Off the Deep End
For Weird Al fans, the three year period after UHF was an uncomfortable one. This was in the days prior to the internet so our information was gathered through magazines and newspapers, none of which seemed to focus on the pertinent story of whether or not our hero was continuing with his career.
On top of that, pop culture was going through a very dramatic change in sensibility. The tongue in cheek silliness of the 80's was dissipating and the cynical grunge phase of the 90's was building its hotels on Park Place. 'Alternative' music had pushed the mainstream aside, thus negating its own identity as being 'alternative'. Weird Al was still very much a product of the 80's, a culture quite comfortable with its own ridiculousness (except for 'The Artist' inconsistently known as Ego). The 90's gave rise to upcoming musicians who didn't seem quite as ready to lampoon themselves.
If I have my information correct (and I'm sure I do since I got it online somewhere, message board maybe) Al had the bulk of the album ready to go but he wasn't going to release it without a significant lead song lampooning something really current in pop culture. Enter Nirvana. Hey, this makes for a decent Segway. Why don't we talk about them right now?
Smells Like Nirvana: I always thought Nirvana was a good band, even if history has been overly generous to their significance. Regardless, Smells Like Teen Spirit came along at a point where the whole flavor of music had shifted dramatically into "We're really passionate about our bad mood". Al ran the risk of coming across as bullying the new kid by parodying this song, and wisely he goes for confusion instead of judgment. As a single, this song is great. Unfortunately it doesn't play well with the rest of the songs making for one of Al's most imbalanced albums. Of note: I don't know if Al ever took professional voice lessons, but somewhere along the way he learned the technique of pronouncing the hard consonants at the end of each sentence, which makes for a interesting dichotomy with the intentional slurring his words together throughout this song.
Trigger Happy: This may be the closest Al has ever gotten to making any kind of political statement in his music, and it's hard not to feel a little satisfied by it. I know with any issue there are points to both sides, but when it comes to gun control I haven't heard any defense of gun ownership that has made any sense to me. The argument just points back to people like owning guns and vehemently resent the notion of someone taking that pleasure away from them. Suffice to say, this song is beautiful. In fact, the phonetic sounds in the line "Got a brand new semi-automatic weapon with a laser site" just roll off your tongue in a majestic wave.
I Can't Watch This: In addition to a few 'greatest hits' compilations, Al's label has released The Food Album and The TV Album (to Al's chagrin), to sum up how often he revisits each concept. Fortunately with this song he's able to do some interesting things beyond merely listing TV shows; a couple of one-liners and a nice barrage of commercial snippets bring this parody together.
Polka Your Eyes Out: There are fans of this song who think it is Weird Al's unquestionable best polka. I don't think it's his worst, but I also don't think it's a three star polka. It just never takes on its own life like some of the other polkas do. Even with jigsawed choruses, some of his polkas feel like they weave together a bizarre narrative, whereas this one just comes off a the closing credits sequence for a documentary about the 80's.
I Was Only Kidding: This is one joke. It's a funny one, but it's in the title. There's also a use of Wayne's World's "Not!" which was already on everyone's last nerve. If the song were musically interesting it might have rescued itself, but it isn't and it doesn't. Wikipedia tells me this is a style parody of Tonio K. I don't know who that is, and this isn't making me want to do the research.
The White Stuff: I wouldn't have been caught dead giving any attention to New Kids on the Block at any age, much less my college period. But one of Weird Al's gifts is the way he can make me warm up a little to an artist or band that my ego would never have let into my clubhouse. I may still scowl a bit at the concept of boy bands, but I'll relent that sometimes their music isn't the worst thing to happen to our homeworld's already unstable relationship with Jodie Foster's space dad.
When I Was Your Age: This is a great song and I'm giving it full credit, but I've always wondered if John Cleese felt this song was more of an homage to the Four Yorkshiremen sketch or a rip-off.
Taco Grande: To this day I've never heard the original Gerardo song, but I imagine it's boring. The parody is thorough, and well written, but it's honestly being held back by a boring original song.
Airline Amy: This one is cute. I guess it's another song kind of about stalking, albeit in a non-threatening way as the narrator is misinterpreting Amy's doing of her job as something special in his favor. Of course from the lyrics I've always assumed that Amy is somehow aware of his affection towards her and isn't opposed to it. And I'm also assuming the "upright locked position" he wants to get her in is an innuendo and not a confession that he wants to chain her to his wall or something. I guess there's room for interpretation but I'm going to stand by the innocent mentality. And double-check the dosage on my Zoloft.
The Plumbing Song: Kind of like the New Kids on the Block song, I wasn't one to give Milli Vanilli much thought, but Al's parody elevates it into a more connectable terrain. But the coolest component is when The Plumbing Song goes where no Weird Al parody has gone before, into another song. I wish Al did this more often, because the transition into Blame it on the Rain(Drain) is seamless, and even a little exciting.
You Don't Love Me Anymore: This song is beautiful. At first you wouldn't recognize it as Weird Al. I think this song epitomizes just how mature of a sound the guy who used to scream "Another one rides the bus" has really become. So why in the hell am I giving it two points instead of the full three? Because of a fundamental problem with the lyrics. The unidentified woman of the narrative (hopefully not sweet Airline Amy) turns homicidal in the first verse. From then on the song, despite its three act structure, is merely belaboring the punchline. The six second bonus track Bite Me is a nice consolation prize, but You Don't Love Me Anymore fell short of being something truly great.
Conclusion:
We're still only at eleven tracks. All songs get 3 points except the polka get 2.5, Taco Grande and You Don't Love Me Anymore get 2 and I Was Only Kidding gets 1. The total score is 83, a B. Not bad.
Alapalooza
Let's just get this out of the way right now, this whole album feels like a B-side. It appeared in the record store with no warning (typically not a good sign) and really left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Al had evidently recorded all of the original songs even before he'd finished the parodies for Off the Deep End and as such, Alapalooza comes off as...I don't know, maybe a bit of a dumping ground for the leftovers mixed with some hastily written parodies for the purpose of getting the album out there.
Which isn't to say that the originals are bad, quite the contrary. This is the first case of an album where Al's originals completely outshine his parodies. Truth be told, the 90's really wasn't giving Al a lot to work with and he can't be held accountable for that. I just remember being concerned that this album signified that the party I'd grown up on might have been over.
Jurassic Park: The first thing I did when I bought the CD was to look through the lyric booklet. And when I saw that MacArthur Park was the source material for this parody I grimaced. Since each of Al's albums serves as kind of a time capsule I was thinking, why even bother if you have to reach that far back for a match? And then I read the line "I cannot approve of this attraction, 'cause getting disemboweled always makes me kinda mad". Um...okay? That's, uh, supposed to be witty I suppose. I couldn't get past how sloppy the humor felt. I don't know, maybe it would have been better if Al had added lyrics to the John Williams theme. I knew I wasn't going into this album with optimism.
Young, Dumb, & Ugly: This song certainly summarized my feelings about the Beavis and Butt-head fanbase I found myself unable to escape from. This AC/DC style parody is slightly out of Al's range, but it's got a charm to it. It may not have developed the satirical bite to it that I would have liked, but it does its job.
Bedrock Anthem: *deep breath* There was a Flintstones movie on the way, and I'm convinced the whole purpose of this song was for Al to be included on the soundtrack. That might be considered a sell out; it definitely feels forced. As a parody, going from "Give it away" to "Yabba-dabba-doo" is a real stretch beyond disbelief. I know Al worked hard on the song, but it clearly didn't spring from any sort of inspiration other than a marketing move.
Frank's 2000" TV: This song is...meh. I know Al likes it enough to dust it off for his concerts on occasion, but it just doesn't do anything for me. I'm still waiting for that headlining song to grab me, and four songs in, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe it's just on the wrong album or in the wrong place, but I always skip this one.
Achy Breaky Song: What the hell is going on with the parodies on this album? The Billy Ray Cyrus song was stupid. Infectious, but stupid. And then Al writes a parody that essentially amounts to "This song is infectious, but stupid." I think I could have written this in middle school. Maybe my expectations have become too high on Al (I don't think so) but this feels a bit amateurish.
Traffic Jam: Finally something to celebrate. As often as Prince has reportedly turned down Al's parody requests, it's pretty kind that Al still remains supportive of his song style, hence this nod to Let's Go Crazy (although Al does it better, so bleah). It is truly one of the highlights on Alapalooza. I almost wonder at this point if it would have been better for Al to just release a whole album of original material. I would have bought it.
Talk Soup: Bam! The second of a One-Two-Punch from Al's originals. E! unofficially commissioned this song and then didn't use it, the dolts. Even though Al covered this joke already in multiple places, this song is a treasure. Even as outdated as it is, the concept applies even more to today's 'everybody wants to be famous' mentality. Why can't I find this in the karaoke club's binder?
Livin' in the Fridge: I think it was at this point my inner eleven year old gave up and walked out. The appeal of this parody is entirely dependent on the strength of the original Aerosmith song, and considering the fact that Al shoves this one to the back of the album is a solid indicator of just how unconfident he was in it.
She Never Told Me She Was a Mime: That's one of the funnier titles for a Weird Al song, but the execution only ever reaches that bar without going anywhere further. I don't have any ideas where it could have gone, and maybe that's the problem. The song starts with its punchline and then delivers the setup. Offhand I can't think of a case where that approach works.
Harvey the Wonder Hamster: That's cute that Al went through the trouble of recording this, but it doesn't count as a song. It's the parsley on the plate. In fact, Al should have written a song about parsley. I figured out what would have saved this album! A song about parsley! Oh yeah! Go me!
Waffle King: I mentioned this song as succeeding where Such a Groovy Guy failed. It stays funny because the Waffle King's ego never gets deflated. Musically, this song starts out in mediocre territory but it builds into a real sense of passion. Interestingly, this was supposed to appear on Off the Deep End. That is interesting, isn't it? I have nothing to add to that tidbit so why else would I have mentioned it if it wasn't interesting?
Bohemian Polka: I'll be blunt, this is Al's weakest polka. I don't hate it, but on an already weak album the polka isn't doing Al any favors. In all fairness the polka medleys are a legal hassle, and I'm sure putting a moratorium on them would grant Al an espresso shot of bliss, and if there was ever a single song that Al could see through in polka style from start to finish it's Bohemian Rhapsody. But the end result is like tofu that absorbed the sour taste from so much of the album it was on. And it would be another three years to finally get it out of my mouth.
Conclusion:
Three parodies and the polka get 2 points. Bedrock Anthem gets 1. Sorry but that's how weak I think it is. I'll dole out 2 points for Frank's 2000" TV and She Never Told Me She Was a Mime, and three points for the rest of the originals. 25 points out of 33 gives a score of 75, minus the 3 for the lack of a real twelfth song brings us down to a low score of 72, a C-. "It could have been worse, John. A lot worse."
Bad Hair Day
So I was in the record store one day, wandering over to the comedy sub-sub-section that always got swallowed by the New Age CDs, and browsed what I expected to be the offensively miniscule Weird Al stockpile pessimistically searching for a really cheap reissue of Polka Party! to replace the LP I owned which no longer had a compatible machine capable of retrieving the sound waves off of, and while I was engaged in my casual perusal I was taken aback by the unprecedented availability of a recently displayed symphonic anthology of which I had only just surmised I would become the unquestioning voluntary legal recipient. That almost never happens.
It had been another three years since Alapalooza and I'd really lost hope, still not quite grasping the concept of Al not throwing out a new album every year. Of course not having a CD player in my vehicle meant I had only the titles to go by as to what was included, and they weren't exactly telegraphing themselves.
This must have been when I first figured out that I was outgrowing popular music. I didn't know what was on the radio because I didn't listen. I'd given up on MTV because when they actually presented music it was either R&B (which I had as much disdain for as country twang) or rap (which had stopped being fun, as the tempos had slowed down to the point of essentially making it R&B). Basically I was going into this album blind, and a little apprehensive. And in the end I wasn't blown away, but I was much happier than I'd been three years prior.
Amish Paradise: When the Amish said no to technological progression I’m pretty sure the current state of TLC is specifically what they were aiming to avoid. But this song is a modern classic. By themselves the lyrics are funny, but when you add the brilliant video on top of it you have what may have been MTV’s final hurrah before giving up its identity forever. Al was back.
Everything You Know is Wrong: Can you really style parody They Might Be Giants? That band was practically in Al’s camp to begin with. Still, this makes for a solid second track that exists in its own world with its own rules and its own impact. Don’t ask questions. Just enjoy it.
Cavity Search: If there was ever going to be a song to put the ‘food parody’ to rest, this was it; which didn’t actually put the ‘food parody’ to rest, so implicitly there’s not going to be one. Forget I mentioned it. U2 was one of those bands that had managed to slip past Al in previous albums, but fortunately the oversight is corrected here. This song hits the mark pretty near the bullseye. I think it was just short by one Marathon Man reference. Alas.
Callin’ in Sick: When I get to the end of this blog series I might take a minute to tally up how many of Al’s songs involve an ordinary concept escalated to a deeply neurotic victory. But there is some truth being presented here. Having a day off work is nice, but taking one: now you're thinking with portals! Certainly deserving of a Nirvana-esc song.
The Alternative Polka: THIS is a polka. The accordion is an inherently funny instrument (in case I haven’t said that already) but when it’s playing songs that were meant to be taken seriously you almost have that ominous feeling that the clowns are conspiring to take over the circus. Usually Al’s polkas feel like a celebration of whatever is happening in music, but this one feels more like an assault, as if the 90’s finally got what it had coming to it. And deservedly so. Stupid Reality Bites 90s with its stupid unplugged Tomagatchis and stupid Tiny Toon Tarantino after school special. Stupid Alanis Morissette, acting like You Can’t Do That on Television was her show because of the ONE episode she was in. I’m sorry, but that decade just puts me in a dark place.
Since You’ve Been Gone: What can I say? Al crams a whole lot of humor into one minute and twenty-two seconds. I always thought it would be fun to gather three or four guys who could harmonize and burst into this song in the middle of the mall. I still won’t say this is funnier than One More Minute if only for the brevity, but man it’s tight.
Gump: Well this was a stroke of luck: a current movie that Al could connect to a current song. A good one too (the song, not the movie. Sorry Tom Hanks, but that honestly wasn’t an Oscar-worthy performance). Well, what do you expect from the stupid 90's? See? Here I go again! This is what the decade does to me. What took FOX so long to figure out that their animated show about the mutants would make a good movie? Okay, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, this is a fun song. And, um, yeah. Things and stuff.
I’m So Sick of You: I'm positive he was singing to the 90’s-okay I’m burying the hatchet now. This is a decent (enough) anti-love song, and it even started a new trope for Al that I’ll refer to as the ‘wordy bridge’. If that’s not self-explanatory (and it is, but I’ll humor you) it’s the point in any of Al’s songs where in between choruses he starts rattling off a bunch of words with no break in the syllables and no room to take a breath. Maybe we’ll see another example of this on the next album or two.
Syndicated Inc.: Jeez, Al didn’t even bother to write out the word ‘incorporated’. This has been a great two thirds of an album, but it comes to a halt with this song. Sure, it’s another one of Al’s list of TV show songs, but…that’s all it is. And the source material isn’t even that good. I don't remember, was Soul Asylum usually this bland? Well, I guess there’s no such thing as a perfect album. Particularly in the 90s -sorry, force of habit. Grant me this though: the decade was bookended by that road to nowhere Dick Tracy movie and Jar Jar freaking Binks.It had been another three years since Alapalooza and I'd really lost hope, still not quite grasping the concept of Al not throwing out a new album every year. Of course not having a CD player in my vehicle meant I had only the titles to go by as to what was included, and they weren't exactly telegraphing themselves.
This must have been when I first figured out that I was outgrowing popular music. I didn't know what was on the radio because I didn't listen. I'd given up on MTV because when they actually presented music it was either R&B (which I had as much disdain for as country twang) or rap (which had stopped being fun, as the tempos had slowed down to the point of essentially making it R&B). Basically I was going into this album blind, and a little apprehensive. And in the end I wasn't blown away, but I was much happier than I'd been three years prior.
Amish Paradise: When the Amish said no to technological progression I’m pretty sure the current state of TLC is specifically what they were aiming to avoid. But this song is a modern classic. By themselves the lyrics are funny, but when you add the brilliant video on top of it you have what may have been MTV’s final hurrah before giving up its identity forever. Al was back.
Everything You Know is Wrong: Can you really style parody They Might Be Giants? That band was practically in Al’s camp to begin with. Still, this makes for a solid second track that exists in its own world with its own rules and its own impact. Don’t ask questions. Just enjoy it.
Cavity Search: If there was ever going to be a song to put the ‘food parody’ to rest, this was it; which didn’t actually put the ‘food parody’ to rest, so implicitly there’s not going to be one. Forget I mentioned it. U2 was one of those bands that had managed to slip past Al in previous albums, but fortunately the oversight is corrected here. This song hits the mark pretty near the bullseye. I think it was just short by one Marathon Man reference. Alas.
Callin’ in Sick: When I get to the end of this blog series I might take a minute to tally up how many of Al’s songs involve an ordinary concept escalated to a deeply neurotic victory. But there is some truth being presented here. Having a day off work is nice, but taking one: now you're thinking with portals! Certainly deserving of a Nirvana-esc song.
The Alternative Polka: THIS is a polka. The accordion is an inherently funny instrument (in case I haven’t said that already) but when it’s playing songs that were meant to be taken seriously you almost have that ominous feeling that the clowns are conspiring to take over the circus. Usually Al’s polkas feel like a celebration of whatever is happening in music, but this one feels more like an assault, as if the 90’s finally got what it had coming to it. And deservedly so. Stupid Reality Bites 90s with its stupid unplugged Tomagatchis and stupid Tiny Toon Tarantino after school special. Stupid Alanis Morissette, acting like You Can’t Do That on Television was her show because of the ONE episode she was in. I’m sorry, but that decade just puts me in a dark place.
Since You’ve Been Gone: What can I say? Al crams a whole lot of humor into one minute and twenty-two seconds. I always thought it would be fun to gather three or four guys who could harmonize and burst into this song in the middle of the mall. I still won’t say this is funnier than One More Minute if only for the brevity, but man it’s tight.
Gump: Well this was a stroke of luck: a current movie that Al could connect to a current song. A good one too (the song, not the movie. Sorry Tom Hanks, but that honestly wasn’t an Oscar-worthy performance). Well, what do you expect from the stupid 90's? See? Here I go again! This is what the decade does to me. What took FOX so long to figure out that their animated show about the mutants would make a good movie? Okay, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, this is a fun song. And, um, yeah. Things and stuff.
I’m So Sick of You: I'm positive he was singing to the 90’s-okay I’m burying the hatchet now. This is a decent (enough) anti-love song, and it even started a new trope for Al that I’ll refer to as the ‘wordy bridge’. If that’s not self-explanatory (and it is, but I’ll humor you) it’s the point in any of Al’s songs where in between choruses he starts rattling off a bunch of words with no break in the syllables and no room to take a breath. Maybe we’ll see another example of this on the next album or two.
I Remember Larry: I'm going to talk more about this in a moment, but for now I'll say that this is a dark comedy song that works despicably well and even has a hummable backwards message. Do THAT, Pearl Jam!
Phony Calls: Bleck. R&B. Well, at least I find Al's version tolerable, something I'm not going to be able to always say when I review Straight Outta Lynwood. I'll just accept this one as a two point parody and move on.
The Night Santa Went Crazy: This song is beautiful in its musical composition, although I think a lot of that has to do with Soul Asylum's song Black Gold which serves as the template for this style parody (arguably a little too close in similarity), so they did have better songs than the one Al parodied earlier. The problem is: I don't think it's funny. I know we're talking about fictional characters and a LOT of people love this song but the dark humor crosses the line into straight up tragedy. I Remember Larry worked because Larry deserved what he got. You didn't care about him, so his demise was funny. Santa's reindeer are bigger victims than Santa is, and seeing them slaughtered is not comedy, it's just cruel. The sweet spot on this concept would have been if Santa had acted like that employee who was doing everything he could to get fired, like hang the stocking inside the fireplace or leave the door wide open when he left. Santa going homicidal is sophomoric, and honestly Al should be past this phase. Oh, one more thing. In the extra gory version Santa is killed by the swat team instead of arrested. After what he did to the reindeer, why was this a problem on the main album?
Conclusion:
How about that? A full album! The first eight songs and I Remember Larry get full credit. 1 point for Syndicated Inc., 2 for Phony Calls and because the song is so pretty I'll even give The Night Santa Went Crazy 2 points. 32 out of 36 coming to 89. A B+. Man, what do you have to record to get an A in this class?
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