Hash Pipe

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This article is about the song. For the pipe used for smoking hashish, see Cannabis smoking.
"Hash Pipe"
Single by Weezer
from the album Weezer (The Green Album)
B-side
  • "I Do"
  • "Starlight"
  • "Teenage Victory Song"
ReleasedApril 2001 (2001-04)
Studio
GenreHard rock[1]
Length3:06
LabelGeffen
Songwriter(s)Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)Ric Ocasek
Weezer singles chronology
"Pink Triangle"
(1997) 		"Hash Pipe"
(2001) 		"Island in the Sun"
(2001)
Music video
"Hash Pipe" on YouTube

"Hash Pipe" is a song by American rock band Weezer. Released in 2001, it was the first single off the band's third album Weezer (The Green Album), and the only one of the Summer Songs of 2000 songs to make it onto the album, although "Dope Nose" and "Slob" were released on Maladroit.

Background[edit]

According to an interview with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, "Hash Pipe" was written on the same night as the song "Dope Nose" off Maladroit. The story goes that Cuomo took "a bunch of Ritalin and had like three shots of tequila," paced around for a while, then wrote both songs.[2]

Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson is featured on the cover of the song's CD single.[3] Since late 2001, the band has played the song live with a reworked guitar solo that no longer follows the verse melody.

According to Cuomo the song is a "Totally insane song about a homosexual transvestite prostitute."[4]

Also according to Cuomo, he had intended on giving this song to Ozzy Osbourne in 2000 after he approached Cuomo for song ideas, but he did not use it.[5] Presumably, it would have been used for his eighth studio album, Down to Earth, released the same year as the Green Album.

Composition[edit]

With a tempo of 128 bpm, "Hash Pipe" is composed in the key of A minor.[6] The opening line, "I can't help my feelings, I go out of my mind", is quoted from The Beatles' "You Can't Do That".

Music video[edit]

The video for the song was directed by Marcos Siega, the first of many Weezer videos that Siega would direct. In the video, Weezer is shown playing while a group of sumo wrestlers are standing in the background.[7] As the song progresses, the wrestlers are shown wrestling and during the guitar solo, the wrestlers play the band members' instruments as the members watch from the background. During the final chorus, guitarist Brian Bell performs a move in which he bends backwards, taking the guitar with him, then thrusts his legs in the way he's bending. This move has become known among Weezer fans as "the impossible bend."[8] According to the mini book that accompanies the Video Capture Device DVD, Siega was asked to avoid referring to the lyrics of the song for the video, due to its themes of homosexual prostitution and drug references.

Reception[edit]

The song was met with positive reviews by music critics. AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine chose "Hash Pipe" as one of the 4 highlights from the album.[9] Paul Brannigan of Kerrang! awarded the single 5 stars and named it "Single of the Week".[10]

Slant Magazine writer Sal Cinquemani wrote that the song "is further evidence of the band's punk rock origins, with its crunchy guitar licks and staccato vocals scorched with the residual edge leftover from the alt-rock boom".[11]

In 2014, ticketing company AXS rated it as the band's seventh best song.[12]

Track listings[edit]

Radio station promo

  1. "Hash Pipe" – 3:06

US CD retail CD/US retail 7″ single (black vinyl)

  1. "Hash Pipe" – 3:06
  2. "I Do" – 2:10

UK retail CD

  1. "Hash Pipe" – 2:51
  2. "Starlight" – 3:35
  3. "Hash Pipe" (Jimmy Pop remix)
  4. "Hash Pipe" (CD-ROM video)

UK retail 7″ single (green vinyl)

  1. "Hash Pipe" – 2:52
  2. "Teenage Victory Song" – 3:11

US promo remix 12″ single (black vinyl)

  1. "Hash Pipe" (Jimmy Pop remix)
  2. "Hash Pipe" (Chris Vrenna's Kick Me remix)
  3. "Hash Pipe" (Chris Vrenna's Under Glass remix) – 4:13

Dutch retail CD

  1. "Hash Pipe" – 3:06
  2. "I Do" – 1:53
  3. "Starlight" – 3:21
  4. "Hash Pipe" (Jimmy Pop remix) – 3:22

Charts[edit]

Weekly charts[edit]

Weekly chart performance for "Hash Pipe"
Chart (2001) Peak
position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[13] 16
Canada Rock Chart[14] 12
Ireland (IRMA)[15] 37
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[16] 74
Scotland (OCC)[17] 15
UK Singles (OCC)[18] 21
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[19] 2
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[20] 6
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[21] 24

Year-end charts[edit]

2001 year-end chart performance for "Hash Pipe"
Chart (2001) Position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[22] 80
2002 year-end chart performance for "Hash Pipe"
Chart (2002) Position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[23] 124

Other versions[edit]

Rock band Toto started covering the song live in 2018, before releasing it as a digital single, in response to Weezer's well-received version of their own hit song "Africa".[24][25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Weezer Song 'Hash Pipe' Could Have Been an Ozzy Osbourne Track". 16 June 2021.
  2. ^ Eliscu, Jenny. "Rivers Cuomo's Encyclopedia of Pop". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
  3. ^ "weezer.com tunes page - page 3". Archived from the original on 2007-12-15.
  4. ^ "Older & Weezer | EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. 2014-02-25. Archived from the original on 2014-02-25. Retrieved 2023-08-21.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ "Weezer's 'Hash Pipe' was almost an Ozzy Osbourne song". NME. 28 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Weezer "Hash Pipe" Guitar Tab". musicnotes.com. 24 September 2012.
  7. ^ Luerssen D., John. Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story. ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-619-3 p. 335
  8. ^ "The Impossible Bend". Weezerpedia. Archived from the original on 2015-12-23. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  9. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Weezer (Green Album) – Weezer". AllMusic. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  10. ^ Brannigan, Paul (June 30, 2001). "Singles". Kerrang! (859): 47. ISSN 0262-6624.
  11. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (May 15, 2001). "Weezer: Weezer (The Green Album)". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  12. ^ Shawn S. Lealos (November 30, 2014). "The 10 best Weezer songs - AXS". AXS. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015.
  13. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Canadian Digital Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  14. ^ "Weezer Performing Free Toronto Show". Chart Attack. Archived from the original on August 30, 2003. Retrieved January 25, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Weezer". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  16. ^ "Weezer – Hash Pipe" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  17. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  18. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  19. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  20. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  21. ^ "Weezer Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  22. ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on January 26, 2003. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  23. ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002 (Part 2)". Jam!. January 14, 2003. Archived from the original on September 6, 2004.
  24. ^ Roffman, Michael (July 31, 2018). "Toto have never sounded younger covering Weezer's "Hash Pipe": Watch". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  25. ^ Roffman, Michael (August 9, 2018). "Toto finally share studio version of Weezer's "Hash Pipe": Stream". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved August 14, 2018.

External links[edit]

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