DeViCom-Bio: Weezer

Weezer
f. Feb 14, 1992 in Los Angeles, CA, USA

'Post-slacker' US guitar pop artisans from Los Angeles, California, comprising Rivers Cuomo (b. c.1971, Conneticut, USA; vocals guitar), Brian Bell (b. Tennessee, USA; guitar), Matt Sharp (bass) and Patrick Wilson (b. Buffalo, New York State, USA; drums). Cuomo grew up in rural Conneticut before deciding to move to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to form a band. It was to little immediate success, but, tortutred by the sundering of a relationship, he began to write his own songs. Sharp brought the unlikely influences of Talk Talk and Gary Numan to the bass player's role. Bell first learned guitar in Tennessee by playing along to televisions shows such as Hee Haw, picking on a ukulele his grandmother won at a bingo game. Wilson was introduced to the other members via fellow Buffalo citizen Pat Fin (of Winkler). The four protagonists had met as strangers who found themselves abroad in Los Angeles, and decided to form a band together. The official date of formation was 14 February 1992, signing to DGC Records in June of the following year. On the back of offbeat singles, "Undone - the Sweater Song" and "Buddy Holly" (a tale of high school prom rejection), and seven months's touring their native country, their self-titled debut album, produced by Ric Ocasek of the Cars and Chris Shaw in New York, went on to sell nearly a million copies. Their preference for goofy garage asthetics soon distinguished them, and, with fuzzboxes and falsetto harmonies (from Sharp) to the fore, comparisons to They Might Be Giants hardly delineated their musical compass, despite helping to pinpoint their humour. The participants, meanwhile, remained awe-struck at the depth of their appeal: "We've sold all these albums when, honestly speaking, we're a super straight-ahead American guitar garage rock band." The title of their grandious 1996 album infuriated the security company Pinkerton Service, and they issued legal proceedings shortly after its release - the abum failed completely to sell. DGC, however, had the band make one last chance at a hit with "The Good Life," but by the time the single was released, MTV and modern rock radio had withdrawn their support not only to Weezer, but their style of guitar-driven punk-pop in general. Shortly after the tour in support of Pinkerton was completed in 1997, it appeared as though Weezer had fallen off the face of the planet. Stung by the public's initial dismal reaction to their sophomore effort (ever-fickle Rolling Stone named Pinkerton the Worst Album of 1996), the band took time off to regroup and plan their next move. Unhappy with the sluggish rate of the reassessment period, Sharp left the group to concentrate more fully on the Rentals, fueling rumors that Weezer had broken up. But a funny thing happened during Weezer's self-imposed exile — while their copycat offspring were falling by the wayside (Nerf Herder, Nada Surf), a whole new generation of emocore enthusiasts discovered Weezer's diamond-in-the-rough sophomore effort for the first time, and their audience grew despite not having a new album in the stores.