Weezer

Rivers Cuomo – Vocals, Guitar
Brian Bell – Guitar
Scott Shriner – Bass
Patrick Wilson - Drums

Led by singer and songwriter Rivers Cuomo, Weezer are known to some as a one hit wonder thanks to the success of ‘Buddy Holly’. The most catchy moment from their self titled debut album (commonly known as ‘The Blue Album’) – the song - a mix of rock and 50s doo wop is pretty universally known due to its famous Spike Jonze directed ‘Happy Days’ video which has received heavy TV rotation and was included on Windows 95. ‘The Blue Album’ was a huge commercial success, however, shifting 3 million and show-casing for the first time Cuomo’s melodic song-writing: heavy-ish rock with plenty of pretty and often complex Beach Boys harmonies, the entire band chipping in on backing vocals. 

Cuomo had grown up a shy, uncool kid in Connecticut where his asthma led to classmates nicknaming him ‘weezer’. He found solace in being a lover of metal – particularly Metallica and Slayer, and at the age of 18 moved to LA with the express intention of forming a band. This he achieved in 1992 forming Weezer with Jason Cropper, Matt Sharp and Patrick Wilson. Their first gig was supporting Dogstar - Keanu Reeves’ band. Cropper’s wife’s pregnancy resulted in his early exit and he was replaced by Brian Bell. They released ‘The Blue Album’ in 1994.

In its aftermath Cuomo abandoned plans to make a space-themed rock-opera called ‘songs from the black hole’ and the follow –up was instead ‘Pinkerton,’ in 1996. The album was a big departure from the debut being much heavier and darker lyrically and sonically with abrasive riffs replacing the pretty harmonies and much more personalised, emotional lyrics from Cuomo. It was in part inspired by the musical ‘Madame Butterfly.’ This was most obvious on the beautiful acoustic closer - ‘Butterfly’, but also Pinkerton was the name of the American Captain from the play, there are references to Japanese girls scattered throughout, a partially hidden picture of a Japanese lady on the reverse of the CD case and an entirely hidden map of Japan under the CD holder.

Cuomo refused to sanction the kind of quirky, appealing videos that had accompanied the Blue album singles for those lifted from ‘Pinkerton’. It sold only 750,000, received generally negative reviews and was greeted unfavourably by many Weezer fans. However, since its release its reputation has grown as people have discovered Cuomo’s personal, soul-bearing lyrics and the fantastic melodies hidden amongst the loud guitars. ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine, whose readers’ pole had voted it one of the worst albums of the year in ’96, gave it a posthumous 5 out of 5 rating in 2004 and induced it into their Hall of Fame. 

Without the benefit of hindsight Cuomo did not react well to barracking of his meisterwork in ’96.  The result was a hiatus on Weezer activities as he enrolled at Harvard University to study English Literature.  He has divided his time between there and the band ever since. 

It took 5 years for the follow up to ‘Pinkerton’ by which time Matt Sharp had left to be replaced by Mikey Welsh.  The first release was the pop-metal ‘Hash Pipe’ which featured an addictive riff and another iconic video featuring sumo wrestlers.  Released in 2001 the album was again self –titled and is commonly known as ‘The Green Album’. It saw Cuomo abandoning ‘Pinkerton’s’ dark lyrical introspection and heavy riffs in favour of accessible, shiny, well produced surf –pop punk with instantly catchy melodies, throwaway  lyrics and catchy hooks.

During the aftermath period promoting ‘The Green Album’ Mikey Welsh checked into a psychiatric hospital and the band arrived at their current line-up as he was replaced by Scott Shriner. The bands creativity continued apace, however, as they released a stream of demo songs on to their website for fans to provide feedback on.  This was eventually seen as unproductive idea but it dead hasten the release of their fourth album ‘Maladroit’ a year after ‘The Green Album’, in 2002. The album was recognisably similar to the Green album but harder-edged; there was no more dichotomy between harder ‘emo’ and catchy pop but a more rounded Weezer sound somewhere between the two.

The band did record more material in '03 and '04 with Rick Rubin but chose to release it solely on their website. The follow-up proper ‘Make Believe’ arrived in 2005 and was similar musically to ‘Maladroit’ though without some of the filler that had marked that album.

Weezer are now at their most stable ever in terms of line-up and musical output. They have a large devoted following, who recognise Cuomo can still produce incredible tracks, though few are helpful of a whole album to rival the first two classics.