Track Listing

1. Smells Like Nirvana
2. Trigger Happy
3. I Can't Watch This
4. Polka Your Eyes Out
5. I Was Only Kidding
6. White Stuff
7. When I Was Your Age
8. Taco Grande
9. Airline Amy
10. Plumbing Song
11. You Don't Love Me Anymore

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16729 in Music
• Released on: 1992-04-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Al's Best CD
What is best about this CD is WHO Al parodies--a perfect snapshot of the 80's/90's threshold. He begins with a parody of Nirvana, among the most influential band of the 90s--making fun of how no one can understand their lyrics. The other four groups he parodies, Milli Vanilli, McHammer, New Kids on the Block, and Gerardo (Who?), are all pretty much washed up and laughable by today's standards, prime material for VH1's Behind the Music. Don't forget Vanilla Ice, who's "Ice Ice Baby" wraps up "Polka Your Eyes Out"--the compliation song which also is a wonderful picture of the music scene, circa 1990. There is another snapshot--of early 90s television--in "I Can't Watch This." From the song's use of "I've fallen and I can't get up" to talking about "America's Funniest Home Videos"--Yankovic is right on target. What I love is how Yakovic uses the contrast between the background music and his lyrics--most effective on (first) "Trigger Happy," which sounds like a parody of a Beach Boys song, coupled with a causual point-of-view of a gun addict. "Why'd you have get so mad/It was just a lousy flesh wound dad"--Hilarious! And (second) "You Don't Love me Anymore" is the most tender-sounding ballad he's released, but it is paired with a horrifying (but funny) relationship--one that makes Glenn Close's bunny-boiling in "Fatal Attraction" look tame.

Just writing this review makes me want to go listen to the CD again. If you only buy one or two "Weird Al" CDs, make this be one of them. If you have a sense of humor, you will enjoy it.

Smells Like Weird Al's second best album
After UHF got Weird Al rolling again, he came up with Off The Deep End, which had him mimicking another album cover, Nirvana's Nevermind, which included, yes, his take on "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Al's funny and demented songs show him in top form ; in fact I see Off The Deep End as his second best album.

"Smells Like Nirvana" is a commentary on the original by Nirvana, the same way "Song's Just Six Words" was to George Harrison's cover of "Got My Mind Set On You." The belches and funny sounds clown up the song more, and Al even gargles during the guitar solo part. The first part of the chorus sets the tone: "Now I'm mumblin', and I'm screamin'/and I don't know what I'm singin'/Crank the volume, ear's bleeding" Ouch!

"Trigger Happy" is told from the POV of a gun-crazy, paranoid, anti-communist individual whose mentality is "Better watch out, punk, or I'm gonna hafta blow you away." I don't know Al's position on gun control but I'm hoping it's more to the left, as he probably wouldn't be parodying this if he was with the NRA.

"I Can't Watch This" sends up MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" and is another TV song, detailing the banality of TV programs: "It's as fun as watching paint dry/lowers my IQ one notch" and he includes Judge Wopner, David Letterman, HBO, Showtime, and infomercials in his bull's eyes, including a simulation of infomercial medleys. Call this a song where the guy from "Cable TV" from Dare to Be Stupid finally came to his senses. Very super commentary from Weird Al!

"Polka Your Eyes Out" indicates the shift in music hitting the charts in 1990/1991, and it's very raucous as a result. Here is the song medley order: Billy Idol's "Cradle Of Love", DNA's "Tom's Diner", The B-52's "Love Shack", Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam", R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion", EMF's "Unbelievable", Bell Biv Devoe's "Do Me", Metallica's "Enter Sandman", The Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance", Warrant's "Cherry Pie", Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much", The Divinyls' "I Touch Myself", Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood", and that all time classic, Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby."

"I Was Only Kidding" takes a soft love ballad in the beginning, saying sweet loving things to a girl, then goes into a raucous barrage, including animal sounds that tells her he was only kidding. This is the equivalent of kitchen sink punk/pop. This is good for guys who may feel bitter against women who've messed them around and want some kind of cathartic revenge.

"Oh-Oh Oh-Oh Oh Oreo/Oh Oh Oh-Oh-Oh, the white stuff." New Kids On The Block's "The Right Stuff" is turned into a food song on how excess sugar causes tooth decay and bad health ("my pancreas just went into shock"). The guy here likes Oreo filling so much he spreads it on his toast. Yuck!

"When I Was Your Age" is an exaggerated song version of what grandparents tell their kids how hard a time they had, like having to walk three miles through the snow, but shows how FAXs, Nintendos, telephones, and toys for Christmas have become something taken for granted in the 1990's.

"Taco Grande", a food song about eating Mexican food, sends up Gerardo's "Rico Suave".

"Airline Amy" is a 50's rocker about finding in a stewardess "a little peace of heaven on a 747."

"The Plumbing Song" on sink troubles, sends up Milli Vanilli's "Don't Lose My Number", and a small bit of "Blame It On The Rain." "Ba-ba-ba-ba baby, don't forget my plumber." Funny. I think he actually sings here, no lip-syncing. Ha Ha

"You Don't Love Me Anymore" has the mellow guitar qualities of Even Worse's "The Good Old Days" and the breakup theme of "One More Minute" from Dare To Be Stupid. Well, if someone I liked slammed my face in a barbecue grill or put piranhas in my bathtub, I'd get the hint.

Probably one of my favourite Weird Al CDs, second after Dare To Be Stupid, and definitely his best of the 1990's.

Smells like another hit!
Al once again will leave you rolling on the floor laughing with his 7th album. He just keeps getting stronger with each album. Smells Like Nirvana is a classic, and those Nirvana fans that hate it don't understand humor. He's just joking, and the band loved it, and said it was really funny. Kurt Cobain himself that he knew Nirvana had really made it when Al parodied them. Anyway, the album is great. The parodies and the originals are dead-on and really funny.