Bad Hair Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Scotti Brothers Records, 1996
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/21/2000
If anyone doubted that "Weird Al" Yankovic was still a relevantand powerful force in music back in the '90s, his album Off The Deep End shattered those doubts. And while neither1993's Alapalooza nor the label-demanded compilation The TV Album really helped Yankovic capitalize on thatsuccess, he was honing his already sharp skills for his nexttarget.
That attack came in 1996 with the release of Bad Hair Day, an album that is an excellent mixture ofparody and original material that is rightfully, last time I heard,Yankovic's best-selling album to date.
Anyone who has O.D.'ed on the VH-1 "Behind The Music" special onYankovic knows the controversy behind "Amish Paradise," Yankovic'stake on Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". Memo to Coolio: Dude, lighten up ! Even you have to admit that Yankovic did a killer jobmanipulating your song, and ended up with a creation that is justas good as the original. Of course, this is what Yankovic had beendoing on record for over a decade at that time - but he truly hitthe nail on the head with "Amish Paradise".
What's interesting is that it keeps getting better for Yankovic.From his take on U2 ("Cavity Search") to a dead-on mimic ofalternative rock ("Gump," his parody of "Lump" from The PresidentsOf The United States Of America), Yankovic fires almost no blanksin this department. Even his r&b parody "Phony Calls" (takingTLC's "Waterfalls" and twisting it like a pretzel) hits on themark, thanks in no small part to well-placed sound effects andguest appearances from Nancy "Bart Simpson" Cartwright and Hank"Moe The Bartender" Azaria.
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