POLLkas on 45: "Weird Al" Yankovic, in 3-D

oops, should be on ILM, sorry!

"Polkas on 45" evolved from an early polka medley that Yankovic had played when opening for new wave band Missing Persons in 1981.[4] This early version included parts of various new wave songs, including "Jocko Homo" by Devo, "Homosapien" by Pete Shelley, "Sex Junkie" by Plasmatics, "T.V.O.D." by The Normal, "Bad Boys Get Spanked" by The Pretenders, "TV Party" by Black Flag, "Janitor" by Suburban Lawns, and "People Who Died" by Jim Carroll.[18]

RYE OR THE KAISER

There's a sale on our gabardine suits today …

The "Polkas On 45"/"Mr. Popeil"/"King Of Suede" run is such a killer. I'm sure I'll end up voting "Polkas on 45", but damn, this record is good.

one of the first albums i owned and it occurs to me now that i at one point owned every weird al album thru even worse. almost voted 'midnight star' or 'brady bunch' but really there's no way this isn't polkas on 45.

"Midnight Star" is hands down the best Weird Al original. It could have played right next to Camper Van and Blotto.

It’s the rye or the kaiser / It’s the thrill of one bite

actually no, I gotta vote for the polka. his polkas are the best thing.

Really, the only things here that aren't among the best in his catalog are the Safety Dance parody, "Gonna Buy Me a Condo" (despite this thread), and the dull, mean-feeling "That Boy Could Dance," which always felt like a joke I didn't quite get, or maybe a leftover from the first album (where it'd fit better).

The rest man, wow. "Nature Trail to Hell" is just a thrill ride of sonic ideas, "Mr. Popeil" is probably one of the top five B-52s songs ever recorded, "Eat It" and "Jeopardy" both rock harder than their source material..this is gonna be a tough pick for me.

probably ought to vote for the medley, but i can't deny "nature trail to hell"

"Midnight Star" is hands down the best Weird Al original.

^

one day last year when i was going through a really bad period of being super broke, i was standing in a thrift shop trying to sell some shit, and "Eye Of The Tiger" came on the speakers in the thrift store but wait no it was actually "Theme from Rocky XIII" and it really brightened up a terrible day.

it's kind of a shame that radio stations and in-store music playlists don't just slip in Weird Al versions to throw people off all the time.

the theme from orgazmo is kind of a better Survivor parody. The best thing about "Theme from Rocky XIII" is the title, and no one even calls it that

yeah i don't even think it's that good, i just have a good memory associated w/ it now. tbh although this album has classics i think Weird Al got better at his craft later on. i mean "King Of Suede" c'mon now.

"Nature Trail" was my favorite as a kid, but ILM has gotten me really into "Buy Me a Condo" over the past few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_gm38wocjw

Song starts at 1:00.

"Gonna sell me Bob Marley records/gonna get me some Jackson Browne"

i mean "King Of Suede" c'mon now.

haha "King of Suede" cracks me up.

I got this album when I was a teenager in Ireland. Didn't know what a condo or a Cuisinart were. Or Amway, or... well, you get the picture.

Anyway, voting polkas. Even now, whenever anyone mentions "Hey Joe", this is the first version that pops into my head.

Abbott, not realizing that the parody thread I started was just taken entirely from King of Suede, wrote some extra verses:

THERE'S A SALE ON OUR GABARDINE SUITS TO-DAY

Our wingtips are shined and prettily displayed
We've got cufflinks of platinum, gold and jade
My worsted wool wastes in a rained-on parade
For it's my destiny to be the King of Suede

― Abbott, Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:54 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

We use scotch-guard to save you from your pratfalls
There's a sale in here...
We have the best guarantees of all the city's malls
There's a sale in here...
All our salesladies are the sweetest dolls
There's a sale in here...
But if I don't mention suede, everybody stalls
There's a sale in here...

― Abbott, Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:59 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love the hell out of Midnight Star thought, so voted that. How catchy is that song? Not sure if it's supposed to be a style parody of someone or what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A42ZYNno5oQ

though

I think it's supposed to be his take on Springsteen, but that's pretty tenuous.

Does anyone remember Greg Kihn for anything other than Weird Al covering one of his songs (and blowing away the original, somehow)?

Breakup Song (They Just Don't Write 'Em Like That Anymore) is pretty cool.

He has a good-natured blog post which gives a vague sense that he might get more frequent royalty checks for Al's song than for his own. "So, to make a long story short, I get half the royalties from that parody. God bless Weird Al! What a champ! I still get mailbox money from that song to this day. Plus it was on Weird Al's Greatest Hits which went platinum! Yikes!"

Things I learned from that Wikipedia:

• Greg Kihn had a MySpace blog (see above.)

• That's Rick Derringer playing the solo on "Eat It"

I too owned this album on vinyl, buying it from the Wal-Mart vinyl section. I wish I could say I paid more attention to the originals (and got the references), but as a 10-year-old, I was pretty much stuck on the parodies.

Speaking of which, how they got the video of "Eat It" so pitch-perfect to the original with what seems like the same locations and in some cases, same cast members – everything is pretty amazing. Even now, VH-1 will have some 80s weekend, and I'll see the intro scene where the dude taps the guy on the back at the diner counter and it isn't until he spits his drink that I realize this isn't the Michael Jackson version.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Forgot I started this! Hmm. "Eat It" probably is the best (that Derringer solo is nuts) - but - - - ehhhh, right this second I would rather hear "Popeil," so, heck, that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Pretty decent turnout (and nicely varied spread). Thanks for playing, y'all!

(You don't get to come back tomorrow! You don't even get a lousy copy of our HOME GAME!)

Good showing for Midnight Star. Hard as hell to compete with those polkas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOFmW8BrGd4

^^^ early version of "Polkas on 45" with a bunch of different songs, though sadly not the "People Who Died," "TV Party," "Sex Junkie" etc. version mentioned upthread

wow!!

Just perused the discogs on In 3-D and learned that Lisa Popeil, daughter of Ron, sings backup on "Mr. Popeil"! How did I never know this?! She also did at least something with Frank Zappa and had a few releases of her own.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/323406-Lisa-Popeil

I think I may have missed voting on this, one of my favorite albums. Child me would've put "Brady Bunch" first, probably, when I first got the record when it came out. Absolutely loved it. I loved "Safety Dance" and was well versed in the Brady Bunch, so it was a match made in heaven (or Starkville, Mississippi, anyway). I remember getting a legal pad and writing out the lyrics, pulling back the needle until I got the whole thing.

Adult me is just fine with the poll results. Don't know if I'd change a thing. Maybe bump "King of Suede" up a few notches.

You could even cut a tin can with it
But you wouldn'T
WANT TO!

"Rye or the Kaiser" is the song that in my mind is the archetype of the terrible dad joke Weird Al song, and I love it for that.

NEVER EATS
WHEN HE'S ON THE JOB
HE HEARD IT'S GOOD
TO STAY HUNGRY

Thirty years in the same location I have stayed
There I am right next door to Willy's Fun Arcade

lol how timely. someone at the Orlando Fringe did an autobiographical one-man show called "I Lost on Jeopardy" and I kept singing this song every time I saw the poster.

"Buy Me a Condo" is a bop, mostly for how dated all of its references are now.

James Holzhauer changing his Twitter PFP to a still from "I Lost on Jeopardy" after he got knocked out was pretty funny

I love the song, it's so much better than the original IMO

it really is.

the first time we heard the Kihn song in the car as kids we all started laughing and singing Al's lyrics instead

forgot that the video is the pre-revival Jeopardy, with host Art Fleming. wow.

I NEED A VEG-O-MATIC

I listened to this record so many times as a kid I can sing the album almost from memory but I can’t for the life of me remember “Midnight Star”

It's really good! Throw it on, I'm guessing it comes back fast.

It did!!!