Released September 7, 1994 Length 2:39 | Format CD, cassette, vinyl Label DGC | |
Recorded August–September 1993, Electric Lady Studios, New York City, New York Genre Alternative rock, power pop | ||
"Buddy Holly" is a song by the American rock band Weezer, written by Rivers Cuomo. It was released as the second single from the band's debut album Weezer (The Blue Album) in 1994. The single was released on what would have been Buddy Holly's 58th birthday. The lyrics reference the song's 1950s namesake and actress Mary Tyler Moore. It reached #2 and #34 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, respectively.
Contents
It also reached #12 in the United Kingdom. Rolling Stone ranked "Buddy Holly" #499 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2010). The single was certified gold by the RIAA in 2006. VH1 ranked it as one of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s at #59 in December 2007.
Song development
Rivers Cuomo stated that he remembers questioning whether or not to include this song on Weezer. He almost kept it off the final track list, but encouragement from producer Ric Ocasek soon changed his mind. In the book River's Edge, Ocasek is quoted as saying, "I remember at one point he was hesitant to do 'Buddy Holly' and I was like, 'Rivers, we can talk about it. Do it anyway, and if you don't like it when it's done, we won't use it.
But I think you should try. You did write it and it is a great song.'" Cuomo said that he felt the song was "too cheesy" and didn't know if the song represented the sound he was going for with the band's music. Matt Sharp recalls:
...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.
An early demo of "Buddy Holly" recorded by Cuomo in 1993 has a different feel, as the song is played at a much slower tempo, than the version that appears on the album. This version appeared on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. The liner notes for Alone explain that the chorus, in its most primitive form, originally was sung as: "Oo-wee-oo you look just like Ginger Rogers/Oh, oh, I move just like Fred Astaire". The rest of the chorus stayed the same as the Blue Album version.
Music video
The music video for "Buddy Holly" was directed by Spike Jonze and filmed at Charlie Chaplin Studios in Hollywood over the course of one full day of shooting. The video portrayed Weezer performing at the original diner Arnold's Drive-In from the popular 1970s television show Happy Days. The video combined contemporary footage of the band with clips from the show. Happy Days cast member Al Molinaro made a cameo appearance in the video. Al plugs his hometown, Kenosha, Wisconsin, as the "hometown" of Weezer in the introduction. (Weezer, in fact, was formed and based in Los Angeles.)
In the climax, the video's stylist Casey Storm body doubled, and this allowed Fonzie to dance to the band's performance. The video also features brief cameos by some members of the band as dancers at Arnold's. Initially, actor Anson Williams, who played Potsie on Happy Days, objected to footage of him appearing in the video, but relented after a letter from David Geffen, founder of Geffen Records.
The video was met with great popularity, and heavy rotation on MTV. The innovative video scored four awards at the 1995 MTV Video Music Award, including prizes for Best Alternative Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction and Best Editing also nominated Video of the Year, won by TLC for Waterfalls.
The Microsoft Windows 95 release included a number of "Fun Stuff" items on the CD, including the Buddy Holly video, resulting in an sudden skyrocket in the popularity of the video which won Weezer a place in the history of MTV Music Video Awards. The music video appears in the music exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art. The music video was featured in Season 5, Episode 30 of MTV's Beavis and Butthead entitled "Here Comes the Bride's Butt" on June 9, 1995.
Cover art
The original cover art for the single was an early photograph of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo with an unidentified female friend (shown at top of page). The cover art was soon changed, however, as the woman on the cover sued Weezer for usage of her photo without legal permission. The cover art was quickly changed to a childhood picture of Cuomo next to his younger brother, Leaves Cuomo. Cuomo wished to contact the woman, to no response.
In popular culture
In 2015, the song was featured as an impromptu a cappella family sing along in an advert for the Honda Pilot. The song was featured on the show Parks and Recreation during the Season 6 episode "Prom".
In 2016, the song was covered by Canadian nerd rock trio Double Experience with an accompanying video
Track list
Promo only radio single
- "Buddy Holly" – 2:40
United Kingdom retail CD
- "Buddy Holly" – 2:40
- "My Name Is Jonas" (live) – 3:40
- "Surf Wax America" (live) – 4:09
- "Jamie" – 4:18
United Kingdom retail cassette/United Kingdom retail 7" single (black vinyl)
- "Buddy Holly" – 2:40
- "Jamie" – 4:18
Australian retail CD
- "Buddy Holly" – 2:40
- "Holiday"
Dutch retail CD
- "Buddy Holly" – 2:40
- "Surf Wax America" (live) – 4:09
European retail CD
- "Buddy Holly" – 2:40
- "My Name Is Jonas" (live) – 3:40
- "Surf Wax America" (live) – 4:09
Live tracks recorded at Horizontal Boogie Bar, Rochester, New York on November 27, 1994.