Buddy Holly (song)

"Buddy Holly"
Single by Weezer
from the album Weezer (The Blue Album)
B-side"Jamie"
ReleasedSeptember 7, 1994
StudioElectric Lady (New York City)
Genre
Length2:39
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)Ric Ocasek
Weezer singles chronology
"Undone – The Sweater Song"
(1994) 		"Buddy Holly"
(1994) 		"Say It Ain't So"
(1995)
Music video
"Buddy Holly" on YouTube
Audio sample

"Buddy Holly" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. 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) (1994). 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, which features footage from Happy Days and was 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).[5][6] The digital version of the single for "Buddy Holly" was certified gold by the RIAA in 2006.[7] VH1 ranked it as the 59th greatest song of the 1990s in December 2007.[8]

  1. ^ Brod, Doug (June 2008). "The "Buddy Holly" Story". Spin. 24 (6): 16. ISSN 0886-3032.
  2. ^ Braun, Laura (September 23, 2016). "How Weezer's 'Pinkerton' Went From Embarrassing to Essential". Rollingstone. Archived from the original on December 30, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  3. ^ "Weezer / Pixies". Delawareonline. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  4. ^ "Weezer brings the fun, and the Pixies, to tour". The News & Observer. July 20, 2018. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  5. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 17, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
  6. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2021-09-15. Archived from the original on 2021-11-25. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  7. ^ "RIAA searchable database". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on June 26, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
  8. ^ 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s Archived February 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine