Perfect Situation

"Perfect Situation"
Single by Weezer
from the album Make Believe
Released	October 11, 2005
Recorded	2004
Genre	Alternative rock power pop
Length	4:14
Label	Geffen
Songwriter(s)	Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)	Rick Rubin
Weezer singles chronology
"We Are All on Drugs" (2005) "Perfect Situation" (2005) "This Is Such a Pity" (2006)

"Perfect Situation" is a song by American alternative rock band Weezer. It was released to radio on October 11, 2005 as the third single from the band's fifth album Make Believe, following "Beverly Hills" and "We Are All on Drugs".^[1]

The song is also one of the band's most successful songs to date, topping the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks for four weeks, outlasting the one-week run atop the chart of "Beverly Hills", although it didn't gain the former's massive pop success, reaching #51 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Radio edit

The radio edit of this song features a shortened intro, a synth track on the first and second chorus (the album version only has it on the second chorus), a reworked "oh-oh" chorus and the added backup vocals of "perfect situation" over the outro. The radio edit is eight seconds shorter than the album version. The reworked chorus that appears in the radio edit was one of two ways Cuomo originally wrote the song. When touring in summer 2005, when the band prompted the crowd to sing along, they oddly enough sang it in the other way Cuomo had written it (different from the record version). Cuomo stated in an interview during the band's 2005 performance at the AOL Sessions as saying "Well, if these ten thousand people think it should go this way, maybe we should go back and re-record it."

The alternate version was put on later pressings of the album with the full intro, reworked chorus and outro.

Music video

The video, directed by Marc Webb, premiered on November 11, 2005, and features actress Elisha Cuthbert as the lead singer of Weeze, a fictional predecessor to Weezer, who is eventually replaced by actual frontman Rivers Cuomo. The video also features a cameo by the band's webmaster/band photographer/archivist and longtime close friend Karl Koch and like the "Beverly Hills" video, the band invited actual Weezer fans via casting call to be in the video's crowd scenes.^[2] A new cover for Make Believe was created for the video of Perfect Situation, replacing Cuomo with Cuthbert, as well as showing the fictional name "Weeze".

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (2006)	Peak position
Canada Rock Top 30 (Radio & Records)	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	51
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2006)	Position
Canada Rock (Radio & Records)[3]	15
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[4]	8

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[5]	Gold	500,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo – lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards
• Brian Bell – rhythm guitar
• Scott Shriner – bass guitar
• Patrick Wilson – drums, percussion
• Rick Rubin – production

References

1. "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
2. Montgomery, James (October 18, 2005). "Elisha Cuthbert Takes Over Weezer — But Rivers Won't Have Any of It". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved August 17, 2007.^{[dead link‍]}
3. "Top Canada Rock Songs" (PDF). Radio & Records. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
4. "Alternative Songs – Year-End 2006". Billboard. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
5. "American single certifications – Weezer – Perfect Situation". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 19, 2024.

External links

• Lyrics for "Perfect Situation" Archived 2006-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
• "Perfect Situation" Official music video on YouTube