The Lips are pretty popular now, due to stuff like The Soft Bulletin which was a pretty big deal upon release. While they weren't extremely popular in the 90s, bands today constantly namecheck Clouds Taste Metallic as a major influence (one being The Arcade Fire), so while mainstream public wasn't consuming them, a lot of current bands were. Ween not so much. But the Lips are referenced a lot more heavily than a lot of people realize.