25 essential Weezer songs

When Weezer released their eponymous debut album back in May of 1994, few would’ve predicted that they would remain near the center of rock culture for the next three decades. Weezer—now commonly called “The Blue Album,” thanks to a proliferation of color-coded self-titled albums the group has released over the years— seemed very much the product of its time. Rife with pop culture references and maximizing the quiet-loud-quiet structure popularized by Pixies, the album also had deep roots in pop and metal, genres leader Rivers Cuomo would continue to explore over the years, accompanied by his faithful drummer Patrick Wilson, guitarist Brian Bell, and bassist Scott Shriner, who wound up replacing original member Matt Sharp once Weezer mounted a comeback early in the 2000s.

Weezer is still an active band, taking the time to explore new musical territory, as on 2021's baroque OK Human. Still, the band’s core catalog remains forged in the 1990s and 2000s, when the band dominated modern rock radio with songs that were simultaneously catchy, funny, and emotional. The 30th anniversary of The Blue Album allows us to take a look at 25 songs that explain why Weezer has proved unexpectedly enduring.

25. “Africa” (2018)

Weezer’s cover of Toto’s enduring soft-rock classic “Africa” is perhaps the apex of the group’s symbiotic relationship with the internet. Late in 2017, a teenage Weezer fan launched an online campaign to get the band to cover “Africa,” a movement that swiftly expanded far beyond the group’s hardcore fans. Initially responding with a version of “Rosanna”—the smash Toto had just before “Africa”—Weezer did wind up cutting a rendition of the 1982 hit, a cover that gave the group their first number one Alternative Rock hit in a decade. While the genesis of the cover lies in a joke, the trick to Weezer’s “Africa” is that they played it straight: there’s never a sense the group is winking at their audience.