and was directed by Marc Webb. The only other Weezer track to hit #1 was "Beverly Hills," for one week. "This is Such a Pity" is the band's fourth single from the album, but no music video was made for its release.

On hiatus again and the future of the band (2006-present)

The band is currently on break from touring and promotion. There is much fan speculation about the band's future (as is common after a completed album release and tour), but no definitive word from the band as to when, or if, another album will be released.

Band rep Karl Koch noted on the Weezer.com website, "It's not going to be entirely quiet on the Weezer 'hood not by a long shot. Everyone is planning on writing music and indeed a good deal of the songs have already been created while the band was still on tour this fall. Rivers returns to college this spring and everyone... continues to work towards a musical future... Only time will tell when the Weezer machine will get back into full gear". The band's official FAQ site states as "(2/06) we have no idea, except to say that its nearly impossible that there could be a new studio album before '07. Before then there may be other releases though, time will tell". "Karl's money is on an eventual 6th album.......", and this is very likely as Weezer is still under contract to their record company for at least 2 more albums.

A live DVD comprising footage from the current Japan tour is scheduled for release in 2006. It will consist of a 2-day, 7-camera shoot of the shows in Japan, plus material that will be drawn from various behind-the-scenes footage ^*. This was announced in late 2005 and hasn't been mentioned on the band's website since early 2006.

As of January, 2006, Bell and Wilson were set to portray Velvet Underground members Lou Reed and John Cale in Factory Girl, a film about the life of Andy Warhol cohort Edie Sedgwick. ^*

Rivers Cuomo announced a new song called "Piece of the Pie" while onstage during the band's October 7th, 2005 show in Detroit (but did not perform it). Cuomo has mentioned other song ideas recently, dropping titles and ideas such as "East Coast or West Coast," "Pig" and new songs with lyrics he described as "bloggy" ^*.

Recently, a Yahoo! news press release announced a greatest hits collection for Weezer to be available this fall that "will feature several new tracks" as well. The band's website noted that this announcement is premature, as plans for a greatest hits CD have not been finalized. ^*

In a July 12th, 2006 interview with MTV, Cuomo commented that "I've been feeling pretty creative and excited, so I've been writing a lot. I don't know what'll happen with these songs — if anything — I just sort of write them and I can't stop. I certainly don't see them becoming Weezer songs, and I don't really see the point of a solo career. So we'll just have to see." He mentioned two songs, "Heart Songs" which was a tribute to all the artists that had influenced him and "Our Time Will Come," in tribute to the lackluster performance of the United States in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. As for the future of the band, he stated that "I'm not certain we'll ever make a record again, unless it becomes really obvious to me that we need to do one." ^*

After this interview, many media sources were picking up on stories of the band's possible demise, to which Koch replied on a weezer.com post: "By this point it should come as no suprise that the future of weez remains, as always, unwritten."

Members

The band currently consists of the following members:

Brian Bell — guitar, backing vocals (1993-present)
Rivers Cuomo — vocals, guitar
Scott Shriner — bass, backing vocals (2001-present) (plays on Maladroit and Make Believe)
Patrick Wilson — drums

Former members:

Jason Cropper — guitar, backing vocals (1992-1993) (speculated to have been fired by Cuomo; Cropper is legally forbidden from discussing the issue)
Matt Sharp — bass, backing vocals (1992-1997) (plays on The Blue Album and Pinkerton)
Mikey Welsh — bass, backing vocals (1998-2001) (plays on The Green Album)

Discography

Studio albums

Image:Weezer weezer(blue).png|Weezer
(1994)
#16 U.S., #23 U.K.
known as'The Blue Album' Image:WeezerPinkerton.jpg|Pinkerton
(1996)
#19 U.S., #43 U.K. Image:Weezer weezer(green).png|Weezer
(2001)
#4 U.S., #31 U.K.
known as'The Green Album' Image:Weezer Maladroit.jpg|Maladroit
(2002)
#3 U.S., #16 U.K. Image:MakeBelieve.jpg|Make Believe
(2005)
#2 U.S., #11 U.K.

EPs

Image:The Good Life Oz Ep.jpg|The Good Life - OZ EP
(1997) Image:LionWitchCover.jpg|The Lion and the Witch
(2002)
Live
Lmtd. Edition Image:Winter Weezerland cover.jpg|Winter Weezerland EP
(2005)
iTunes exclusive release

Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Main- stream Rock	UK Singles Chart	Album
1994	"Undone - The Sweater Song"	#57	#6	#30	#35	Weezer (Blue Album)
1995	"Buddy Holly"	-	#2	#34	#12	Weezer (Blue Album)
1995	"Say It Ain't So"	-	#7	-	#37	Weezer (Blue Album)
1996	"El Scorcho"	-	#19	-	#50	Pinkerton
1997	"The Good Life"	-	#35	-	-	Pinkerton
1997	"Pink Triangle"	-	-	-	-	Pinkerton
2001	"Hash Pipe"	-	#2	#24	#21	Weezer (Green Album)
2001	"Island in the Sun"	-	#11	-	#31	Weezer (Green Album)
2001	"Photograph"	-	#17	-	-	Weezer (Green Album)
2002	"Dope Nose"	-	#8	-	-	Maladroit
2002	"Keep Fishin'"	-	#15	-	#29	Maladroit
2005	"Beverly Hills"	#10	#1 (1 week)	#26	#9	Make Believe
2005	"We Are All on Drugs"	-	#10	#35	#47	Make Believe
2005	"Perfect Situation"	#51	#1 (4 weeks)	-	-	Make Believe
2006	"This Is Such a Pity"	-	#31	-	-	Make Believe

Promo and International Singles

"My Name is Jonas" was released to radio as a promo single in Canada before the release of "Say It Ain't So".
"Pink Triangle" was released as a radio promo in the US.
"Photograph" was released to Japan instead of "Hash Pipe" and then to radio in the US.

Guest Contributions

"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.
"Velouria" is a Pixies song covered by Weezer for the Pixies tribute album Where Is My Mind?
"Worry Rock" is a Green Day song covered by Weezer for the Green Day tribute album A different shade of green
"Mykel and Carli", appearing on the benefit compilation CD Hear You Me!
"O Lisa", a Green Album B-side appears on the wwf tough enough 2 soundtrack
"Why Bother? (Live)" can be found on the Petra Haden benefit record
"You Won't Get With Me Tonight" the Rivers Cuomo home demo can be found on the Buddyhead Records compilation "Gimme Skelter"

Music sample

Weezer Fans

Weezer has a large devoted fanbase that is online savvy. Fans have created numerous websites about the band that range beyond typical website fare for popular rock bands. Sites have been formed about the folklore of unreleased band material ^*," target="_blank" >websites about the band's alter-ego Goat Punishment ^*" target="_blank" >and even a graveyard for fallen fan sites [http://www.weezerip.com/. Many fan sites are devoted to compiling the hundreds of unreleased recordings, which span from pre-Weezer projects up to the early demos and live tour recordings for Make Believe. Numerous Weezer message boards exist with large user bases. In late 2001 and early 2002, Rivers Cuomo himself frequently conversed with fans under the name Ace at the now-defunct Rivers Correspondence Board (RCB). (archives of those postings).

One notable Weezer fan tradition is the "flying W" hand symbol, which is frequently seen at live shows The hand symbol has been used for background decoration during live show, and the band now sells an official t-shirt with the symbol on it Van Halen-inspired "=w=" symbol (Van Halen's logo is a flying =VH=), which the band frequently plays in front of ^*," target="_blank" >is also worn ^* by their fans.

References

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

External links

Fan sites

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