Buddy Holly is a song by Weezer, released in September 7, 1994. The song was written by Rivers Cuomo and released by DGC as the second single from the band’s debut album, Weezer (The Blue Album).
The lyrics reference the song’s namesake, 1950s rock-and-roll singer Buddy Holly, and actress Mary Tyler Moore. Released on September 7, 1994 (which would have been Holly’s 58th birthday) the song reached number two on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. Outside the US, the song peaked at number six in Canada, number 12 in the United Kingdom, number 13 in Iceland, and number 14 in Sweden.
The song’s music video, directed by Spike Jonze, earned considerable exposure when it was included as a bonus media file in Microsoft’s initial successful release of the operating system, Windows 95.
Rolling Stone ranked Buddy Holly number 484 in its list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” (2021), raising it 15 spots from number 499 (2010), and raised from around 19 years prior, being ranked number 497 ( 2004).
The digital version of the single for Buddy Holly was certified gold by the RIAA in 2006. VH1 ranked it as one of the “100 Greatest Songs of the 90s” at number 59 in December 2007.
Songwriter Rivers Cuomo 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 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 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“.
Tracklist:
- Buddy Holly (LP version)
- Holiday (LP version)
Weezer
Rivers Cuomo: lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Patrick Wilson: drums
Brian Bell: rhythm guitar (credit only), backing vocals
Matt Sharp: bass, backing vocals
