"Buddy Holly" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

. The song was written by

Rivers Cuomo Rivers Cuomo ( ; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer. Cuomo was raised in a number of Buddhist communities in the Northeast U.S. until the age of 10, wh ...

and released as the second single from the band's debut album, '' Weezer (''The Blue Album'')'' on September 7, 1994, which would have been

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

's 58th birthday. The lyrics reference the song's 1950s

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

and actress

Mary Tyler Moore Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...

. It reached number two and number 34 on the US

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart and the US

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart, respectively. The song also reached number six in Canada, number 12 in the United Kingdom, number 13 in Iceland and number 14 in Sweden. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' ranked "Buddy Holly" number 499 in its list of "

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

" (2010), dropping it 2 spots down from number 497 (2004). But the song moved up 15 spots to number 484 in the 2021 update. The digital version of the single for "Buddy Holly" was certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in 2006. VH1 ranked it as one of the "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s" at number 59 in December 2007.

Writing

Songwriter

wrote "Buddy Holly" after his friends made fun of his Asian girlfriend. He originally planned to exclude it from the album; he felt it was "cheesy" and perhaps did not represent the sound he was pursuing for Weezer. Producer

Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock ...

persuaded him to include it. In the book ''River's Edge'', Ocasek is quoted saying: "I remember at one point he was hesitant to do 'Buddy Holly' and I was like, '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. But I think you should try. You did write it and it is a great song.'" Bassist

Matt Sharp Matthew Kelly Sharp (born September 22, 1969) is an American songwriter and musician. Until 1998, he was the bassist for the alternative rock band Weezer, which he cofounded in 1992. He appears on their first two albums, the ''Weezer (Blue Album ...

recalled: "Ric said we'd be stupid to leave it off the album. We'd come into the studio in the morning and find little pieces of paper with doodles on them: WE WANT BUDDY HOLLY.""Buddy Holly: How Four LA Rockers Created the Definitive Hipster-Doofus Battle Cry", Ryan Domball, ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

'', November 2008 An early demo of "Buddy Holly" recorded by Cuomo in 1993 has a different feel, as the song is played at a much slower tempo than the version that appears on the album. This version appeared on '' Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo''. The liner notes for ''Alone'' explain that the chorus, in its most primitive form, originally was sung as: "Oo-wee-oo you look just like

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

/ Oh, oh, I move just like

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

". The rest of the chorus stayed the same as the ''Blue Album'' version.

Critical reception

Steve Baltin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' commented, "You’ve gotta love a song that makes reference to

. Slightly poppier in its guitar sound than their first single, .. this

-produced song could help expand their already-growing fan base. Besides that, it mentions Mary, the woman who could turn the world on with her smile. Therefore, it has to be a hit." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "Made loud to play loud and sing along, it's the ideal

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

to cruise round this summer. That silly twin synth/guitar, betrays producer Ocasek, the one-time driver of New York's

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

." A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave the song four out of five, adding, "A short and sweet taster from the album which may not have the same quirky appeal of " Undone (The Sweater Song)", but has an attractive hook and a video to arouse interest." Paul Evans from ''

'' noted "the self-deprecating humor" of lines like "I look like Buddy Holly/You're Mary Tyler Moore".

Music video

According to

Spike Jonze Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze began his ca ...

came up with three ideas for the accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Buddy Holly". Sharp stated that two of the ideas "weren't great". When Jonze pitched the idea that came to be the song's video, Sharp told Jonze "I don't think you'll be able to pull it off", but the band agreed to do it. The video was filmed at

Charlie Chaplin Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serv ...

in Hollywood over a single day and portrays Weezer performing at Arnold's Drive-In from the 1970s television show ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most succ ...

,'' combining footage of the band with clips from the show. ''Happy Days'' cast member

Al Molinaro Albert Francis Molinaro (born Umberto Francesco Molinaro; June 24, 1919 – October 30, 2015) was an American actor. He played Al Delvecchio on ''Happy Days'' and Officer Murray Greshler on ''The Odd Couple''. He also appeared in many television ...

made a cameo; he introduces the band by saying, "

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

's own Weezer"; in fact it's Molinaro himself who was from Kenosha, while Weezer is from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Al Molinaro Murray the cop Odd Couple 1974

In the climax, the video's stylist Casey Storm body doubled, and this allowed

Fonzie Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984). He was originally a secondary character, but was soon positioned as a lea ...

to dance to the band's performance. The video also features brief cameos by some members of the band as dancers at Arnold's.

Anson Williams Anson Williams (born Anson William Heimlich, September 25, 1949, in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor, singer, and director, best known for his role as gullible, well-intentioned singer Warren "Potsie" Weber on the television series ...

, who played Potsie on ''Happy Days'', objected to footage of him appearing in the video, but relented after receiving a letter from

David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 199 ...

, founder of

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. According to drummer

Pat Wilson Pat Wilson (born Patricia Mary Higgins; 11 June 1948) is an Australian singer and journalist. Wilson wrote for ''Go-Set'', a 1960s and 1970s pop music newspaper, under the pen-name "Mummy Cool" during 1971–1972. Wilson released several s ...

, the video was achieved without

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

, only "clever" camerawork and editing. Sharp stated that the video was "pretty fucking wacky". The video was met with great popularity, and heavy rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. At the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, it won

Best Alternative Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video (also known as Best Alternative Music Video) was first given out at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Prior to being called Best Alternative Video, it was known as Best Post-Modern Video in 1989 a ...

, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction and Best Editing, and was nominated for Video of the Year. The "Buddy Holly" video was included on the

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...

CD-ROM, resulting in a skyrocket in popularity and earning Weezer a place in the history of

MTV Music Video Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

. Geffen did not tell Weezer they had negotiated with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

to include the video; the band members, none of whom owned computers, were oblivious to the implications. According to Wilson, "I was furious because at the time I was like, 'How are they allowed to do this without permission?' Turns out it was one of the greatest things that could have happened to us. Can you imagine that happening today? It's like, there's one video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, and it's your video." The video also appears in the music exhibit in the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

. The music video was featured in Season 5, Episode 30 of MTV's ''

Beavis and Butthead ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, an ...

'' entitled "Here Comes the Bride's Butt" on June 9, 1995.

Track listings

* 7": Geffen Records / GFS 88 (UK) :A. "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 :B. "Jamie (Geffen Rarities LP Version) " – 4:18 * Cassette single: Geffen Records / GFSC 88 (UK) :A1. "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 :A2. "Jamie (Geffen Rarities LP Version) " – 4:18 :B1. "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 :B2. "Jamie (Geffen Rarities LP Version) " – 4:18 * CD: Geffen Records / GFSTD 88 (UK) # "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 # "My Name Is Jonas" (Live Version) – 3:40 # "Surf Wax America" (Live Version) – 4:09 # "Jamie (Geffen Rarities LP Version)" – 4:18 * CD: Geffen Records / GED 21978 (Europe) # "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 # "My Name Is Jonas" (Live Version) – 3:40 # "Surf Wax America" (Live Version) – 4:09 * CD: Geffen Records / GED 22052 (Netherlands) # "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 # "Surf Wax America" (Live Version) – 4:09 * CD: Geffen Records / GEFDS 21968 (Australia) # "Buddy Holly (LP Version)" – 2:40 # "Holiday" – 3:26 * CD Promo: Geffen Records / PRO CD 4687 (US) # "Buddy Holly" – 2:40 Note: Live tracks recorded at Horizontal Boogie Bar, Rochester, New York on November 27, 1994.

Personnel

– lead guitar, rhythm guitar, lead vocals, keyboards *

Brian Bell Brian Lane Bell (born December 9, 1968) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and occasional lead vocalist of the rock band Weezer, with whom he has recorded fi ...

– backing vocals *

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

Patrick Wilson Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor and director. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty'' (2000–2001) and ''Oklahoma ...

– drums

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

In popular culture

In 2015, the song was featured as an impromptu ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' family sing along in an advert for the

Honda Pilot The Honda Pilot is a mid-size crossover SUV with three-row seating manufactured by Honda since 2002. Primarily aimed at the North American market, the Pilot is the largest SUV produced by Honda. Pilots are currently manufactured in Lincoln, Al ...

. The song was featured on the show ''

Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...

'' during the Season 6 episode "Prom". In 2016, the song was covered by Canadian

nerd rock Geek rock (also known as nerd rock or dork rock) is a musical subgenre derived from pop rock and alternative rock within the nerd music group. It is a sister genre to the chiptune-influenced Rock music, rock subgenre Nintendocore and related to ot ...

trio

Double Experience Double Experience is a rock band based in Ottawa, Ontario that was formed in the summer of 2011. The band consists of vocalist and front man Ian Nichols and guitarist Brock Tinsley. History Formation and beginnings Double Experience's ...

with an accompanying video In 2017, the song was chosen by

Finn Wolfhard Finn Wolfhard (born December 23, 2002) is a Canadian actor and musician. He gained recognition for playing Mike Wheeler in the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present). His film roles include Richie Tozier in the film adaptation of ...

on the show ''

Lip Sync Battle ''Lip Sync Battle'' is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on April 2, 2015, on the American cable network Spike, later known as Paramount Network. The show is based on an idea by Stephen Merchant and John K ...

'' during the ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

'' episode.

References

External links

Weezer's Website
* {{Authority control Songs about Buddy Holly Weezer songs DGC Records singles Happy Days Microsoft Windows sample music MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction Music videos directed by Spike Jonze Songs about musicians Song recordings produced by Ric Ocasek Songs written by Rivers Cuomo 1994 songs 1995 singles