Post-Recording
In 2002, several Songs from the SFTBH demos were 'leaked' on the internet. These included "Blast Off!", "Oh No This Is Not For Me", "Come to My Pod", "Tired of Sex" and "Longtime Sunshine". Another demo, "You Won't Get With Me Tonight", was officially released on a Buddyhead compilation in 2003. A very short clip of the band rehearsing "Superfriend" in Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, in January 1996, was released on the Weezer DVD Video Capture Device in 2004.
Sheet music and lyrics for several unreleased Songs from the Black Hole tracks were made available by Cuomo on his MySpace blog starting on April 30, 2006. Lyrics were posted for "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Oh Jonas", "Please Remember", "Oh No This is Not For Me", "She's Had a Girl", and "Now I Finally See", while sheet music was posted for "She's Had A Girl", "Who You Callin' Bitch?" and "Oh Jonas". He also posted that the song "Lisa", long thought to be part of Track List 2 (see below) and the name of the second female character, was not actually part of SFTBH. This left the character's name to be unknown (for the time being). Rivers could not recall the name, but referred to her as "the good girl."
On October 4, 2005 during a Weezer show at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, the band invited a fan up onstage to play the rhythm guitar for "Undone - The Sweater Song". The fan took advantage of this moment to attempt to get the band to play "Blast Off!" by beginning to play the intro to the song and sang the first four lines of the song.
Once Cuomo posted the lyrics and music for some of the SFTBH tracks, fans were able to cover the songs despite not having heard them. Cuomo has even posted comments about the covers he has heard: "By the way, I'm very disappointed not to be hearing any women out there singing Maria's parts. What gives?" (on "Who You Callin' Bitch?") and "Good luck figuring out the time changes... No one's gotten it yet. Look at it this way: 3 beats in a 3/4 measure go by in the same amount of time as 2 beats in a 6/4 measure . Also, these last two sawngs (sic) are elided so that the pickup note of "Oh, Jonas" is the last beat of the last bar of "Who You Callin'" (on "Oh Jonas")."
In a November 2006 interview with a Bloomfield Hills local radio station Pat Wilson told two students that he remembers being caught in Germany and Cuomo using a recording studio to record what he wanted to be a rock album. Pat stated that he never knew more about SFTBH other than Cuomo wanting to make a concept album. Wilson also stated that he would be interested in releasing a compilation of "lost" Weezer tracks. This fueled rumours that the band would release previously unheard Black Hole songs or a completely re-worked version of the Songs from the Black Hole concept album in the near future.
On April 30, 2006, Cuomo released this statement in his blog: "Thanks for your interest in these songs! I'm putting up the lyrics now because I suddenly realized that I can. I'll also put up the sheet music (when I have time) so that you can play them for each other! I'll release my home demos as soon as I am legally able."
On October 15, 2007 Cuomo posted a blog on his website stating that he had permission from Geffen to release a collection of demos spanning 1992-2007, Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. Shortly after, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Cuomo revealed that many of the songs on the CD will be unreleased demos from Songs From The Black Hole. A news post on Geffen's official website read, "The vast majority will be new to even the most die-hard Weezer fan," hinting that the SFTBH demos will be songs previously never heard. In an Alternative Press interview from October 30, 2007, Cuomo revealed that "Blast Off!", "Who You Calling Bitch?", "Dude, We're Finally Landing" and "Superfriend" would appear on the album.
On November 22, 2007, Cuomo updated his blog, stating "I want to share with everyone the excitement I felt when I went back and heard the original master tapes of these demos. In most cases, they sounded much better than the mp3s I've been listening to for years--clearer, warmer, deeper. I highly recommend that listeners buy the CD rather than the digital version so that they can enjoy the highest quality listening experience."
On December 18, 2007, Rivers Cuomo released a collection of his home demos entitled Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. The collection contained demos from 1992 until 2007. The collection also included five demos for songs intended for or included on Songs From the Black Hole: "Longtime Sunshine", "Blast Off!", "Who You Callin' Bitch?", "Dude, We're Finally Landing", and "Superfriend." In the Alone booklet, Cuomo explained some of the plot points of the musical, and, after having reviewed his journal notes of SFTBH, revealed that the Good Girl's name is Laurel.
On November 25, 2008, Rivers Cuomo released a second collection of home demos entitled Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. The collection included an additional three tracks from Songs From the Black Hole: "Oh Jonas", "Please Remember" and "Come to My Pod". Also on November 25, 2008 at the jam session for the release of Alone 2, "Blast Off," "Devotion," and "Waiting on You" were all played live by Cuomo, marking their live debut.
On November 2, 2010, weezer released a deluxe edition of Pinkerton. The 2-CD set contained the original Pinkerton album, live tracks, b-sides, demos and studio out-takes from the Pinkerton era. Included on the set were a studio version of "Longtime Sunshine" (with a SFTBH-related special coda), originally recorded at Electric Lady Studios in August 1995 and Rivers's previously-released demo of You Won't Get With Me Tonight. The liner notes for the deluxe edition of Pinkerton hinted at additional songs from Songs From the Black Hole having been attempted by the band during the Pinkerton sessions, including "You Won't Get With Me Tonight", "Dude, We're Finally Landing" and "She's Had a Girl", before the concept was aborted completely.
Read more about this topic: Songs From The Black Hole, History