A photo of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's teenage progressive metal band was shown on The Tonight Show in August, prompting a look back at his pre-fame musical roots. Before forming Weezer, Cuomo played lead guitar in Avant Garde, a prog metal outfit he formed in the mid-1980s while a student at E.O. Smith High School in Mansfield, Connecticut, using the name Peter Kitts.

The band, influenced by acts such as Fates Warning, Queensrÿche and Iron Maiden, practised up to four times a week and recorded several demo tapes, gaining airplay on local college radio station WHUS 91.7. Despite initial mockery, Cuomo said the band earned growing respect through school, though they were "never rock stars, just the weird guys who did music." After graduating in 1989, the group moved to Los Angeles seeking a record deal, later rebranding as Zoom, but failed to break through before eventually disbanding.