Ongoing History of New Music

Ongoing History: The time Weezer was offered $10 million to go away

Bands are always being offered insane amounts of money—millions of dollars—to get back together. But it’s rare to hear of a band being offered millions to break up. This is exactly what happened with Weezer in the fall of 2010.

The group was in the midst of releasing album after album with some fans expressing concern that Weezer was in decline. Enter James Burns, the creator of an online campaign designed to raise $10 million to convince Weezer to top making bad records and just disappear.

“This is an abusive relationship,” he said, “It needs to end.”

So how did it work out? Burns managed to cobble together about $300 while simultaneously receiving death threats from outraged Weezer fans. Weezer, of course, is still with us.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39363 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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