| Pinning down the weirdest moments of a quintessentially weird career is a daunting task, more so when the careers in question belong to musical icons Gene and Dean Ween.
Looking back on the insanity, these gurus of guava have given us so much to consider. From their beginnings on Budspawn to the Scotch Guard-bong-hit induced magnificence of the The Pod, Ween have always excelled at cultivating the bizarre.
Here are a few of the highlights from the early years of Ween’s twisted past:
· Prophets and pancakes: High weirdness Book 1
GodWeenSatan: The Oneness – Ween’s pointy coiffed saviour Boognish makes his first appearance in the song "Up On The Hill." A moment of unintentional epiphany occurs later on this album, when a slip of the lip turns the rap "Black jack," from the song of the same name, into "flapjack." Hilarity ensues.
· Scotch Guard bong hits: High weirdness Book 2
So many powerful songs, so many memories – The Pod really defined Ween’s sound. Rock solid in its entirety, The Pod’s heartbursting hallucinatory madness gave us gems like "Dr. Rock" and "Awesome Sound."
· Poopship off the port bow: High weirdness Book 3
Pure Guava chilled Ween fans to the bone. The unmitigated popularity of "Push The Little Daisies" threatened to ruin a good thing by putting our best-kept weird secret right up there on MTV. Add to that the arguably racist overtones of "Reggaejunkiejew," and the creepy pedophilia slant of "Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)," and Pure Guava left a bad taste behind. The real turd in this punchbowl is the beleaguered "Poopship Destroyer," which was resurrected and stretched to a constipated 26-minutes-plus on Ween’s 1999 live anthology album, Painting the Town Brown.
· It’s pronounced "cunt-ray": High weirdness Book 4
Enlisting some of Nashville’s greatest studio musicians, Ween records their first, and hopefully last, all-country album, 12 Golden Country Greats – 10 tracks (yes, 10) of dusty delight. Sometime later, Ween realizes that the melody to their song "Japanese Cowboy" is actually a rip-off of the "Chariots of Fire" theme. Not easily discouraged, They add a swelling "Chariots" piano solo to the live version of "Japanese Cowboy" for Painting the Town Brown.
· Wrestling with their consciences: High weirdness Book 5
Ween plasters a scantily clad woman across the front and back covers of their next album – Chocolate and Cheese. Contrasting the eerie beauty of "What Deaner Was Talkin’ About," Ween further mystified their audience with a bevy of distinctly unpleasant songs –"Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?" "Spinal Meningitis" and "The H.I.V. Song" Social awareness, or sensationalism?
More easily digestible albums – The Mollusk, White Pepper – a couple more live recordings, and Quebec would follow but none can approach these shining moments in Ween history. |
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