With their 1994 debut selling near double-platinum, Weezer will probably be remembered as the beginning of the watering down of "alternative" music in the post-Nirvana '90s, by appropriating the genre's externals while removing all traces of punk anger. With the bright, poppy sound and high-school neurosis lyrics of their self-titled debut, the Los Angeles-based quartet became fast MTV stars in 1994 with their videos for "Undone--The Sweater Song" and "Buddy Holly," both shot by (and key in the career trajectory of) ultra-hot video director Spike Jonze.

Weezer was formed by four Hollywood friends with a penchant for thrift-store garb and guitars, and they spent a year or so gigging around L.A. dives before finding themselves with a Geffen Records deal. Cars leader Ric Ocasek was tapped to produce, and he slicked their fairly garagey sound into a smooth alternarock concoction that sat quite well with Modern Rock radio programmers across the country. The album's biggest hit, "Buddy Holly," was accompanied by a heavily-rotated video in which Jonze placed the band, clad as squeaky-clean '50s rockers, into an imaginary episode of Happy Days, incorporating actual show footage and a guest appearance by series regular Al Molinaro. Soon afterward, Weezer became a blockbuster success and launched the band into star status. Apparently a bit freaked out by the whirlwind of unexpected rockstardom, Weezer took a breather during 1995 while singer Rivers Cuomo went back to school and returned in 1996 with the self-produced Pinkerton. The considerably-rawer sounding album, though, was hampered by a dreadful, rambling first single, "El Scorcho," and a lyrical fixation with sex that put off fans engaged by their debut's innocence. Pinkerton sold a relatively measly 305,000 copies--about a sixth of its predecessor and not even close to gold.

Rumors of a breakup have dogged Weezer since Pinkerton, fueled by band members' disgusted eye-rolling in the "El Scorcho" video and a less-than-unified front presented in recent press, although the band is currently on tour. During the band's 1995 hiatus, two members formed side projects which endure to this day: bassist Matt Sharp with the Rentals (who had a medium-sized hit with the synthy "Friends of P" and their own deal with Maverick) and guitarist Brian Bell's Space Twins.