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“We must’ve been really good last time we were here,” Dean Ween cracks as he and brother Gener take the stage. “Half as many people here.” Perhaps audiences just didn’t know what to make of Aaron Freeman, Mickey Melchiondo Jr., their funny voices, stage names, and drum-playing DAT machine. Over 75 minutes, the duo pops between contemporaneous undergrounds: thrashing grunge (“Tick”), jam-bandy teases of Hendrix (“You Fucked Up”), lo-fi sludge (“Demon Sweat”) and The Jerky Boys. Predominant, though, are Gene/Freeman’s winning melodies: glam falsettos (“Captain Fantasy”), good-natured surrealism (“Marble Tulip Juicy Tree”) and naked hurt (“Birthday Boy”). Deaner/Melchiondo shreds, too. Nearly a decade old by the time of this recording, this diverse foundation of influences and styles helped Ween become one of the most consistently underrated cult acts of the ’90s. No need for multiple camera angles on the 45-minute home-video bonus DVD (different tours, similar material)—it’s just Ween at work, tweakishly over-gesticulating. Audiences got it soon enough.
Listen to Ween's "The Goin' Gets Tough From the Getgo" from At the Cat's Cradle, 1992:
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I'm not a regular reader. I wrk for a Public Radio Station in Boise Idaho which subscribes to your magazine. I generally find overly polished indie-pop and folk-dribble to be uninteresting to listen to and unbearable to read about, no matter how well written it might be.
However, in your Feb '09 issue you do a writeup of 'Portrait of the Boognish as a young Spaz' by Ween. "You Fucked Up," the first track from "GodWeenSatan: The Oneness" might be called a noise rock classic, a punk rock masterpiece or a stoner metal onslaught-- but jam-bandy teases of Hendrix? Did your reviewer listen to the song? Are you taking the common 'Ween is adored by hippies despite their best attempts to shoo them away and so therefore they are a safe, friendly band for hacky sack players' perception of the band and making up descriptions based on that misconception alone? To me, Ween is a punk rock band in the truest sense, and that can't be exemplified any better than on "You Fucked Up." If Hendrix, Garcia or Anastasio ever screamed "you Nazi whore" in any recorded songs, then I guess I'm wrong and Ween is a folk-pop Jam band with tinges of Hendrix and Leslie Feist.
I cannot think of any songs that clock in under 1:40 that have too many tinges of Hendrix or jam band teases-- and "You Fucked Up" is a solid 1:37.