Weezer (commonly known as the Blue Album) is the eponymous debut studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on May 10, 1994, by DGC Records. The album came two years after the band's founding, after they had initially struggled as an alternative to the grunge music that was prevalent in Los Angeles during the early 1990s. It was almost entirely arranged and composed by frontman Rivers Cuomo, who also anticipated to lead the band in self-producing the album. However, at the behest of DGC, the band was required to include a producer, and collectively opted for Cars frontman Ric Ocasek. Most of the recording was conducted at Electric Lady Studios in New York City between August and September 1993, a period that coincided with founding guitarist Jason Cropper being fired and replaced by Brian Bell.