"Weird Al" Yankovic | Off the Deep End (CD)

''Off the Deep End'' is the seventh album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992. This is also Al's first self-produced album, after six albums with Rick Derringer. The lead-off song, "Smells Like Nirvana," is a parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

 

Consisting of five direct parodies, five original songs, and a polka medley, ''Off the Deep End'' parodies pop and rock music of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the newly arisen grunge movement. ''Off the Deep End'' is one of "Weird Al" Yankovic's most successful albums and it helped to reenergize Yankovic's career after a lull in the late-80's. In 2006, the album was certified Platinum. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1993.

 

==Recording and release==

After Yankovic's 1989 movie, ''UHF'', Yankovic returned to the studio to record his follow-up album. On June 6, recording officially began, with "Airline Amy". After the five originals ("Airline Amy," "Trigger Happy", "When I Was Your Age", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "Waffle King") were done Yankovic switched to the parodies. At the time, only three parodies had been envisioned. Two of them, the cookie-inspired New Kids on the Block parody, "The White Stuff", and the television-infused MC Hammer parody "I Can't Watch This" were later released as singles. "The Plumbing Song," a dual parody of Milli Vanilli's hit singles "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame It on the Rain" was also recorded. Yankovic now describes the latter parody as "redundant," a reference to lip-synching scandal that effectively destroyed the band.

 

Yankovic waited for about two and half years for the next big hit to come out. "I don't have any really good reason why it took so long other than the fact that I was waiting for Michael Jackson's new album to come out," Yankovic opined.

 

Unfortunately for Yankovic, the new album hit several snags. On November 26, 1991, Michael Jackson's new album, ''Dangerous'' was released. After hearing the hit single "Black or White," Yankovic approached Jackson about a potential parody entitled "Snack All Night." Although Jackson was a big supporter of Yankovic's work, he felt that a parody might damage the song's true message. Jackson told Yankovic that he could, if he wanted to, parody another song off his then recently released album, but just not "Black or White".

 

Yankovic soon turned his attention in another direction. Guns N' Roses had just released a version of Wings's 70's hit "Live and Let Die". Yankovic approached Paul McCartney, leader of Wings, about a parody idea entitled "Chicken Pot Pie." Paul McCartney, another supporter of Yankovic's work, earnestly wanted Yankovic to do a parody of one of his songs, but when asked about a parody of "Live and Let Die", he begrudgingly refused, due to the fact that, as a vegetarian, he couldn't condone the eating of animal flesh. Yankovic, a fellow vegetarian, has stated that he respects McCartney's decision.

 

It was around this time that, Nirvana's ''Nevermind'' was making waves in the rock and pop scene. As the popularity of 80's pop gave way to alternative rock, Yankovic decided it was time to record a parody of the Seattle-based band's huge hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Yankovic later said, "I wanted to make sure that when I came back after that

long hiatus, it was with something strong, and it wasn't until

Nirvana that I felt I had a real contender."

 

To secure permission for the parody, Yankovic desired to approve it with Kurt Cobain. After learning that Nirvana was to perform on ''Saturday Night Live'', he called up his ''UHF'' co-star, Victoria Jackson, at the time a regular cast member of the show. Jackson got Cobain on the phone so that Yankovic could make his request. Cobain agreed, although asking if the new parody was "going to be a

song about food?"

 

It was during this time that "I was Only Kidding" was recorded. Originally, "Waffle King" was supposed to appear on ''Off the Deep End.'' However, by the time the recording of the parodies for this album began, Al had written all the original songs that were to appear on his next album, ''Alapalooza''. Because he was concerned that one of the jokes from the song "I was Only Kidding" might be dated by the time his next album would finally be released (a line that references the movie ''Wayne's World'': "I really love you -- NOT!"), he included "I Was Only Kidding" on ''Off the Deep End'' in place of "Waffle King". "Waffle King" was instead used as the b-side of the ''Smells Like Nirvana'' single and would later resurface on ''Alapalooza''.

 

''Off the Deep End'' was released April 1992, and up to that point, became Yankovic's best selling album. The albums lead-off single, "Smells Like Nirvana" was a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at number 35. It also charted on Hot 100 Singles Sales (at number 12) and the U.S. ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (at number 35). Both the album and hit single helped propel Yankovic into the 1990s. 

 

 

Tracklist

 

1  Smells Like Nirvana

2 Trigger Happy

3  I Can't Watch This

4  Polka Your Eyes Out

5  I Was Only Kidding

6  The White Stuff

7  When I Was Your Age

8  Taco Grande

9  Airline Amy

10  Plumbing Song, The

11  You Don't Love Me Anymore

 

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the CD version.

 

Label: Rock ’N’ Roll Records, Scotti Bros. Records

Rel. Date: 04/14/1992

UPC: 723927525622

• Format: CD
• Genre: Comedy