If any band from my little window of time could be called the soundtrack of my life, and be held above all others in a class of their own, that I have loved long enough to fall out of love & back in love again, who could never be held down by any trend, style or genre, never stop getting a little bit better at all of them while never losing touch with audience, to become masters of their craft without ever showing ego, not only never losing sense of humor but always refusing to be taken seriously, there can be but one band to do all of this. So many years, so many great songs on great albums & yet I couldn’t tell you what either of them think about anything, their opinions or beliefs or philosophies, no symbols or meanings beyond lyrical content, no causes championed, no lifestyles promoted, social, political, spiritual, not a thing. To go from novelty to oddity to anomaly, to change so constantly & consistently, and truly become what Henry Rollins spoke of when he said “out of complete musical darkness, comes one ray of light, and it’s f___ing WEEN.” Truer words seldom spoken.
Music is too vast & diverse to pick favorites, and I always enjoy the excitement of finding new music with fresh raw talent, the hipster but for me only one band, this group, made of one Claude & Dave, one Glenn & Andrew…one Aaron & Mickey. One Gener, one Deaner. One Ween. Only such a band could compel me again & again, through my chapters & phases, over many years to return, to buy the album, the ticket, the Tshirt, burn the bootleg, squelch the weasel & spread the word of the boognish, well, you get the idea.
You are not alone. I’ve had quite a few “experiences” involving them. I never heard that quote from Rollins, and it’s actually one of the most surprising things to come out of his mouth. Awesome. I’ve only had the opportunity to see them twice here in Tucson, but both times were fucking amazing. The second time they played here, it went on for so long that the audience was becoming visibly fatigued. It was great! I so wish I could have chartered a fishing trip with Dean Ween when he use to do that. Sounded like a real good time, although no bandannas were allowed on the boat. Haha.
All hail the mighty Boognish!
I grew up going to City Gardens in Trenton NJ where they were the sort of unwanted house band. Took me 20 years to actually want to listen to them, and eventually to love them, after suffering through many a show that they opened and were mostly booed during their set.
Hell yeah! Ween is awesome. I think I’m gonna grab a ticket this year and paint the town brown. We all knew what Deaner was talking about. It’s time to bring back the freedom of '76.
Ween rules. Pure Guava was a major part of my musical headspace in high school. It also played a big role in getting me into effects pedals, particularly phasers:
I love how their sound and songwriting evolved. White Pepper and La Cucaracha are both super fun albums, too.
I saw some ridiculous television commercial for some fast food cheeseburger fried crap nacho taco the other day, and the music was just — it had to have been written by Ween since it was almost exactly like Where’d The Cheese Go.
