The Daily Epic Earworm For November 12, 2025
Everyone gets songs stuck in their heads that just won’t go away. They sneak into your subconscious. They are epic earworms that you find yourself humming uncontrollably, singing in the shower, or tapping the beat to with your foot or ballpoint pen when you should be working. Sometimes they even keep you awake at night. Whether they are current hits, one-hit wonders, movie soundtrack gems, holiday favorites, or songs from your youth, their catchy vocals, riffs, hooks, and choruses seem to linger for days.
Here, those songs find a home, no matter the genre. Here, those epic earworms are revisited, explained, and celebrated. Here, you may find the song that haunts you tomorrow. Here is today’s unescapable epic earworm of the day…and the story behind it.
Today’s Epic Earworm: Weezer — “Buddy Holly”
Weezer exploded onto the scene in 1994 with their self-titled debut album. The Blue Album, as it would later be called, went quintuple-platinum and produced three multi-platinum singles: “Undone: The Sweater Song,” “Buddy Holly,” and “Say It Ain’t So.” It was “Buddy Holly,” though, that especially stood out. Geffen Records, without the band’s knowledge, got the song included as a bonus media file in Microsoft’s initial successful release of the Windows 95 operating system.
The Innovative Retro Video
Spike Jonze, who directed the band’s first video as well, was able to splice together a truly innovative video of the band performing on a stage at Arnold’s diner on the old “Happy Days” TV show set. Intermingled with the band playing on stage were clips of the cast from the show, including Henry Winkler’s Fonzi. Winkler was instrumental in convincing the cast, especially Anson Williams (Warren “Potsie” Weber), to let Jonze and the band use their likenesses. The actor who played Al, the diner owner (Al Molinaro), reprised his role in the video, introducing the band and interacting with them at the end of the video.
Tough Rivers To Cross
Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo wrote the song after his friends made fun of his girlfriend at the time, who was Asian. He was sick of them “dissin’” his girl. The Buddy Holly title referred to Cuomo’s strait-laced, almost nerdy appearance and sense of personal style that resembled the legendary crooner, right down to the hairstyle and glasses. (Oddly enough, he didn’t wear the glasses for the video shoot.)
When it came time to record the song, Cuomo was hesitant. Producer (and former Cars frontman) Ric Ocasek left the band little notes in the studio day after day that said “WE WANT BUDDY HOLLY!” Finally, Ocasek told Cuomo to go ahead and record the song, and if he didn’t like the finished product, they would not include it on the album. When all was said and done, the song was too good to leave off the album, and Cuomo’s chivalrous ditty made the cut. The video went on to win four MTV Video Music Awards, and the single sold over three million copies in the U.S. alone.
