Weezer (2001 Album) - Background and Development

Background and Development

Following the commercial and critical failure of Pinkerton (1996), Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo placed the band on hiatus. He returned to Harvard University in an attempt to finish his studies, but eventually dropped out to focus on songwriting. During this time, Cuomo played with a different group of musicians in a band called Homie, which was based in Boston. One of the members of Homie was Mikey Welsh, a bass player who would eventually be asked to replace Matt Sharp in Weezer.

By February 1998, Cuomo had quietly disbanded Homie and headed to Los Angeles to begin work on Weezer demos with Brian Bell and Patrick Wilson. At this point, bassist Matt Sharp was absent from numerous Weezer rehearsals and was becoming estranged from the band. On April 8, 1998, Sharp announced his official exit from Weezer to devote all his energies to his band, The Rentals. It was quickly announced that former Homie member Welsh would take over on bass for Weezer. Frustration and creative disagreements led to a decline in rehearsals, and, in the latter half of 1998, drummer Patrick Wilson left for his home in Portland pending renewed productivity from Cuomo, who went into a period of admitted depression, during which he painted the walls of his home black and put "fiberglass insulation all over the windows and then black sheets of fiberglass so that no light could get through."

By the beginning of 1999, Weezer had once again gone their separate ways. Drummer Patrick Wilson resumed his efforts with his side-band The Special Goodness, guitarist Bell worked on his band Space Twins and Welsh toured with Juliana Hatfield. Meanwhile, Cuomo focused his energy on songwriting, crafting 121 songs, nearly half of which would become demos. During this time, he isolated himself and abstained from contact with the outside world. Cuomo also received braces on his teeth, further damaging his self-esteem. Bell would occasionally visit Cuomo and play songs with him. In turn, Cuomo would eventually reveal songs he was working on to Bell.

Unbeknownst to the band, their fanbase was connecting and growing on the internet, which was helping to boost the reputation and sales of Pinkerton. When it was released, Pinkerton was considered a critical and commercial failure; however, in the years following the release of the album, it would gain a much more positive reputation due to word-of-mouth on message boards and various web pages. This expanding internet activity would later set the stage for the band's 2001 comeback. Renewed interaction between band members took place when Weezer was offered an extremely lucrative offer to perform in Japan in August 2000 for the Summer Sonic Festival. Rehearsals for the show reinvigorated the band into talking about making a new album. The band returned to performing in June 2000, playing low-key shows around Los Angeles under the pseudonym Goat Punishment, ensuring that Weezer would only perform for longtime fans who would recognize the name.

Eventually, the band started performing at higher profile gigs such as the Warped Tour. Cuomo later remarked, "We went in there fully expecting to be booed and to have things thrown at us. But it was exactly the opposite, people were singing along to all the songs and just going crazy, giving us the best support. And I think that gave us the confidence we needed." The positive response to the Warped Tour performances led to further shows being scheduled. When touring began to wind down, MP3 demos captured live on the band's mobile unit and sound checks began to surface on file-sharing services and eventually for downloading on the band's official website. These songs were often referred to as Summer Songs of 2000 (commonly abbreviated as SS2K).