Rivers Cuomo’s Harvard classmates’ “minds were blown” when they learned he was in Weezer

Even those smart enough to get into Harvard didn’t realize they were classmates with Rivers Cuomo.

Reminiscing about his time attending the Ivy League school in the mid-90s, the Weezer frontman tells the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast that his fellow Harvard students didn’t recognize him.

“I’d be riding the bus with other students that were wearing Weezer shirts that had no idea it was me,” Cuomo says in a clip from the episode, which premiered on RollingStone.com.

To be fair, though, Cuomo was sporting a very long, identity-concealing beard at the time. He also walked with a cane due to recent surgery on his leg.

“I just looked like some really weird, super old weird guy,” Cuomo laughs.

Eventually, Cuomo’s day job was revealed on the last day of class.

“I remember having a conversation with some other kids, and one of them said, ‘So what are you doing for the summer?'” Cuomo recalls. “I was, like, ‘Uh, we’re going on tour with No Doubt.”

“He was, like, ‘Oh cool, are you working on a tour or something?'” the “Buddy Holly” rocker continues. “[I said], ‘No, I’m in Weezer.’ Minds were blown at that moment.”

Cuomo attended Harvard following the release of Weezer’s 1994 debut, the Blue Album, and again after 1996’s Pinkerton. He eventually graduated in 2006.

A sitcom inspired by Cuomo’s Harvard days called DeTour was in the works but was ultimately scrapped.