Description
Few bands emerged as fully formed as Weezer, with its reimagined vision of rock ‘n' roll. With 17 million albums sold worldwide, and two LPs on Rolling Stone's list of most influential ever made, the L.A. quartet helmed by singer-guitarist Rivers Cuomo proved to be as popular as they are pioneering.
The triple platinum-selling Weezer (The Blue Album), was one of rock's most auspicious debuts. The album was not like anything most kids in 1994 had heard before, taking its nerdy cues from strange places the 1950s, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, the Bible and producer Ric Ocasek, pop auteur of The Cars. Initially released without a single or much notice, the album's sales started slow but eventually reached triple platinum status, spending 78 weeks on the chart and peaking at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It has sold 3.7 million copies in the U.S alone. Local radio play for "Undone The Sweater Song" prompted an official release and video directed by then rising star Spike Jonze. The video featured the band performing on a soundstage, joined by a wandering pack of dogs. Their next Jonze-directed innovative video for "Buddy Holly" helped spike the band's popularity and won four MTV video awards. The song rose to No. 2 on Billboard's U.S. Modern Rock chart, one of three Top 10 hits for Weezer.
