Beverly Hills (song)

Last updated

"Beverly Hills"
Weezer beverly hills.png
Single by Weezer
from the album Make Believe
B-side "Butterfly" (live)
ReleasedMarch 28, 2005 (2005-03-28)
Genre
Length3:18
Label Geffen
Songwriter(s) Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s) Rick Rubin
Weezer singles chronology
"Keep Fishin'"
(2002)		"Beverly Hills"
(2005)		"We Are All on Drugs"
(2005)
Music video
"Beverly Hills" on YouTube

"Beverly Hills" is a song by American rock band Weezer. It is the first single from the band's fifth album, Make Believe . "Beverly Hills" was released to US radio on March 28, 2005. The song features Stephanie Eitel of Agent Sparks on the chorus on backup vocals, performing the "gimme, gimme" hook.

Contents

Background

Rivers 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." [3]

Cuomo stated that "Beverly Hills" and the solo, third verse, and last chorus of "Falling for You" (from Pinkerton ) are his proudest musical achievements: "It's incredibly fun: a great beat, guitar riffs, catchy vocal style. Besides that, I think the lyrics are incredible in a very understated way. I might as well enjoy my life and watch the stars play. I love it! With this one song we were able to transcend our little niche and connect with all kinds of people, young and old, from all kinds of backgrounds." [4]

Chart performance

The song is the band's most commercially successful single. It topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for a week, spending months near the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at number 10) and being certified gold on June 6, 2005; it was also the band's first song to chart there since "Undone – The Sweater Song" at number 57 in 1994 after 11 years since the rest of Weezer's other hits from the past had only managed to chart only on the Hot 100 Airplay or the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. As of September 2018, it is still the band's highest-charting Hot 100 single. 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 (number eight peak), Mainstream Top 40 (number two peak), Hot Digital Songs (number one peak) and Mainstream Rock Tracks (number 26 peak).

The song also made the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number nine, and remaining on the chart for five weeks. 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 Broadcast Music Incorporated Pop Awards. [5] "Beverly Hills" stayed at number one on the Modern Rock charts for one week. It was the first number one for Weezer, but this record was later met with "Perfect Situation," Make Believe's third single, which held the pole position for four weeks. The song was the third highest selling digital download of 2005 in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan. [6]

Music video

The music video for this song, directed by Marcos Siega, was filmed at the Playboy Mansion (which is actually not located in Beverly Hills, but the neighboring community of Holmby Hills), with Hugh Hefner making a cameo appearance at the beginning.

Track listings

Personnel

Weezer

Additional personnel

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [29] Silver200,000‡
United States (RIAA) [30] Gold500,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref(s).
United StatesMarch 28, 2005 Geffen [31] [32]
United KingdomMay 2, 20057-inch vinyl [33]
United StatesMay 16, 2005 Contemporary hit radio [34]

Cover versions

"Weird Al" Yankovic included the song in his polka medley "Polkarama!" from his 2006 album, Straight Outta Lynwood . [35]

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