Weezer 's viral cover of Toto 's "Africa" has certainly been a success: The track has given Rivers Cuomo and company their biggest hit in a decade. However, Cuomo has noticed that Weezer's take on "Africa" has been received differently by younger fans than by older ones.
"I love the song, so I'm happy to play it," Cuomo tells Rolling Stone of "Africa." "But you can definitely see this divide between the young people, who for whatever mysterious reason love that song, and the older Weezer fans, who are like, 'OK, this is strange.'"
Weezer originally released their version of "Africa" this past spring in response to a long-running campaign from a young fan who spent months trying to convince the band to cover the 1982 hit. Aside from making that dream a reality, Cuomo says the band didn't have any expectations regarding the song's success.
"We knew it would get a lot of traffic online for a minute, but within 24 hours, all these radio stations started playing it," Cuomo explains. "We didn't send it to any radio stations to work it as a single. It just exploded on its own. We had to stand there on the sidelines with everyone else and watch as it won the game."
Weezer will launch a tour with Pixies in March in support of their forthcoming Black Album , due out March 1. Cuomo says that the album, which was produced by TV on the Radio 's Dave Sitek , is "so cool."
"Dave is close to our age, but he’s from the completely other side of the alternative '90s," Cuomo says. "His point of reference is more Beck and the Beastie Boys , which is so different from where I was coming from with the Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins side of alt-rock. I'm stoked."
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