Meme culture has been one of the most prominent and active forms of trend in social media culture. From the dancing baby in the mid to late 1990’s to the blue album riff, the internet has taken hold of trends and made them accessible to nearly everyone, creating a constant cycle of trends that people don’t seem to know how to keep up with. 

Being that the “meme-ifacation” of the Blue Album by Weezer trend just recently passed, it becomes a debate whether it was a beneficial event for the introduction of more ‘strange sounding’ music to the new generation. 

“I think they had a really unique and original sound, as far as rock. I think I remember they describe themselves as ‘geek rock’, which I always loved. I don’t know any other bands that are ‘geek rock’. It’s not necessarily punk or hard rock- it’s somewhere in between and I feel like they perfectly encapsulate my personality- personified as a music genre,” said Mr. Justin Henaghan, who has been a fan of Weezer since his middle and high school years. 

As far as the album cover goes, it seems to encapsulate a very awkward aura for people, which is one of the main reasons it became a joke in the first place. 

“The (Blue Album) cover is so iconic! I’m going to be real, it haunts me a little whenever I see that specific shade of blue. Also it reminds me of that Michael Cera photo,” said junior, Ebanehita Igalo, who claims to hate Weezer with a burning passion. “Contrary to popular belief, I am not a Weezer fan! I am a hater, but I think their riffs are nice and I do bop to some Buddy Holly every now and then.” 

A lot of people seem to deny they even enjoy anything about Weezer after the memes started circulating. The riff and their reputation of being very nerdy, drew a lot of people away from being fans of their music. 

“I don’t think it’ll be that important. People will probably be like “what’s this jolly tune?” and look it up and find out its weezer and just maybe that’ll be how people get into Weezer,” said junior, Dice Perry. 

Even if most people were not fans of the blue album, there are still fans out there who really enjoy Weezer’s sound. Even people who don’t like Weezer admit their music is unforgettable.

 “I think it is ingrained in my subconscious and will stay there at all times. Sometimes I lay awake, unable to get the guitar riff from sweater song out of my head. I weep thinking about how much they’ve affected me, my humor, my relationships, my very soul,” said Igalo.

The benefits of bringing Buddy Holly into the mainstream media is evident too. It may have become a joke, but it became very popular again too.

“I kinda like it, it keeps the blue album specifically in the mainstream. people are more aware of it, so I’m all for it,” said Henaghan. 

The meme gives fans a reason to tell more people about their interest in Weezer’s uniqueness as far as genre goes.

Now that people are listening to music that is considered ‘weird’ or ‘uncool’, more people can be encouraged to write and play more offbeat and unique music because of their variety in taste and expectation for what music can be. 

Seeing that Weezer is being used for exactly what it was meant for, entertainment, is encouraging. Even the band played up on what people were saying about them and their music, replacing a ton of the spotify backdrops for their Blue Album songs to fan made memes. 

“They are four silly men,” said Perry.