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So this album was hastily released. In an unusual contrast to how “Off the Deep End” was released, there are three songs that accelerated the release: “Waffle King” (that was technically released on the “Smells Like Nirvana” single), “Jurassic Park” (very obvious, and you can pre-order the Blu-Ray here), and the “Bohemian Polka”, that was a tribute to Freddie Mercury’s passing from AIDS conjoined with the sudden spike of popularity the original got from the first “Wayne’s World” movie.
Unlike the aforementioned ‘Deep End’, this album had little to no drama concerning concerning the tracks. So let’s waste little time, and get into the dinosaur-outlined cover tones of ‘Alapalooza’!
1. “Jurassic Park”: Wait, you thought this was an original? Dinosaur manure, it’s a parody of “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris.
All you need to know about the song itself that it covers the whole spectrum of plot from the first JP movie. From the fossilized mosquitoes to that lawyer meeting his untimely demise on the crapper, Al’s got the nooks and crannies.
Personal opinion, I didn’t think the song on it’s own was great. It’s a song that DEMANDS visuals, as some of these lyrics can really get into “heady” territory.
Fortunately, a music video was made. In glorious and historical fashion, it was a claymation-style piece that took about two months to complete and was even nominated for a Grammy for music video (but lost to Peter Gabriel and ‘Steam’).
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Jurassic Park lyrics
2. “Young, Dumb, & Ugly”: Listening to this song a few times when I was younger, I thought this was meant to parody pseudo-grunge/metal with it’s nasal-sounding lyrics and the blaring guitars.
Turns out, it’s really a style parody of AC/DC? What? Color me confused Batman!
Maybe it’s just me, but Al does not do a good job of imitating Brian Johnson’s voice, and therefore kind-of weakens the meaning of the song.
Anyways, the plot of the song revolves around “rebels without a clue” (nice nod to Tom Petty) who were “born to be bad” (another nod to George Thorogood), but lack a basic sense of skills to live, like learning how to brush their teeth and leaving lousy tips.
While this song isn’t bad per se, it should not have been a AC/DC “tribute”.
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Young, Dumb Ugly lyrics
3. “Bedrock Anthem”: The music is a “parody medley” so to speak. From the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Al found inspiration from “Under the Bridge" and "Give It Away".
To the song itself, its another one of Al’s songs that is much better in music video form than in its lyrics.
The “character” explains to us how he wants to be like Fred Flintstone in Bedrock. Reasons range from baby elephant vacuum cleaner to Bam-Bam being so strong, “…he can tear your arm off easy shake of your hand”.
Also notice the sound samples they use from the actual cartoon! In addition to the irrelevant beginning sequence!
4. “Frank’s 2000-inch TV”: Another style parody, but this time of R.E.M. This isn’t the first time Al derived from that band for inspiration, as he also parodied “Spam” from UHF off their “Stand”.
Base premise of the song is simple. Al, as a neighbor, is enamored by a television set his neighbor Frank bought. 2000 inches measured diagonally, “Robert DeNiro’s mole… has gotta be ten feet wide!”
This song feels like it was written to be part of a new Al compilation album. TV Album anyone?
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Frank's 2000" Tv lyrics
5. “Achy Breaky Song”: This song is a attack of the original, “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus.
The original, a song that gets widespread national attention, is getting on Al’s nerves. To the point where he begs on his knees to the DJ not to play more of it!
“And tie me to a chair, and kick me down the stairs…” that part of the song makes me laugh really hard, probably one of the biggest highlights of the whole album!
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Achy Breaky Song lyrics
6. “Traffic Jam”: A style-parody of a Prince song, “Let’s Go Crazy”.
All I can imagine is that Al lives in Los Angeles, as it seems very easy to make a song like this. It’s simple, to the point, a tiny bit exaggerated, but overall a universal experience. “We’re gonna be stuck in here for all eternity!” And that’s how I feel about traffic in my hometown!
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Traffic Jam lyrics
7. “Talk Soup”: It’s a style parody of "Steam" by Peter Gabriel with elements of "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder and "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley for good measure.
Basic plot of the track features Al going on various talk shows (Phil Donohue, Sally Jesse Raphael, etc.) and talking about, well, controversial subject. Neo-Nazi porno star anyone?
This is one of those tracks that never fails to crack up, even on a bad day. It literally has that feel of, “Oh wow, I saw that just this morning on Jerry Springer!”
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Talk Soup lyrics
8. “Livin’ in the Fridge”: This song is indeed a parody of “Livin’ on the Edge” by Aerosmith.
A setup song for perhaps the Food Album, it’s about a blob of expired food suddenly becoming it’s own being. Not a bad song, but nothing much to note either, except for the imagery of a blue/green blob ruling the world with an iron fist!
9. “She Never Told Me She Was a Mime”: This is one of the lone truly-original songs on the album.
Essentially, the song features Al completely oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend is a mime. At least she doesn’t try to kill him, or finds his narcissistic style off-putting. Yes, I just referenced “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” and “I’m a Groovy Guy” in the same sentence, sue me! I’ll even add that this song, with its “out-there” theme and tone, belongs more on “Even Worse” than this!
One of the few songs I can’t truly explain, but instead, just read the lyrics and imagine all this stuff going on!
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - She Never Told Me She Was A Mime lyrics
10. “Harvey the Wonder Hamster”: A tribute to Al’s pet Harvey. Just have been included on “Running with Scissors” with the “Weird Al Show Theme”. By the way, do we really need lyrics? That’s what I thought…
11. “Waffle King”: An original song in lyrics, but a style parody of "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel with elements of "Close (To the Edit)" by Art of Noise.
This song feels like it should have the backings of a Ron Popeil. Al makes a grand waffle recipe, wins the fame with it, but also earns the ego that comes along too. “People come from miles around to see my technique…” Uh, yeah…
Lyrics | Weird Al Yankovic lyrics - Waffle King lyrics
12. “Bohemian Polka”: As noted in the opening, this may be a tribute to Freddie Mercury, who had passed a year or two before. Also made to capitalize on the original source material getting popular again from the first “Wayne’s World” movie.
This is also the only polka made to ONE song, in stark contrast to the 6-12 songs that usually compile one of these bad boys. It’s a big style swing, but I really like it actually. I wish Al could do a full cover album set entirely in polkas. This came off really well, and I’m almost upset there aren’t more of these.
In conclusion, this album doesn’t rate very high on Al’s best. The two most famous songs off this album truly only are great when shown in music video form. While there are some really good tracks like normal, this album as a whole is among the bottom five, which is still better than most artists’ best works! Some songs didn’t work on this album, and I noted it where possible. I am however completely serious about Bohemian Polka being awesome, and that more songs should have been patterned after it.
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