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In 1989, his star riding high, "Weird Al" Yankovic got his very own movie. It was basically an excuse to be goofy in a long form. Along with food, Al's favorite target was TV, so he called the film "UHF", packing it with funny commercials, movie ads and television program concepts. The movie didn't do very well in theaters, but would go on to be a cult classic on home video. And of course, Al was always about music, so he released his newest album as the movie's soundtrack (& "other stuff"). The album sometimes gets overlooked, perhaps being mistaken for a straight movie soundtrack, but in reality is an excellent "Weird Al" Yankovic album.
The standard "Weird Al" album always has several elements. First and foremost are the parodies. These are spoofs of existing songs, hits from somewhere around the time of the album's release. This album has four of these. First is "Isle Thing", which parodies the Tone Loc pseudo-rap "Wild Thing", making it into a story of a young couple watching "Gilligan's Island". The Tone Loc version was everywhere around this time, but did not really last the test of time. Next is "She Drives Like Crazy", a send-up of the Fine Young Cannibals' song "She Drives Me Crazy". The Cannibals lasted slightly longer than Loc, and unfortunately this one has no other pop culture references, it's simply about a bad female driver. Not the most inspired of his songs, and another captive of it's original time-frame.
A band with a lot more traction was R.E.M., whose hit "Stand" was parodied with Al's "SPAM". This is one of the better parodies, as the near-meat product was a favorite target of AL's. But the best one is the first track, "Beverly Hillbillies/Money For Nothing". This was also the only one to be featured in the movie, during a dream sequence when Al's character imagined himself inside the Dire Strait's "Money For Nothing" video, with the television twist of being about the "Beverly Hillbillies". Al would always ask for permission when doing a parody. When he asked Dire Straits' front man Mark Knopfler, he agreed on the condition that he play guitar on the track, so Knopfler is the only performer to do his own "Weird Al" parody.
Also a part of every "Weird Al" album is the polka medley. This is a mix of parts of popular songs strung together as a polka. This is a bit of a concept medley; he did this one entirely of Rolling Stones songs, making it the only single-act medley Al has ever done, and it is also one of his best. There's something about hearing "Sympathy For The Devil" on the accordion that is both hilarious and awesome.
Something that is not generally a part of Al's albums are the mini-commercials that are here. These are both taken from the movie, but make great sound bites. "Spatula City" is an ad for a store that sells spatulas, and ONLY spatulas. "Ghandi II" is the sequel that nobody saw coming.
One element of Al's albums that started here is the long song. There have been many great ones since, but the first one was "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota", and epic tale of a family's journey to see the titular tourist trap. It's similar in style to Harry Chapin's "30,000 Pound of Bananas", making it the only real style parody on the album.
Finally, there is the title song, "UHF". This is a great song, not so much a parody of anything, but an excellent closing credits some from the movie, featuring the trademark sound of guitars from Al's band (John "Bermuda" Schwartz, Rick Derringer and Jim West). This put a great cap on an eclectic (even by Al's standards) album. After the short stint the movie had in theaters, this soundtrack album got lost in the shuffle, which is a shame. It really has some great songs on it, and is definitely worth a listen.
The standard "Weird Al" album always has several elements. First and foremost are the parodies. These are spoofs of existing songs, hits from somewhere around the time of the album's release. This album has four of these. First is "Isle Thing", which parodies the Tone Loc pseudo-rap "Wild Thing", making it into a story of a young couple watching "Gilligan's Island". The Tone Loc version was everywhere around this time, but did not really last the test of time. Next is "She Drives Like Crazy", a send-up of the Fine Young Cannibals' song "She Drives Me Crazy". The Cannibals lasted slightly longer than Loc, and unfortunately this one has no other pop culture references, it's simply about a bad female driver. Not the most inspired of his songs, and another captive of it's original time-frame.
A band with a lot more traction was R.E.M., whose hit "Stand" was parodied with Al's "SPAM". This is one of the better parodies, as the near-meat product was a favorite target of AL's. But the best one is the first track, "Beverly Hillbillies/Money For Nothing". This was also the only one to be featured in the movie, during a dream sequence when Al's character imagined himself inside the Dire Strait's "Money For Nothing" video, with the television twist of being about the "Beverly Hillbillies". Al would always ask for permission when doing a parody. When he asked Dire Straits' front man Mark Knopfler, he agreed on the condition that he play guitar on the track, so Knopfler is the only performer to do his own "Weird Al" parody.
Also a part of every "Weird Al" album is the polka medley. This is a mix of parts of popular songs strung together as a polka. This is a bit of a concept medley; he did this one entirely of Rolling Stones songs, making it the only single-act medley Al has ever done, and it is also one of his best. There's something about hearing "Sympathy For The Devil" on the accordion that is both hilarious and awesome.
Something that is not generally a part of Al's albums are the mini-commercials that are here. These are both taken from the movie, but make great sound bites. "Spatula City" is an ad for a store that sells spatulas, and ONLY spatulas. "Ghandi II" is the sequel that nobody saw coming.
One element of Al's albums that started here is the long song. There have been many great ones since, but the first one was "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota", and epic tale of a family's journey to see the titular tourist trap. It's similar in style to Harry Chapin's "30,000 Pound of Bananas", making it the only real style parody on the album.
Finally, there is the title song, "UHF". This is a great song, not so much a parody of anything, but an excellent closing credits some from the movie, featuring the trademark sound of guitars from Al's band (John "Bermuda" Schwartz, Rick Derringer and Jim West). This put a great cap on an eclectic (even by Al's standards) album. After the short stint the movie had in theaters, this soundtrack album got lost in the shuffle, which is a shame. It really has some great songs on it, and is definitely worth a listen.