"Weird Al" Yankovic: 'Bad Hair Day'

'Bad Hair Day' starts a new phase of Al's career.  In my mind, I think of his career as 'the early years' (Everything up to 'Even Worse'), 'the middle years' ('Even Worse'-'Alapalooza.') and 'the modern era.  Al had slowly been taking more control over his product, and with Bad Hair Day, Al was fully in the driver's seat, producing the album and directing both of its videos, as he would do for the next few albums.  This album is also starts a trend of Al's in terms of the song order- Tracks 1, 3, 7, 9, and 11 are parodies, track 5 is the polka medley, and tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 are original songs.  This pattern continues through the upcoming 'Mandatory Fun,' if the leaked track list is to be believed.

'Amish Paradise' is one of Al's best known parodies, and for good reason.  Taking the gangsta rap stylings of Coolio's 'Gangster's Paradise' and turning them to describe the technology-eschewing religious community was a stroke of genius.  The CD cover and other promotional materials also parody Coolio's distinctive hair style.  The video did not directly parody the original (which showcased parts of the movie 'Dangerous Minds,' where it was included on the soundtrack), but did feature The Brady Bunch's Florence Henderson imitating one of Michelle Pfieffer's signature moments from the movie and video.  Also, in the last few moments of the song, we see a lot of stuff going in reverse while Al continues to sing the lyrics.  In reality, Al learned to (mostly) lip synch the song backwards for this stunt.  One of Al's most impressive videos.

'Everything You Know Is Wrong' is a style parody of They Might Be Giants, and includes references to some of their songs (notably 'Everything Right Is Wrong Again' and 'My Evil Twin.').  The stream of consciousness storytelling that Al employs here will also serve as a template of sorts for songs like 'Albuquerque.'

'Cavity Search' is a parody of U2's not-quite-a-hit 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,' which Al changes to 'Numb Me, Drill Me, Floss Me, Bill Me.'  Al takes us with him on a trip to the dentist, complete with authentic dental drill sound effects and the obligatory screams of pain. Al had originally asked for permission to use U2's 'Numb,' re-doing it as the text from 'Green Eggs and Ham,' but the estate of Dr. Seuss declined.  The same estate that let Mike Meyers make a travesty of 'The Cat in the Hat' and authorized really weird animated adaptations of 'Horton Hears a Hoo' and 'The Lorax.'  A Google search for 'Weird Al Green Eggs and Ham' can show early results of what might have been, though it might be helpful to familiarize yourself with U2's video for 'Numb.'

'Callin' In Sick' is a grunge-style song owing a lot to Nirvana's 'Lithium,' among other songs.  Al takes the frustration and self-empowerment of early grunge and channels it into taking a day off from work. this song often came to mind during one of my prior jobs.

'The Alternative Polka' blends together many so-called 'Alternative' songs in a traditional Al polka medley.  The songs included are (hats off to Wikipedia)...

• "Loser" by Beck
• "Sex Type Thing" by Stone Temple Pilots
• "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow
• "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails
• "Bang and Blame" by R.E.M.
• "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette
• "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by The Smashing Pumpkins
• "My Friends" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "I'll Stick Around" by Foo Fighters
• "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden
• "Basket Case" by Green Day

Al's polka medleys continues to improve over time, and this was his best to date.  I like the misleading start of using Beck's original guitar lick before going into full-on polka mode.  Also, the sound effects used before and during 'Closer' help set this medley apart.

'Since You've Been Gone' is a quick 'a capella' ditty about how much pain the narrator is in after his girlfriend leaves him.  SYBG was the first Al song I ever performed for an audience, as my roommate and a friend of ours performed it as part of a church retreat talent show a few months after the album came out.  Dave in particular got major props for doing the bass part ('Yap yap dooby dow bap bap dooby doom dooby dow dooby doo dooby dow...) Still a favorite, and the last line always makes me smile.

'Gump' is a parody of The Presidents of the Untied States of America's 'Lump,' retelling the highlights of the popular film 'Forrest Gump.'  In the video, a Forrest Gump stand-in gets into exaggerated versions of situations in the movie as Al and friends play the song in a nearby park and splashing in a fountain, in imitation of the original band's playing in a swamp.  Here, Al adapted a bald wig to emulate TPOTUSA's lead singer, Chris Ballew.

'I'm So Sick of You' is an Al original.  Shortly after this song came out, a friend of mine broke up with his girlfriend.  I still remember him latching onto the lyrics 'Well that disgusting noise you make when you laugh gives me a throbbing migraine/ (Can't stand ya, I just can't stand ya).'  In this case, these lyric really struck home.  I made an extra effort around this girl not to say anything amusing to keep her from assaulting my ears with her laughter.

'Syndicated, Inc' is, in my opinion, the weakest parody on the album.  Al takes Soul Asylum's minor hit 'Misery,' and turns it into another list of TV shows.  However, Al replaces the guitar solo with an accordion solo that works so well, one might thing that the original had it in there as well.  I sometimes wonder if other parodies that were rejected for this album ('Laundry Day' from The Offspring's 'Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated),' 'Gee I'm a Nerd' from the Beatle's recently released 'Free as a Bird,' and I'll Repair For You,' from The Rembrandt's 'Friends' theme 'I'll Be There For You') might have replaced this rather lackluster parody.

'I Remember Larry' is a nice warning to all those pranksters out there about what could happen when things get carried too far.  This song also contains Al's second backwards message during one of the instrumental breaks.  'Wow you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands' is the message.  Yes.  Yes I do.

'Phony Calls' is a parody of 'Waterfalls' by TLC, about the various prank phone calls made (kind of a prank thing going on here).  Instead of parodying Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez's rap, though, Al includes a clip from the Simpsons of one of Bart's famous prank calls to Moe's Tavern.

The album closer is, once again, the most twisted song on the album, the holiday classic 'The Night Santa Went Crazy,' describing Saint Nick's drunken rampage through the North Pole.  This song has the feel of Soul Asylum's 'Black Gold,' another indication that maybe 'Misery' wasn't a first choice to parody.  Al's original lyrics to this song was apparently deemed too graphic for the record, so the version here is the softrned version. However, one of the b-side tracks featured on the 'Amish Paradise' single is the 'Extra Gory Version' of the song, featuring an even more depressing third verse.

'Bad Hair Day' remains one of my favorite Al releases, with a lot of great original songs and some decent parodies.  Until I update this blog again, Go Outside and Play or Something.  Try Running With Scissors.