In the Garage

"In the Garage"
Album track by Weezer
Album	Weezer (The Blue Album)
Released	May 10, 1994
Recorded	August-September 1993 at Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY
Length	3:55
Label	DGC
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo
RC#	168
COR#	N/A
Producer(s)	Ric Ocasek
Status	Officially released
Live debut	August 1, 1993 in West Hollywood, CA
Weezer (The Blue Album) track listing
"Say It Ain't So" (7) "In the Garage" (8) "Holiday" (9)
Rivers Cuomo song chronology
"Port O' Jonas" (RC# 167) "In the Garage" (RC# 168) "I Swear It's True" (RC# 169)

"In the Garage" is the eighth track from The Blue Album.

Appearances

• Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)
• Bloodshot (1994)
• Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years (2020)

Overview

Photo of "the garage," as included in the booklet of The Blue Album CD release.

Along with "Holiday" and "Buddy Holly," Rivers Cuomo wrote "In the Garage" during "a sudden burst of confidence and optimism" following Weezer's signing with Geffen Records., likely first recording it in July of 1993.. This demo was released in 2020 as part of the digital demo compilation Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years. Weezer debuted "In the Garage" live at the Roxy in West Hollywood, CA on August 1, 1993, the last concert they would play with rhythm guitarist Jason Cropper. The eponymous "Garage" was connected to the so-named "Amherst House" (2226 Amherst Ave.) in Los Angeles, California, where members of the band had lived (later the filming site for the music video for "Say It Ain't So").

On August 11, a few weeks before entering the studio to record The Blue Album, Weezer worked with producer Ric Ocasek on practice demos of songs for their first album, including "In the Garage" as well as a "reprise" of the song that Karl Koch later described as "a weird mellow vocal harmony thing." This reprise has not surfaced, and it is not known if or where it would have appeared on the album. "In the Garage" was recorded with the rest of Blue throughout August and September of 1993 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

The song's lyrics were referenced in much of the early press that the band received, helping to associate the band with labels like geek rock and nerd rock.. In a retrospective 2017 review of The Blue Album for Pitchfork, Jillian Mapes described the song as "an homage to that happy place where no one judges you for your comic books, D&D figurines, and Kiss posters... The hopeless ambition of “In the Garage” would make it the defining song of nerd-rock.". Mapes juxtaposes the autobiographical qualities of "Garage" ("a hyper-detailed song about himself") with the fantasy-driven "Surf Wax America."

In January of 1995, Weezer recorded an original studio rendition of the song—featuring an organ in place of harmonica—for the BBC Radio 1 program The Evening Session.

Alongside "My Name Is Jonas," "Garage" makes prominent use of a harmonica. Weezer would not return to this instrument on an official recording until 2005's Make Believe, on the song "Freak Me Out." Though Cuomo initially performed the harmonica parts for "In the Garage" in live shows, Brian Bell has performed it as well.

Known recordings

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
Rivers Cuomo	In the Garage	10 In The Garage.mp3	July—August 1993		4:01	Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years
Weezer	In the Garage		August 6, 1993	Cole Rehearsal Studios, Los Angeles, CA			Rehearsal session. Recorded on Rivers Cuomo's portable DAT.
Weezer	In the Garage		August 11, 1993	S.I.R., New York City, NY			Blue Album pre-production demo. Engineered by Chris Shaw.
Weezer	In the Garage		August 11, 1993	S.I.R., New York City, NY			Vocal harmony reprise. Engineered by Chris Shaw.
Weezer	In the Garage		August—September 1993	Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY	3:55	Weezer (The Blue Album)
Weezer	In the Garage		August 4, 1994	Mercury Cafe, Denver, CO	3:30	Video Capture Device
Weezer	In the Garage		January 1995	London, United Kingdom	3:46	The Evening Session (BBC Radio 1 broadcast)	Studio session

Video Capture Device live video

Shot in Denver in the afternoon, at a different venue from the that night's gig at the Ogden, which was with a seated audience-for reasons we never figured out... Oh yeah, it was for the Weezer DVD 9 years later! - Karl Koch, Video Capture Device booklet, 2004

The live music video for "In the Garage" was filmed at the Mercury Cafe in Denver, Colorado on August 4, 1994. It was created in late 1994 by Mike Drumm, due to the demand of a new Weezer music video. At the time, the "Buddy Holly" music video was a MTV exclusive, meaning other television stations couldn't broadcast the video for a period of time.

Lyrics

I've got the Dungeon Master's Guide
I've got a 12-sided die
I've got Kitty Pryde
And Nightcrawler too
Waiting there for me
Yes I do, I do

I've got posters on the wall
My favorite rock group, Kiss
I've got Ace Frehley
I've got Peter Criss
Waiting there for me
Yes I do, I do

In the garage, I feel safe
No one cares about my ways
In the garage, where I belong
No one hears me sing this song
In the garage

I've got an electric guitar
I play my stupid songs
I write these stupid words
And I love every one
Waiting there for me
Yes I do, I do

In the garage, I feel safe
No one cares about my ways
In the garage, where I belong
No one hears me sing this song
In the garage, in the garage

In the garage I feel safe
No one cares about my ways
In the garage, where I belong
No one hears me sing this song

In the garage I feel safe
No one laughs about my ways
In the garage, where I belong
No one hears me, no one hears me
No one hears me, no one hears me
No one hears me sing this song

See also

• List of Weezer songs
• List of Rivers Cuomo songs

External links

• Teenage Victory Songs entry for "In the Garage"