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Any Weird Al collection is bound to get high marks; he occasionally does a song that doesn't go over very well, buy by and large, he puts his heart, soul and pancreas into everything he does. So a collection that picks and chooses from a bunch of his albums is a guaranteed fun time. The only question is how much fun?
This collection is from 1994, so newer fans may not be familiar with some of the songs he's making fun of. To start off, a typical Weird Al album has five parodies, a polka medley and six originals or style parodies. A style parody is a song that isn't directly spoofing a particular sing, rather it's fine in the style of a certain band or performer. This being a greatest hits collection, they stayed from the formula...slightly. This one has seven parodies, four originals and a polka medley.
The first parody is "Headline News". This is a bit problematic for several reasons. First, the title isn't giving away what the song is spoofing, by rather it's explaining what the song will be about. This was somewhat necessary, as the song he is parodying is "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies. Second, the content is hysterical, but terribly dated. It was bringing up the major headlines of the day: the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan ice skating controversy, the Michael Day Singapore caning incident and the Lorena Bobbitt incident in which she cut off her husband's genitals. All great fodder twenty years ago, but younger fans may be lost. This also never appeared on a regular album, it was done for a compilation. It DID, however, reach number four on the Billboard Bubbling Under charts.
Next up is "Bedrock Anthem", another tough one to figure out from the title. It's obviously about The Flintstones; the song parodies "Under the Bridge" and "Give It Away" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band weren't big fans of how it came out, but most of Al's fans were, as it still gets played at his concerts to this day.
The next parody is the classic Nirvana parody, "Smells Like Nirvana", which is all about how nobody can understand what Kurt Cobain is singing. This is a true Al classic. This is followed by "Achy Breaky Song", which spoofs the once ubiquitous "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus. This one doesn't hold up quite as well, mostly because the original hasn't held up well. But years later, Al would parody a Miley Cyrus song, making them the first father-daughter team to each get the Al treatment.
A complete original is next, "UHF", from Al's cult classic movie of the same name. This is a great little rock song, with Al's mandatory humor infused. Also from the movie soundtrack is "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", set to the tune of the former, taking on the lyrics of the latter's TV theme song.
Next is "Jurassic Park", which puts the plot of the dinosaur film into the frame of the melodramatic "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris in 1968. The original was a bizarrely awful song; the Al treatment couldn't help but improve upon it.
The polka medley chosen for this collection is "Polka Your Eyes Out" from 1992's Off the Deep End album. Included are sins like Love Shack, Enter Sandman, I Touch Myself and Ice Ice Baby. It's a wonderfully bizarre diversity of songs for the always great polka medley.
The last parody is the classic "Yoda", which parodies The Kinks' "Lola", using Star Wars as the subject matter. It's still Al's traditional show closer, one of his top three all time best songs.
It concludes with his first Christmas song, the hilariously depressing "Christmas at Ground Zero". It's about Christmas time during a nuclear apocalypse, a Christmas standard.
This may be volume two of Al's best, but there is a lot here that deserves to be on volume one. A couple of the songs may be dated to younger fans, but they are great memories to older ones. Big fans will have everything here, but this is a great place to start for newer listeners, or those who only know his newer material.
This collection is from 1994, so newer fans may not be familiar with some of the songs he's making fun of. To start off, a typical Weird Al album has five parodies, a polka medley and six originals or style parodies. A style parody is a song that isn't directly spoofing a particular sing, rather it's fine in the style of a certain band or performer. This being a greatest hits collection, they stayed from the formula...slightly. This one has seven parodies, four originals and a polka medley.
The first parody is "Headline News". This is a bit problematic for several reasons. First, the title isn't giving away what the song is spoofing, by rather it's explaining what the song will be about. This was somewhat necessary, as the song he is parodying is "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies. Second, the content is hysterical, but terribly dated. It was bringing up the major headlines of the day: the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan ice skating controversy, the Michael Day Singapore caning incident and the Lorena Bobbitt incident in which she cut off her husband's genitals. All great fodder twenty years ago, but younger fans may be lost. This also never appeared on a regular album, it was done for a compilation. It DID, however, reach number four on the Billboard Bubbling Under charts.
Next up is "Bedrock Anthem", another tough one to figure out from the title. It's obviously about The Flintstones; the song parodies "Under the Bridge" and "Give It Away" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band weren't big fans of how it came out, but most of Al's fans were, as it still gets played at his concerts to this day.
The next parody is the classic Nirvana parody, "Smells Like Nirvana", which is all about how nobody can understand what Kurt Cobain is singing. This is a true Al classic. This is followed by "Achy Breaky Song", which spoofs the once ubiquitous "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus. This one doesn't hold up quite as well, mostly because the original hasn't held up well. But years later, Al would parody a Miley Cyrus song, making them the first father-daughter team to each get the Al treatment.
A complete original is next, "UHF", from Al's cult classic movie of the same name. This is a great little rock song, with Al's mandatory humor infused. Also from the movie soundtrack is "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", set to the tune of the former, taking on the lyrics of the latter's TV theme song.
Next is "Jurassic Park", which puts the plot of the dinosaur film into the frame of the melodramatic "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris in 1968. The original was a bizarrely awful song; the Al treatment couldn't help but improve upon it.
The polka medley chosen for this collection is "Polka Your Eyes Out" from 1992's Off the Deep End album. Included are sins like Love Shack, Enter Sandman, I Touch Myself and Ice Ice Baby. It's a wonderfully bizarre diversity of songs for the always great polka medley.
The last parody is the classic "Yoda", which parodies The Kinks' "Lola", using Star Wars as the subject matter. It's still Al's traditional show closer, one of his top three all time best songs.
It concludes with his first Christmas song, the hilariously depressing "Christmas at Ground Zero". It's about Christmas time during a nuclear apocalypse, a Christmas standard.
This may be volume two of Al's best, but there is a lot here that deserves to be on volume one. A couple of the songs may be dated to younger fans, but they are great memories to older ones. Big fans will have everything here, but this is a great place to start for newer listeners, or those who only know his newer material.