9. GodWeenSatan: The Oneness (1990)

GodWeenSatan has all the pros and cons of a debut album. The band's aesthetics still have a long way to go; even the freakiest material here ("Bumblebee," "Common Bitch") sounds tame in comparison to the severly warped experiments that would follow on The Pod. But what's charming about the record is how committed Freeman and Melchiondo sound to each idea, whether it's the heavy metal Hulk-out of "You Fucked Up," the beatnik-jazz jive of "Never Squeal" or the sultry funk of "L.M.L.Y.P." (i.e., "Let Me Lick Your Pussy"). Another key feature of GWS is its sheer volume: a whopping 29 songs (on the expanded 2001 reissue). It's not hard to imagine your average musically inclined high-school outcast coming up with one or two of these tunes, but the obsessive drive on display here reveals a rare inspiration, not to mention devotion; you can tell that by this point Freeman and Melchiondo had already cultivated a serious work ethic. ("It's quantity, not quality," Dean Ween joked, describing the Ween M.O. in 2007.) There's filler here, but also intermittent greatness, from the 20-second Springsteen riff "Old Man Thunder" to unequivocal album highlight "Birthday Boy," the fuzzed-out breakup track that presaged every Gene Ween heartrender to follow.