Weezer’s masterpiece self-titled debut (Blue Album) is 30 years old.
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The band’s debut took on mythical status in rock history (similar to The Beatles’ White Album), and for good reason—it’s damn perfect.
You might argue that music is subjective and “perfect” is impossible. But you’d be wrong. If you want to know what a perfect album sounds like, listen to the Blue Album.
For those who came of age in 1994 when Weezer’s album landed, yes, 1994 was really that long ago. Say It Ain’t So!
“Say It Ain’t So” is a peak into frontman/keyboardist Rivers Cuomo’s childhood and one of the 1990s most essential songwriters. He may have studied Kurt Cobain and Noel Gallagher, but Cuomo is every bit their peer.
Dear Daddy, I Write You
The song opens with Cuomo finding a bottle of beer in his refrigerator. His father, an alcoholic, left the family when Cuomo was 4 years old. Finding the Heineken, the singer believed his mom’s marriage to his stepfather would end, too.
Somebody’s Heine’
Is crowdin’ my icebox
Somebody’s cold one
Is givin’ me chills
Guess I’ll just close my eyes
Cuomo takes out years of rage and frustration toward his father during the song’s bridge. He references his father cleaning up and becoming a preacher, and the anxiety caused by This bottle of Stephen’s refers to his stepfather, Stephen Kitts.
Dear Daddy, I write you
In spite of years of silence
You’ve cleaned up, found Jesus
Things are good, or so I hear
This bottle of Stephen’s awakens ancient feelings
Like father, stepfather
The son is drowning in the flood
The Encyclopedia of Pop
Weezer’s frontman famously created an Encyclopedia of Pop analyzing songs by Nirvana, Green Day, and Oasis. With a scientist’s eye, Cuomo hoped to discover patterns of success from his songwriting heroes—Kurt Cobain, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Noel Gallagher.
Meanwhile, he’d already written one of history’s most-celebrated rock albums. Weezer’s self-titled debut, known colloquially as the Blue Album, impacted culture as much as the bands he studied in his encyclopedia.
The Blue Album is an emo, power pop, and alternative rock masterpiece. Geffen Records released “Say It Ain’t So” as the album’s third single, and it is widely considered the band’s defining song (though diehards of “Buddy Holly” and “Undone – The Sweater Song” may disagree).
Cuomo completed the instrumental and had written the title but didn’t know what the song would be about. He remembered a time in high school when he arrived home to find the “Heine’” in his family’s refrigerator, and the future Weezer hit became therapy.
Garage Band
Weezer’s Spike Jonze-directed videos for “Buddy Holly” and “Undone – The Sweater Song” became defining moments in ’90s alternative rock culture.
However, the band chose Sophie Muller to direct the music video for “Say It Ain’t So.” Muller’s video credits include Annie Lennox (and Eurythmics), Blur, Garbage, and No Doubt.
Muller filmed the band at their rehearsal house in Los Angeles, and the overarching slacker rock vibe peaks when a friend does laundry while Weezer performs. A photograph of King Diamond is visible on the stacked washer and dryer unit when Cuomo turns his microphone around to face the band.
Heavy-Metal Emo
For the uninitiated, King Diamond is a Danish heavy-metal musician who fronts the band Mercyful Fate. He screams in falsetto and is famous for his Halloween-all-year-long face paint.
Like the lyrics to “Say It Ain’t So,” the King Diamond photo is a nod to Cuomo’s heavy-metal past. In the late ’80s, Cuomo relocated from his home in Connecticut to Los Angeles with his glam-metal band, Avant Garde.
His metal influences sneak onto Weezer’s debut album and are most notable in the virtuosic guitar solos he conceals behind sarcasm.
Cuomo, wearing an impressively long mullet and equally pronounced mustache, has at times traded his familiar Fender Stratocaster for a Jackson Randy Rhoads Flying V guitar.
“Crazy Train”
Speaking of Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne once asked Cuomo if he had any songs available. Cuomo had just written “Hash Pipe” and sent the riff to Osbourne, though he never recorded it. But imagine a universe where Osbourne releases “Hash Pipe.”
Meanwhile, Cuomo eventually used Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” to inspire Weezer’s 2021 song “Blue Dream.” The song appears on their 15th studio album, Van Weezer.
Osbourne, Rhoads, and Bob Daisley receive credits alongside Cuomo on “Blue Dream.” Cuomo explained to Guitar World, “It’s kind of like a sample, really, but we played it.”
Geek Armor
Rivers Cuomo, with drummer Patrick Wilson, guitarist Brian Bell, and bassist Matt Sharp, were a new kind of rock band. Cuomo, the anti-frontman, stood in contrast to the angst rebellion dominating American rock bands of the era.
With the help of The Cars’ Ric Ocasek, the geeks were taking over, and Weezer changed the sound of the then-exploding rock scene.
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Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
