Ween, an introduction into madness

The ween.net website defines the Boognish as follows:

“A Demon God who has appeared thrice to the prophet brothers Dean and Gene Ween. It resides somewhere outside the orbital buffer. Tradition has it that this entity holds a sceptor in each hand: that of wealth and that of power.”

I’m not a religious man but if I were in spiritual attendance to any higher power it’d be to the house of Ween. Not familiar? Approach with caution. Early albums may induce a bleeding of the brain, definitely not one to show the grandmother. Later works are high production, no less Ween, but an awareness of their gristly, skull scraping roots is essential to appreciate when success bought with it new toys to play with. I understand this has yet to shed any light on who Ween are. Well, they’re everything. A duo of friends hailing from New Hope, Pennsylvania and emerging as musical life in the very late 80’s, their tenure has stabbed a hole in just about every genre. From garage punk to soft pop to Caribbean jingles to old English sea shanties – they do it all, and I mean all. In 1996 they released a country album just for darn diddly fun of it with 12 Golden Country Greats (of which they’re only 10 tracks) followed by their 1997 oceanic themed album, The Mollusk (see track 6 for aforementioned sea shanty The Blarney Stone). In fact, such a powerful piece of aquatic composition was The Mollusk it inspired a certain cartoonist to conjure the deep-sea universe of Spongebob Squarepants, to which they subsequently appeared in the feature film’s closing credits. Yes, whimsical, humorous, insane and so on, but above all, genius. For the rookie, I would suggest going early to middle career with the 1994 album Chocolate and Cheese. If you don’t fear trusting me, do not read or research, just bang on the album and experience it. This album, to me, champions the classic Ween spontaneity, twisted humour but weaving in a tenderness that might bring you to tears – yes I’m talking about you ‘Baby Bitch’. You might hate it and part of me wants you to, but regardless, we can all learn something from Ween: No one gives a monkey’s, so do as you damn well please and all hail the Boognish.