Wasn't one already too many?
March 10, 2007 3:24 PM   Subscribe

These are all Ween cover bands: Fat Lenny, Weener, Peen, Big Profile's Ween Tribute. Which begs the question: Wasn't one already too many?
posted by eperker (55 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Question-begging isn't what it used to be. And formatting apparently has some trouble nowadays, too. Ween, not so much. Ween's as Ween as it ever was. Ween cover bands, same.
posted by cgc373 at 3:27 PM on March 10, 2007


It also begs the question, what the heck is ween?
Yeah, I'm going to wikipedia now, but you could have told me.
posted by Citizen Premier at 3:31 PM on March 10, 2007


Begging the question? Really?
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:31 PM on March 10, 2007 [3 favorites]


Also, props for riling the prescriptionists.
posted by Citizen Premier at 3:32 PM on March 10, 2007


You beat me to it, Effigy2000.
posted by roll truck roll at 3:34 PM on March 10, 2007


Formatting de-messed. As you were.
posted by cortex at 3:37 PM on March 10, 2007


Well, okay. I'm as I was. So's Ween. These other MySpace profiles of Ween cover bands are also as they were. Why they're here . . . still an open question.
posted by cgc373 at 3:50 PM on March 10, 2007


This post begs another question entirely
posted by saraswati at 3:52 PM on March 10, 2007


This is a pretty sorry post all around.
posted by puke & cry at 3:57 PM on March 10, 2007 [1 favorite]


Wow, a "your favorite band sucks" FPP. That may be a first.
posted by Malor at 4:00 PM on March 10, 2007


Begging the question begs to disagree, but beggers can't be choosers.
posted by DU at 4:01 PM on March 10, 2007


Beg the question
posted by terrapin at 4:07 PM on March 10, 2007 [2 favorites]


SYAW.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:08 PM on March 10, 2007 [1 favorite]


Can we please, please use this thread to discuss our diverse and differing opinions about "Begging the question"?
posted by Jimbob at 4:08 PM on March 10, 2007


Which begs the question: Wasn't one already too many?

The fuck you say! OK, I'd rather have new Ween-like bands doing their own thing instead of just covering Ween, but whatever.

Ween's Album "God :: Satan" is only one of the best albums ever, anywhere by anyone at any time. If you disagree with me I will cut you.
posted by loquacious at 4:11 PM on March 10, 2007


favourited it for ween. haven't thought about that great band for a too long time.
I'm going to cover them on my nose flute now.
posted by kolophon at 4:11 PM on March 10, 2007


Which begs the question: Wasn't one already too many?

No. One is just as much Ween as anyone needs. Cover bands in general are a waste, and of a band as great as Ween, well, almost offensive...
posted by grahams at 4:18 PM on March 10, 2007


I always considered Ween to be song-styling pranksters. I have no idea why somebody would want to imitate that, especially when anyone can just take a stab at it themselves. It's like acting out episodes of "Punk'd."
posted by toma at 4:19 PM on March 10, 2007


Look, I know I'm new, but are MySpace-only FPPs better or worse than YouTube-only FPPs? I'm begging you to answer my question.
posted by Nabubrush at 4:37 PM on March 10, 2007 [1 favorite]


Ween rules; this thread drools.
posted by obloquy at 4:39 PM on March 10, 2007


I've been trying to ween myself off of begging.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:49 PM on March 10, 2007


Y'all weenies.
posted by DenOfSizer at 4:51 PM on March 10, 2007


Since the idjits have stolen the phrase "begging the question", I suggest we rename the logical fallacy. I suggest calling it "fuck you".
posted by Plutor at 5:02 PM on March 10, 2007 [7 favorites]


I question all of this need for begging.
posted by miss lynnster at 5:15 PM on March 10, 2007


Don't beg the question.
Question the beggar.

And I thought Ween was for tweens.
posted by wendell at 5:25 PM on March 10, 2007


Effigy - thank you. I will be ready to shove dinosaurs in the face of the next asshappy moron who misuses the phrase.

Loquacious - I agree, no cutting please.

OP - thanks for reminding me I need to listen to my Ween albums, sorry, but not interested in covers of them.
posted by Elmore at 5:33 PM on March 10, 2007


Begging the question.

Executive summary for those who don't feel like clicking through: people who make a fuss about the supposed "real" meaning of beg the question are really saying "everybody sucks but me."

Also here (last paragraph; self-link).

You beat me to it, Citizen Premier.
posted by languagehat at 5:38 PM on March 10, 2007


Oops, sorry, Effigy already linked to that comic. Oh well, at least I added an executive summary. Which was evidently necessary, because Elmore doesn't seem to have gotten it.
posted by languagehat at 5:39 PM on March 10, 2007


I know one in Denton that plays out like once a year. They are Obsessives about Ween in general, however. Last year they road tripped from Texas to Colorado to catch the Ween shows there; for the whole trip they listened to nothing but an iPod packed entirely with Ween...live shows, b-sides, everything. I guess Ween is one of those things some people tend to get hardcore about.
posted by First Post at 6:03 PM on March 10, 2007


Wow, a "your favorite band sucks" FPP. That may be a first.

It's even more special for some of us: they're actually my favorite band.

I can't imagine a ween cover band being a very good idea, though. Except maybe a The Musical Box-style concept of covering ween at a certain age, like completely stoned, fistful of mushrooms 1991 Ween. That could be an interesting project. Or maybe doing The Pod front to back in sequence. That would be pretty sweet.

I can't let a Ween thread pass without posting this link - this is Deaner's youtube account, and there are a couple of other wicked vids on there, but this one is just unbeatable: Freedom of '76.
posted by pinespree at 6:11 PM on March 10, 2007


I saw ween at reading one year - they were tight as f#ck.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 6:15 PM on March 10, 2007


There's no way to reconcile "four MySpace links" with "best of the web", I'm afraid.
posted by clevershark at 6:39 PM on March 10, 2007 [1 favorite]


This should be tagged "brown".
posted by aburd at 6:52 PM on March 10, 2007


Naw, this post isn't brown. But this is.

(yeah, I went back and watched some more of deaner's vids, and this one is pretty essential too)
posted by pinespree at 7:10 PM on March 10, 2007


Man, I really haven't loved YouTube since someone posted the Left Rights Darth Vader / Not a Weirdo video. Thanks for the rekindle, pinespree.
posted by loquacious at 7:20 PM on March 10, 2007 [1 favorite]


Zeen?
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:21 PM on March 10, 2007


This thread is a literal cornucopia of question begging.
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:28 PM on March 10, 2007


I saw ween at reading one year - they were tight as f#ck.

Fucktothorpe? foctothorpeck? fhashck? fbangck? fsharpck!?

Fuck, dude, do you talk to your mother with that mouth?
posted by loquacious at 8:47 PM on March 10, 2007


People who make a fuss about the supposed "real" meaning of [words] are really saying "everybody sucks but me."

Remind me to argue with you about this some time, LH.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:55 PM on March 10, 2007


As it turns out, I love Ween. They are so much more than style pranksters. They have recorded some of the finest songs of the last twenty years.

Now, not too long ago, I was just like eperker. I couldn't stand the band. At that time, pretty much all I'd been exposed to was "Push the Little Daisies" and 'Freedom of '76," neither of which had made a big impression on me.

Then, one day, I'm flipping to the "Free on Demand" portion of our local cable station and there is a chance to watch a Ween concert movie. 54 minutes later, I was a convert.

The musicianship, the variety of styles they effortlessly cover, and the bizarre or poignant or silly or profound lyrics sold me on them completely.

A true Ween tribute band, however, would not pay tribute to them by covering their songs. They would pay tribute by attacking original music with reckless abandon, with seemingly effortless skill and with a lot of scotch guard - inhaled immediately before performance, ideally. That would pay tribute to Ween.
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:26 PM on March 10, 2007


Good call there, Joey M. Incidentally, linking to the two videos I did was...not the best choice if I had been trying to expose people to Ween. But I figured ween fans here would enjoy them (and loquacious did, at least!).

They're more rare gems that make sense only in the context of everything ween has ever done. Otherwise I suppose the freedom vid looks like a couple of stoned guys singing a soul song on cable, and the buckingham green looks like a bunch of guys in white face paint goofing off and playing some 70s prog rock song.

And I guess one of those or the other are the picture that a lot of people have of Ween. It's been about ten years since I started listening to them (around the time of those two youtube vids), and I found that Ween took me a while to understand. They're not like Led Zeppelin, which every person is born understanding. But they are a wonderful thing.

Every time they release a new album, it takes me at least a year to really see what they're doing on it, too. A few times people have said things to me like "maybe they're not good, and you're just getting used to it." I suppose I would have said that if I didn't understand, too. :)

Enough talk, it's saturday night and I'm going to listen to the pod.
posted by pinespree at 9:48 PM on March 10, 2007


When I was twenty and in college three friends and I drove six hours to Tulsa to see Ween open for the Foo Fighters. Now, maybe we were drunk, but it didn't occur to us that a Foo Fighters show in 1997 might sell out. It did. We drove six hours for zilch. So we sat outside the club and waited for Ween to show up. Gene Ween got out of the van and i walked up to him and told him our story. He went inside the club and got a piece of paper and put us all on the guest list. I said thanks and asked him to play "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese", and they did. That turned me into a lifelong freak -- I've seen them over twenty times in at least six states, including a show at Red Rocks with Tenacious D opening.

(A friend of mine got a Boognish tattoo on his forearm last week).

If anyone in NYC is interested, Gene Ween is doing an acoustic solo show in a few weeks.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:04 PM on March 10, 2007 [1 favorite]


Push the Little Daisies has always been one of those songs that I feel like I should hate, but inexplicably love.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:15 PM on March 10, 2007


Goddammit. There is no such thing as too much Ween.
posted by avriette at 10:25 PM on March 10, 2007


loquacious - I am sorry if I offended you with my potty mouth, and I hate to admit my language is even more appalling in the flesh.

But now you bring it to my attention - the tent that Ween were playing in at Reading reeked of amyl nitrate, so with my comment some irony, I guess.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 10:44 PM on March 10, 2007


pinespree - thanks for posting Deaner's youtube account.

as to the subject of the post... yeah i don't get it. ween themselves are the ultimate band, cover or otherwise. they are masters of all styles of rock. covering ween seems to me to be a lost cause from the start, but whatever. clearly these cover bands must be huge ween fans and that's a good thing.

now i will go do jagermeister shots and listen to The Pod, if you will excuse me.
posted by joeblough at 11:48 PM on March 10, 2007


What Joey Michaels said. Despite my best efforts to hate Ween, I find myself powerless against their intoxicating mixture of bizarre, irritating and awesome music.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:37 AM on March 11, 2007


BrotherCaine: "Push the Little Daisies has always been one of those songs that I feel like I should hate, but inexplicably love."

Push the Little Daisies has always been one of those songs I feel like I should hate, but instead I loathe it with every fiber of my being.

But to each their own, I guess.
posted by Effigy2000 at 12:42 AM on March 11, 2007


Push the Little Daisies is an overt experiment in loathing and irritation.

The fact that it was recorded, pushed through and even played on mainstream radio - as a single no less, not once, but hundreds and thousands of times, is a total masterpiece of an unsolicited and totally unlubricated finger in the anus of the recording industry.

It is at once a masterfully crafted hideously infective earworm of a pop song, while being one of the most intentionally excruciating and bizarre pieces of cross-genre music to ever "break" on commercial radio.

I wouldn't be surprised if they sat down together shortly after getting signed to Elektra, took a big old rip of $foo and said to themselves "How far can we push this? Even better, how far can we push it and still deliver the goods?" - because being irritating is easy. Being irritating AND entertaining takes a lot more skill. Doing all that while blending musical styles and influences that should have never been allowed to spore and fruit together and still balancing it all is even more impressive.

And doing all that while never taking it all too seriously or ever really becoming the inhuman monster that celebrity almost always brings? That's priceless.
posted by loquacious at 3:22 AM on March 11, 2007


The local (Rochester, NY) alternaweekly had an ad in the classifieds for months and months looking for a guitarist for an all-Rammstein cover band, so why not Ween cover bands?
posted by tommasz at 7:35 AM on March 11, 2007


Well said, loquacious. I will add that when "Push the Little Daisies" is performed live, it is entirely catchy without the annoying qualities at all.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:27 AM on March 11, 2007


wouldn't be surprised if they sat down together shortly after getting signed to Elektra, took a big old rip of $foo and said to themselves "How far can we push this? Even better, how far can we push it and still deliver the goods?"

Agreed, especially since that album, "Pure Guava", is one of the world's most unlistenable albums overall. Terrible, just terrible, and seemingly intentionally so.

Yet other albums (like "White Pepper", which I was listening to this morning, coincidentally, and "12 Country Greats", which is a pitch-perfect simultaneous sendup/love letter to the genre) are unbelievably good, more than you might think possible.
posted by davejay at 12:30 PM on March 11, 2007


There is no such thing as too much Ween.

Bears repeating and boldening.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:18 PM on March 11, 2007


Joey Michaels, where on earth do you live that the cable station is playing Ween concert videos?

Also, I'm throwing my hat in the ring for "Buenos Tardes Amigo" as the best Ween song ever. Or one of 'em, anyway.

A friend of mine's wife left him for a member of Ween. That always blew my mind.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:27 AM on March 12, 2007


Back in '95 or so, a popular Albuquerque station suddenly started playing Push the Little Daisies non-stop. Minutes turned to hours, hours to days. No announcements, no clue as to why.

Then a count-down showed up between repeats. I listened, had the radio at work set, at home set. Push the Little Daisies was the soundtrack to my dreams.

When the count down ended, the station announced itself as an alternative rock station. I think it was the first mainstream station in the area to do so. Compared to the Clear Channel "alternative" stations the pack the airwaves today, they did OK.
posted by ewagoner at 4:36 PM on March 12, 2007


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