Timeline (The Best Album Never Released)

1992: Weezer formed in Los Angeles.

1993: Weezer discovered by Todd Sullivan. Weezer is signed to Geffen in the same year.

1994: Their first album which is called Weezer is a smash hit. One of their singles' music videos, "Buddy Holly" is very popular, and Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer begins to think that the video is the cause of their success.

1995: Cuomo is disillusioned with the rock-n-roll lifestyle. After the touring for their album "Weezer" is finished, they start working on their next album Songs from the Black Hole. The band takes a break from recording to focus on side projects. Cuomo goes to Harvard to study. He has to wear a painful knee brace to fix a birth defect where one leg was shorter than the other. Rivers Cuomo begins to write material for Weezer's new album, Songs From the Black Hole, which has a space rock-opera theme. His intentions are that all members of Weezer, and friends from other bands play characters in the album. He changes the set lists, and refines it as he learns music theory in college. Over Rivers' breaks from college, they begin to demo SFTBH.

POINT OF DIVERGENCE

1996: In February 1996 Cuomo leaves college to work with Weezer on the new album. Over the next months they continue working on Songs from the Black Hole. On August 4, 1996, Songs from the Black Hole is released to rave reviews. Rolling Stone, who in our timeline derided Pinkerton, Weezer's real second album, gave Black Hole four and a half stars. The NME gives the album 8 stars out of 10, Q magazine gave the album an astonishing five stars out of five, but Pitchfork, who in our timeline loved Pinkerton, gave SFTBH 4 stars out of 10. They would later revisit this review. In October of 1996 the Black Hole tour started with all Weezer members and their friends who performed on the album. The whole show was just Songs from the Black Hole and no other songs by Weezer. Matt Sharp, the bassist for Weezer had to leave for the first couple of dates because he was sick. SFTBH is the best selling album of 1996.

1997: Over the course of 1997 Weezer is touring around the world to promote their album. In October of 1997 touring ends with a huge show with Weezer and Oasis at the GMEX in Manchester. In this show, Weezer does songs from all their career and Oasis peforms songs from their new album "Be Here Now." Many Weezer and Oasis fans turn up to see the event. Noel Gallagher, Oasis' chief songwriter and guitarist and Rivers Cuomo become close friends. Also, in 1997 Rivers is guest on the most popular episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno until Adele broke the record in 2011. Mykel and Carli, Weezer's two most popular fans are still alive and keep the fan club running.

1998: Weezer is quiet because they are taking breaks from touring and recording. Rivers begins to write material for Weezer's next album.

1999: Weezer begins recording their next album "Why Not?" at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, CA. The album begins a back to basics approach. During the recording for "Why Not," Rivers Cuomo helps to produce Oasis' next album, "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants."

2000: Weezer's new album "Why Not?" is released on June 7, 2000 to critical praise. Most critics did not think it was as good as Songs from the Black Hole, but still a very good album. Oasis' new album "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" is released the same year with Rivers' countributions, and one song written by Rivers is on the album. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is greeted with mixed reviews, but Rivers' song was claimed to be "pretty good." Weezer begins touring for "Why Not" on July 4, 2000 at the San Diego County Fair performing at the fireworks show.

2001: The Why Not tour ends on December 14, 2001 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. At the end of the tour Weezer takes a break for 4 years. In a readers poll on Rolling Stone, Songs from the Black Hole gains the top spot of the best albums of all time, beating out Abbey Road and Pet Sounds.

2002: Heathen Chemistry is released by Oasis with songwriting contributions by Rivers Cuomo.

2004: Weezer returns to the studio to record "Sing." "Sing" is an album that tinkers with jazz music because Rivers Cuomo was interested in it for a while but still retains a feel of altrock.

2005: Weezer's album "Sing" is released to positive reviews. Weezer begins their "Sing" tour where they go around to interesting places and perform. Oasis' album Don't Believe the Truth is released with two songs written by Cuomo. Oasis fans begin to refer to Rivers as the 6th member of Oasis.

2006: Rivers returns to Harvard College and gets a degree in psychology.

2007: Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list is released. Songs from the Black Hole was at #2 on the list, under Abbey Road by The Beatles.

Conclusion: Songs from the Black Hole is widely regarded as one of the best albums of all time. It brought Weezer to intense superstardom and let them meet new friends along the way. It captivated listeners and hardcore Weezer fans are now listening to a bootleg album called "Pinkerton" that was never released. Rivers has released parts of the Pinkerton album oficially through his Alone CDs.