May 24, 2021

"Weird Al" Yankovic ~ UHF - Part two

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"Weird Al" Yankovic ~ 1989
UHF vinyl LP front cover detail   
detail photo by Styrous®     
     
    
 

Thirty-two years ago, on May 24,1989, "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded Generic Blues, Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, Hot Rocks Polka, Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters and Spam. The five tracks all appeared on the soundtrack to his film UHF.     

I have enjoyed the songs, and the videos for them, that Yankovic has made over the years. I discovered them on MTV when I first started watching the TV station in the early eighties. At that time there was not a plethora of videos and since it televised 24 hours a day, the station was desperate for material to broadcast and they showed ANYTHING! Some of the best films/videos I have first seen were shown on MTV (good topic for a future blog).    
 
The songs in the film, and on the vinyl LP as well (link below), were parodies of current (at the time) pop hits by major artists or styles of music. Hot Rocks Polka was a medley of songs by the Rolling Stones, Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota a spoof of Harry Chapin and Gordon Lightfoot, as was Spam aka Stand by R.E.M. The blues are represented by Generic Blues.          
 
My favorite cut is the Hot Rocks Polka with the Stones medley send-up which is TERRIFIC! Extremely fast, VERY frenetic and TOTALLY brilliant! There is an interesting video interpretation for the song, however, be warned, the intro is violent and pretty gross! The rest of it is cool! (link below)     

Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is a great c/w song but, not well versed with Chapin and Lightfoot, I'm not sure what songs are referenced.                
 
Spam (Stand) is really well done, however, having hated Spam since the Forties (read WW II), even as a spoof I found it hard to take.        

Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars was the only piece actually written by Yankovic. With a great spacey intro it is a jivey, syncopated rock song with great sax work by Donny Sierer.          
      
UHF is the story of a dreamer who bounces between jobs and wins a nearly bankrupt UHF television station, in a poker game; needless to say, the laughs goes on from there.             
 
All in all the movie is a bunch of fun to watch and the vinyl LP is a delight to listen to, at MAXIMUM volume.    
     
      
      
      
  
Viewfinder links:       
        
"Weird Al" Yankovic         
R. E. M.          
The Rolling Stones         
UHF                 
     
Net links:       
        
Cast        
Plot                
     
YouTube links:       
        
"Weird Al" Yankovic - UHF (music video)       
Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars        
Hot Rocks Polka        
Hot Rocks Polka (video)                
Spam        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Monday, May 24, 2021        
        















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