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Off the Deep End
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Trigger Happy (song))
| Off the Deep End | |||||
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| Studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic | |||||
| Released | April 14, 1992 | ||||
| Recorded | June, December 1990, January 1992 | ||||
| Genre | Comedy | ||||
| Length | 41:18 | ||||
| Label | Scotti Brothers | ||||
| Producer | "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| "Weird Al" Yankovic chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Off the Deep End | |||||
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Off The Deep End is the seventh album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992. This is also Al's first self-produced album, after six albums with Rick Derringer. The album cover is an elaborate parody of the Nirvana album Nevermind's cover (see 1992 in music). The lead-off song, "Smells Like Nirvana" is a parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and the hidden track "Bite Me" is a pastiche of the hidden track that appeared on Nevermind, "Endless, Nameless".
Contents |
After 1989's UHF, Yankovic returned to the studio to record his new album. On June 6, recording officially began, with Airline Amy. After the five originals ("Airline Amy", "Trigger Happy", "When I Was Your Age", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "Waffle King"[1]) were done Yankovic switched to the parody. At the time, only three parodies had been envisioned ("The White Stuff", "I Can't Watch This", and "The Plumbing Song"[1]). After waiting for about a year for the "next big thing" to come out, Yankovic went on a slight hiatus in order to find the right lead off parody/single. By late 1991, Nirvana's Nevermind was making waves in the grunge scene. As the popularity of 80's pop gave way to alternative rock, Yankovic decided it was time to record a parody of the Seattle-based bands hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Off the Deep End was released April 1992, and up to that point, was Yankovic best selling album.
Yankovic had two parody ideas that were refused. They include:
- A parody of Michael Jackson's hit "Black or White" entitled Snack All Night. Although Jackson was a big supporter of Yankovic's work, he felt that a parody might damage the songs true message[2]. Jackson told Yankovic that he could, if he wanted to, parody another song off his new album, but just not "Black or White"[2]. Yankovic later settled on a Nirvana parody. Yankovic, has, however, performed the song live in concert.
- A parody of Paul McCartney's 80's hit "Live and Let Die" entitled Chicken Pot Pie (As covered by Guns N' Roses). Paul McCartney, another supporter of Yankovic's work, earnestly wanted Yankovic to do a parody of one of his songs, but when asked about a parody of "Live and Let Die", he begrudgingly refused, due to the fact that, as a vegetarian, he couldn't condone the eating of animal flesh. Yankovic, a fellow vegetarian, has stated that he respects McCartney's decision.
| Track | Title | Length | (Style) Parody of | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Smells Like Nirvana" | 3:42 | "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana | Poking fun at the original song's ambiguous and unintelligible lyrics. |
| 2 | "Trigger Happy" | 3:46 | Style parody of The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean | About a man who is too eager to use his firearms. Additionally, its chorus resembles that of the Dave Clark Five song "Glad All Over". |
| 3 | "I Can't Watch This" | 3:31 | "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer | About various bad television shows. |
| 4 | "Polka Your Eyes Out" | 3:50 | Polka Medley | A polka medley including the following songs:
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| 5 | "I Was Only Kidding" | 3:31 | Style parody of "h-a-t-r-e-d" by Tonio K. | About a declaration of love that was a complete joke. |
| 6 | "The White Stuff" | 2:43 | "You Got It (The Right Stuff) by New Kids on the Block | The singer expresses his love for the filling that appears between Oreo cookies. |
| 7 | "When I Was Your Age" | 4:35 | Style parody of Don Henley | The singer tells his child how he never had it as good as he does, but takes it to exagerant lengths. |
| 8 | "Taco Grande" | 3:44 | "Rico Suave" by Gerardo | About a narrator's visit to a fictional Mexican restaurant. Cheech Marin does a brief Spanish monologue in the song. |
| 9 | "Airline Amy" | 3:50 | Original | About an airline stewardess the singer adores. He sees signs of affection in her actions, when she is really just doing the expected duties of her job. |
| 10 | "The Plumbing Song" | 4:08 | Parody of Milli Vanilli's "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame It on the Rain" | The Narrator suggests a fictional plumber to a friend. |
| 11 | "You Don't Love Me Anymore" | 4:01 | Style parody of James Taylor. | About a girlfriend who did numerous exaggerated and mostly deadly things to the singer and his obliviousness to their extent. The music video is also a parody of "More Than Words" by Extreme. |
| 12 | "Bite Me" | Approx. 0:06 | Inspired by Nirvana's hidden track on Nevermind, "Endless, Nameless" | Six seconds of cacophony, played after ten minutes of silence between this track and "You Don't Love Me Anymore." Later CD pressings by Volcano omit the track and silence. |
- "Weird Al" Yankovic - accordion, keyboards, vocals, background vocals
- Brad Buxer - synthesizer
- Alisa Curran - background vocals
- Jim Haas - background vocals
- Steve Jay - bass, background vocals
- Tommy Johnson - tuba
- Jon Joyce - background vocals
- Warren Luening - trumpet
- Cheech Marin - vocals on "Taco Grande"
- Gene Morford - background vocals
- Peggy Newman - background vocals
- Joel Peskin - clarinet
- Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz - percussion, drums
- Carmen Twillie - background vocals
- Julia Waters - background vocals
- Luther Waters - background vocals
- Maxine Waters - background vocals
- Oren Waters - background vocals
- Jim West - banjo, guitar, background vocals
- Jerry Whitman - background vocals
- Producer: "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Engineer: Tony Papa
- Arranger: "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Overdubs: Marlene Aragon, Edith Fore, Neil Ross, Beau Weaver
- Polka Your Eyes Out is the only polka medley to date which appears on one of Al's greatest hits albums. It is also the polka medley with the most songs included in it.
- When "Bite Me" is slowed down about 800%, there is a hidden song inserted backwards. This was discovered in 2004, and the song was determined in 2006 to be "Tears Of The Earth" by David Hallyday, which was also released under the Scotti Bros. label.
- The album cover (as well as the liner photos) is a parody of the famous Kirk Weddle photograph of infant Spencer Elden for Nirvana's album Nevermind. Yankovic even went so far as to employ Weddle himself for the photo shoot.
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Billboard 200 | 17 |