Ween - 2000 - White Pepper

 

In May 2000, on a Saturday, my wife Jessica and I went to Berkeley for our friend Tom's graduation from law school. Driving back to Marin late that afternoon, she slept in the front seat. We'd only been married three years and things were not going well. Though I didn't know it concretely at the time, it felt like we'd dug too big of a hole to climb out of. I realized this when I thought about engaging her in conversation and just sort of went, nah, fuck it. I drove in silence. I remember that feeling going over the Richmond/San Rafael bridge.

On the other side I decided to swing by Borders Books and Music for a fix, a music fix. I figured it was Saturday night and I'd get drunk and listen to some music. I bought two brand new albums... Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP and this album, which I figured "PERFECT". Ween's sense of absurdist humor was just what I needed.

Joke was on me. It is essentially a breakup album. So is the Eminem album, for that matter. The next morning, we broke up. Though it wasn't a total surprise it still felt like a ton of bricks. Oof, though it has been over 22 years, that day still resonates from time to time. It has been a different life since then.

This album - both albums, actually - became the soundtrack of that summer. I love so many of Ween's albums, but this one will always stand out as a deeply personal one. Oh, maybe not "Bananas and Blow" and "Stoker Ace", but so many of the songs spoke to me. A damn masterpiece.

I haven't revisited The Marshall Mathers LP in many years, probably 20, if not 22. But I spin White Pepper at least every couple of years. Even memories of a broken marriage can't dissipate the beauty of it.

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