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Weezer's legendary Blue Album is officially 30 years old! To celebrate the major milestone, the band reflected on their debut album, and how it felt putting it out on May 10, 1994.
“On May 10, 1994, DGC Records released “Weezer”, the self-titled debut album by Weezer,” the band recalled in a lengthy statement on social media. “The story has been told and re-told many times, but the crux of it was that no one thought it would do very well, even though all the band and the band’s small inner circle felt they’d made a really good album. The assumption was that people would say “who?” and laugh at the audacity of a new band putting out a debut album on a major label, with no fan base, no single out, nothing."
“And… that’s exactly what happened for a while anyway," it continued. "90 copies sold the first week (just who were the 45 people we *didn’t* know who had bought it knowing nothing about the contents?), and a steady trickle after that, as we drove around in our van playing such illustrious gigs as opening up for a screening of Rollerball, playing an actual battle of the bands (and not winning), and playing for less than 0 paying customers (it’s unclear how we got to “-2 sold”, but that’s what the promoter said…)”
The message continued to explain how after a few months radio stations picked up "Undone — The Sweater Song," and things grew rapidly from there.
“The blue album was Weezer’s first album of course, but it wasn’t their first *attempt* at making an album,” they noted, sharing the demo of "My Name Is Jonas" from The Kitchen Tape, which was recording in their home studio in 1992. “Most of the self-produced kitchen tape songs have never been officially released including this song. Happy 30th birthday to The Blue Album!"
The note ended with a tease that they're working on a special edition of the album to celebrate the anniversary. They also plan to hit the road for a special tour this fall. Check out the list of dates here, and read the full statement/listen to the "My Name Is Jonas" demo below.