- 10:57 AM, Apr 29
The origin of Weezer is tightly related to its frontman, Rivers Cuomo (born June 13, 1970), since he has been the initiator of this alternative band. Performing as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band, he had gathered Patrick Wilson (born February 1, 1969) to be the drummer, Matt Sharp (born September 22, 1969) to be the bassist, and Jason Cropper (born 1970) to be the guitarist. Established on February 14, 1992 in Los Angeles, California, these four guys at that time still looked for a proper name for their band when they came to a club on Hollywood Boulevard called Raji's. Apparently there was a need for an opening act for Keanu Reeves' band, Dogstar. Cuomo and his band mates were offered by the club to perform at that night. After debating on naming the band, Rivers suggested to call the band “Weezer.” Since the other members could not find something else that sounded more distinctive, they all agreed to apply “Weezer” as the name of the band. The performance at Raji's then became their first show which marked their initial music career.
Weezer started to perform at local clubs while writing their compositions to make a demo. After hanging around for 16 months, an A&R representative from Geffen Records named Todd Sullivan offered them a recording contract. The band afterwards was signed to DGC label/Interscope in 1993 and moved to New York to work on an album. During the recording process at Electric Lady Studios, Jason quitted the band to tend his future wife and their first child-to-be. His position then was replaced by Brian Bell (born December 9, 1968), the former guitarist of Carnival Art. Their debut album finally was released on May 10, 1994. It was a self-titled one, but was more commonly known as “The Blue Album.” Having produced by Ric Ocasek, this album made a breakthrough with its hit tracks, such as “Undone (The Sweater Song)” and “Buddy Holly.” Both songs were reinforced by innovative music videos, making them became well known throughout the world.
Those two fabulous singles apparently triggered the album to reach 4th rank at Billboard 200 Chart. It eventually sold nearly one million copies, automatically received double Platinum. Following this huge success, the band held their first tour for several months before had their Christmas break. It was when Rivers began to compile materials for the band's upcoming album.