The 500 - #299 - Debut (Blue Album) - Weezer

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #299

Album Title: Self-Titled Debut (Blue Album)

Artist: Weezer

Genre: Alternative Rock, Power Pop, Pop Punk

Recorded: Electric Lady Studios, New York, USA

Released: May, 1994

My age at release: 28

How familiar was I with it before this week: Familiar

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at 294 (Moving up 5 spots)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Say It Ain't So

If you entered Unit 3 of the Ogoki Townhouse Complex on Bearskin Lake Road at Lakehead University during the winter of 1995/96, you would likely have been greeted by two things: Shaft, our adopted residence dog, and the sound of music blasting from the communal stereo system in the living room.

Shaft and two of my other three roomates, Craig (seated) & Brendan

Ogoki Townhouse was located a short distance from the Bora Laskin building where all of my Teacher's College classes were held. Lakehead, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, offered two programs – a five-year combined program for students without a degree – and a one year-program for those who had already obtained a baccalaureate. My roommates and I were all in the one-year program and, for the first few weeks, felt a little out of place as we attended lectures with many fellow students who had known each other for four years. Consequently, we bonded quickly as outsiders, and got along well.

We were all music lovers, so the stereo system (which I had lugged up from London) got plenty of use. Randy, who had adopted Shaft from a local Humane Society, was the first to introduce me to Weezer and their debut record, sometimes called Blue Album.  The record was given the chromatic moniker because of the background behind the picture of the four members. The band went on to release several other "colour" albums, including Green, Red, White, Teal and Black.

The six "colour" records from Weezer

Randy brought the Blue Album to my attention, although I was familiar with two of the single releases from it: Undone -- The Sweater Song and Buddy Holly. The latter really impressed me –  in a cleverly edited video that seemed like the band had appeared on the 1970s television show Happy Days. Directed by Spike Jonze, who later won an Academy Award for his work on the film Adaptation, the video almost seamlessly combined footage from the television program with the band, dressed in 50s teen attire, performing on a stage.

Weezer on stage at Arnold's Restaurant, a set on Happy Days

It even featured a cameo appearance by actor Al Molinaro who reprised his role as Al Delvecchio, the owner and cook of the fictional Arnold's Drive-In Restaurant featured frequently on the television show.

Molinaro as Delvecchio with The Fonz (Henry Winkler) 

Weezer are an American rock band formed in 1992 in Los Angeles, California. The members on the debut release were Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, keyboards and guitars), Patrick Wilson (drums), Brian Bell (rhythm guitar and vocals) and Matt Sharp (bass and vocals). Sharp left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Scott Shriner in 2002.

Weezer in 1994, Bell, Wilson, Sharp Cuomo (l-r)

The Blue Album became a multi-platinum success and, with the  exception of a brief hiatus in the late 90s, the band has continued to build a loyal following, releasing 15 well-received albums. The debut remains the group's best-selling record, with 15 million copies sold worldwide. The song, Buddy Holly, made the cut, at #499, on Rolling Stone Magazine's 2010 edition of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. The video, which was provided with every CD-ROM copy of the Windows 95 operating system, is also part of the music exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

I really enjoyed listening to it again for this blog. The music transported me back to that bone-numbing cold winter in Thunder Bay...with Randy, Craig, Brendan and, of course, Shaft.

Post Script

My favourite Weezer story does not come from the Blue Album. Instead, it happened in 2017 when a 14-year-old fan named Mary Klym from Cleveland, Ohio, created a Twitter profile called @WeezerAfrica. Daily, she sent the following message, tagging Weezer frontman Cuomo:

Klym wanted the band to record a cover of the song Africa, released in 1982 by the soft-rock (Yacht Rock) band Toto. After several months, Weezer announced that they would release a cover version of a song by Toto. The next day, the band dropped a version of Rosanna, a different song by the band Toto, as a playful joke on Klym.

Good sports that they are, the band followed it with their version of Africa a few days later. It, and nine other cover versions, appeared on their 2019 release, the Teal Album. Not to be outdone, the band Toto covered the Weezer song Hash Pipe that August.

The band Toto posing as Weezer

The video for Weezer's version of Africa was a parody of the band's earlier video for Undone -- The Sweater Song from the Blue Album, with "Weird Al" Yankovic standing in for Cuomo and Yankovic's bandmates replacing the other members of Weezer.

"Weird Al" Yankovic with his trademark accordion as River's Cuomo

I've always been a fan of multi-layered jokes and parodies, so this entire exchange delighted me.