Maps of Music

Alpocalypse (2011)

Where the lyrics of Alpocalypse take you, and where it was really made.

A parody album about the end of the world was rescued from a Lady Gaga permission dispute by fans reacting on Twitter, which Yankovic said saved the album.

Key places

Los Angeles recording link (2011)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The album's recording credits link this Los Angeles studio to the record. The point is placed at city-center level, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sausalito recording link (2011)

Recording site Plant Recording (Sausalito) — The album's recording credits link this Sausalito studio to the record. The point is placed at city-center level, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Alpocalypse: thirteenth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic
• Released June 21, 2011
• Seventh album that Yankovic produced himself
• Musical styles built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock from the late 2000s and early 2010s
• Opening track is a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", retitled "Perform This Way"
• Yankovic made a music video for every song on the record

Background

• Followed a five-year gap after Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)
• Five songs were recorded in 2008 and 2009 and released digitally, then packaged as the EP Internet Leaks (2009)
• Other tracks were recorded in January, May and October 2010
• Lead single "Whatever You Like" came out almost two and a half years before the album and peaked at number 104 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Final single "Perform This Way" was released digitally on April 25, 2011, and did not chart
• Before release, Yankovic asked Lady Gaga for permission to parody "Born This Way"
• Gaga's manager reported in April 2011 that she had denied permission
• Yankovic posted the song to YouTube and other music sites, with sales proceeds going to the Human Rights Campaign
• Gaga and her staff then realized she had never heard the song and gave permission

Recording

• Yankovic delayed the release so he could close the album with one final parody of a song of the moment
• Recording locations linked to the album: Westlake Audio in Los Angeles and Sausalito Sound in Sausalito

Cover

• Cover art is a parody image of Yankovic as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
• He rides the Black Horse, generally understood as Famine
• Yankovic linked this to the many songs he wrote about food in the 1980s

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician known for comedy songs that often parody other musicians' songs.
• He also performs original songs in the style of other acts and polka medleys of popular songs, usually featuring his accordion.
• His first on-air exposure came in 1976, when a comedy song he made was played on The Dr. Demento Radio Show at age 16.
• He has sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2025), recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs, and performed more than 2,000 live shows.
• He has won five Grammy Awards and earned eleven further nominations.
• His first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006.
• His album Mandatory Fun (2014) became his first number-one album in its debut week.
• He wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and the television series The Weird Al Show (1997).
• He has produced two satirical films about his own life: The Compleat Al (1985) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022).
• He has not released a full album since Mandatory Fun and mainly releases singles.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Allmusic's David Jeffries rated the album three-and-a-half out of five stars
• Matt Wild of The A.V. Club rated it B+
• Jason Lipshutz of Billboard gave it a positive review
• Scott Shetler of PopCrush rated it four out of five stars
• Will Hermes of Rolling Stone gave it a negative review

Records

• Debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 9, Yankovic's highest chart position at the time
• Sold 44,000 copies in its first week
• Fell to number 44 in its second week, selling 10,353 copies
• Had sold 139,000 copies as of August 2014
• Nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Yankovic made a music video for every song on the album.
• The Polka Face video was slated for late July but came out in late September 2011 on Jokes.com; it was the first video he made for his traditional polka medleys.
• The Alpocalypse HD Blu-ray includes all 12 music videos from this album and three from Straight Outta Lynwood.
• The album title is a play on words that Yankovic had written in a notebook with other possible titles.
• Yankovic claimed that "Twitter saved my album" after the quick reaction from fans and Lady Gaga.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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