My friend Mark bought Weezer’s début album at a garage sale in 1997. I stole it from him a few weeks later and have enjoyed listening to it since.

Weezer’s Weezer is this week’s Tracks from the Past.

As one of the first CDs I had ever owned, Weezer’s hard-rocking distorted guitars were a far cry from the Gloria Estefan and Bette Midler albums my mom played in the car.

Weezer, also know as "The Blue Album," is a 41-minute alt-rock, power pop album created by four music nerds (guitarist and singer Rivers Cuomo is a Harvard grad.)

The band struggled to gain a following in its early years because most rock-club patrons at the time were expecting grunge bands. But when Weezer was released in 1994, two years after the band’s formation, the fanbase grew quickly.

Weezer peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200, and the album has since gone triple-platinum in the United States. Critics loved the album. It earned 5/5 stars from Allmusic, a B+ from Entertainment Weekly, and 4/5 stars from Rolling Stone.

The album’s three singles, "Undone — the Sweater Song," "Buddy Holly," and "Say It Ain’t So" are classics from my childhood. I still can’t hold back rocking an air guitar during "Say It Ain’t So."

But my favorite song is "In the Garage." There’s nothing better than hearing a geek sing about Dungeons and Dragon over crunchy guitar chords.

Thanks, Mark.

— by Jordan Montgomery