The alt-rock stoner princes of Ween are back in the album sales charts this week thanks to the band’s new 30th-anniversary reissue of Chocolate and Cheese. The expanded re-release boasts an additional disc with 15 previously unreleased demos, something that brought Ween fans out en masse and drove a 106,000% spike in the band’s record sales.
According to Forbes, industry tracker Luminate reported that Chocolate and Cheese sold 5,300 copies in the past week. Prior to the reissue, the title only managed a single-digit sales sum. This marked a jump of over 106,000%, catapulting Ween’s fourth album to #15 on the Top Album Sales chart and #3 on the Vinyl Album Sales chart. For the reissue, Ween offered a plethora of vinyl options including a $70 tri-colored edition which sold out almost immediately on the band’s website.
While Ween has not released an album of new original music since 2007’s La Cucaracha, the band has kept its ravenous fans satiated with a stream of archival releases. The most recent came in 2016 with GodWeenSatan: Live, a 2001 live recording of the band playing its debut album start to finish at John & Peter’s in Ween’s New Hope, PA hometown. Since then, the band has shared other vinyl reissues including The Pod last year, but none were loaded with extra goodies like Chocolate and Cheese (Deluxe Edition).
The expanded Chocolate and Cheese reissue includes 15 additional demos—four rough recordings of songs that made the album and 11 never-before-released tracks. These songs run the chaotically wide range of Ween’s influences and underscore what a transformational time 1994 was for the band and what a pivotal album Chocolate and Cheese was. The band’s fourth album was the first to feature longtime drummer Claude Coleman Jr. and was the first recorded in an actual studio, one they set up in a rented office space much to the chagrin of those they shared a wall with. Following the primal rawness of 1990’s GodWeeenSatan: The Oneness, the utter Brownness of 1991’s The Pod, and 1992’s distorted Pure Guava, Chocolate and Cheese delivered a far more palatable sonic spread. The album struck a more conventional tone—at least by Ween standards—and netted the band’s second and to-date most recent U.S. charting single, “Voodoo Lady” (following surprise breakout hit “Push ‘th Little Daisies”).
This contemporary commercial achievement comes amid a time of uncertainty for Ween fans. After canceling its April tour so Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo could attend to his “mental and spiritual well being,” the band returned earlier this month to kick off a run of shows in the Pacific Northwest only to cancel the leg after three shows. No reason was given for the latest cancelations, but Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman wrote on his sporadically active X account, “Hey guys. I’ve been getting tons of messages, know that I’m perfectly fine and just as disappointed.” While 2024 was supposed to be a year of celebration marking Ween’s 40th anniversary, the band has one tour date left on the calendar: a Chocolate and Cheese 30th-anniversary concert at TD Pavilion at the Mann in Philadelphia on September 27th. Find tickets on the band’s website and keep your fingers crossed for Ween’s good health.
Ween — Chocolate And Cheese (Deluxe Edition)
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