Top 5 Weezer Songs on the (Blue Album)

Love them or hate them, Weezer has been around for a long time and are still cranking out good music. With an 8th album coming out this September, one can lose track of what they have accomplished over 16 years. So to rewind the clock, we look back at their 1994 debut and arguably their best album, the Blue Album. We gathered four expert panelists to take the ten tracks off the album and rank their top 5. On such a loaded album, to try and pick five and rank them would prove challenging. But never fear, these four are the best of the best. Each one has listened to each song on this album over 100 hundred times so whatever they say is definitely 100 percent true.

Eddie Small (He writes a lot.)

5. Surf Wax America - I like this one for the same reasons I like “Holiday”: it’s fun and it’s catchy. Also, it’s about surfing, so it reminds me of The Beach Boys. We get a little dose of neurotic Weezer with the repeated lines “I never thought it would come to this/Now I can never go home,” but the carefree lines about surfing are too dominant for those to turn the song into a downer. For more reasons about why I like this one, simply reread the entry for “Holiday.”

4. Holiday - Basically, I just really enjoy listening to this song. If you want me to come up with a more detailed reason for choosing it, I think it shows that even when Weezer was at its dysfunctional anxious prime the band could still write a fun song about having fun. I know that is exactly what a lot of people don’t like about the band now, but there’s no denying this is a great song with a great hook. I would also argue that it’s impossible to hate on anything that rhymes “Kerouac” with “Bivouac.”

3. In The Garage - Even for a nerdy band’s nerdiest album, this song is refreshingly upfront and blatant in its nerdiness. Before the first chorus hits, we’ve already heard references to Dungeons and Dragons, X-Men and KISS, and the later lines about writing and loving stupid lyrics to stupid songs are a nice glimpse into the personal neuroses of Rivers. Overall, this is just a great jam about not being entirely comfortable with how uncool you are but taking solace in the fact that you’ll always have that one spot where it doesn’t matter.

2. Buddy Holly - I’ll go ahead and say that anyone who left this song off of their lists did so in a misguided attempt to seem cool by ignoring the most obvious choice. The thing is, it’s the most obvious choice for good reason. It manages to combines a playfully self-aware reference to Rivers looking like Buddy Holly with the endearingly nerdy sensibility of being too happy to have found a girl willing to be with you to care what anyone else thinks. Also, the video features a young Barry Zuckerkorn. Throw in the fact that it’s catchy as hell, and what more could you ask for?

1. Undone (The Sweater Song) - Not only do the mumbled interludes between the verses make this the most creative song on the album, but they also do a great job expressing what it feels like to be uncomfortable in a social setting, something I would assume Rivers and hardcore Weezer fans are extremely familiar with. It’s painfully evident one of the people in the conversation does not want to be where he is, and the other person just seems to be feigning enthusiasm through a drug induced haze. This culminates very nicely with the “I’ve come undone” line in the chorus. It’s a great example of how a song can be emo but be subtle and thus more realistic about it. Yes I’m unhappy, but I’m not going to screech about killing myself; I’m just going to mutter apathetically around other people until I get over it.


Jeff Feldman

5. In the Garage - The album's nerdiest sing-a-long, and the only possible song that could come on after "Say It Ain't So" and successfully prevent you from going back a track.

4. Buddy Holly - Not much that needs to be said about this one. It's a great tune, but it's the video that ensured it's immortality.

3. No One Else - This oft-forgotten gem, by far the most under-appreciated song on the album, is both incredibly catchy and the first introduction to Cuomo's pretty amusing relationship neurosis. I guess this is what Pinkerton haters wanted that album to sound like, and I can't really blame them. One of the best Weezer songs, period.

2. The World Has Turned and Left Me Here - The first song I really liked on this album. What really sets it apart is just how tremendously huge it is, with chugging guitars and a solid backbeat complementing the overblown mopiness. I can't ever hear those first drumbeats with staying for the whole song.

1. Say It Ain't So - This seems to be pretty much the consensus nowadays, and for good reason. It's certainly aged the best out of any song on the album. The feedback swells leading into the chorus make for some of the best single-second sounds in the history of rock, up there with David Byrne's first shout in "Born Under Punches" and the "ch-ch"s of Radiohead's "Creep".


George Mazzoli: The Blue Album is to me the essence of what the band strives to be. Their later albums may be more complex and sweeping, but it’s tough to beat the simple chords and lyrics that this young group of guys put out midway through the 90s. I could listen to this record all day and be happy, and in the end, that’s really what it comes down to.

5. Surf Wax America - This is a great feel-good track off the album. If I surfed at all, this would remind me of summer. The band does a good job of mixing upbeat, simple guitar with a great breakdown, keeping the track interesting throughout.

4. In The Garage - In The Garage is, in my opinion, one of the more underrated tracks on the Blue Album. Apart from the fact that it made me feel better about being such a loser growing up, the track keeps tight riffs, solos, and goddamn harmonica working together to make a great track.

3. Buddy Holly - Widely considered to one of Weezer’s best, Buddy Holly’s driving pace and self-depreciating lyrics make it a great example of the band’s early 90’s material. Raditude evolves from this song. After all, don’t we always wonder why these homies dissin’ my girl? Why do they gotta front? Questions for the ages.

2. Say It Ain’t So - Classic Weezer. It’s almost impossible not to like this song, and is always a great choice for some drunken sing-along at parties. I’ve covered this in a band, and was one of my favorites to both play and sing. Can’t beat the guitar solo near the end. Amazing.

1. The World Has Turned And Left Me Here - Another I feel is fairly underrated on the album. It’s become one of my favorites of their entire library. The track is little more complex than other tracks on the album, and not a bad indicator of what’s to come in two years on Pinkerton.


Jack Colicchio

5. Surf Wax America - Another awesome summer song. Really catchy and good lyrically like most every song on this album. Rivers is sooo right in this song talking about how once you get settled in to the summer/partying life style it is really hard to go back to living in the real world.

4. Only In Dreams - Maybe slightly too long for my taste (8 minutes), but a truly beautiful, powerful song. Probably my favorite chorus out of any song. Everyone knows the feeling that this song is conveying, that feeling of hopeless romanticism where you know no matter how hard you try you won’t be able to resist someone. And for whatever reason both parties might know it’s stupid, leaving the whole relationship to only be played out in dreams.

3. Holiday - Love it, great summer song, great song about escaping from day to day life and just taking in everything around you. Always makes me feel happy and free….what more can you ask of a song?

2. My Name Is Jonas - “Come sit next to me. Pour yourself some tea. Just like Grandma made, when we couldn’t find some sleep. Things were better then, once but never again.” Love the lyrics to this song, love the emotion, classic Weezer.

1. Undone (The Sweater Song) - Conversation intro sets the tone for a beautifully unraveling song. The song builds from a well kept, clean pop-song to a chaotic masterpiece. Only song I could ever play on guitar, and probably my favorite Weezer song of all time.