The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Weezer

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

Weezer's Rivers Cuomo and Patrick Wilson visit QLS in the studio. Ahead of its 30th anniversary Weezer reflects on its famed debut, the blue album. Patrick and Rivers describe their own upbringings, the earliest days of Weezer, and how The Cars' Ric Ocasek was the perfect producer. This conversation between peers shows some intersectional histories and creates a few laughs too.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I bowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players

flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-hosted the podcast via Way End with my old friend Daniel on our podcast to the away end, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1020. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA.

Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Just fake it until you make it. Here we go. Suprema, sub, sub, subprima, role call. Suprema, sub, sub, subprima, role call. Suprema, sub, subprima, subprima, subprima, subprima, role call. Shrina Cuomo, yeah.

Wilson Bell, yeah. Four heroes in 94? Yeah. That saved me from hell. Roll call. Suprema, sub, sub, subprima, subprima, role call. Suprema, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, Role Call.

My name is Fonte, yeah, not Deezzo O'Meiro, found out about Weezer, yeah, playing on guitar hero. Role Call, Supremma, Sa, Subprema, Role Call. Supremma, Su, Submina, Role Call. My name is Sugar, yeah, I'm such a geezer. My first concert was the actual buddy Holly. Suprema Subima

Roll call I got you Supra Supra Supra Roll call I'm me Yeah Me B

Yeah God damn Yeah I am Roll car Nice one Suprema Suprema

Roll call Suprema Suprema Submur Roll call My name is Patrick Wilson I am in New York City

Yeah I want to say head of my wife because she's exceptionally pretty Rocault car Supremea from downtown Suprema Roll call Supremia Supraima Roll call

My name is Jonas Yeah Actually it's not Yeah It's rivers Yeah Busted rhymes on the spot What

Suprima Subrima Cepraima Roll call Suprema Suprema Subrima Roca

Call Roe call Suprema Suprema Roll call Ro That's the first time a guest has ever

voluntarily raised their hand to go next That was my turn That was first and only Well done Every other guest is like Not me I'm not doing

Ladies and gentlemen Welcome to Questlove Supreme I am Questlove your host Team Supreme Hello Good people How are we? Good morning

Good morning Yes good morning Fucking awesome Good morning nothing Nothing happened to Nothing happened today? Nope. Not yet.

Not yet. It's too early. Speaking of 94. Yo. Whoa. Wow. Okay. As we kind of reflect on the significance of April of 94, which was probably significant for two X.

June. Yeah. Well, no, no. Well, April of 94 being the domino that also ends in June. Wait, how do you know the date by heart? I'm talking about OJ. Yeah, I know that you're talking about OJ Simpson. Well, who commits that to memory?

Oh, because the basketball game. No, I watched the, I was unemployed that summer. So I watched the whole trial. You weren't working on an electric lady then? No, it was right before I started. Where did you start there? 96. Yeah, middle of 96.

All right, so this is way after you guys. Okay, I see. Basically, I will probably say that today's conversation is long overdue. I think everyone thinks that they have a special relationship with an entity or whatever, like theirs is unique alone. But I think that my relationship to our guest today is fairly unique than that of their fan basis connection to them. Yeah, what did your roll call mean?

Well, yeah, I was going to say that when I tell the folklore of the Roots Time at DGC Records, back in 93, 94, when we first signed, I would assume that both X got their record deals around the same time. I was made aware that they were releasing their record in 94. And kind of when we had that stalled beginning of which our album was supposed to come out in June of 94. And then the label's like, not yet. We have to get you a staff first and all those things. Those were really, really lean years. So I can't believe I'm telling this story. I love it. So pretty much for quick survival money, You went to the CD closet.

Wait, you too? Oh my God. Wait, the way that I'm like, wait, the way that I'm like, wait. I wonder. I'm like under trepidation of like, I don't know if I should tell the story or not. Yo, but I will say that as far as value is concerned, you guys, ecstasy. Oh, yeah. And Beck.

No, seriously. Like any moment of like the moment that we all had to like go see Paul fiction, all right, let's go to Geffen real quick. Grab some weasers. Got him. Yes. Get back. Wait a minute.

But how are you guys who were the people that provided in some indirect way the finances for my survival, 94, also doing the same thing? We were 90. We were going there in 93. and it was like Guns and Roses, use your illusion. Yes. Oh my God.

That saved our... Dude, I literally thought that I was... You were selling them, you're saying? You're hawking them? Oh. Yeah. Yeah. That was our ramen money.

So you were just taking CDs to listen to. Okay. So there's a crime. All right. Yes. Yes. On Questless Supreme. Using our guest today.

But the thing was is that I was always shocked. The period that I was doing it, in my mind, I'm like, okay, they'll want the spaghetti incident you're losing and it was like no all of the Neil young geoffin error records trans all that stuff nah they won at Weaser and then one day after like six months of hawking you guys I'm like all right let me listen to this and then I became more obsessed and then once I started reading about like your kiss

obsession and all that stuff I was like wow like there's some weird kinship here Plus, you know, I really credit you guys more than anything for, at least making me aware of Spike Jones as a video director. Anyway, longest intro in history. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Weezer to the show. Yeah, welcome. I had a whole, like, scroll of fan letter to do the intro, but I decided not to do that. Just a confession, that's all. Yeah.

Are you really shocked that this was going down? No, you got to do what you're going to? No, you got to do what you got to do. You never did that? I stole so much shit from you, from everybody. Are you kidding me? You're not supposed to say it. So, wait, first thing I'll ask is because of the, I mean, your entire canon now, and, you know, you're running out of colors and I'm highly, and I'm highly jealous of the synesthesia of it all, like the fact that, you know, each album represents a mood or whatever.

I'm so jealous that you guys really got to explore that. Is it cringe-worthy to listen to your first record? Like, do you accept where you were as artists when you were making this in 93? Or is it you listened to it and you're like, ah, could have, that stanza could have been better or this mix could have been better? Like, are you overly critical? For me, I'm less critical now than I was then when we finished it. I remember at the time thinking we made some big,

mistakes, specifically like the, I wish we had gone bigger with the drum sound, and then we did exactly that on our second record, Pinkerton. We just turned up the room mics. Corpression. More of that. But now it's like, yeah, that's what the album sounds. It sounds how it's supposed to sound. I love it. How do you feel about the perception of Pinkerton and the fact that, I mean, it's basically the standard of, I won't say postmodern leftist center records. I mean, There's a lot of it, but just the fact that now it's used as like, well, I'm a real fan because I have Pinkerton tattoos. You know what I mean? Like the amount of dissertations I've read about the album on the internet and your Weezer Paloosa, have you guys been on your own Weezer Paloosa page at all?

No. It's very scary. Yeah, Weaserpedia, maybe. Oh, wee. No, Paloosa. I'm sorry. Yes, Weezer Pelluza. That's a good idea, though, Weezer Pooza.

Well, yeah, your concert. You know, fans are going to fan, and that's great. And I don't think I should be, like, paying too much attention to that stuff. What I care about is, like, I just want, when we play a concert, I want as much harmony as possible in the room, just like everyone to be united. I love that feeling. So the only time that's a problem is when, like, you have different segments of the crowd want to hear different songs.

But that's why it's great to, like, play huge venues. sometimes and then sometimes play really little venues. You know, the super hardcore fans, they're going to want to hear Pinkerton, some B-Sides, that kind of thing. That's super fun too. I assume that come 2026, you guys will. If we can get past the Blue album thing, that would be fun, yeah. What does it like to return to it?

Do you have seminal memories of the making of the album? and I'm also kind of jealous that you guys know what electric lady was like when the dome was in front of it. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Wait, were you there with us the day we were going to protest? Yeah, yeah. Trying to like tie ourselves to.

Yeah, the last day, the last day of that, that dome that was in front of electric lady. He's calling it a dome, but it's a rounded brick wall. Well, we're a dome. Or a dome goes above you. A sphere. Well, a sphere-ish, but yes. Okay, so at the time, I thought it was an ink glue or whatever. I mean, I don't know what to make of it, but...

It's a rounded brick wall. Yeah, brick wall, circular brick wall because Jimmy Hendricks didn't believe in corners. Yeah. Oh, really? And, yeah, so our first week there of doing DeAngelo's voodoo, and we found out they were going to knock the wall down, and we were going to go all vigilant and chain ourselves to the front door, like, in front of the breaker. and then, of course, at 6 a.m., none of us were to stand in front of it. No.

We got to work like, uh, it's going. Oh, gee. Actually, let me start with you, Pat. What was your, like, your first musical memory in life? Barry Manilow. What? Yeah. This one's for you.

Wow. Like his face on the cover is huge. I don't know why I liked it, but I was, like, it was pretty small. Nice. Yeah. It was unavoidable also. Yeah. You like the even now album?

That's the one. That's my dad. It all sounds like a 70s movie to me. But I love it. Yeah. The same mellow intro. Exactly. So you mean purchasing that record or just?

I don't know how I got it, but I got it. My brother and sister are much older than me. They're like in their early 70s now. So they would leave records lying around. Triple down. Like, oh, here's weird Neil Young record. Here's, you know, the Who, Quadrophenia, all this stuff. And I just thought they were great to throw, you know, as a little kid.

As for his beast. Yeah, this is whatever. But eventually I started listening to it. Stuff like Van Halen, then I got into on my own or like Rush. Right. And that's when I, you know, got into Rockmore. Where were you born? Buffalo.

Okay. Okay. Buffalo, New York, upstate. Nice. All right, Rivers. Okay. What was your first musical memory? It was all right.

First memory would be listening to my dad play the drums. He was jazz drummer. So it would have been him and his buddies jamming. Who do you play with? Wayne Short. Wayne Shorter, right? Yeah, he made it on to a Wayne Shorter session in 1970, right?

I think in Manhattan, Manhattan, or Brooklyn. Okay. What was your dad's name? Frank Cuomo. Not Francis? Actually, legally, it's Francis, yeah. How did you know that? I just...

I didn't know that. We're in a band together. So your father playing drums around the house, that was your first musical memory? Yeah. Okay. You know, I read this interview long ago we described, I guess, the discovery of kiss was your kind of come-to-Jesus moment. Yeah. All right, can you describe that?

Like, what was that feeling? I mean, you're one year older than I am, but it's so weird that you actually listen to the music. I was obsessed with Kiss, but only as to whenever we would go to, like, department stores or whatever, like Sears, I would immediately beeline for the record section and just stay there for like the two-hour duration while they're shopping around. And I'm noticing that for band that started in 74, like they released a whole, like a whole collection by 1976 where, and I was obsessed over these record covers but never listened to the music. So like, I think my first experience was Love Gun and Christine 16, but for yours, like, what was it about

you actually listened to the music? Like, I just got as far as the cover, and that was it, try to imagine what they sounded like. So when I was five or so, my family moved to an ashram, and we were pretty cut off from pop culture at that point. There was a lot of, like, Sanskrit chanting. That was my main music experience at that point. That's what I listen to now. But there was some hippie music, too. I remember Cat Stevens, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, that kind of stuff. I would hear those records. But then there was this one girl who was my age.

She came and visited the ashram. Her name was Shanti. And she had rock and roll over by Kiss. So it's probably 77. She poisoned the whole ashram with that. She accidentally left it. And we put it on the record player. And we had like a little cassette player also.

So we pressed record as the record was going. So then I had a recording of this record. And that's the only kiss album I had at that point. It's really the only kind of rock or intense music I had. But we would listen to it over and over. But it had the sound of my brother and I running around the coffee table in circles over and over, like spazzing out as we're listening to this rock music. That's what I listened to for a couple of. years and then then I started going to record stores myself exactly like you did and I went

straight to the K section to find the kiss albums and like see yeah this is incredible now cut to my mom in 77 saying honey boy that's the devil's music that's that's kids in Satan's snare well I got to add to this story I don't know if you guys know this story so you guys know this story so You know, I grew up. My father was like a doo-op singer in the 50s. So by the 70s, he's going through his, what I can call, like, the revival phase. Like, whatever was 20 years. Yeah.

Happy days and shit. And so, yeah, anything that had remotely to do with doo-op music or, you know, the revival of American Capriety, Happy Days, LaBern and Shirley, Greece, all that stuff. My dad was a part of it. But somehow, like, he got off that service. circuit and sort of pivoted to just a regular nightclub act of which in the 70s, if you're looking for a good time on, you know, a weeknight or whatever, you go to your local holiday in and somewhere in the bar, there's, you know, some legend of yesterday you're playing.

So weird enough, this is in Buffalo, New York, 1978. And I guess the protocol of the day is that acts would. stay at the airport hotel always because it's right next to the airport. And we did about three weeks, I think of Sheridan in Buffalo, of which, you know, Boston came through. The group Kansas also came through. A lot of city and state name. Yeah, exactly. But one particular night, it was on a Friday night.

And all I remember was this might have been 79. I remember Dan Hartman just did his second song on Midnight Special. It was like whatever the follow-up song was, the instant replay. I think that's a song called This Is It. So he does it and the credits are going up. And I was thirsty. It's like, I guess like 1.30, 2 in the morning. I go to the dresser, grab 50 cents to get a soda.

And I walk in the hallway. Now this is a circular hotel. I walk in the hallway to the soda machine, get my soda, and then the elevator, being, opens. Now, I'm eight years old, and that entire album cover artwork is now coming to life. Like, it's fucking Chris and Ace and Paul and Gene and their bodyguards in kind of post-makeup. That fuck you up? All I remember was I looked and I screamed and I ran to the right thing was I actually ran

past them twice. It was saying literally descending. So they were performing there for three days and, you know, instantly. It was like elation curiosity, but mostly terror because also I saw Kiss Meets to the Phantom. Oh my God. Which as an eight-year-old, like that totally fucked with me. I mean, now it's a total camp film. but the next day

I remember going to the game room and hotels, all the arcade games and binball games would they would have arcades inside of those hotels and I remember going down there and it was just, it's like something out of all most famous.

Like all these women like seeing Paul without his makeup worn and Gene and they signed autographs and whatnot and that was like and someone gave me a Christine 16-45 Oh, dude. And that was kind of my kiss induction.

Wow, that's crazy. Yeah. But for you, like, what spoke of it? Because as I got older, I was taught that that's not, you know, I'm listening to older generation. That's not real rock. Like, you know, that's camp rock. But what was it that spoke to you?

They're not supposed to be the most credible rock act of all time. But they sure seem to inspire a lot of kids our age at that time. and a lot of us went on to start bands ourselves. So I'm not sure what it was. Because in my case, I didn't have the visual. It was just the music. I mean, I had seen briefly the album cover, but it's just this weird kind of abstract thing

of their design of their faces. I didn't know what they looked like or what the costumes were or about the pyro or the production. I just had the music. And that was enough to completely get me excited. It was the sound of the guitar, the intense riffage, and the sound of their singing, Paul Stanley, going up into that falsetto. I didn't understand what the lyrics were at all.

Have you ever met them? I was going to say, have you met them? Have they broke your heart yet? Have they broke your heart recently? We met him. Yeah, I met him a couple times, but recent, we just played, we opened for them. They asked us to open for them at their last show in Australia. So we're like, sure.

Gene was nice. He, we were, I was so excited. This will be your first, but go ahead. Was Gene nice? We, I guess. They were in this, they were doing this big meet and greet with all these fans. And, and they interrupted the line to bring Weezer in there and say hi. And I was so excited.

And they're, they're so tall. They're like seven feet tall in these big heels. And I went up so expected. And Gene saw me. and what did he say he was like Rivers, Rivers, you're going to be famous in jail. That's a quote for the ages. You'll be the most famous guy in jail.

And you were like, what does that mean? It doesn't have to mean anything. And to this day, I'm still puzzling it over. Like, what does that mean? And it sounds so significant, but I'm not sure. It's kind of weird now because, yeah, like when I've seen a few times and you know he's been to the tonight show whatever and then he

kind of talks like uh who's the comedian Jackie uh oh Jackie Mackey Mason like it's yeah yeah no he was trying to be funny and he has a cat skills level like I wasn't used to that like everything was did it yeah I was like is this Gene Simmons that I've heard it

like that sort of thing but yeah but the other time I met him was probably around 2000 it was some private movie screening and he sat next to me and I remember the one thing he said was just whatever you do, make sure you screw over your hardcore fans. He's really giving you some notable quotables. Don't listen to them. They're going to lead you astray.

They want you to stay the same. And you're like, well, you know, I liked it when you guys wear makeup. Yeah. Seriously. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me.

Cliver Taylor the four. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands.

I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Stepbrothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever.

I went and had lunch with them one day. And I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through and I know it's a place they come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you. Which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

and he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar, this is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars. And now, I guess also is the co-host of the away end, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist. And John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old.

I watched every game. and I fell in love. On our new podcast, the Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years

since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak,

and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always wondered if the design of the Weezer logo was that you're like brainchild to come up with something that will stick with the fan base in a way that the Kiss logo, you know, like many of us would just draw it in school.

Yeah, and in the 80s and, in, in, in, in the 80s and, high school, you'd spend a lot of time drawing band logos in your notebook as you're supposed to be listening to the teacher. Right. It wasn't his kiss. There was many of them. It's a standard Gen X move. Like Van Halen. I just drove VHs all day. You see all day. Do kids do that still? No. Captain Kirk still does that. He does? Yeah. I have a question though still with regards to Kiss, but maybe this will segue. Was it Kiss? Were they the reason wanted to go to Electric Lady, or was that a Rick O'Kasek decision?

He pronounced it Ocasic. Ocasic, but yeah, that was his call. He wanted us to come to New York, and he wanted us to work at that studio. But, of course, I immediately made the connection, because I remember staring at the back of those LPs for hours on end, just kind of reading them over, not knowing what anything meant, but it's like, Electric Lady. electric lady, it's like, yeah, let's go there. Yeah, they did a bunch of records there. Yeah, they did. What period were you working at Tower Records on Sunset? I worked there like

all of 90 and half a 91. Even though I've worked at a record store once before, like to me, that was like one of my first fantasies in life. Like everyone's playing house and doctor, and I would play record store in the house. During prime record shopping season or the time period in which Axel going to the record store was, you know, a thing that was an everyday occurrence. What was it like back then, like your experience in, like, were you the cool tastemaker guy that I would ask, like, okay, so what are you into? Like, give me something. Were you that person? No, I was the opposite. Yeah, when I got there, I was pretty much straight from the sticks in Connecticut, upstate Connecticut. And I'd just grown up listening to, like,

heavy metal music and I came to L.A. to be a shredder and I got a job there and other people there were a few years older, which meant a lot at the time, even just a few years and they had a much broader knowledge of the history of music and especially rock music and alternative music. I didn't know anything about that. So working there was a real education and I got exposed to all different kinds of music. And slowly my own style evolved from being a, you know, a Metallica cover band type to what you hear on the blue album. First of all, what was Sunset Boulevard like? Like my period of Sunset Boulevard was more akin to 94, 95. And if you ask any rapper of 94, 95, like it was a different environment for us because I believe like that's the first time that

mainstream rap sort of had real estate on that on that particular street. So my thing was more or less like it looks like a death row party or I'm good on that. I'm going to stay in the hotel like that sort of thing. But for that period of which, you know, from the books that I've read of Neil Strauss and the Motley crew stuff, like were you thinking that you would have to morph into what was then the hair, the glam hair, rock scene or?

Yeah, so I got, I got to Sunset Boulevard in 1989, and it was probably the last year of that phase, and it was just a paradise for metalheads. Every Friday and Saturday night is packed with hundreds, thousands of kids and, like, guys with long, teased hair and wearing spandex and passing out flyers.

And I was coming from a more, I don't know, again, like shreddy, progressive metal type of thing. Who are your heroes? Not at all glam. I mean, the best well-known would be Metallica, but I was also into lesser-known bands like... Inge. Well, maybe Inve. He's pretty well-known. Like real more like shreddy, instrumental type music.

Yeah. No girls. Yeah. Not anywhere. Yeah. I get it. So, yeah, we didn't fit in when we got to the sunset strip. We tried to make it a little more poppy for sure.

Was it easy to amalgamate in the scene at all? Or did you feel like an outcast? Didn't quite work. The band broke up. The guys moved back to Connecticut. Yeah. And that's when I got the job at Tower. But the plan was literally like, let's go to California.

Yeah. Like, we're going to be huge. People are going to love the... Listen to this arpeggio. They're not going to be able to resist. That upstate Connecticut sound. How do you feel about the perception of Weezer versus what you really feel you are in your heart?

Because I think that if someone were to say, like, you know, to try to paraphrase what you guys are on surface, I'm certain you've read or whatever. It's like, okay, like this all Revenge of the Nerds thing, like finally geeks get a sea of the table whatever but you guys did it at a time where that wasn't seen as cool like it was still an us and them or kind of a divided conflict of atmosphere whereas now i see a lot of non-nerds claim oh i'm always a nerd like dog just because you got glasses on or whatever but because i know that at early root shows we were

would have conflicts about it because my perception was that Tariq was upset that I was too dwee in interviews and publicly. And then once like the internet started, like I made my thing known, the sort of champagne life that he was expecting that we were all going to have as a rap group was passing us by and like all the nerds were coming here. And that's always been like a silent now, of course, like we're, you know, we have an embracement of our audience, but I think in the very beginning,

there was kind of resentment that, like, wait, why does our audience look like a mirror? Like, how did you feel? Because, again, only having, knowing you guys as a very convenient way for me to have $100 in my pocket that weekend for whatever I wanted, hawking the CDs. 100 bucks?

Yeah, you know. Once I listen to it, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what you guys were because the guitars are so aggressively loud. And then when I looked at the cover, I was like, wait a minute, these aren't like rock-looking guys or whatever. And so, but for you, how do you feel about like the idea that you guys are the catnip to sort of nerd nation that never felt seen? Yeah, there's definitely a lot of conflict, especially when we first broke through. And it's interesting to hear that you guys went through the same thing, a similar thing. Oh, we're still going through it. I just accept it.

Yeah, I feel way more accepting now, too. I think our core fans really know that there's a lot more to us than the quirky image. And whether it's the emotional catharsis of Pinkerton or the eight-minute. guitar shreddage and only in dreams on the first album. It's like they know there's a ton of emotional depth there. And as long as we have that connection with that audience, I feel pretty satisfied. But early on, yeah, we were, you know, people just took us at face value.

And that's why, like, on the album cover, I was like, I'm taking my glasses off. Or in the Buddy Holly video, I take the glasses off. I don't want to just be a shtick, you know. when we put the record out, they're like, okay, we're going to send out this bio, so give the press an introduction to who you are. I was like, yeah, it's like, no, we're going to write our own bio. So we wrote our bio, and it was the worst decision we ever made.

Yeah, I was like, really? Because we had started to see what the press were latching on to, even as we're playing the clubs in L.A., and every article said, like, quirky, geeks, fun, all this stuff. And so we said, okay, write whatever you want. want, do not use any of the following words. Quirky, geek, you know, we just went down this list. You try to give them a restriction?

Yeah, we literally did that. Oh, damn. It's just the worst first move. I know. Yeah, my trick was, um, whoever wrote the worst review of your album, you hire that person and write the bio of your second record. That way, by conflict of interest. Oh.

They can't review the record. Right. They can't, they can't review the record. So, like the six. Like the six critics that never liked the roots or whatever, like I've always made sure that they brilliant. And then one of them caught on like, wait a minute. Oh, I know what you're doing.

I was like, yeah, exactly. I'm stopping you from trash. Right. Exactly. Well, first of all, getting a deal at Geffen. Like, why did you guys choose DGC at the time? Well, a lot of the bands that came up with us or right before us, they went the indie route or the faux indie route where they signed with.

was like Caroline, Carolina. Oh, wow. Yeah, one of those smaller independent labels, and then they... Slow pot, was it? Yeah, yeah, and then they're... But they were farm teams for the big labels. Yeah, the plan is to graduate to the big label for the second record. But we're like, no, we love these songs.

We think this is going to be incredible album. Who knows, this may be it. You never know, so we want to go straight to a major. And so we made the demo. tape, we shopped it around, and everybody passed, except Geffen came back at the very end. Who was the A&R? Well, it was a junior guy who didn't even have the power to sign us. His name is Todd Sullivan. Okay.

Oh, yeah, trust me, I know the entire staff there, yeah, yeah. Tony Berg kind of backed him up, I think. Right, right. So he was like the last person in L.A. to actually hear the tape, and he's like, wow, I like this. So he went out on a limb and signed us. What year did you record the demo tape? Oh, the demo tape? Yeah, when did you? At the end of 92.

While you're doing this in 92, like how aware of you guys were of a Nirvana, of a Pearl Jam, of what we now know is grunge culture, like coming around the corner. Because you guys don't fit in any of those boxes. Well, we were well aware. So because of working at Tower Records from 1990, I was hip to Nirvana and the Pixies. and Sonic Youth and all these bands, I never would have heard any of that stuff if I wasn't working at Tower Records. So we actually, before Weezer,

Pat and I started a grunge band, and we tried to sound like Durvana. It was rad. Yeah, it was, is, is, is, is, is, is... So, can you explain to me to an outsider sort of studying it from afar? If I hear we're starting a grunge band, then, of course, yeah,

I might play the idiot role and just be like, okay, you guys wore flannel. What do you distinguish the genres? Because for the longest, even when I worked at Sam Goodies, in my mind, the day that appetite for destruction came out, and I'm working at Sam Goodies when the original cover was, if you remember, there's two covers for Guns and Rose's Appetite for Destruction, the original one was like banned. It was like a woman, some robot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

you know and so immediately I was just been like heavy metal and then someone kind of a the jack black figure of that particular record store is like you know well actually that's you know hard rock or glam rock and I was like well what's the difference like it's loud guitarist how do you differentiate like the between genres the genres yeah not at all these guys are the ones that would strategize and be like, all right, you have to cut your hair, you have to, you can't wear that. And I'm all like, but, dude, let's just fucking jam. Like, let's go.

Let's go. Basonically speaking, though. Yeah, there is, I think there's some meaningful differences that, that anyone would pick up on. So grunge to me, if our band was called Fuzz, is much more blues-based. Penitonic. And a little more active riff-wise, is pentatonic and blues-based. And then vocally, I was trying to sing more like with a scratchy type of voice, which I'm not at all suited to sing like. I guess more in the Black Sabbath tradition.

Almost Janesey, though. Was the lyrical content different, too, because of... Yeah, there was, it was a little more swearing and a little more abstract and impressionistic. I think, yeah, very influenced by Jane's addiction. and then over that the course of the first year of working with Weezer and writing those songs the big shift is like

okay let's write in a major key and let's use these common chords you'd hear. So risky though yeah because like major keys don't reek of like yeah yeah like it's not exclamation point even though especially like for me the most notable thing about

my name is Jonas is actually how you end the song. You know what I mean? Like it's bookended by the electric guitars coming later. And so I see it as, wow, there's, there's, I don't, I mean, I don't know if you would say if Brian Wilson had a super hard edge to his musical work. But for me, it was just nothing I ever heard before with someone embracing acoustic, the sound like acoustic guitar and pretty melodies and whatnot. And this angst thing, which I think is also effective. Like, I felt like I was such a massive fan of public getting me. And I really loved the way that their aggressive sound gave me release as a listener. I was a very non-aggressive guy, but put these headphones on and suddenly

my walk is harder, you know, that sort of thing. Like, you feel that. And I felt like that's what you guys were sort of doing. But what was O'Kasik saying at the time when you're presenting these songs? Well, I mean, he was a song guy all day. And that's what attracted him to us, I think, as he heard River songs. And he was like, these are great songs.

And that's where it. How'd you link up with him, though? As Todd at Geffen at DGC was really forced us to work with a producer, we didn't want to because growing up making demos with different engineers and producers, they'd always start turning the knobs

to where it doesn't sound like us or just sounds whack. But he said, you got it, it's your first record, this is a major label, you need a producer. And then one day I was in the supermarket shopping for ramen noodles or whatever, and just what I needed by the cars came on.

And and dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun and immediately I recognize like, whoa, that's kind of like what we are supposed to be sounding like let's work with that guy so they sent our demo tape to rick and rick responded immediately like i'm talking on the phone with rick o'cassic from the cars and he gets us like nobody else in la music industry had gotten us yet so it's like yeah but this is going to be exciting what was he like in the studio man because i was i mean i was a cars fan but like what was what was

he like production he's a sweet man or just a lovely man yeah and musically he was you know we looked up to him a lot and when if he said something we had to be like all right yeah sense how do you decide where the peril falls because i'm still trying to determine if there's really such a thing as a democracy or just the idea of a democracy like you guys meet ahead of time and communicate before you get with rick or you just say okay he's the leader and Because I've been in situations where people try to like buddy up to me and sort of, you know, give their two cents and don't let the other guys hear, that sort of thing. Like how do you balance communication and... You mean especially between us and Rick?

Well, yeah, I mean, between you guys and Rick and just as the group. Like, is it a thing where it's like all of you get an equal say or... Well, I think especially at the time working on the blue album, Rick, he was just perfect for us. He knew when to push, and most of the time he'd just let us do our thing. And when it came time to push, you know, he was insistent, and he kept coming back and back again and again. Like, you know, you really should consider putting Buddy Holly on the record. No, no, no, no, that's for our second record.

The last song? Wow. That always happens. Next day. Come on, man. Give it another listen. and I think you guys should really finish this one up. No, no, no, that's for our second record, you know.

But he just kept coming back and he was so sweet that eventually it's like, okay, let's try it. And then like, dang, he's right. And he did the same thing with my guitar sound. I walked in like with a super muddy sound. I was using the neck. Humbucker in the neck position. When I was writing by myself in the garage, it sounded amazing.

It was huge fat sound, very bassy. It just didn't work in the sound and the context. of a full band and a big studio. So he kept saying, why don't you try this guitar? And he'd hand me his 58 Jr. Gibson Jr. And I'd try it. I was like, no, that's too thin. But he just kept coming back.

And then eventually, I hear it all in the mix. It's like, dang, he's right again. What was the process for finding guitar sounds? Was it like guitar, pedals, amp, and, like, where was the finageling done the most? Like, because, I mean, the guitar sounds or wheezer are the most iconic guitars in rock and roll, in my opinion. It's pretty straight in. Just like, right? Yeah.

Yeah. And that's Rick's guitar. And I use it to this day. Wow. And no pedals. No pedals. I was totally against pedals. You are?

Yeah. Just Marshall Stackage. In fact, just the other day, I sent a note to the mixer about Tom Petty cover. We just didn't say, can we hear it without the effect on that guitar? Yeah. We're still like that. Like, no reverb. Because I don't know.

Like, engineers and producers, they keep adding things like that because they feel like they've got to do something. But I like just this straight up sound. And one more question. About my name is Jonas. Like the arpeggiating acoustic guitar business, is that more of like a Ingvei shredded situation? Or like, was there a classical music world?

I mean, it's not really Ingvehvey. But, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's more come from like Elliot Fiskey, nilony business. or like is it, where did that come from? It came from Jason Cropper, who was in the band at the time, and I was his roommate, and he was just walking around with an acoustic guitar doing that.

I'm like, what is that? And he showed it to me, and I kind of arranged it into a four-track demo and gave it to Rivers, and he added the climbs at the end with the... Yeah, so Jason was like a little bit of the odd man out in the band because he was a little bit younger, and he was from Northern California. The rest of us are all East Coast guys. So InWox, Jason,

it's like this big hippie guy and like all kinds of finger-picking on the acoustic. In fact, for the first year of the band, he only played acoustic. So it's like... But he was so burly that every show, one song in, p'rown, there goes a string.

So, like, we were like, maybe you should play electric. But he played. He played it aggressively. Yeah. What a character. Yeah. Love that guy.

He was from, he was pretty hippie. Yeah. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that. excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

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There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriend. Friends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the I'm Hot Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through. and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent.

He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat just hanging. in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider,

you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of the Away

end, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, the away end, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, it's hope, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty.

Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How old were you when you made that first album? 23. Which was the age Brian Wilson was when they made Pet Sounds. Yeah. Just a comparison. 15 number one songs into their career.

So go fuckers. Lyrically speaking, what was your mind state in terms of, because, you know, it's, it's, some of the songs are confrontational somewhat and really a motive and expressive in a way that I felt resonated with a particular artist that you just didn't hear of before. and a lot has been made of your songwriting and your lyrics. Like, what is your process for your songwriting? Definitely influenced by the Pixies and Nirvana, where you can't quite tell what they're singing about. It's not like a traditional song lyric.

And so it never sounds corny. It's just always weird and intriguing. So I had that, yeah, I had that side to me for sure. And, like, maybe you can hear that in the sweater song or Buddy Holly. It's like, what the heck is he saying? my name is Jonas but then I also liked really straightforward plain language and just talking about my emotions what I'm going through and you know I was influenced by Brian Wilson he does he did that a lot I can't they have a song called in my

room just singing about that safe place and so we did a song called in the garage kind of same thing talking about kiss posters and all right all right all right on the wall. For you, like, you represent, or at least as an example for, like, future creators, like, in terms of using, it's almost like a, it feels like a release, at least I think so. And I don't know if any of the songs were personal in your life or not personal, but even, like, your vocal delivery, like, the way that it's delivered. For me, it just felt like a cathartic release that you really just don't hear. And, you know, it's not the, like, a power, lead singer that is singing as opposed to emoting, which is hard to do. So for you, how personal

is this record? It is extremely personal and and cathartic. And writing is just the best feeling to get my feelings out into a lyric and melody and feel like, yeah, that's it. That's exactly what I'm feeling right now and I just really expressed it. I'm not good at that in normal life in a conversation or something or my relationships. So to get it into a song, so you got to get out in the song. To be able to hear it back and rewind the tape and listen to it again, it's like yes, that is it. Were you guys at all shocked at how it caught on? Like no one goes in here saying, okay, it's going to be a multi-platinum record. Like, or did you figure that this is going to catch on to? I had both voices in my head at the same time. Part of me is thinking, you know,

we're going to sell 100 copies to our friends and family. That's going to be it. I'm going to go back and get my job guitar records. That was cool, but it's over. But part of me is thinking, this album is amazing and this band is amazing. And once the right audience picks up on it, this is going to be huge and it's going to go on to be an important album for a long time. So I had both those voices in my head. what were those early shows like promoting once the album came out? Like how many, well, it was also, it was also, you know, the period of us as Americans getting to know the festival or this whole new way of presenting your music. Like, what was the process of promoting it?

Like, who did they pair you with and? Yeah, what was the circuit? Yeah. The key was honestly K-Rock and MTV. That was the two big levers. that we were fortunate enough to be involved in. Yeah, the first bigger tour was with Lush. We were opening for Lush,

and that was just kind of cool. It was like, whoa, that's a really cool band, and it was great to be out with them. And then we went out with Live for a couple months, and that was great because they had a much bigger audience. Those were bigger venues. And at this time, Undone over the summer had been a thing, and then were we at the Buddy Holly stage at that point?

Yeah. And then the say it ain't so after that. Lots of radio shows, too. I remember once having an argument with one of our video directors because I didn't realize, well, obviously, the sweater song had to been tracked. The song was twice as fast, right? Yeah.

You guys were doing it on 45. because I couldn't, for me, the coolest part of the sweater video was how, I don't know if who's the one stab is Scott snapping his fingers? That's Matt. Matt, yeah. Oh, Matt, right, right. Just, right. And I kept micromanage and our director like, no, man, like, we need a, I want a cool moment

look like, I don't see the cool moment. Like, we don't look cool. We don't look as. And comparing yourself to, we. Weaser? You were thinking it? So much revelation happening today. You don't understand.

Like, it's almost like I wish there was a tale of two cities or kind of a sliding doors kind of story of both the roots and Weezer because I feel like we were doing the exact opposite of what you guys were doing, even though I almost feel as though we were in sort of adjacent or these boxes of commonality. but no all the time at the label like especially when it caught like right before buddy holly came out like all the interns all the uh just the everyday workers at dgc whatever like you guys were their hero and it's always like wezer and then they would you know it's time to choose video directors or whatever okay well we'll show you all the video directors that wezer looked at

and da da da da da and we can't afford spike zones or whatever and we didn't have a relationship with him at the time. So, you know, I hated the video process. But how did you guys hook up with Spike? Yeah, I mean, we felt the same way. I remember when we turned in the records, we just said, we're not making a video, forget it. Why?

We had a lot of requirements. Yeah. I just, I thought videos were stupid, but, and they sent us a whole bunch of treatments. These are like, one or two-page discreet. Didn't you hate those? Yeah. And they, and every single one had something to do with a sweater.

And it was like, oh, come on. But then, then we got one from Spike. And it was like two sentences or something. You know, you guys are playing in. Blue background. In front of a blue background. And halfway through a pack of dogs runs across the screen. It's like, and it's all in one shot.

In one shot. Okay, good. That sounds cool. How many, how many takes did that take? I'm very upset. with that video. And especially when the dogs run by. And I'm just like,

God damn it. Like something so simple being like super effective. How many, how many takes was that for you guys? It was one day. Yeah, it was a lot of takes. All different.

I imagine it was later because I figure like, your level of silly, like when you're dancing at the drum set or whatever. Can't look at it. Was there, was there any editing trickery? Or was that actually? No, it's all one take. It's one guy with a steady cam, and he was, oh, it was a lot of work.

Like, he was sweating. He was exhausted by the year? Yeah, yeah. Was it choir grab the same way each time? He sort of had a circuit that he would do, and I think they've, the one we wound up using was, you know, the one. Yeah, one of the, that was probably one of the last ones. I want to ask you about the guitar hero, and my name is Jonas going in that. What made y'all decide to do that, man? Because, that opened up a whole new generation. Oh, yeah. To you guys' music.

Like my kids, me and my boys, like, we would play that all the time. Sadly, I think I didn't know what Guitar Hero was, or I wasn't part of that decision. It was like, sure, if you guys think that would be cool. And it did turn out to be massive for us, bringing in a whole new generation. I think also we haven't touched on

is the Windows 95. of install CD, had a folder called videos on it. And this was back, you remember, like, nobody watched a video on their computer. That was a, like, what is this? Sorcery, like, what is this? That so many people say, like, yeah, the Buddy Holly video on there is amazing. So just all kinds of stuff like that were huge for us. I used to work at an actual Big Yowls.

You know, at one point, Big Yowls had his own restaurant chain. Really? Why are you shaming me? No, I mean, I didn't know that. Wait, you didn't know that? No, what's Big Al? What? He's from Happy Days, I assume you're talking about?

What? Are you talking about from Happy Days? Yeah. Yeah. Big Al's. There was an actual, yeah. Before, what's the, the actual 50s restaurant?

Like Johnny Rockets now? Oh, right. Right, but before Johnny Rockets, there was, I guess, back in 88 or 89, like, well, not several. A few of these. themed restaurants or whatever, like at the time when that video came out, like, how convinced were you guys that this wasn't, because that could have been a hit or miss situation.

Like, and I'm not thinking that he's going to nail the perfect, you know, television filter and complete with the commercial and all that stuff. Like at the time, what were you guys thinking about the idea of recreating the Happy Days theme for Buddy Holly? Well, I certainly I think all of us felt that from the moment we heard the idea this is going to be the greatest

video of all time. This is so cool. You love happy days. Okay. Was Spike your first choice to the director? Did you see other... It was his idea. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we, yeah. We only want to work with Spike to this day. But he's

making movies and all that. We actually knew him from before any of us had made it too. He was kind of part of the same circle of friends. Sort of like a skate thing. Yeah. You guys are skaters? No, but our older brother band,

they were called Wax. This is in L.A. He made their video. I think that may have been his first video. And when we saw that, the slow motion guy on fire. No, no, no. That was later.

Oh, I love that. They shot that in Philly also. Oh, wow. For Hush, it was like them in a, in a kids playground. Oh, yes. Yeah. And I actually thought the guy,

I initially thought that video, the guy on fire video was you guys as well, but I didn't, what group was that? Wax. That's Wax. Yeah. Legends.

By then, once it catches on, because I kind of want to end the episode, really obsessing with what made you guys go quasi-left with Pinkerton. Because I do have a belief that maybe subconsciously, some acts might try to, like, I mean, do you consider yourselves like, okay, we actually became like a mainstream standard ban instead of the underdogs or the nerds that you were supposed to be? Or like the dog caught the car. I mean, like. No, I didn't feel like that. That

doesn't feel like why I took the turn. I took. In fact, I felt like we never quite, made it because the same year that Weezer came out, the offspring came out, and they were like five times as big as us. Green Day came out five, six times as big as us. And they were all- So you still felt like the underdog? Yeah. We felt like, we didn't quite hit it over the fence, did we? So yeah, I mean, to this day. So, yeah. Even to this day? But what does it feel like now where like we interviewed Adam Levine from Maroon 5 who cited you cited Weezer as one of his favorite bands of all time like what does it feel like now when you're out on the road and like you're still playing these songs and like you are influential to a generation of of bands and

sounds and whatever I mean does that does that affect you yeah that's amazing I mean but again he's like ten times as big as I mean close I need my money the first day he rang me my record He was like, Weezer. The first thing he said. That's right up. Without putting it out there, I guess I can see your point of view. I had a very brief, albeit kind of eye-opening conversation with Tom York about cold play. Oh, my God.

How'd that go? But that's the thing. His perception was like, you know, we're not as big as cold play. And the thing is, is that I started to do what I hate for the fan base to do to me. Because in my mind, I was like, oh, well, you guys don't want to be cool, play. You guys are radio head. You've been it cool. And people always come up to me like, oh, man, you don't care about getting paid or making hits.

Like, you guys just make whatever type of record you want to, you don't give a fuck. And I'm like, no, my fuck. I give all the fucks. Right. Yeah. My mortgage gives all the fuck. Right. And dude.

And this is like, this before he held it, the thief, this was like prime kid a prime amnesiac. Can't get no bigger. Like, you guys have made it. Critically, couldn't get. Yeah. Right. But they were also playing stadiums. It was like it was unfurling.

But, you know, in his mind. Didn't make it. Yeah. It's like, well, you know, we're still the underdogs. And I was like, I don't think so. I think it was something you said earlier about, you know, you had those conversations with kids and maybe it was Jean and he was saying basically how you should piss off your fan base, like all your diehard fans.

And for me getting into you guys' music, yeah, no problem. God man, for you guys' music, like Blue album came out. I was in high school and so I had a homie of mine, I played football with, he was into like all that stuff. Because I came from mostly hip-hop, R&B background, and so he would always run, he would put me on like he was running like Beck and like wean and I used to get ween and weezer come through I was like okay which one is which you know I'm saying and so he will put me on you stuff you guys stuff and so I knew just of course

buddy Holly was everywhere but I listened to Pinkerton for the first time last night and so this is my first time ever hearing it just you know whatever that shit is amazing though so like just somebody from outside of I guess the core fan base to me that record that shit slap, you know what I mean? So whatever that means. Now, I was like, oh, shit. So, you know what? Did you create it? Yeah, was it a fuck you or not? Yeah. Were you trying to build and destroy or I thought it was going to be huge. I know that sounds crazy. Really? Yeah. I could see it. So here's the thing, though. It wasn't used in the way that you thought was going to be huge, but of your entire

canon. And we're not even going through, you know, there's. what you guys are on your 17th, including the EPs right now. I don't know. Yeah, if you're close to 17, I'm not certain, but what is your personal top of the canon album, and then what do you feel as though

your piece of resistance is to your fan base? Or to you? I'll give you time to think about it while, because I have this theory that every band tries to do their pet sounds. So as an aside to his question, did you try and do your pet sounds? And is Pinkerton that, I guess?

I'm curious, I'll ask you, how different did Pinkerton turn out from what you thought it was going to turn out? Because it feels like to me... He's got three questions on the plate right now. It feels like the... I mean, we weren't... We were burnt from touring a lot and everything,

and I hear a lot of... To me, that's like Van Halen's fair warning. Like, there's a lot of angst and anger in the music itself, like in the playing of it. So I'm curious if it turned out the way you thought it was going to be. Yeah, absolutely. I was totally satisfied. I'm more than satisfied.

I was in love with it. But I do remember on a mixing day, Rick Ocasic came to L.A. and came to the studio, and we played him a few of the songs we'd already mixed. And he didn't show any reaction. And I, that was the first moment. I was like, oh, wait a minute.

Maybe this isn't going to go like how I think it's going to go. Yeah, so. Did he finally say something? No, he never gave an opinion on that. But the way I took that was like this didn't turn out great, and it could have been better. And it's hard. Did you take that the heart?

I don't want to say like that was the big wound of the Pinkerton era because there were so many. So many bigger ones, actually. But that was the first moment. How long was it to you realize, like, example. You know, like Prince rushed off stage in Purple Ring, like, absolutely feeling like he just blew it and had to stop for a moment and heard them cheering. and it was like, oh, they did get it? Like, did you ever have that redemption moment of like, wait a minute. I think you're having that now, it seems like.

It took a while. And so the album came out in 96 and bombed. So by the end of 97, I totally lost my confidence. And just kind of went off and lived by myself and was trying to write a third record. But years went by and I couldn't figure it out. I just didn't know what to do. and one of my friends was in another band and he had been touring around the States

so at the end of 99 he came back and he said you know Rivers there's a new generation of kids out there who love Pinkerton and that was like shocking to me I had no idea and he said yeah it's called emo and that's their album

so then we got the band back together and we went out and we just jumped on a few shows at the 2000 Warp Tour and like before before we walked on the stage there would be another band playing and like 20,000 kids would be chanting Weezer, Weezer, you know? And we walked out there. And at this point, Pinkerton wasn't even in our set list because we're like, oh, well, nobody liked that one. But they were, you know, chanting for those songs. So that's when we, you know, it really hit us. But I remember playing like the Ranch Bowl, like was it at Oklahoma or something? somewhere in the middle of the country

on that tour, on Pinkerton, and kids being super pumped and knowing all the lyrics to the deep cuts. And that was my first clue. It was like, wow, they know all these songs. I don't know if you were hip to that. No. Maybe I could have told you.

Yeah. You were right next to each. Right. You were like right there. Nah, it was for me, like, hearing that record, again, my first time ever hearing it was last. night. I'm just, you know, just running it. And so for me, it was, I could tell how, I mean, of course there was a difference between the blue album to this, but it wasn't as stark a difference

of like, it wasn't like the first album was like a radio hair record, like a, you know, Pablo Honey or whatever. And then the second album was Kid A, where it was just this complete 180 where it's like what the fuck is this. It felt, and to me, it felt in many ways like an extension. It didn't, I don't know, it just didn't feel like it was such a big jump. And so. Listen to it now. I'm just like, what was the big, why was everybody so pissed off? Like, this shit, go hard. Like, what was the problem?

That's cool. Rolling Stone was mad. Ah. Yeah, they, they, uh, all the critics there rated it the second worst album of the year. Are you serious? Uh, yeah. What was the worst? I remember that.

Right, yeah. Bush. Uh, 16. Razor blade suitcase. Oh, raise blade suitcase. Wow. So it sounds like it took like four, five years for it to catch on to, you. the next generation.

So if it weren't for you having knowledge that perhaps there's someone out there that is latching to it, did you guys think that it was over by the second album? I would go visit him in Massachusetts. You lived on that. It took five years, correct? Yeah, he was living on the East Coast, and I was in West, and I would go visit,

and we would try and get stuff together. But it was a transition. period, you know. Okay. Yeah. I wanted to ask you, but the record you guys did with Polo de Don and Lil Wayne.

Oh, yeah. How did that come together? So we had this song, Can't Stop Party, and originally it was like this very somber acoustic thing. The head of the record company, Jimmy Iovine,

had like this star producer on his team, Polo to Don. And he asked me if I would be up for giving it to Polo and seeing what he was. happened. And I remember being in the studio the first time I heard it and just like my head was blown off. It sounded amazing. And I was a massive Lil Wayne fan. So yeah, when they suggested that, I was all in. And of course, Weezer and Weezy. I had to hear. I had to see what he was going to do.

Weiser F baby. Weezer, how do you guys, because I know most rockers hate looking in the rearview mirror in terms of not wanting to be seen as a legacy act or that sort of thing or, okay, or a Vegas run. How are you guys planning the celebration of the 30th tour-wise? We could have planned like a very retro nostalgia thing and do it very 94 style, but that would be boring for us. So we're going to come up with some kind of crazy production and theme. and I think it's going to involve a space voyage

where we're going to this blue planet. Yeah, I was going to say, like, with the teasers that you guys are putting on. Yeah, so musically, it's going to be the blue album, the hits, and some like 90s, B-sides stuff those fans really want. Right. But there's going to be an element of production

that we never would have tried back then. The metrics? Yeah, that makes it fun and interesting for me. Okay. All right. I'm excited to hear that. Well, thank you guys for, you know, sitting with us and sharing your experiences with the Blue album. And, you know, again, thank you guys for saving a nerd that you probably didn't realize that.

Yeah, don't steal the mugs anyone. Thank you guys. And we appreciate you coming. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And, yeah, we have a... Bovazella?

Yeah, we do our own sound effects here. Yeah, on behalf of Sugar Steve, Bill, and Fonseigolo, and Laia, this is Questlove, and we will see you next week, all right? Thank you, guys. Our pleasure. Thank you for listening to Questlove Supreme. This podcast is hosted by Amir Questlove Thompson, Laia St. Clair, Fonte Coleman, Shugustee, Vandale, and myself, unpaid Bill Sherman.

The executive producers are Mir. We just walked into the goddamn room, Thompson, Sean G. and Brian Calhoun. Produced by Brittany Benjamin, Jake Payne, and Laia Sinclair, edited by Alex Conroy. I know Alex Conroy. Produced for IHeart by Noel Brown.

Westlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me.

Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skid. my basketball and college football journey or my career in sports media. Well now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled of conversations with athletes, creators,

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On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL Dream. and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects.

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