Metallica - Welcome Home (Sanitarium) / Weezer - Undone - The Sweater Song

“‘The Sweater Song’ was the first Weezer song I ever wrote, back in 1991,” Cuomo says. “I just picked up that acoustic guitar and the first thing I played was that riff...It wasn’t until years after I wrote it that I realized it’s almost a complete rip-off of ‘Sanitarium’ by Metallica. It just perfectly encapsulates Weezer to me – you’re trying to be cool like Velvet Underground but your metal roots just pump through unconsciously.”

Metallica - "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (Master of Puppets, 1986).
Weezer - "Undone - The Sweater Song" (Weezer, 1994).

#metallica #masterofpuppets #weezer #riverscuomo #heavymetal #undonethesweatersong #welcomehomesanitarium

[RJKYEG]

"If you play them next to each other they're pretty much identical." (Rivers Cuomo, lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of Weezer, Episode 200 of "Conan Needs a Friend" 2022).

[manuelsan]

The first time I heard that Weezer riff I instantly thought "that's Sanitarium, but a drunken version"😂. Sounds like it was played by Pixies

[outerlimit]

Somehow it's the same yet different.

[Alex]

Rivers has talked about this accidental Metallica influence for years, it just getting more press in the last year or so. If I remember correctly its notably mentioned in the Weezer biography "River's Edge: The Weezer Story"

[wolfsguitarden]

I heard this theory on YouTube and yes the lead singer of Weezer did admit this but still to me they might be very similar but they're played in a different key they don't exactly sound the same I totally see the influence of course but they're not played exactly the same either

[alphalax]

Funny thing is rivers was trying to make a velvet underground type riff here

[Oni]

Metallica - Trapped Under Ice (0:32) and Helloween - Ride the Sky

[MichaelJeffers]

Close, but they're shaped different on the fret board. This is definitely just a coincidence in tone and gate.

[Mewse]

I don't know about "virtual identical" but the vibe is the same and it was definitely inspired by Sanitarium, but even transposed start on the same note, they are not close

Sanitarium - E-B-F#-G, E-C-G-G, E-D-A-G, A-C#-D-A/G

Sweater. F#-D#-A-A#, B-D#-A-A#, C#-F-B-A#, B-D-A-A#. Transposed to start on E:

E-C#-G-G#, A-C#-G-G#, B-D#-A-G#, A-C#-G-G#

ON TOP OF EACH OTHER:

E-B-F#-G, E-C-G-G, E-D-A-G, A-C#-D-A/G

E-C#-G-G#, A-C#-G-G#, B-D#-A-G#, A-C#-G-G#

[ichirokujo]

This looks more like harvester of sorrow riff

[atc]

This person posted it two months ago, 5 weeks before they released the Conan podcast. Do we have an inside mole getting ahead of the curve, farming YouTube views, and why is it Sona?

[lilvaginastain]

I dont really hear it unless they are played right next to eachother.

[Owobi]

i dont really hear it. i can hear where some inspiration may have taken place, but i personally think they sound very different. metallica has more of a melodic vibe to it, where weezer has more of a chromatic creepy vibe

[johnjefferson]

Bridge from helena by misfits and outro also sound the same

[TobleroneCraft]

Rivers has said that he knows it’s Sanitarium. He even told Lars that one time.

[SlyHikari]

Welcome home also sounds alot like the intro to pull me under.

[andrewlloydpeterson]

Im pretty sure sanitarium riff is also a rip off