After I put together last week’s song of the week, I got excited about revisiting Ween. I love these guys, and I hadn’t really listened to their stuff in a while, so I thought it would be fun to dig into them and create a super-fun list featuring Ween, Phish, maybe The Flaming Lips, and who knows who else?
I had never really given their album Quebec a good listen, so I started poking through it, and I Don’t Want It jumped out at me right away. I don’t usually listen to the words, and I wasn’t listening to the words too hard on this one at first. But, I was immediately struck with just how amazing this song is. Where Ween often takes beautiful melodies and then trounces all over them with humor, wit, and general goofiness, this song just sounded straight-up gorgeous.
So, I listened again, and the words are pretty devastating, especially after you read about the making of Quebec: Aaron Freeman aka Gene Ween was going through a divorce while recording this album, and the song isn’t just beautiful. It’s brutal.
I thought my playlist journey was going to be completely playful, but I ended up landing on songs that were more consistent with I Don’t Want It, either because of their simple beauty like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 or the emotional heaviness in At Least That’s What You Said.
Regarding At Least That’s What You Said, Wilco’s frontman Jeff Tweedy was near the peak of a very destructive (and well documented) opioid addiction when they were recording A Ghost Is Born. During the recording of this album, he believed that he was going to die, either from it, or because of it — not sure which. The album is supposed to have been his way of explaining himself to his children. Thankfully, Tweedy went into rehab after the album was recorded, and he’s still with us!
And Beck might be an odd accompaniment to Ween, The Flaming Lips, Phish, and Wilco, but the artists on this list all make sense: In general, these guys are off-kilter, silly, or old school style jam bands — or they are all of those things. AND, more importantly, their remarkable musicianship is often hidden by their respective styles of performance.
I need to go watch Elf now.
Track List
Ween – I Don’t Want It
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
Phish – Lengthwise
Wilco – At Least That’s What You Said
Beck – Unforgiven
> DEATZ BEATS 
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