Writing The album was written and performed by
Aaron Freeman and
Mickey Melchiondo, who began writing and recording together when they were 14. They soon adopted the name Ween and began recording home tapes. The apparent earliest
GodWeenSatan track, "I Gots a Weasel," first appeared on their 1985
Ween WAD EP in an extended form. At age 16 Ween released their first album-length tape,
The Crucial Squeegie Lip, on Birdo'pray Records, which featured a short version of "You Fucked Up." On January 10, 1987, Ween played their earliest known live show at 'Weenstock,' a small event held in Freeman's basement. Five months later, they began playing at more prominent venues, such as
City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. Shortly afterward, Ween released their second album-length tape,
Ween II (Axis: Bold as Boognish), which featured a slower version of "Bumblebee." Between September and November 1988, Ween recorded a home demo tape referred to as
Scraping the Palm for Guava, which contained early versions of four
GodWeenSatan songs, "Mushroom Festival in Hell,"
"Licking the Palm for Guava," "Up on the Hill" and "Don't Laugh (I Love You)." On January 2, 1989, Ween played a show at Pranzatelli's Stereo and TV in
Bound Brook. The show featured the earliest known versions of several
GodWeenSatan songs. These included fully formed versions of "Tick" and "Licking the Palm for Guava," shorter unfinished versions of "LMLYP" & "Nan," and extended versions of "Don't Laugh (I Love You)" and "El Camino." An
FM broadcast of Ween playing at
The Rathskellar on April 18, 1989, showcases Ween performing half of the album's tracks live. The recordings notably feature the earliest known versions of "Never Squeal," "Cold and Wet," "Common Bitch,'' "Old Queen Cole," "Papa Zit," "Squelch the Weasel," and "Fat Lenny." In January 1990, Ween moved into the Pod, where they continued to record several home tapes. A majority of the released material from these tapes appeared on their second album,
The Pod, but songs like "Birthday Boy," "Squelch the Weasel," "Blackjack," & "Puffy Cloud appeared on
GodWeenSatan. Dean Ween later referred to the album as a 'greatest hits' of material the duo had written during their first six years. He used a 1958
Fender Musicmaster during recording.
Release By the time the album was released in November of 1990, It was their first live release since 2008. The album was released near the time of
The Deaner Album by Melchiondo's side project, The Dean Ween Group. ==Critical reception==