Ongoing History Daily: Rivers Cuomo’s Harvard years

After Weezer released their “blue” album, Rivers Cuomo quickly got bored with doing the same thing over and over again. One day, while the band was in Boston, he decided to drop into Harvard to fill out an application to study classical composition. To everyone’s surprise, he was accepted.

When classes started, Rivers was determined to keep a low profile so he could just get on with the business of being a student. He didn’t look much like a rock star. Rivers not only grew a beard, but he was walking with a cane because he’d just had painful lengthening surgery on a leg that had been shorter than the other. He found it amusing see fellow students walking around with Weezer t-shirts.

It wasn’t until the end of his first year that the people around him realized who he was.