A Game Picked for Every Major Ween Album in their Discography
Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band are known for their irreverent, highly eclectic catalog of songs inspired by funk, soul, country, gospel, prog, psychedelia, R&B, heavy metal, and punk rock. You may know them most prominently for their contributions to the show SpongeBob SquarePants, specifically the "Loop-de-loop and Pull" song and the implementation of their smash hit "Ocean Man" at the end of the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. They're also known for some hit radio songs such as "Push Th' Little Daisies" which was very popular in Australia, New Zealand, and the US.
Ween was responsible for coining the term "Brown" for their music, as an indicator of how non-sensible and incoherent a particular song was. For example, their song "If You Could Save Yourself" from the album Quebec is very similar to Pink Floyd's style of music, and as such is not very brown at all. In stark contrast, their song "Carne Asada" from their album The Pod, is just a recitation of a customer's order from El Taco Loco put to music, making it a very brown song.
Ween is probably my favorite band ever, so I thought this might be fun and a neat challenge for me, who knows I might do this with other bands. Just my personal choices of course I'm sure other lists would look differently.
Keep in mind that I have not played every game on this list, even if I may have done significant research on the ones I've missed. I did this to increase the variety and accuracy of this list, however if I screwed up any details about the games, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll make any changes needed.
Also watch out for spoilers on games you haven't played yet!
(I will update this as I may listen to the demo tapes I've not touched yet, as well as Shinola Vol. 1)
Ween was responsible for coining the term "Brown" for their music, as an indicator of how non-sensible and incoherent a particular song was. For example, their song "If You Could Save Yourself" from the album Quebec is very similar to Pink Floyd's style of music, and as such is not very brown at all. In stark contrast, their song "Carne Asada" from their album The Pod, is just a recitation of a customer's order from El Taco Loco put to music, making it a very brown song.
Ween is probably my favorite band ever, so I thought this might be fun and a neat challenge for me, who knows I might do this with other bands. Just my personal choices of course I'm sure other lists would look differently.
Keep in mind that I have not played every game on this list, even if I may have done significant research on the ones I've missed. I did this to increase the variety and accuracy of this list, however if I screwed up any details about the games, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll make any changes needed.
Also watch out for spoilers on games you haven't played yet!
(I will update this as I may listen to the demo tapes I've not touched yet, as well as Shinola Vol. 1)
9 Games
GodWeenSatan: The Oneness (1990)
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Nigh incomprehensible. Effortlessly walks the line of weirdness, exposing you to content that's both comical yet also strangely disturbing. The quality is questionable, but it's very enjoyable because of these strange quirks.
There was no other possible game I could pick for Ween's debut album. GodWeenSatan was a record that wasn't afraid to transition from a song about screaming at a bumble bee to a piece which involves crushing a weasel using only your open palm. Wario World's mood is lying in a similar place, with wacky, whimsical locales that only barely follow a sense of structure, and a dozen or so affronts to nature that the game colloquially refers to as "Boss Fights" (I will mention Red-Brief J in particular because that thing scares me). At no point in either GodWeen or Wario World does it feel like anything has, is, or will ever make sense, and that's why they're both so memorable.
That and Wario does bear a passing resemblance to Ween's mascot, the Boognish, which you can see on the cover of this album.
----
Nigh incomprehensible. Effortlessly walks the line of weirdness, exposing you to content that's both comical yet also strangely disturbing. The quality is questionable, but it's very enjoyable because of these strange quirks.
There was no other possible game I could pick for Ween's debut album. GodWeenSatan was a record that wasn't afraid to transition from a song about screaming at a bumble bee to a piece which involves crushing a weasel using only your open palm. Wario World's mood is lying in a similar place, with wacky, whimsical locales that only barely follow a sense of structure, and a dozen or so affronts to nature that the game colloquially refers to as "Boss Fights" (I will mention Red-Brief J in particular because that thing scares me). At no point in either GodWeen or Wario World does it feel like anything has, is, or will ever make sense, and that's why they're both so memorable.
That and Wario does bear a passing resemblance to Ween's mascot, the Boognish, which you can see on the cover of this album.
The Pod (1991)
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Undeniably vintage in feeling. Makes you feel disconnected from what's actually going on, excluded in a small space experiencing everything through a second-hand lens. The mood would not be dissimilar to an alien conversation played on a phonograph cylinder.
The nature of primitive technology is emphasized so much with both of these pieces. The Pod feels like it was recorded 80 years ago in a dingy apartment room with no furniture, and you can tell that Ween isn't exactly taking this with much gravitas, as shown by them breaking into laughter during the rather inoffensive song "Dr. Rock". Meanwhile, Iron Lung is a game about exploring a completely threatening, unknown environment, on a really terrible frame-by-frame camera. You feel so disconnected from what's happening due to the layers of separation and this only adds to the mystery. The intrigue, that along with the disconnect, is ironically what connects these together.
It must be noted that The Pod is a super funny comedy album and Iron Lung is a terrifying horror game. I don't want to be restricted to only picking comedy games though, and I feel I can connect any genre of game to an album given it embodies very strong characteristics to said album. Maybe if I was having a bad trip, The Pod could probably scare the hell out of me.
----
Undeniably vintage in feeling. Makes you feel disconnected from what's actually going on, excluded in a small space experiencing everything through a second-hand lens. The mood would not be dissimilar to an alien conversation played on a phonograph cylinder.
The nature of primitive technology is emphasized so much with both of these pieces. The Pod feels like it was recorded 80 years ago in a dingy apartment room with no furniture, and you can tell that Ween isn't exactly taking this with much gravitas, as shown by them breaking into laughter during the rather inoffensive song "Dr. Rock". Meanwhile, Iron Lung is a game about exploring a completely threatening, unknown environment, on a really terrible frame-by-frame camera. You feel so disconnected from what's happening due to the layers of separation and this only adds to the mystery. The intrigue, that along with the disconnect, is ironically what connects these together.
It must be noted that The Pod is a super funny comedy album and Iron Lung is a terrifying horror game. I don't want to be restricted to only picking comedy games though, and I feel I can connect any genre of game to an album given it embodies very strong characteristics to said album. Maybe if I was having a bad trip, The Pod could probably scare the hell out of me.
Pure Guava (1992)
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The media equivalent of a lava lamp. Exudes endless amounts of chill vibes, while not being afraid to reel things in for the very end. Very silly but also very subdued.
Re-listening to Pure Guava for this list was so relaxing. I always in my head imagined the scene from SpongeBob where the Flying Dutchman is a fruit vendor and the gang is chased in some weird fruit dimension. It also reminded me a bit of the boss battles in Earthbound, surreal yet strangely calming, and the game's wonderful, eye-candy backgrounds sure help to set the scene. These both seem to match in terms of silly levels, with Earthbound being one of the silliest RPGs of all time, and Pure Guava having a song called "Poop Ship Destroyer".
Both also have wonderful finales that set a rather unironic tune to them. The fight against Giygas is a disturbing yet beautiful display of hope against pure evil, and the song "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)" is a very eldritch, cryptic song that exchanges gags for a very catchy sound.
----
The media equivalent of a lava lamp. Exudes endless amounts of chill vibes, while not being afraid to reel things in for the very end. Very silly but also very subdued.
Re-listening to Pure Guava for this list was so relaxing. I always in my head imagined the scene from SpongeBob where the Flying Dutchman is a fruit vendor and the gang is chased in some weird fruit dimension. It also reminded me a bit of the boss battles in Earthbound, surreal yet strangely calming, and the game's wonderful, eye-candy backgrounds sure help to set the scene. These both seem to match in terms of silly levels, with Earthbound being one of the silliest RPGs of all time, and Pure Guava having a song called "Poop Ship Destroyer".
Both also have wonderful finales that set a rather unironic tune to them. The fight against Giygas is a disturbing yet beautiful display of hope against pure evil, and the song "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)" is a very eldritch, cryptic song that exchanges gags for a very catchy sound.
Chocolate and Cheese (1994)
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Technically a really impressive work of art. It seems to follow a lot of the trends set previously that ended up successful, but this leads to the experience feeling a bit forgettable. It doesn't do anything wrong, but also doesn't do anything in an amazing way.
This may be a controversial opinion, but I have listened to Chocolate and Cheese a dozen times and have only remembered two songs every single time, one of which has not aged very well. In fact, the only other songs I did end up remembering, I later found out were actually on Pure Guava, not doing this album any favors. I suppose that thinking New Super Luigi U is unmemorable may not be as controversial, but it follows the trend of doing exactly what its predecessors set beforehand, and as such, not having anything to set it apart from the grain. Both works also tend to have their moments of frustration, with "Candi" being an absolute ear sore, and Luigi U containing some truly brutal and punishing levels along with an ever present and very annoying time limit.
However I picked Luigi U here because of one thing. Despite the relative bland nature of these pieces, both have their own flavor of quirkiness that can, in some ways, allow them to achieve brief moments of ingenuity. Creativity does shine in these two, however I think they both just needed more.
----
Technically a really impressive work of art. It seems to follow a lot of the trends set previously that ended up successful, but this leads to the experience feeling a bit forgettable. It doesn't do anything wrong, but also doesn't do anything in an amazing way.
This may be a controversial opinion, but I have listened to Chocolate and Cheese a dozen times and have only remembered two songs every single time, one of which has not aged very well. In fact, the only other songs I did end up remembering, I later found out were actually on Pure Guava, not doing this album any favors. I suppose that thinking New Super Luigi U is unmemorable may not be as controversial, but it follows the trend of doing exactly what its predecessors set beforehand, and as such, not having anything to set it apart from the grain. Both works also tend to have their moments of frustration, with "Candi" being an absolute ear sore, and Luigi U containing some truly brutal and punishing levels along with an ever present and very annoying time limit.
However I picked Luigi U here because of one thing. Despite the relative bland nature of these pieces, both have their own flavor of quirkiness that can, in some ways, allow them to achieve brief moments of ingenuity. Creativity does shine in these two, however I think they both just needed more.
12 Golden Country Greats (1996)
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Completely brown, but not in the good way. A dramatic tonal shift from any previous work. It strives to achieve something completely different, but received mixed reception as a result.
The decision to turn the Jak and Daxter franchise into a Grand Theft Auto clone may be almost as baffling as naming an album "12 Golden Country Greats" when there are only ten songs. Despite these bold decisions, it really doesn't seem like it worked out for either of them, at least on my personal compass. Country Greats may be some of the best music of its genre that I've ever heard, but at the end of the day, it's still an album full of country songs, and most of them don't seem to deviate their sound from the usual norms country entails. Similarly, Jak II tries to combine strange city exploration with the old platforming used in the first game, to the detriment of both aspects. Never in my life have I seen a more bland metropolis, and it makes me feel as if someone tried to recreate GTA IV's world map using a picture the size of someone's fingernail.
There are a lot of fans of both of these though, and I can kind of see it and respect it. "Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain" is a genuinely great song, and Jak II does contain some levels which truly balance the platforming and combat perfectly, albeit mainly reminding us of what was great in the first game.
I also must mention that 12 Golden Country Greats does have a song, "Mister Richard Smoker", which contains elements which may be interpreted as homophobic. It definitely disappoints me that this exists, and it may knock the album down even more pegs, but hey at least Jak II has that one over it.
----
Completely brown, but not in the good way. A dramatic tonal shift from any previous work. It strives to achieve something completely different, but received mixed reception as a result.
The decision to turn the Jak and Daxter franchise into a Grand Theft Auto clone may be almost as baffling as naming an album "12 Golden Country Greats" when there are only ten songs. Despite these bold decisions, it really doesn't seem like it worked out for either of them, at least on my personal compass. Country Greats may be some of the best music of its genre that I've ever heard, but at the end of the day, it's still an album full of country songs, and most of them don't seem to deviate their sound from the usual norms country entails. Similarly, Jak II tries to combine strange city exploration with the old platforming used in the first game, to the detriment of both aspects. Never in my life have I seen a more bland metropolis, and it makes me feel as if someone tried to recreate GTA IV's world map using a picture the size of someone's fingernail.
There are a lot of fans of both of these though, and I can kind of see it and respect it. "Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain" is a genuinely great song, and Jak II does contain some levels which truly balance the platforming and combat perfectly, albeit mainly reminding us of what was great in the first game.
I also must mention that 12 Golden Country Greats does have a song, "Mister Richard Smoker", which contains elements which may be interpreted as homophobic. It definitely disappoints me that this exists, and it may knock the album down even more pegs, but hey at least Jak II has that one over it.
The Mollusk (1997)
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Massive and maritime in nature. Explores and portrays such a wide range of emotion yet never strays from a consistent atmosphere. Uses the unknown as a tool to bring more life into its art.
You may be surprised that I didn't pick a SpongeBob game for this one, considering Ween's history with the show and the inclusion of "Ocean Man" at the end of the movie. I felt that Subnautica may be a better choice for one key reason, and that is the utilization of the unknown. The Mollusk is seasoned liberally with lyrics and concepts that may only make sense to a brain twisted in four dimensions. Songs like "The Golden Eel" and the title track could even be considered eldritch and threatening. Subnautica uses the unknown more in a visual sense, as you have the entire ocean in front of you with creatures you have never seen before lurking beneath. You'll have to scrounge around in the dark, and overall you really never know what you're getting yourself into. These two are not just grouped together because "Haha water amirite", but because of how they use the unknown to sew mystery into their worlds.
Now I wonder if a creature in Subnautica ever waves its dick in the wind.
----
Massive and maritime in nature. Explores and portrays such a wide range of emotion yet never strays from a consistent atmosphere. Uses the unknown as a tool to bring more life into its art.
You may be surprised that I didn't pick a SpongeBob game for this one, considering Ween's history with the show and the inclusion of "Ocean Man" at the end of the movie. I felt that Subnautica may be a better choice for one key reason, and that is the utilization of the unknown. The Mollusk is seasoned liberally with lyrics and concepts that may only make sense to a brain twisted in four dimensions. Songs like "The Golden Eel" and the title track could even be considered eldritch and threatening. Subnautica uses the unknown more in a visual sense, as you have the entire ocean in front of you with creatures you have never seen before lurking beneath. You'll have to scrounge around in the dark, and overall you really never know what you're getting yourself into. These two are not just grouped together because "Haha water amirite", but because of how they use the unknown to sew mystery into their worlds.
Now I wonder if a creature in Subnautica ever waves its dick in the wind.
White Pepper (2000)
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It may be compared often to the classics it embodies, but there is a level of quality almost unseen in its contemporaries. Beautiful from a glance, yet flawed and silly upon closer inspection.
For context, White Pepper is often seen as a parody of The Beatles' White Album, and Okami is generally considered to be a Zelda clone. Despite these comparisons, however, these both manage to forge their own identity unlike anything their influences even tried to do. White Pepper switches genres frequently but never strays too far from its traditional alt-rock vibe, and this allows Ween to convey strange topics using a very familiar sound. The song "Falling Out" is not about love at all, but rather Ween leaving their current record label Elektra, and there are other examples like this that can twist the narrative without you noticing. While Okami plays like a Zelda game in the mechanics department, this flow is spiced up dramatically by the wonderful Classical-Japanese presentation, and this adds such nice additions to aspects you would see in a Zelda game like items you keep or dungeon structures in general.
What really ties Okami to White Pepper though is that with every aspect that emulates their inspirations, there is an edge of silliness and comedy added in for fluff and flavor. "Bananas and Blow" is a song that speaks for itself and embodies this ridiculous nature seamlessly, and I can't even count on twelve hands the amount of characters in Okami who engage in wacky shenanigans. That's what I mean when I say that an outsider may see these as beautiful, somewhat serious works of art, but those who listen and play will realize there is much levity to be found.
----
It may be compared often to the classics it embodies, but there is a level of quality almost unseen in its contemporaries. Beautiful from a glance, yet flawed and silly upon closer inspection.
For context, White Pepper is often seen as a parody of The Beatles' White Album, and Okami is generally considered to be a Zelda clone. Despite these comparisons, however, these both manage to forge their own identity unlike anything their influences even tried to do. White Pepper switches genres frequently but never strays too far from its traditional alt-rock vibe, and this allows Ween to convey strange topics using a very familiar sound. The song "Falling Out" is not about love at all, but rather Ween leaving their current record label Elektra, and there are other examples like this that can twist the narrative without you noticing. While Okami plays like a Zelda game in the mechanics department, this flow is spiced up dramatically by the wonderful Classical-Japanese presentation, and this adds such nice additions to aspects you would see in a Zelda game like items you keep or dungeon structures in general.
What really ties Okami to White Pepper though is that with every aspect that emulates their inspirations, there is an edge of silliness and comedy added in for fluff and flavor. "Bananas and Blow" is a song that speaks for itself and embodies this ridiculous nature seamlessly, and I can't even count on twelve hands the amount of characters in Okami who engage in wacky shenanigans. That's what I mean when I say that an outsider may see these as beautiful, somewhat serious works of art, but those who listen and play will realize there is much levity to be found.
Quebec (2003)
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While some may be forgiven for appreciating it as goofy, enjoyable noise, there is much in terms of dark undertones to be had here, some themes hidden way more than others. Never forgets, in all of its sadder moments, to give you a good laugh.
Let it be known that Quebec is my favorite Ween album, and Psychonauts 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, so this fits on several different levels, but I can't imagine a single other game that balances the dark and depressing with light hearted antics as perfectly as this one. In Quebec, for every "Hey There Fancypants" to keep the mood high, there's a "It's Gonna Be A Long Night" to remind you of just how terrible life truly is. Similarly, for every "Compton's Cookoff" in Psychonauts 2 which act as a silly diversion, there's any of the Ford Cruller levels to remind you of the suffering that festers around you. A story of highs and lows is what defines both of these projects, and while the comedy can often take a greater focus, you are but one closer glance away from noticing a bigger picture. Both pieces also ensure that even in their darkest hours, there is still joy to be had, with Psychonauts containing nothing but positivity when saving the members of the Psychic 6, and Quebec ending with "If You Could Save Yourself", which may lack meaning but surely brings a new definition to inspirational prog-rock.
Need I mention that both of these contain what I would consider masterpieces of the medium. Psychonauts 2 has "Hollis' Hot Streak", one of the best first levels ever made for any game, and Quebec has "Transdermal Celebration" and "The Argus" which are the fine diamonds of prog-rock.
----
While some may be forgiven for appreciating it as goofy, enjoyable noise, there is much in terms of dark undertones to be had here, some themes hidden way more than others. Never forgets, in all of its sadder moments, to give you a good laugh.
Let it be known that Quebec is my favorite Ween album, and Psychonauts 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, so this fits on several different levels, but I can't imagine a single other game that balances the dark and depressing with light hearted antics as perfectly as this one. In Quebec, for every "Hey There Fancypants" to keep the mood high, there's a "It's Gonna Be A Long Night" to remind you of just how terrible life truly is. Similarly, for every "Compton's Cookoff" in Psychonauts 2 which act as a silly diversion, there's any of the Ford Cruller levels to remind you of the suffering that festers around you. A story of highs and lows is what defines both of these projects, and while the comedy can often take a greater focus, you are but one closer glance away from noticing a bigger picture. Both pieces also ensure that even in their darkest hours, there is still joy to be had, with Psychonauts containing nothing but positivity when saving the members of the Psychic 6, and Quebec ending with "If You Could Save Yourself", which may lack meaning but surely brings a new definition to inspirational prog-rock.
Need I mention that both of these contain what I would consider masterpieces of the medium. Psychonauts 2 has "Hollis' Hot Streak", one of the best first levels ever made for any game, and Quebec has "Transdermal Celebration" and "The Argus" which are the fine diamonds of prog-rock.
La Cucaracha (2007)
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I have to be real with you, I have no idea what they were going for here.
Have you ever experienced a piece of media that felt completely directionless? Like as if you had twenty people in a room, each person with a totally different idea, all trying to make one cohesive creation. Listening to La Cucaracha makes me feel like it was developed by an AI who consumed Ween paraphernalia at random, and spit out a bunch of, admittedly silly, songs that lack the heart and soul of their original brown tracks. So much stuff thrown at a wall and nothing sticks, how shameful. Sonic Lost World does the same thing but with its gameplay types. I sure hope you didn't want to play a Sonic game where you could run fast, because now you're a snowball, and now you're rolling fruit, and now you're grinding rails forever, and now it's just getting ridiculous. No single gimmick is fleshed out enough to feel satisfying, and it just emulates the idea of a team who has no idea what they're doing.
Both Ween and Sega have shown that they could've just taken some of these smaller pieces and fleshed them out into full, imaginative works. Why would Ween include a song like "Learnin' to Love" on their album, which sucks balls by the way, when they could do what they did with 12 Golden Country Greats and take it to the max. Why would Sega make Sonic do all of these ball puzzles when they can just make another Super Monkey Ball game and scratch their itch that way.
Both of these pieces lead to tragedy as well, with La Cucaracha being Ween's last major album release, and Sonic diving headfirst into a brick wall with Sonic Forces, so there's that at least.
----
I have to be real with you, I have no idea what they were going for here.
Have you ever experienced a piece of media that felt completely directionless? Like as if you had twenty people in a room, each person with a totally different idea, all trying to make one cohesive creation. Listening to La Cucaracha makes me feel like it was developed by an AI who consumed Ween paraphernalia at random, and spit out a bunch of, admittedly silly, songs that lack the heart and soul of their original brown tracks. So much stuff thrown at a wall and nothing sticks, how shameful. Sonic Lost World does the same thing but with its gameplay types. I sure hope you didn't want to play a Sonic game where you could run fast, because now you're a snowball, and now you're rolling fruit, and now you're grinding rails forever, and now it's just getting ridiculous. No single gimmick is fleshed out enough to feel satisfying, and it just emulates the idea of a team who has no idea what they're doing.
Both Ween and Sega have shown that they could've just taken some of these smaller pieces and fleshed them out into full, imaginative works. Why would Ween include a song like "Learnin' to Love" on their album, which sucks balls by the way, when they could do what they did with 12 Golden Country Greats and take it to the max. Why would Sega make Sonic do all of these ball puzzles when they can just make another Super Monkey Ball game and scratch their itch that way.
Both of these pieces lead to tragedy as well, with La Cucaracha being Ween's last major album release, and Sonic diving headfirst into a brick wall with Sonic Forces, so there's that at least.