Ween

Ween is a rock duo formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman met in a junior high school typing class. They christened themselves with the pseudonyms Dean Ween and

Ween is a rock duo formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman met in a junior high school typing class. They christened themselves with the pseudonyms Dean Ween and Gene Ween respectively. Thousands of home recordings later, Ween collected a large underground fanbase.

Their earliest home recordings were anarchic and free-spirited, drawing on influences as far-reaching as the Beatles, Prince, Butthole Surfers, The Residents and the lo-fi punk movement. They self-released 4 cassettes in the late eighties; The Crucial Squeegie Lip, Axis: Bold As Boognish, The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD, and Prime 5. Around this time, Gene also released his own tape, Synthetic Socks, which featured Dean on a few songs. Ween, often compared in their early years to other offbeat artists such as Frank Zappa and They Might Be Giants, would always eschew such comparisons.