Background
His mother reports that he first "rocked" to a small 45 rpm record in his bedroom where he played "Let"s Go to the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors.
His mother reports that he first "rocked" to a small 45 rpm record in his bedroom where he played "Let"s Go to the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors.
Early years
Cropper picked up the guitar at age 16. He was about two years old, and he loved lieutenant He used to spend hours, as a very young child, listening to "Tommy" by The Who.
He has never openly admitted what the first record he bought was, but his first "cool" album was Jimi Hendrix.
He was a fan of various genres, like psychedelic, grunge, and punk. With Weezer
Cropper was the original guitarist for Weezer, and as such was present at the band"s first official band practice on February 14, 1992.
He recorded on the band"s first three official demo tapes previous to their signing to Geffen Records. During the recording of Weezer (aka The Blue Album) in 1993, Cropper left the band and was then replaced by guitarist Brian Bell.
Cropper signed a non-disclosure agreement, and has never publicly spoken about his reasons for leaving the band.
Despite having recorded guitar and backing vocals for all songs on Weezer, his tracks were said to have been replaced by the band"s vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Rivers Cuomo, with the occasional backing vocal replaced by Bell. Cropper has a co-writing cr on Weezer"s "My Name Is Jonas" for writing the song"s acoustic guitar introduction The song "Jamie", featured on the 1994 DGC Rarities, Volume
1 compilation, was recorded in 1993 and features Cropper on guitar and backing vocals.
Prior to the expanded deluxe edition of The Blue Album in 2004, this was the only Weezer track released to feature Cropper on guitar and backing vocals. Post-Weezer
The pair (along with drummer Tyrone Rio) released the single "Free Lunch" in 1995, followed by the album Now Playing in 1997.
The couple divorced in 2004–2005. 2000s
After Chopper One ended, Cropper started the band popular punk supergroup Fliptop self releasing a 5 track European Parliament. The band consisted of Cropper on vocals, guitars and piano, Dallan Baumgarten on guitars & vocals, Scott Shiflett on bass and Josh Freese – drums.
The band played live shows around Los Angeles, and managed to play some local Warped Tour Shows
Cropper sang the theme song for the 2002–2003 American sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe and in early 2006 began showing signs of returning to the music business.
In addition to posting songs on his MySpace page, he started recording and producing bands, including the Atlanta-based rock band Buffalo Alice, producing their second album Mitchell (2007) and credited for writing at least one song and playing guitar and singing on several songs. He continued to contribute to Buffalo Alice, co-writing and producing their third album Alexander Rosenhoff Testament: A Work Of Fiction (2008), and was listed for a time as bass player on the band"s website.
He was in various bands in his twenties before joining bands that contained the core members of what would become Weezer. Cropper has remained good friends with the other members of Weezer and attended Rivers Cuomo"s wedding in 2006. In 1996, Cropper played guitar on Uncle Bob, an alt-rock album from 22 Jacks, which featured members of Wax, The Ramones, Adolescents and Agent Orange.
