Tuesday, July 8, 2014

"Weird Al" Yankovic: 'Off The Deep End'

Following the lackluster performance of both the film and soundtrack to 'UHF,' Al took the longest break (to that point) of his professional career.  'Off The Deep End' found success with 'Smells Like Nirvana,' but to me is among the weakest of Al's offerings. Al had originally recorded most of the parodies and original songs shortly after UHF, but was waiting for the next big thing to come along to parody...in this case, the rise of grunge, and particularly, Nirvana.  OTFE's cover famously parodies Nirvana's cover to 'Nevermind,' replacing the baby swimming towards a dollar bill with Al swimming towards a donut. This is the last album cover that directly parodies another artist's cover.  Parodies not used for the album included 'Snack All Night,' based on Michael Jackson's 'Black Or White' and 'Chicken Pot Pie,' based on the Guns N' Roses cover of the Paul McCartney Bond theme.  Jackson didn't want the message  of his song to get lost, but was OK with Al parodying other songs from the album; McCartney, like Al, is a vegetarian, and couldn't consent to a song that condoned the eating of meat.  Both parodies made their way to live shows, though. This is the first Album that Al produced himself.

OTDE leads off with its most famous track, 'Smells Like Nirvana.'  Al famously got a hold of Kurt Cobain when the band was performing for Saturday Night Live, seeking his permission to do the parody, to which Kurt said, 'You want to make a song about food?'  'No,' Al said, 'I want to make a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics.'  Cobain agreed, and the parody prince was reborn for the grunge generation.  Like his video for 'Fat,' Al used the same set and even the same janitor when it came time to create a video for the song, resulting in a new generation of fans discovering his music.  My favorite line is 'It's hard to bargle nawdle zous with all these marbles in my mouth.'

'Trigger Happy' is a song that owes a lot, musically, to 60s surf rock like Jan and Dean and early Beach Boys recordings.  It's probably Al's most politically charged song, satirizing the idea that owning assault rifles and a plethora of other guns is really just about self-defense.

'I Can't Watch This' is a parody of M.C. Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This.'  Rather than write about one particular show, Al declares a bunch of shows unwatchable.  Similar themes can be seen earlier in 'Cable TV,' and later on in 'Syndicated, Inc.' and 'Couch Potato.'

'Polka Your Eyes Out' is the polka medley for the album, and was his best to date, in my opinion.  It includes (and again, thanks to Wikipedia for the list)...
The Metallica bit and the lounge-y cover of 'The Humpty Dance' are probably my favorite moments during the song.

'I Was Only Kidding' is the fun-filled story of a guy who finally reveals to his girlfriend that he's been lying about their whole relationship.  Like 'Happy Birthday,' this song was heavily influenced by the nearly-famous Tonio K.  As an example of Al influencing my musical knowledge, I am only aware of Tonio K's music because of seeking to listen to  more of Al's earlier influences.

'The White Stuff' is a parody of 'The Right Stuff' by The New Kids on the Block.  By the time this album came out, this particular NKOTB song was already a couple of years old, and there's only so far Oreo-related humor can take you.

'When I Was Your Age' is musically influenced by some of the more bitter alternative rock of the time, and describes the hardships faced by an older generation.  'There were 73 of us living in a cardboard box/ All I got for Christmas was a lousy bag of rocks.'

'Taco Grande' is my favorite parody on this album.  Like Gerardo's 'Rico Suave,' Al goes back and forth between Spanish and English, describing his favorite Mexican dishes.  This song includes a guest appearance by Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong. Al handles the Spanglish very well.

'Airline Amy' had been one of my least favorite songs on the album, but as my wife likes the fact that Al uses her name in a song, I like it more.  As you may suspect by the song title, Al's in love with a stewardess who probably doesn't know he's alive. The expected humor ensues.

'The Plumbing Song,' is a parody medley of Milli Vanilli's 'Don't Forget My Number' and 'Blame it on the Rain.'  As Milli Vanilli were already a bit of a joke by the time this song came out due to their lip synching scandal, the parody lacks punch.  Maybe if he'd found a way to mock Rob and Fab's real-life shenanigans, this song might have turned out better.

'You Don't Love Me Anymore' stands in contrast to 'I Was Only Kidding.'  Here, a guy who's still obviously in love questions, 'Why did you disconnect the breaks on my car?/ that kind of thing is hard to ignore./ Got a funny feeling that you don't love me anymore.'  When released as a single, Al's record label asked him to make the video a parody, so he copied the style of Extreme's sappy, popular 'More Than Words,' throwing in lots of funny bits.  The janitor from 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and 'Smells Like Nirvana' makes another appearance, as well as Robert Goulet.

Looking for a way to scare that someone special on your life?  Leave 'Off The Deep End' running after YDLMA.  After about 10 minutes of silence, Al's only hidden track, 'Bite Me' comes on, featuring a cacophony of sound and Al yelling and screaming, for about 6 seconds.  Because this loud intrusion comes after so much silence, it's easy to forget the CD (or iTunes) is still playing, and its sudden appearance has been known to jolt me awake on more than one occasion.  'Bite Me' was placed on the CD as a compliment to Nirvana's hidden track on their Nevermind release.

'Off The Deep End' will never be my favorite Al CD, but I'm glad for the resurgence it gave his career.  Al soon followed this album up with 'Alapalooza,' which I'll take a look at next time.
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