Hash Pipe

"Hash Pipe" is the lead single and third track from Weezer's eponymous 2001 album, The Green Album. It was the first new Weezer single following the band's five-year hiatus.
===Appearances===
*Weezer (The Green Album) (2001)
*"Hash Pipe" (Radio Only Promo)
*"Hash Pipe" (US Retail CD/US Retail 7" (Black Vinyl))
*"Hash Pipe" (UK Retail CD)
*"Hash Pipe" (EU Retail CD)
*"Hash Pipe" (UK Promo CD) (Jimmy Pop Remix)
*"Hash Pipe" (UK Retail 7" (Green Vinyl))
*"Hash Pipe" (US Promo Remix 12" (Black Vinyl)) (Jimmy Pop Remix, Chris Vrenna's Kick Me Remix and Chris Vrenna's Under Glass Remix)
*iTunes Originals: Weezer (2010)
*Official Bootleg series (Live)
==Overview==
===History===
"Hash Pipe" was the first single released from the band's long-awaited third album, Weezer, and the only one of the so-named "Summer Songs of 2000" to appear on the album (although "Dope Nose" and "Slob" would later appear on the band's fourth album, Maladroit). As a songwriting experiment, Rivers Cuomo consumed a mixture of tequila and ritalin to compose the song "Dope Nose," before repeating the same process a few nights later to write "Hash Pipe"."I Was a Scientist, This Was an Experiment" iTunes Originals: WeezerEliscu, Jenny. "Rivers Cuomo's Encyclopedia of Pop". Rolling Stone. 20 June 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20070310202917/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5933454/rivers_cuomos_encyclopedia_of_pop Archived by Wayback Machine Retrieved 2 October 2007
Cuomo told Entertainment Weekly in 2001 that the song was a "totally insane song about a homosexual transvestite prostitute,"Brunner, Rob. "Older & Weezer" Entertainment Weekly (issue #597). 25 May 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20140225152833/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,256491_4,00.html Weezerpedia mirror adding that the label was very reluctant to release a song like "Hash Pipe" as the album's lead single. "They wanted something more straight-up," said Cuomo, "Man, it was a huge fight. I got up in a meeting with all the executives and I was screaming." The label wanted to release "Don't Let Go" instead, but Cuomo was adamant that "Hash Pipe" be the single. Cuomo would, ultimately, be vindicated when the song became one of the band's biggest hits.
The guitar riff was at least partially inspired by the theme song from the television series Peter Gunn, composed by Henry Mancini. The theme has proven to be much more enduring than the show, and has appeared in many TV shows and films, both in its original recording as well as cover versions. Cuomo has stated in several interviews, at the time of the single's release, that he stole the riff from Spy Hunter, a popular arcade video game from the 80s which featured a digitized version of the Peter Gunn theme. Some fans have speculated that the riff was influenced by the song "He Shot Himself Up" by The Shods, as Cuomo is a friend of Shods frontman Kevin Stevenson, who had previously accompanied Cuomo during Homie shows in 1997, more than two years before "Hash Pipe" was written.
The opening lyric "I can't help my feelings, I go out of my mind" appears to be a direct quote of the Beatles song "You Can't Do That" from 1964.
There is some dispute among fans over the song's correct lyrics and, as no official lyric sheet has been released, they remain up for debate. Examples of disputed lyrics are "eyes wide"/"ass wide"/"eye swipe"/"ass wipe" and "big cheese"/"big G's." 
"Hash Pipe" was performed live during the summer of 2000, and is considered one of the so-called "Summer Songs of 2000." A band demo of the song appeared as part of a semi-official "SS2K" album distributed by Cuomo to fans in 2002. Cuomo sings "kiss me" instead of "kick me" on the second line of the chorus in this version, and has continued to sometimes sing it this way when performing the song in concert.
===Release===
"Hash Pipe" peaked at #2 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, #24 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #16 on Billboard's Canadian Singles Chart. The video for the song was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, and was nominated for High Times magazine's "Pot Song of the Year" in 2001.
"Hash Pipe" was banned from UK airplay by Radio One due to the reference to drugs in the title (hashish). The title was sometimes rendered as "H*** Pipe" or edited to say "pipe pipe"Karl's Corner - 05/04/2001 on MTV. A variation of the song that replaces the words "hash pipe" with "half-pipe" was created and appeared on a promotional CD in Europe.
The original, full-length Green Album studio version is no longer in print, and was subsequently replaced by a shorter edit. This edit cuts the first chorus in half (ending after "eyes wide"), and both ascending bridge sections were removed from the end of the second and third choruses. This edit summarily replaced the original studio versions on re-pressings of the album, and is heard on the edited "Hash Pipe" video on the DVD Video Capture Device.
Three official remixes of the song were released in 2001. "Kick Me" and "Under Glass" remixes were created by musician and released on the "Hash Pipe" 12" remix single (Weezer's first 12" single). The single also featured a remix by musician Jimmy Pop, which was also released on multiple international single releases, as well as a one-track CD-R promo in the UK. The two Vrenna remixes were released on Weezer's official website in 2001 as 128k MP3s with no record noise.
Drummer Patrick Wilson is featured on the single's cover artwork holding a pack of Natural American Spirit cigarettes. The retail and promo versions of this cover has the brand's logo blurred out due to copyright issues. On the European retail single CD the blurred out logo was replaced with the song title and the Weezer logo. An alternate cover of the retail single shows then-bassist Mikey Welsh pushing a skateboard upon which a life-size cardboard cutout of Rivers Cuomo is standing, photographed during the Yahoo! Outloud Tour.
===Reception===
The commercial reception of "Hash Pipe" reinvigorated the band's career. Though "Hash Pipe" would ultimately be outpaced commercially and critically by the band's next single, "Island in the Sun," it usually remains among Weezer's top ten most-streamed songsKworb.net. Archived by Wayback Machine 10 September 2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220910141758/https://kworb.net/youtube/artist/weezer.htmlLast.fm statistics. Archived by Wayback Machine 10 September 2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220910141908/https://www.last.fm/music/Weezer/+tracks?date_preset=LAST_7_DAYS as well as one of its most-performed live songsSetlist.fm. Archived by Wayback Machine 10 September 2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220910143357/https://www.setlist.fm/stats/weezer-33d6a4f9.html more than 20 years after its initial release. 
Critical response to the song was generally positive. Slant Magazine called it "further evidence of the band’s punk-rock origins, with its crunchy guitar licks and sticatto vocals scorched with the residual edge leftover from the alt-rock boom."Cinquemani, Sal. "Review: Weezer, Weezer (The Green Album)" Slant. 15 May 2001. https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/weezer-weezer-the-green-album/ A retrospective by Stereogum on The Green Album's 20th anniversary called the song the album's "best track by a mile" and "a surprisingly profane song that figures as one of the sludgiest, strangest rock songs to ever be an international hit." Conversely, Pitchfork derided the song, calling the song "abysmal" and "stale, polished, emotionless."Owen, Spencer. "Weezer (Green Album)" Pitchfork. 15 May 2001. Archived by Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20071009171140/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23114-weezer-green-album?artist_title=23114-weezer-green-album
===Covers===
The song has been covered by Phantom Planet in concert and by Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine at one of their live shows. Following Weezer's cover of "Africa" by Toto in 2018, Toto responded by releasing their own cover of "Hash Pipe".Toto - Topic "Hash Pipe" YouTube. 3 August 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOoC-Gflass Haitian-Canadian artist Mélissa Laveaux recorded a stripped-down, genre-bending version of the song for her 2013 album Dying Is a Wild NightWeezerpedia:Featured video October 2022.
==Personnel==
*Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
*Patrick Wilson – percussion
*Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
*Mikey Welsh – bass guitar, backing vocals
*Ric Ocasek - producer
==Music video==
The video for the song was directed by Marcos Siega, the first of several Weezer videos that he would direct. The premise of the video shows Weezer playing while a group of sumo wrestlers engage in activity. At one point in the video, the wrestlers appear as stand-ins for the band, complete with instruments, miming to the song. In the video, guitarist Brian Bell employs a maneuver in which he bends backwards, taking the guitar with him, then thrusts his legs in the direction he's bending. This is affectionately known among Weezer fans as "The Impossible Bend". Siega was specifically asked to avoid referring to the lyrics of the song in the video.Video Capture Device DVD booklet
Rivers Cuomo would later make a cameo appearance alongside one of the sumos from the "Hash Pipe" video in Siega's video for "Murder (You Know It's Hard)" by .
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==Audio==
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==Lyrics==
I can't help my feelings I go out of my mind
These players come to get me 'cuz they like my behind
I deal out my business if I can't get a trick
Down on Santa Monica where tricks are for kids
Oh, come on and kick me
Oh, come on and kick me (Woah-oh-oh) 
Come on and kick me (Woah-oh-oh)
You got your problems (Woah-oh-oh)
I got my ??? (Woah-oh-oh)
You got your big ???
I got my hash pipe
I can't help my boogies they get out of control
I know that you don't care, but I want you to know
The knee-stocking flavor is a favorite treat
Of men that don't bother with the taste of a teat
Oh, come on and kick me
Oh, come on and kick me (Woah-oh-oh)
Come on and kick me (Woah-oh-oh)
You got your problems (Woah-oh-oh)
I got my ??? (Woah-oh-oh)
You got your big ???
I got my hash pipe
Oh, come on and kick me
Oh, come on and kick me (Woah-oh-oh)
Come on and kick me (Woah-oh-oh)
You got your problems (Woah-oh-oh)
I got my ??? (Woah-oh-oh)
You got your big ???
I got my hash pipe
I got my hash pipe
I got my hash pipe
I got my hash pipe
==Known recordings==
==External Links==
* Teenage Victory Songs entry for "Hash Pipe"
==References==
Category:Weezer songs
Category:Rivers Cuomo songs
Category:Catalog o' Riffs
Category:Weezer singles
Category:Allmusic track picks
Category:Songs on Weezer (The Green Album)
Category:Weezer songs produced by Ric Ocasek
Category:Summer Songs of 2000
Category:Music videos directed by Marcos Siega
Category:Songs on Six Hits
Category:Catalog o' Riffs
Category:2001 releases
Category:Featured song