Ween - Piss Up A Rope

(Warning: NSFW lyrics - as if the title didn't give it away...)

Truth be told, I thought twice about posting this as the lyrics are rather crass and somewhat misogynistic... but, hey, it wouldn't be a Guilty Pleasure otherwise I guess. So, here is 'Piss Up A Rope' in all it's glory.

For the uninitiated, Ween is an alternative rock band formed in the mid-'80s by pretend brothers Gene & Dean Ween (Aaron Freeman & Mickey Melchiondo respectively). They have released many albums on both independent and major labels containing their own strange brand of humour, some of which have an overarching concept or theme e.g. The Mollusk (nautical, the track 'Ocean Man' playing over the end credits of The Spongebob Squarepants Movie) and, the album that the track in question comes from, 12 Golden Country Greats (country music, which only has 10 tracks natch).

Unlike their other albums, the musicians on 12 Golden Country Greats were mostly well-respected Nashville session musicians, a couple of whom declined participation due to the 'blue' nature of the lyrics. Lyrics aside, the production is straight country resulting in its incongruous nature. Apparently, this alienated most of their fans and they returned to their alternative roots for their next album, The Mollusk.

Bonus Clips: My favourite non-GP track from 12 Golden Country Greats 'You Were The Fool'...

... and the aforementioned 'Ocean Man' from The Mollusk.

Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525

Written in 1964 by one Rick Evans but not recorded until 1968 with his mate Denny Zager, 'In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)', its full pretentious title, tells the story of mankind in 1,010 year intervals from 2525 past 10,000 (like we're all likely to last that long) and reached No.1 in most English-speaking markets. However, this is such a one-hit wonder that, according to Wikipedia, the duo remains the only act to have a chart-topping hit on both sides of the Atlantic and never have another chart single in Billboard or the UK! Another interesting tid-bit: the song was recorded primarily in one take in 1968, at a studio in a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas.

Bonus clip: Their follow-up non-charting single 'Mr. Turnkey'. Charmingly inoffensive, but you can probably see why it bombed. It appears to be about a rapist and includes the lyric 'she was lovelier than oil rights'!