Buddy Holly Allmusic track review
| "Buddy Holly" | ||
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| Single by Weezer | ||
| Album | Weezer (The Blue Album) | |
| Released | September 7, 1994 | |
| Other song reviews | ||
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Weezer (The Blue Album)
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| Buddy Holly Reviewer: Stewart Mason (Allmusic) Publishing date: Unlisted Rating: 5/5 |
 (5/5)
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AMG Track Pick
The most immediately infectious song on Weezer's debut album (as well as their biggest hit, thanks in no small part to Spike Jonze's hilarious and inventive video, which inserted the band into an episode of Happy Days), "Buddy Holly" is short, brash, incredibly catchy, and utterly charming. Frontman Rivers Cuomo's lyrics, as always, don't actually make a lot of sense and the singalong chorus has absolutely nothing to do with the nonsensical verses; really, the song is as much about hooks like the "hoo-hoo" backing vocals and bassist Matt Sharp's falsetto lead-in to each chorus as anything else. The ultra-crunchy, distorted guitars clash agreeably with the bubblegummy melody, giving the song a feel akin to a classic T. Rex single. What's odd is that a song with such a peculiar structure (the opening, with Cuomo singing over a roar of guitars, sounds like the CD has started reading the disc several seconds into the song, and the ending is equally abrupt) could immediately become so popular, testament to Cuomo's under-acknowledged gift for writing smart, funny, and catchy pop songs. The Moog Cookbook recorded a tongue-in-cheek synthesizer version for their self-titled 1995 debut.
— Stewart Mason