Ongoing History Daily: Weezer’s missing years

Weezer first appeared with their “blue” album in 1994 and followed it up with the Pinkerton record in 1996. Then there was a five-year gap before they showed up again with their Green album. What happened between 1996 and 2001?

Basically, leader Rivers Cuomo shut himself off from the world for two years. He didn’t talk to a lot of people in 1998 and 1999, preferring to live in a black-out apartment underneath an LA freeway that didn’t even have a phone. He says he’d go an entire week without talking to a single person. A lot of people believed Rivers had lost it, but he says he was simply doing what he wanted to do. He viewed it as a cleansing time and a chance to grow stronger.

Hey, whatever floats your boat, right?

Yesterday’s post was about a very special banjo.