Weezer Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
This Weezer trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and follows the band from a Los Angeles rehearsal room in 1992 to their twentieth album: the Blue Album sessions at Electric Lady with the Cars' frontman producing, the Happy Days video that shipped inside Windows 95, the leg surgery and Harvard semesters behind Pinkerton, the hiatus, the Green Album comeback, the self-funded Maladroit and its gag order, Beverly Hills at the Playboy Mansion, the meme-packed Pork and Beans video that won a Grammy, the album named after a Lost character, the fan-driven Africa cover, the orchestral OK Human and the four-season SZNZ project. It is written for people who own more than one colour of self-titled album, but the opening questions are easy enough for anyone who has sung along to Say It Ain't So. The hard end asks who they opened for at their first show, what the Blue Album cost to make and which actor named Raditude. Every answer was checked against a reference source before publishing, and each question shows its citation once you have answered. No lyrics are quoted anywhere in the quiz.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was Weezer formed in 1992?
Los Angeles
Los Angeles was a hard sell at first: Cuomo said the new band struggled to engage club audiences, who wanted to see grunge acts instead.
Q 02Weezer's first show, in March 1992, was on the same bill as a band featuring which actor on bass?
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves played bass in Dogstar, and in 2025 Weezer was reported to be making a mockumentary about a rivalry between the two bands.
Q 03What was the name of the 1992 demo that got Weezer noticed by Geffen Records?
The Kitchen Tape
The Kitchen Tape got its name because the drums were recorded in a kitchen, where the band thought they sounded best; the rest was taped in the garage next door.
Q 04Who produced Weezer's 1994 debut, the Blue Album?
Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek, frontman of the Cars, got the job because Cuomo heard that band's 'Just What I Needed' as the sound he wanted; he had the guitarists switch pickups for a brighter tone.
Q 05At which famous New York studio was most of the Blue Album recorded in 1993?
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios, the Greenwich Village rooms built for Jimi Hendrix, suited the producer, who had asked the band to come to him in New York because his wife was expecting a baby.
Q 06Which original Weezer guitarist was fired during the Blue Album sessions and replaced by Brian Bell?
Jason Cropper
Jason Cropper was asked to leave as the recording wrapped, and Cuomo then replayed every one of his guitar parts himself, by the producer's account in a single take.
Q 07Who directed the videos for both 'Undone – The Sweater Song' and 'Buddy Holly'?
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze's whole pitch for the first was 'A blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs', and he shot it in a single unbroken take.
Q 08The 'Buddy Holly' video splices Weezer into footage from which 1970s sitcom?
Happy Days
Happy Days regular Al Molinaro returned as diner owner Al to introduce the band, and a body double made it look as if Fonzie was dancing to them.
Q 09The 'Buddy Holly' video reached millions of PC owners bundled with which software?
Windows 95
Windows 95 carried the video on its installation disc without the band knowing: the label made the deal, and drummer Pat Wilson was furious before calling it one of the best things to happen to them.
Q 10What incident inspired Rivers Cuomo to write 'Buddy Holly'?
Bandmates mocking his choir friend
Bandmates mocking his choir friend, a fellow singer at Santa Monica College, gave him the lyric's 'homies dissin' my girl'; he rarely wrote about tension inside the band, and made an exception.
Q 11Which comedian stood in for Rivers Cuomo in the video for Weezer's 2018 cover of 'Africa'?
Weird Al Yankovic
Weird Al Yankovic mimed Cuomo's part in a remake of the band's own first video, the one-take clip for 'Undone – The Sweater Song'.
Q 12Which university did Rivers Cuomo enrol at after the Blue Album, where his songwriting turned darker?
Harvard
Harvard took him three attempts: he left two semesters short of a degree, went back for single semesters in 1997 and 2004, and finally graduated in 2006.
Q 13What was the abandoned space-themed rock opera Cuomo originally planned as Weezer's second album?
Songs from the Black Hole
Q 21Weezer's first top-ten hit, 'Beverly Hills', came from a 2005 album made with which producer?
Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin did more than produce it: his influence led Cuomo to take up meditation, which shaped the album's songs, and he was a guest at Cuomo's wedding the next year.
Q 22Where was the 'Beverly Hills' video filmed, with the property's owner making a cameo?
The Playboy Mansion
The Playboy Mansion supplied the video's opening cameo from Hugh Hefner, though the house stands in neighbouring Holmby Hills, not in Beverly Hills at all.
Q 23The video for Weezer's 2008 "Pork and Beans", packed with YouTube stars, won which award?
A Grammy
Songs from the Black Hole was his metaphor for mixed feelings about touring in a hit band; he shelved it as his writing darkened, and some of its songs ended up on Pinkerton and its B-sides.
Q 14Pinkerton is named after a character from which opera?
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly's BF Pinkerton marries and then abandons the young bride of the title; Cuomo saw the faithless American sailor as a symbol of the touring rock star in himself.
Q 15Pinkerton sold poorly in 1996 but became a touchstone for which rock genre in the 2000s?
Emo
Emo bands of the 2000s claimed the record as an influence, and the album that flopped in 1996 was certified platinum twenty years later.
Q 16Which founding member of Weezer, also leader of the Rentals, left the band after the Pinkerton tour?
Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp had started the Rentals in 1994, as Weezer's debut took off, and quit in 1998 during the hiatus, later describing a group that 'doesn't communicate'.
Q 17A lucrative offer to play which overseas festival prompted Weezer to regroup in 2000?
Summer Sonic
Summer Sonic's offer ended a three-year silence: rehearsals for the August show reinvigorated the band and led on to the Green Album.
Q 18Which bassist played on the Green Album before leaving for health reasons after its tour?
Mikey Welsh
Mikey Welsh left in August 2001 after a breakdown on tour, and soon gave up music altogether to make his name as a painter.
Q 19Before joining Weezer in 2001, Scott Shriner toured in the backing band of which artist?
Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice was touring Hard to Swallow, his swerve into nu metal, and the former US Marine played bass in the rapper's backing band.
Q 20Which self-funded 2002 Weezer album leaked to radio so early that Geffen issued a gag order?
Maladroit
Cuomo sent 8 of the 13 songs out himself. The label demanded the tapes back and an apology to every station that had played them.
A Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video went to a clip that flew in the faces of 'Numa Numa', 'Chocolate Rain' and other viral hits for a four-day shoot and drew four million views in its first week.
Q 24What prompted Rivers Cuomo to write 'Pork and Beans'?
A label demand
A label demand: Geffen executives told the band to record more commercial material, and the song Cuomo wrote in reply became the lead single of its 2008 album and an 11-week Modern Rock No. 1.
Q 25Under which alias has Weezer played small, unannounced club shows?
Goat Punishment
Goat Punishment first appeared in 1998 for club sets made up entirely of Nirvana and Oasis covers, and returned in 2000 so that only longtime fans would recognise the name and turn up.
Q 26Which actor suggested the title Raditude for Weezer's 2009 album?
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson, Dwight in The Office, offered Cuomo the word, and the band put it on a cover showing a National Geographic photograph of a leaping dog named Sidney.
Q 27Weezer's 2010 album Hurley is named after a character from which TV series?
Lost
Lost's Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes was played by Jorge Garcia, the face on the cover; guitarist Brian Bell first said the name came from the Hurley clothing company, then admitted he was mistaken.
Q 28The video for Hurley's single 'Memories' features backing vocals from the cast of which film franchise?
Jackass
Jackass 3D carried the song on its soundtrack in 2010, and the film's cast returned the favour by singing along in the video.
Q 29In January 2012 Weezer headlined a music cruise from Miami to which port?
Cozumel
Cozumel was the turnaround for about 2,200 fans, who got more than concerts on the way: drummer Pat Wilson ran a shuffleboard contest and bassist Scott Shriner presided over vow renewals.
Q 30Which 2014 Weezer single opens with an apology to the band's fans?
Back to the Shack
Back to the Shack opens by saying sorry for chasing a new audience and promises a return to the band's 1994 sound; the producer of its debut album was back at the desk.