Beverly Hills (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Beverly Hills" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Weezer | ||
| from the album Make Believe | ||
| Released | 29 March 2005 | |
| Format | CD | |
| Recorded | 2004 | |
| Genre | Alternative | |
| Length | 3:20 | |
| Label | Geffen | |
| Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
#10 (US)
#9 (UK) #1 (US Modern Rock) |
||
| Weezer singles chronology | ||
| "Keep Fishin'" (2002)) |
"Beverly Hills" (2005) |
"We Are All on Drugs" (2005) |
| Make Believe track listing | ||
| "Beverly Hills" (1) |
"Perfect Situation" (2) |
|
"Beverly Hills" is the first single from Weezer's fifth album, Make Believe. It was released on March 29, 2005. The music video for this song was filmed at The Playboy Mansion (which is actually not located in Beverly Hills, but the neighboring community of Westwood), with Hugh Hefner making a cameo appearance at the beginning. The song features Stephanie Eitel of Agent Sparks on the chorus on backup vocals.
Contents |
[edit] Inspiration
Cuomo's story behind "Beverly Hills": "I was at the opening of the new Hollywood Bowl and I flipped through the program and I saw a picture of Wilson Phillips. And for some reason I just thought how nice it would be to marry, like, an “established” celebrity and live in Beverly Hills and be part of that world. And it was a totally sincere desire. And then I wrote that song, Beverly Hills. For some reason, by the time it came out—and the video came out—it got twisted around into something that seemed sarcastic. But originally it wasn’t meant to be sarcastic at all." [1]
[edit] Success
The song is the band's most successful single to date, best remembered for its 1-4-5 melody, use of hand claps, simple lyrics that spoke of alienation (a theme many youths find easily relatable) and a distictive talkbox solo that Cuomo plays an extended version of when the band plays the song live. The song topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for a week, spending months near the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at #10) and being certified gold on June 6th, 2005. As of January 2006 the digital single has been purchased over 962,000 times on iTunes. It also did very well on other Billboard charts, such as Adult Top 40 (#8 peak), Hot Digital Songs (#1 peak) and Mainstream Rock Tracks (#26).
The song was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the first ever nomination for the band. The video for the song was nominated at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rock Video. The song won College Song Of The Year at the 54th Annual BMI Pop Awards.
"Beverly Hills" stayed at #1 on the Modern Rock charts for 1 week. It was the first #1 for Weezer, but this record was later met with "Perfect Situation," the Make Believe's third single, which held the pole position for 4 weeks.
[edit] Various
- A remix of the song called "Beverly Hills (Urbanix Mix)" appears on the "We Are All on Drugs" single.
- The song is also featured on Now That's What I Call Music! 20 and Kidz Bop, Vol. 9.
- The song also has been used on Malcom in the Middle.
- A notable moment among Weezer fans took place after the song's video shoot, in which the band's fans were prominently featured after a request was put up on Weezer's website weezer.com. The song and the upcoming album were still very tightly under wraps and nobody had heard any material from the album. Despite all recording devices being checked at the entrance point of the shoot, a fan managed to get his cell phone in and record a clip from the song that he posted on the internet. The cell phone clip was quickly downloaded over and over by eager fans, as it represented the first new material heard from the band in two years.
[edit] Track listing
- Beverly Hills
- Island in the Sun (live)
- Butterfly (live)
- Beverly Hills (CD-ROM track)
| Preceded by: "The Hand that Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails |
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single July 2, 2005 |
Succeeded by: "Best of You" by Foo Fighters |
[edit] External links
| Weezer |
|---|
| Brian Bell – Rivers Cuomo – Scott Shriner – Patrick Wilson |
| Former members: Jason Cropper – Matt Sharp – Mikey Welsh |
| Discography |
| Albums: Weezer (The Blue Album) – Pinkerton – Weezer (The Green Album) – Maladroit – Make Believe |
| Extended plays and live albums: The Good Life – The Lion and the Witch – Winter Weezerland |
