“Beverly Hills” by Weezer

"Beverly Hills" kicked off Weezer's fifth album, Make Believe, as its first single in 2005, and it struts like it owns the zip code. Rivers Cuomo wrote it alone, words and music, and the idea came to him at the opening of the new Hollywood Bowl, flipping through the program and spotting a photo of Wilson Phillips. He found himself daydreaming about marrying an established star and settling into that glossy world, and he meant it. By the time the single and its video were out, though, everyone heard it as a smirk, which was never the plan.

Rick Rubin produced it, with Chad Bamford and the band adding production and Jordan Schur as executive producer. Bamford and Jim Scott recorded it, Rich Costey mixed it and Stephanie Eitel sings background vocals. The sound is power pop with its chest puffed out: a stomping beat, a chunky, dumb-smart riff and a chorus built to be shouted from the back of a convertible, with Rubin keeping everything dry and upfront so the hooks do the talking.

Cuomo has ranked it among his proudest musical achievements, alongside a stretch of "Falling for You" from Pinkerton in 1996: its guitar solo, its third verse and its closing chorus. He loved it for the beat, the riffs and the catchy vocal, and he reckoned the lyrics were smarter than they let on.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.