well, for me, the first one that comes to mind is:
Ween - "Chocolate & Cheese"
the first ween record i ever had was pure guava. which, at first i was a little leery of, but quickly grew to obsess over. so when 1994's follow up came out, we jumped all over it. and we stayed all over it. for months and months. Never before had mine ears been so temptingly tantalized by the amazing songwriting ability of these two stoned losers. I mean, pure guava was the shit, but this was the first time it seemed like Gene and Dean decided to skewer pop music in such a disguiseable fashion. Ill never forget the first time my friends mom heard "baby bitch" she was so moved by the beauty of the music and the soft sincerity with which the lyrics are delivered. the image of her jaw dropping agape upon hearing the line "fuck you, you stinkin ass ho" will forever be etched into my databanks like a woodcarving. hey, here were two nerds that were really sticking it to everything that i thought so ludicrous. and doing it in a way that would be virtually imperceptible to anyone but those with the attention span to really sit and listen. those type of people are and have always been scarce round my neck of the woods. Needless to say ,Chocolate and Cheese was in constant rotation for months to come. I still use the record to try and make ween converts, but i dont really listen to it with the person im am trying to convert. its more like "here, take a copy of this and tell me what you think". Dont get me wrong, the record contains classic after classic. but alas, i have had my fill, and can't really go back. there are many who feel that C&C is the ween's best effort. I would have to disagree. for me, their finest hour came along with the next record on my list that i cant really listen to anymore:
Ween - "The Mollusk"
more of a concept album than chocolate and cheese, (and i use that term loosely) The Mollusk was an absolutely breathtaking tour de force for any ween fanatic. and now i see what negative dividends are payed from something like that: i cant listen to it anymore. i had a cassette copy in my walkman forEVAR! listening to it all night at work, then on my way home every night. and sure enough, as soon as i finished my walk home from work, my buddies would show up to blaze down, and they would be all "dude, put the mollusk on". ok, this record is amazing. why not listen to it again? fuck so many good songs. and such a rewarding listen as a whole. but now, i listen to live records, and when they play tracks from the mollusk, i skip em half the time, and i never put the album on anymore. sure, i can go song by song and point out every little nuance that makes me giggle and coo. but i just cant sit and listen to that record anymore. to be fair, i can listen to it more than i could chocolate and cheese, but still, this record was too good for posterity.
this last one i am posting today is yet another permanent resident in the lp graveyard. if the urge ever struck me to listen to this album again, i dont even know if i could find my way through all of the dust on top of it to actually extricate the cd.
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "Hot"
i never caught the video for "Hell" on mtv. it was one of my friends who played the track for me. i loved it, so i bought the record. now, unless you were a fan of the zippers, i know what you are probably thinking. that they are some hack, flash in the pan novelty act invented by the record companies to try and capitalize on the very short lived "swing revival". If this is in fact what you think, you are wrong. in fact to this day i get pissed when people even reference the zippers along with nu-swing, and bands like the cherry poppin daddies, and royal crown revue. those latter two were complete impostors. fuckin frauds and hacks. the squirrel nut zippers were an actual jazz band (some jazz purists might argue, but i'd argue em right back). where the other bands were trying to co-opt what they thought a particular style sounded like, the zippers were busy trying to pay homage to the artists that had influenced them to start a band like this from the get go. it will forever be a crying shame that such a bright and talented band got associated with all of these other crap acts. needless to say, every song is fantastic. from the porch at dusk, mint julep vibes of "twilight" to the frantic almost epic build up and release of "the flight of the passing fancy", there isnt a skipper on the disc. and yet again, it is that quality that ended up making it difficult to revisit the album. bumping it day and night, now, i just feel like i have heard it all one too many times. i would happily recommend the record to any that are curious, but given my druthers, i'll put on "the inevitable" or "perennial favorites". which, to be honest arent too far from retirement themselves. but yeah.
anyone else ot any records that they cant listen to anymore because they were just too damn good?
