Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Five Brownest Ween Tunes


G.L. and I are going to see Ween down at DAR Constitution Hall tonight. To preview, I thought I'd do a list of Ween's "brownest" musical moments. For those of you unfamiliar with the band, the band and its fans use the term "brown" typically to refer to the inherent "Ween-ness" of something, usually something lo-fi, terrible, but awesome in its terribly low fidelity. Ween fans, does that seem like an accurate definition?

Here's the list:

1. "Poop Ship Destroyer" - The most requested Ween tune by far, and the most evocative of the term "brown". The Brothers Ween pull this out to alternately punish terrible crowds (by playing long-winded versions of it) and express their gratitude to rabid ones.

2. "Awesome Sound" - This lengthy, repititive favorite from The Pod is a live staple, where sheer enthusiasm and volume make it seem like an actual song, as opposed to just maniacally fuzzed-out vocals buried under a pile of heavy riffage.

3. "Spinal Menangitis" - It almost hurts to listen to, as Dean Ween adopts a child's voice during this tune about Ween's favorite of subject matters: disease. When they play it live and that little keyboard melody comes in at the beginning, you know a wave of brown-ness is upon you.

4. "Don't Laugh (I Love You)" - This is something of a personal preference, because I think to be truly "brown", a song has to retain some elements of normalcy. So here's a quaint middle school love song that aurally recreates the experience of huffing paint-thinners (or what I imagine that might be like).

5. "Happy Colored Marbles" - Off 2003's quebec, it's got a vaguely "Spinal" feel to it, but then takes off out of nowhere with this brown-defining, trademark Deaner solo. The plunking synths are also the perfect combination of crappy, unnerving, and spacey -- this is vintage Ween.

Honorable Mentions: "Mushroom Festival in Hell", "The Golden Eel", "Papa Zit", "The Stallion Part 5", "Stroker Ace"

Those are my five. Anyone care to add to that?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soooo ... how was the show?

Anonymous said...

i feel like you have to add mister wont you please help my pony? to the honorable mention. if for nothing else of the bizarre creepiness of the issue at hand. i also think for its ability to slap political correctness around japanese cowboy deserves a nod. it transcends identities and cultures all in one song.

Anonymous said...

Interesting list. I've linked to it over at utahpolis.com Thanks, mang.

The Curmudgeon Master said...

To me The Argus, Albino Sunburned Girl, Buckingham Green and Voodoo Lady take brown to epic levels