Weezer

Weezer (formed 1992)

Weezer is an American alternative pop-rock band. The original line-up of the band was: Rivers Cuomo on guitar and vocals, Matt Sharp on bass and backing vocals, Patrick Wilson on drums and backing vocals Jason Cropper on guitar and backing vocals. Matt Sharp was later replaced by Mikey Welsh, who himself was replaced by Scott Shriner.

Weezer: The Early Years

After forming in 1992, Weezer played their first gig as the opening band for Keanu Reeves' Dogstar. Their debut album was produced by Ric Ocasek at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York.

Weezer was released in May 1994, with 'Undone - The Sweater Song' being the first single. Spike Jonze directed the video for the single, which became hugely popular on MTV.

The second single from Weezer was 'Buddy Holly.' Jonze directed this video as well, which spliced footage from Happy Days, the 1970s sitcom, with footage of the band playing in the setting of the diner from the series. The third single was 'Say It Ain't So.'

The second Weezer album was titled Pinkerton and was released in September 1996. In comparison to the success of the first album, Pinkerton performed badly.

Following the release of Pinkerton, the band disbanded temporarily and its members followed up their various side projects; Matt Sharp returned to The Rentals, Patrick Wilson worked on The Special Goodness and Brian Bell worked with his group Space Twins. Rivers Cuomo returned to Boston and put together The Rivers Cuomo Band, which played a number of gigs, with Mikey Welsh being a constant member of the ever-changing lineup.

In April 2000, Weezer were offered a lucrative deal to play the Fuji Festival. This spurred on a renewed creativity for the band. For a while, they only played under the name Goat Punishment but returned to using Weezer when they joined the Vans Warped Tour.

In 2001, the band released another album entitled Weezer. The debut would soon become known as 'The Blue Album' and the latter as 'The Green Album', due to their distinctive colouring. The singles 'Hash Pipe' and 'Island In the Sun' proved to be hits for the band.

Scott Shriner filled in for Mikey Welsh in 2001 when Welsh went AWOL and later checked into a psychiatric hospital.

Maladroit, the band's fourth studio album, was released in 2002 and was met with positive reviews, if not as many sales as its predecessor. The band released the singles 'Dope Nose' and 'Keep Fishin'', the video to which featured The Muppets.

In May 2005, Weezer released Make Believe. The album received a mixed response from the music press and online music communities. Due to MTV refusing to play the song, Weezer changed the title and lyrics of 'We Are All On Drugs' to 'We Are All In Love.'

In 2007, Rivers Cuomo released a number of home recordings, including the songs that never made it onto Weezer's second album. The release was called Alone: the Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.

Weezer released a third album entitled Weezer in 2008. This one is known alternatively as the Red Album. The album features Rick Rubin on production and songwriting credits to band members other than Cuomo.

Weezer: Online Ventures

In September 2008, Weezer fans launched a site called Weezerpedia, a take on the popular encyclopedic site Wikipedia. Weezerpedia is an online community site based on facts about the band. In-depth articles about the band are included, as well as song lyrics and details of side projects.