Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions have sometimes meant big reunions with long-lost band members (see R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Eagles, Heart, et al) — and other times, no big reunion at all (Kiss, Guns N’ Roses). With this year marking the 25th anniversary of their debut (which we’re celebrating with our just-published feature on their origin story and more to come), Weezer will be eligible for the next class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If and when they get inducted, founding bassist Matt Sharp, who parted ways with the band after 1996’s Pinkerton, won’t be interested in reuniting with Weezer onstage at the ceremony.
“I don’t imagine so,” Sharp tells Rolling Stone. “I can’t see music quite like that. I’m grateful for any support given to me because I know it’s a privilege. The idea of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems like… I can’t quite get my head around what that is or what its purpose is. I don’t really think of music in that competitive nature — how many three pointers did we make? But if something like that were to happen, it’s their moment.”
Weezer’s current bassist, Scott Shriner, has been in the band since 2001, and Sharp wants to defer to him. “Scott’s been in the band many years longer than I was at this point,” Sharp says. “It’s been a minute. And I would want him to have his space and enjoy that.”
Sharp has an album in the can with his longtime project the Rentals, this time assisted by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci Jr., and producer Dave Fridmann (who engineered part of Pinkerton), which he hopes to put out in the near future. Sharp and Cuomo have long-since reconciled any differences between them, even playing onstage together in 2004; they hung out together as recently as this summer.
Read our in-depth look at the birth of Weezer, featuring interviews with the entire past and present line-up of the band, here.
