How Weezer & The Blue Album Briefly Made Geekery Cool

Video Description

Weezer were a revelation for 90s alternative rock. Heavy metal and comic books were how Rivers Cuomo was raised. Kiss and the X-Men were the Gods that he praised. And while Kurt Cobain also loved 70s Arena Rock and Marvel Comics, he never admitted to it in song. Devo and They Might Be Giants had set the groundwork, but Weezer proved definitively that nerds could indeed rock. As well as saving the hair metal guitar solo from obsolescence, on the band’s first album Cuomo wove tales of unravelling mental health, absent fathers and romances never attempted, told through the lens of personal minutiae and pop cultural obsession. Intimate and arena rock in equal measures, this is the story of how Weezer made The Blue Album. #weezer #alternative #MusicDocumentary Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner. 00:00 Introduction 00:48 The Early Days of Rivers Cuomo in LA 07:24 The Creation of Say It Ain't So 13:35 Recording The Blue Album 20:03 Releasing The Blue Album 27:26 After The Blue Album Soundtrack Luar - Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats) Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present Luar - Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats) You can also follow me here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrashTheory Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrashTheoryYT Or support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TrashTheory Rivers’ Edge by John D Luerssen, 2004, ECW Press “Rivers Cuomo Interview” Lÿndsey Parker, Porkchops & Applesauce, 1994 “Weezer sings about breakup” Fred Shuster, The Greenville News, Aug 1994 “Rivers Cuomo returns home with Weezer” Roger Catlin, Hartford Courant, Oct 1994 “Smells like teen spirit” Chip Midnight, MOO Magazine, Nov 1994 “Rock Candy” Jac Zinder, Spin Magazine, Jan 1995 “Weezer” Simon Witter, Sky, Feb 1995 “In the beginning was the nerd” Emma Forrest, The Independent, Mar 1995 “Revenge of the Weezer Nerds” Mim Udovich, Rolling Stone, Mar 1995 “Weezer: Nerds No More“ Paul Gobicheau, Boston Globe, Mar 1995 “Man of Steel” Tom Beaujour, Guitar World, Mar 1995 “It's not easy being Weezer“ Sam McDonald, Daily Press, Mar 1995 “Weirder by the Day“ Al Muzer, Aquarian Weekly, Apr 1995 “Weezer: The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth” Max Bell, Vox, Apr 1995 “Tourbus Tales: Weezer” Vox, May 1995 “As Funny as They Wanna Be : Who’s laughing now?” Steve Appleford, LA Times, May 1995 “Weezer's Uncomfortable Success” Clare Kleinedler, Addicted To Noise, Dec 1996 “Weezer's Uncomfortable Success, part 2: The Rivers Cuomo Interview” Clare Kleinedler, Addicted To Noise, Dec 1996 “Happy [cancelled] Days” David Daley, Alternative Press, Jan 1997 “Ol' Nerdy Bastard” Mark Lewman, RIP Magazine, Jan 1997 “Weezer: 50,000,000 Weezer Fans Can’t Be Wrong” Erik Himmelsbach, Request, May 2001 “Odd Man Out” Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, Jul 2001 “Tantrums. Beards. Paranoia. Teenage cyber girlfriends.” Ben Mitchell, Kerrang!, Apr 2002 “Odder Than Hell” Tom Beaujour, Guitar World, May 2002 “Rivers Cuomo's Encyclopedia of Pop” Jenny Eliscu, Rolling Stone, Jun 2002 “Burner - Greatest Songs Ever: "Buddy Holly"” Ryan Dombal, Blender, Nov 2008 “Pat Wilson on The Blue Album at 25” Hardeep Phull, Billboard, May 2009 “Weezer’s ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’ Turns 15: A Look Back” Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, Jun 2009 “Rivers Cuomo: We Ripped Off “The Sweater Song” From Metallica” Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, Aug 2009 ““I know some people think I'm a weirdo. I'm working on it.”” Paul Brannigan, Kerrang! Magazine, Sep 2010 “Welcome to The Family” George Garner, Kerrang!, Sep 2013 “UNDONE: The Complete Oral History Of Weezer” Jonathan Valania, MAGNET Magazine, 2014 Weezer Turns 20, Chris DeVille, Stereogum, May 2014 “‘The Blue Album’ at 20: Looking Back at Weezer’s Debut, Track by Track” Grantland Staff, Grantland, May 2014 “Rivers Cuomo Is Trying to Be All Right” Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, Sep 2014 “How Weezer’s ‘Pinkerton’ Went From Embarrassing to Essential” Laura Marie Braun, Rolling Stone, Sep 2016 “Weezer’s Blue Album: 10 Things You Didn’t Know” Jordan Runtagh, Rolling Stone, May 2019 “Bitter Sweet: The Blue Album By Weezer Revisted” [sic] Michael Hann, The Quietus, May 2019 “Artists Reflect on 25 Years of Weezer’s The Blue Album” Tyler Clark, Consequence, May 2019 “Weezer’s The Blue Album Turns 25: Track-by-Track Retrospective” Billboard Staff, Billboard, May 2019 “The Strange Birth and Near Death of Weezer” Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, Aug 2019 “The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s” Pitchfork Staff, Pitchfork, Sep 2022 “Weezer’s Blue Album at 30: The inside story of the debut that launched L.A.’s nerdiest band” Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, Mar 2024 “Weezer’s ‘Blue Album’ at 30, the scene reflects: “It’s timeless”” Ian Chaddock, Rocksound, May 2024 “Why the Big Dumb Feelings of Weezer’s ‘Blue Album’ Still Hit Hard” Eli Enis, Men's Health, May 2024 “Why Weezer's 'The Blue Album' Is One Of The Most Influential '90s Indie Pop Debuts” David Silverberg, The Grammys, May 2024