Link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwv-iRvyDZg
The video opens with this title card. This connotes that the video will tell the story of the band before it's current iteration. More is revealed throughout the video about the specifics of the current and previous name but at this point people who know the band well may take the lack of an "R" in the bands name beforehand to mean that it's real-life, current lead singer, who is named Rivers, may not have been involved previously but is subsequently added to the line up, hence the addition of his first initial to the band's name. The video does in fact tell the story of how this addition came about. (It should be noted that this is fictional, no such changes were made to the name or band members. Rivers Cuomo has been their lead singer (and the band has been called Weezer) since their formation in 1992).
The raucous crowd with the bodyguard holding them back shows the band is still very popular even before they change their name/line up.
Rivers Cuomo, the band's real-life lead singer, is here depicted as the band's assistant, holding the crowds off of the fictional lead singer as they make their way into a venue in preparation for a concert.
Rivers is again shown to be some sort of assistant to the band, here testing the microphone for the vocalist.
As the curtains open and the concert starts, we notice the woman lead singer actually has a male voice, that of the band's real vocalist. This may add an element of unreality, putting doubt into the mind of the viewer that this actually happened. Perhaps here the producers are trying to convey that the video is a work of fiction, a made-up story.
The next 20 seconds or so sees the band proceed with the song. The band are dressed in extremely untypical clothes for a band of their type or indeed the band themselves - a fan of the band would spot that their 80's-style leather attire (often associated with heavy metal bands) is very much out of line with their usual style. This essentially is the producers beginning to introduce a theme that is common throughout the video, the fact that their singer is a "diva" and tries to assert control over the band. Evidently, forcing them to wear clothes they wouldn't normally to suit her desires for the band is a part of this.
In the period after the gig has finished, several things back up the claim that the singer is a diva, controlling and somewhat "crazy". First, she complains that there is one brown M&M sweet amongst a bowl of (obviously especially "filtered") green M&Ms (this is a reference to 80's metal band Van Halen, whose contract was rumored to contained a provision calling for them to be provided with a bowl full of M&Ms, but with all the brown ones removed). She then shouts at one band member and pours a bowl full of egg yolks over another.
This scene introduces to viewers the fact that the band's assistant appears to care for the singer, despite her fairly noticeable shortcomings. He is depicted escorting her from the gig through another crowd, getting her to bed and putting water and painkillers next to her.
Eventually the band appear to get fed up with their singers antics and decide to fire her from the band.
Once she's left, they change clothes into what would be considered more typical for the genre and the band themselves, enforcing the theory that the original singer forced them to wear them.
At first, Rivers is upset about her leaving, appearing to believe he will be lonely without her (he sings the lyrics "tell me there's some hope for me, I don't want to be lonely" at this point).
The band take the stage without the singer, and as Rivers approached the side of the stage he is beckoned by the guitarist to go up to the mic and sing. He does so tentatively, with the crowd seemingly bewildered at the sight of a new seemingly unsuitable lead singer.
He gradually grows in confidence and the crowd begin to accept him. Shots of the former singer appearing depressed with empty bottles and mess around her show up periodically during this portion of the video, signalling a switching of roles between her and Rivers.
At the end of the video, "Weeze" t-shirts are shown having "R"'s written on the end to convey Rivers' induction into the band.
Once she's left, they change clothes into what would be considered more typical for the genre and the band themselves, enforcing the theory that the original singer forced them to wear them.
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