On This Day in 1994, This Misunderstood Buddy Holly Tribute Was Reluctantly Released—and Became a 90s Alt-Rock Classic

On this day (September 7) in 1994, Weezer released “Buddy Holly” as the second single from their self-titled debut album. They intentionally released the single on what would have been Holly’s 58^th birthday. Rivers Cuomo wrote the song but didn’t originally want to put it on the band’s first album. Producer and Cars frontman Ric Ocasek finally convinced him to record the track.

“Buddy Holly” was an early hit for Weezer. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also reached No. 18 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. However, they didn’t sell the single in the United States. As a result, it wasn’t eligible for the Hot 100. The Happy Days-themed music video was an even bigger hit. It won four trophies at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. It was also included on thousands of Windows 95 installation discs.

Many listeners believe that Cuomo wrote the song about a time when he had to defend his girlfriend, who was being ridiculed by his friends. That’s not the case, though. In the liner notes for Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, he cleared the air. He wrote the song in defense of Kyng He, a platonic friend he met while in his school’s choir, after his Weezer bandmates made fun of her.

“There were the ‘homies dissin’ my girl.’ I rarely wrote lyrics about tension between me and the guys in the band because I thought it would be too awkward for us all to perform those songs together,” he wrote. “In this case, though, it didn’t seem like a big deal.”

Rivers Cuomo Wanted to Leave This Song Off of Weezer

That was only part of the reason Rivers Cuomo didn’t want to record “Buddy Holly” for Weezer’s debut album. He also thought the song was too cheesy and didn’t represent the sound he was chasing. Producer Ric Ocasek knew it would be a hit, though.

“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,” he told the frontman. “You did write it, and it is a great song,” he added. He didn’t stop there, though.

“Ric said we’d be stupid to leave it off the album,” former bassist Matt Sharp recalled. “We’d come into the studio in the morning and find little pieces of paper with doodles on them: WE WANT BUDDY HOLLY.”

[RELATED: 4 Songs That Prove Weezer Is Actually a Great Cover Band]

Fortunately, the band followed his advice and launched a single that helped make them a mainstay of 90s alternative rock.

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