Weezer biography
Weezer is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1992. The band consists of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums, guitar, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), and Scott Shriner (bass, backing vocals, keyboards). The band's line-up has changed four times since its formation in 1992. They have released nine full-length albums, six EPs, and a DVD. Weezer has sold over fifty million records in the United States to date.
The band is best known for their successful singles "Buddy Holly", "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Say It Ain't So", "Perfect Situation", "Island in the Sun", "Beverly Hills" and "Pork and Beans". The band's eighth studio album, Hurley, was released on September 14, 2010 on Epitaph Records. Additionally, a deluxe release of their 1996 album Pinkerton and a compilation of rare and previously unreleased songs titled Death to False Metal were released on November 2, 2010.
Weezer, consisting of Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper, formed in 1992, had their first practice on February 14 of that year, and their first gig was opening for Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar shortly thereafter. Weezer signed with Geffen Records on June 25, 1993 and recorded their debut album with producer Ric Ocasek at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. During the recording, guitarist Jason Cropper left the band and was replaced by Brian Bell. The band released Weezer (also referred to as "The Blue Album") in May 1994. The record label originally did not wish to release a single, to see what sales could be generated by word-of-mouth alone. Soon after the release of Weezer, DJ Marco Collins of the Seattle radio station The End started playing "Undone - The Sweater Song", leading Geffen to release "Undone - The Sweater Song" as the first official single. The music video was directed by Spike Jonze. Filmed in an unbroken take, it featured Weezer performing on a sound stage with little action, bar a pack of dogs swarming the set. The video became an instant hit on MTV.
Spike Jonze also directed the band's second video, for "Buddy Holly". 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 clip was also featured on the companion CD for the Microsoft Windows 95 computer operating system. A third single, "Say It Ain't So", followed. Weezer is certified triple platinum in the United States, making it Weezer's all-time best seller. It is certified double platinum in Canada.
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. The original concept for Weezer's second album 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. Ultimately, the Songs from the Black Hole album concept was dropped. The album would instead feature songs composed before the band's first album (which had briefly been incorporated into the space opera) as well as some new ones written while Cuomo was at Harvard.
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