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Pop goes the Weezer
Author: Dave Ang (The New Paper)
Published: April 25, 1995
WEEZER. Not quite a name to give your band when you are trying to get noticed.
So when singer-songwriter-guitarist Rivers Cuomo suggested his nickname as a child, taken from a geeky member of The Little Rascals, his bandmates were aghast.
"But they were going on stage and they needed a name quick, so everyone said okay - but only if they could change it later," recalled guitarist Brian Bell in a phone interview from Los Angeles last Friday.
They couldn't. The name stuck. And on hindsight, appropriately. For among the many slouching labels used to describe Weezer's music, one stands out - "geek rock".
Locking oneself in the garage with Kiss posters and a guitar, freaking out with jealousy because "I want a girl who laughs for no one else", and singing goofy lines like "I look just like Buddy Holly/And you're Mary Tyler Moore" ... Somehow, the label fits.
It doesn't hurt that Cuomo, 24, actually wears Holly-style glasses and is painfully shy. "All those pop culture references were from our childhood," said Bell, 26. "For some reason, rock music is for the kids, and when you play rock music, you sort of invoke all those memories from your childhood.
Weezer was formed three years ago when Cuomo, bassist Matt Sharp, drummer Patrick Wilson and guitarist Jason Cropper found themselves sharing a room in Los Angeles.
Bell joined later, replacing Cropper mid-way through the recording of Weezer, their debut album.
"They said they didn't even like each other. But to make the best out of the situation, they decided they should try and make some music," related Bell.
But few people were interested, until a Geffen scout heard and signed them last June. Before long, they were on a plane to New York to record with producer Ric Ocasek, of The Cars fame.
"The band decided they had better get a well-known producer 'cos Geffen may not have promoted it too well if it turned out like crap," said Bell.
It didn't. The album soared, thanks to a quirky first single and video, Undone - the Sweater Song.
With its deadpan lyrics - "If you want to destroy my sweater/pull this thread as I walk away" - Undone was an instant hit.
With the follow-up Buddy Holly, Weezer were suddenly everywhere. Last month, Rolling Stone magazine readers put them in their Top 20 poll.
Said Bell: "We were worried about being a one-hit wonder, and now we're a two-hit wonder. Hopefully when our new album is out next year, we'll be a two-album wonder."
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