'Money For Nothing/ Beverly Hillbillies*' was included in its entirety, along with the video, in the film UHF. Much like 'The Brady Bunch' from 'In 3D,' Al takes the lyrics of a classic TV theme song and fits them to a different song. To my knowledge, this song is the only one of Al's parodies that features the original artist also playing. Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler and keyboardist Guy Fletcher lent their talents to Al's version.
'Gandhi II' is a minute long clip of audio from the movie. It loses something without the visual. Still the line of 'No more Mr. Passsive Resistance' sounds like the perfect tag to an early 80s action flick.
'Attack of The Radioactive Hamsters From a Planet Near Mars' has a lot in common with 'Slime Creatures From Outer Space,' though it dials back some of the sci-fi sound effects in favor of Al's house style of rock.
'Isle Thing' is Al's first rap parody, taking on Tone Loc's 'Wild Thing.' Once again, Al's movie soundtrack takes him to classic TV land, and Al attempts to imitate Tone Loc's growling vocals. Al would later include actual lyrics from the Gilligan's Island theme song in 'Amish Paradise,' and on the Straight Outta Lynwood tour (thought not on the album) he parodied T-Pain's 'I'm in Luv Wit a Stripper' as 'I'm in Luv Wit Da Skipper.'
'The Hot Rocks Polka,' unlike most of Al's other polka medleys, focuses on one artist, The Rolling Stones, making them Al's most-covered artist (12 songs in this polka, 1 in 'Polkas on 45,' a Mick Jagger collaboration on 'Hooked on Polkas,' and the parody 'Toothless People'). The songs included here are...
- "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
- "Brown Sugar"
- "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
- "Honky Tonk Women"
- "Under My Thumb"
- "Ruby Tuesday"
- "Miss You"
- "Sympathy for the Devil"
- "Get off of My Cloud"
- "Shattered"
- "Let's Spend the Night Together"
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
The lack of variety among artist styles make this medley fall a little flat for me, as part of the fun of his medleys in when contrasting artists are placed in juxtaposition to one another.
'UHF' the song is an original in Al's house style- basically an extended jingle for a UHF station. While the song itself is unremarkable among Al's catalog, the video featured Al parodying a number of different artists in their videos, including Guns N Roses, Billy Idol, INXS, Peter Gabriel, George Michael, The Talking Heads, Robert Palmer, and Mr. "I'll never let Al parody one of my songs because I'm an uptight prissy pants" himself, Prince. It also includes quick clips from the film, some with sound effects.
'Let Me Be Your Hog' is just a quick audio clip from the film for a spot where Al needed something playing on a radio. He couldn't get the rights to 'Kung Fu Fighting,' and instead just recorded this snippet.
'She Drives Like Crazy' is a parody of the Fine Young Cannibal's 'She Drives Me Crazy.' Al adopts two different vocal persona to reflect the dual vocals on the original. Al shows off his falsetto on the verses, though I'm not really sure what he was going for on the chorus vocals.
'Generic Blues' is the blues song Al was meant to write, so it's a pretty good thing he did. Al picks apart common blues themes- lack of money, feeling low, family problems- and has a lot of fun in doing so. 'My daddy was a waitress/ my mama sold bathroom tile/ My brothers and sisters all hated me/ Cuz I was an only child.' My 3rd favorite song of the album, and apparently, a favorite of B.B. King's as well.
While 'Gandhi II' doesn't work as an audio clip, 'Spatula City' sounds as much like a radio commercial as a TV ad. Lots of good little snippets parodying commercials for a host of other products.
'Fun Zone' is the only instrumental piece on an Al album, because...instrumentals generally aren't funny. Since its release, though, 'Fun Zone' is used to open Al's concerts and get fans excited for whats to come.
'Spam' might be Al's perfect parody. Musically, he captures each nuance of R.E.M.'s stand, including the vocal layering and percussion accidentals. Lyrically, he emulates the original's chopped lyrics, rhyme scheme, and elegant simplicity. All the way to how long he holds the last word, Al did a masterful job of imitating the song while making it about everyone's favorite canned meat product.
And if 'Spam' is the perfect parody, 'The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota' is certainly one of Al's best original songs. This tale of a family vacation trip to an odd tourist attraction follows the sprawling narrative of artists like Harry Chapin or Gordon Lightfoot,' with an easily recognizable but wholly Al sound. When I was a camp counselor, it was a small hike from the pool that we used back to camp- just over 7 minutes from the time we hit the trail. I would fill most of that time by singing this song, to the amusement of the campers and the chagrin of my fellow counselors. As this was a church camp, I changed the line of 'I was just so overwhelmed by its sheer immensity/ I had to pop myself a beer' to 'I gave a little cheer.' Somewhere out there, I'm sure there's a kid or two (maybe even a counselor) who has since come across Al's version and had to listen to that lyric again.
While UHF wasn't Al's best selling album, the inclusion of 'Spam' and 'TBBOTIM' makes it one of my favorites.
Next time, Al sees more success when he goes Off The Deep End.
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