How WEEN Wound Up Writing The Theme Song To “Grounded For Life”

WEEN has always been one of the most versatile acts in rock music, as well as one of the most polarizing. From their humble beginnings creating lo-fi, yet ambitious, 4-track recordings and performing concerts as a duo backed by a DAT machine to becoming one of the most dynamic live acts able to count such varied artists as Queens Of The Stone Age, Henry Rollins, Phish, Aphex Twin, Doug Martsch (Built To Spill), and Daft Punk as fans, the boys from New Hope, PA have earned respect spanning from the DIY world to high profile stadium rock big shots based purely on their undeniable talent and authenticity.  That said, WEEN isn’t always the easiest group to get someone into.

Those of us who preach the gospel of Dean and Gene may be familiar with fielding such questions as, “Is this the same album?!” and, “WAIT! THIS is the same band as the last song?!” WEEN has so much range that one might assume they have something for everyone, but that variety can prove a double-edged sword. They have the chops to craft anything from beautiful ballads to face-melting rippers; long, winding prog tunes, and Robitussin-drenched, experimental psych-doom so unique that it could only be compared to itself. In 1996, the guys recruited several notable Nashville session musicians and Elvis Pressley‘s legendary backing vocalists, The Jordanaires, to release, 12 Golden Country Greats. Ultimately, this country album consisted of songs with such titles as “Japanese Cowboy,” “Piss Up A Rope,” and “Mister Richard Smoker.” While certain songs may even connect with a new listener, some of them still find it difficult to get past other tunes like “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)” or lyrics about “The Homo Rainbow.”

One thing that’s hard to dispute about the WEEN fanbase is its loyalty. The group might not be for everybody, but the people who love WEEN, really fucking LOVE WEEN. On the rare occasion that any reference to the cult band seeps into popular culture, it’s a safe bet that someone on the inside sneaked it in. In 1994, the guys made a cameo as themselves in the SNL film, It’s Pat, by director Adam Bernstein, who was also behind the “Push Th’ Little Daisies” video. Their association with South Park and the creators is well established, but I’m still not sure whose idea it was to put Paul Rudd in a Boognish shirt on promotional materials for This Is 40. Numerous people discovered WEEN after “Oceean Man” was included in The SpongeBob Square Pants Movie soundtrack, but not everyone is aware that the creation of the cartoon series itself was heavily inspired by the band’s nautical-themed album, The Mollusk [1997]. They even wrote the song “Loop De Loop” for one of the episodes. In 1998, the song, “Beacon Light,” was written specifically for the The X-Files soundtrack. Shortly before that, David Duchovny had publicly stated that he initially connected with his then-wife, Téa Leoni, after she introduced him to WEEN by playing him “Piss Up A Rope.”

With their wealth of history and extensive lore, it’s hard to know about every little thing the Brothers Ween have had their fingerprints on. We’ve learned that they don’t always broadcast that information and, sometimes, they are slipped into projects almost like a Trojan horse. Back in 2016, Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo was communicating with fans through his short-lived “Warm Wet Stream” UStream channel, and, one night, he told us about his stint writing music for an ad agency that also employed Mike Patton. He played us a Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial with such a bizarre soundtrack that it made perfect sense he would have created it. Still, I never would have known if he hadn’t pointed it out. Around 2002, a pair of now-infamous situations occurred involving Dean and Gene being tapped to contribute songs for projects, only to have their music rejected. One of the songs they created is the fan favorite, “Where’d The Cheese Go,” which Pizza Hut wasn’t feeling. The other was a theme song for the show, Greg The Bunny, about a hand puppet and co-starring Seth Green and Eugene Levy. These are both well documented, but what I didn’t know about was a theme song they’d written for a completely different sitcom that debuted the year before; a theme song that actually made it on air.

Today, a video appeared on the Instagram account @benvaughnmusic that reminds me of the value to social media. Ben explains that, while working as the music supervisor for a show called Grounded For Life, he managed to get WEEN hired to create the theme song. Hearing the music now, it seems obvious that they made it, but I never heard anything about this before today. For those that are unfamiliar with the program, Grounded For Life was one of those formulaically “edgy” sitcoms like Grace Under Fire that used the foundation laid by Roseanne to present a pseudo-dysfunctional family who, while not being a storybook facsimile of Ozzie and Harriet, ultimately loved one another. Among the cast was Donal Logue, who will forever be the Jimmy the cab driver from MTV, and Kevin Corrigan, who played the poorly treated sidekick, Rocky The Goon, that Vincent Gallo berated in Buffalo 66.

Thanks to Ben Vaughn for not only offering up this piece of WEEN trivia/history, but facilitating something like that to happen in the first place. We love learning about this stuff.

Check out Vaughn‘s IG video, embedded below.