History

Early days (1992-93)

Weezer formed on February 14, 1992, in Los Angeles, California, by Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper.^[2]

The Blue Album (1993-94)

Pinkerton (1995-97)

In late December 1994, Weezer took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays. Cuomo traveled back east to his home state of Connecticut, and using an eight-track recorder, he began piecing together demo material for Weezer's next album. Cuomo's original concept for Weezer's sophomore effort was to be a space-themed rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole.^[11]

On Hiatus (1997-2000)

Weezer completed their touring for Pinkerton in the summer of 1997. The members of the band took a break, with drummer Patrick Wilson returning to his home in Portland, Oregon to work on his side project, The Special Goodness, Matt Sharp left to complete the follow-up album for his group The Rentals, and Brian Bell went to work on his group, Space Twins.

SS2K - The Summer Sessions (2000)

In the summer of 2000, Weezer (now consisting of Rivers Cuomo, Mikey Welsh, Pat Wilson, and Brian Bell) went on tour. Weezer's setlist consisted of 14 new songs that fans have labeled the Summer Songs of 2000 (commonly abbreviated, SS2K). When 13 of these songs did not appear on Weezer's next album, fans of the songs started a petition demanding the release of studio versions. Eventually, mp3s of live recordings of the songs were made available on the band's official website for download. Three SS2K songs, "Hash Pipe", "Dope Nose," and "Slob," have appeared on studio albums ("Hash Pipe" on the Green Album and "Dope Nose" and "Slob" appearing on Maladroit).

The Green Album & Maladroit (2001-03)

Eventually, the band went back into the studio to produce a third album. Weezer (2001) chose to repeat the self-titled name of their first release. This album quickly became known as The Green Album due to its distinctive bright green coloring. Shortly after the release of The Green Album, Weezer went on another American tour. They attracted a new generation of fans thanks to heavy MTV rotation for the videos of their hit singles "Hash Pipe" and "Island in the Sun."

Make Believe (2003-05)

From December 2003 to the fall of 2004, the members of Weezer recorded a large amount of material intended for a new album to be released in the spring of 2005 with producer Rick Rubin. The band's early recording efforts became available to the public through the band's website. The demos, entitled the Album Five Demos (or album 4.5), were a big hit with fans but only one song, "Hold Me," was included on the finished album. That album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005.

On hiatus again (2006-present)

The band is currently on break from touring and promotion. In the summer of 2006, MTV news speculated on the breakup of the band, based on statements made by Rivers Cuomo in an MTV interview. [2] Many national media outlets picked up on the headline and began announcing the breakup as fact. But subsequent statements by Cuomo in his blog pointed out that he was misquoted and the band is still together. Other members of the band have also announced the band is still together.[3]

Members

The band currently consists of the following members:

Notes