Weezer Cross-Promote 'Hurley' With Hurley Clothes

Is the title of Weezer's new album Hurley inspired by "Hurley," as played by Jorge Garcia on Lost — or does it involve a promotion struck between Rivers Cuomo and Nike-owned surf-gear brand Hurley? Weezer guitarist Brian Bell suggested the latter in a recent interview. "The inspiration came from a surf company called Hurley that was funding the record at the beginning of the recording process," Bell said. "We actually did some sort of advertisement — I don't even know how they're tied in so much, although — we got some clothes, and we did a photo shoot where we're wearing these clothes, and I think we¹re selling these clothes in malls."

Bell quickly retracted his statement on a Weezer message board: "I mistakenly said that Hurley funded the album. Weezer paid for every penny of this recording. The reason the record is called Hurley is because [Jorge Garcia] is on the cover. We thought about leaving the record untitled for the fourth time, but that causes a lot of problems and we knew people would end up calling the record Hurley anyway." It may not be true that Hurley funded any part of the album. But it turns out that the band and the clothing line did strike a deal to sell copies of Hurley, as well as Weezer merchandise, in Hurley-owned PacSun stores, as part of Hurley's "Rock You Back to School" promotion. "Weezer has been doing promotional and merch deals and etc. for 15+ years, that sort of stuff is nothing new," Weezer.com webmaster Karl Koch said on the band's official site.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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