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Did you know that frontman Rivers Cuomo and bassist Matt Sharp created "rules" for the recording of Weezer's Blue Album? Or that the band's big breakthrough hit "Buddy Holly" almost wasn't included? How about the band member who was fired just as the recording process was coming to an end? Stick around and we will answer these questions and more, on...

10 Things You Didn't Know About Weezer's Blue Album

1. Falsetto

Bassist Matt Sharp learned to sing in falsetto prior to recording the Blue Album. Sharp and Cuomo practiced barbershop-quartet songs during rehearsals in order to feel more comfortable collaborating together.

""I had to sing an octave higher than Rivers. After a lot of practice, I started to get it down." - Matt Sharp (Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story, Aug 9, 2004)

2. Self Produced?

Weezer originally wanted to self-produce the album but were pressued in to hiring a producer by A&R guy Todd Sullivan at Geffen Records. They chose Ric Ocasek, former frontman of the Cars.

Ocasek brightened the band's guitar sound by convincing them to move the guitar pickups from the neck to the bridge.

3. Downstrokes Only

While in the studio recording the Blue Album, Sharp and Cuomo created a few rules for the album. Two of these rules included banning the use of reverb and only using downstrokes on the guitars.

4. Louder Than "Creep"

The band wanted loud guitars on the album and insist that they be as loud or louder than Radiohead's "Creep," burying some of the vocals in the sound.

I wonder if they were also inspired by Marty McFly in Back To The Future II?

5. No "Buddy Holly?"

The band's breakthrough hit "Buddy Holly" almost didn't make the album.

Cuomo originally wanted the song to go on the band's second release, which he intended to have a keyboard New Wave sound.

Sharp told a Rolling Stone writer in 2019: "“There was a worry that it could become the ‘Detachable Penis’ of this album.. We had the sense that it could be taken as a novelty song, and people aren’t going to take the album seriously.”" -The Strange Birth and Near Death of Weezer; Hiatt, Brian; Aug 28. 2019

referring to a goofy one-hit-wonder from 90s rock band Butthole Surfers.

"Ric said we'd be stupid to leave it off the album. We'd come into the studio in the morning and find little pieces of paper with doodles on them: WE WANT BUDDY HOLLY." - Matt Sharp - "Buddy Holly: How Four LA Rockers Created the Definitive Hipster-Doofus Battle Cry", Ryan Domball, Blender, November 2008

Imagine if Weezer had self-produced the album as they originally intended and Ric Ocasek wasn't there to influence the decision to include "Buddy Holly?"

6. Clever Camerawork & Editing

The iconic music video for "Buddy Holly" which features the band performing at Arnold's Drive-In from the 70s American telivision show Happy Days was created without the use of computer generated imagery (CGI).

"The best thing about that video is that there’s no CGI going on. It’s all just clever camera work. And clever editing. I get to point at the Fonz and he goes ‘Ayyy.’ I mean, come on. I loved Happy Days as a kid. It doesn’t get any cooler than that." - Pat Wilson, UNDONE: The Complete Oral History Of Weezer, Phawker, Dec 11, 2018

Buy the Blue Album on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vM1iEa

Shop Weezer books: https://amzn.to/3inrnq2

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weezer_(Blue_Album)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_%E2%80%93_The_Sweater_Song

"Buddy Holly: How Four LA Rockers Created the Definitive Hipster-Doofus Battle Cry", Ryan Domball, Blender, November 2008

The Strange Birth and Near Death of Weezer; Hiatt, Brian; Aug 28. 2019 - https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/weezer-blue-album-25th-anniversary-877089/

Luerssen, John; Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story; Luerssen, John; Aug 9, 2004 - https://amzn.to/3k1Ciq0

UNDONE: The Complete Oral History Of Weezer, Phawker, Dec 11, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdbHIlBTUMk

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CSBIbTlnrl4/WXXK7ukwv5I/AAAAAAAAld4/mBm-qxmeEQYxcYB9KECDOlXJwFrFqcWIACLcBGAs/s1600/harvard%2Buniversity%2B9.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Ocasek