Maps of Music

Off the Deep End (1992)

Where the lyrics of Off the Deep End take you, and where it was really made.

The album that revived a stalled career started from a failed UHF soundtrack and a parody of Michael Jackson that Jackson himself turned down.

Key places

Where the sessions began (1990)

Recording site Ruby Red — Recording for the album officially began here on June 6, 1990, with the first session starting with Airline Amy. The point is placed at Santa Monica city level, not at the building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Off the Deep End: seventh studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992
• First album Yankovic produced himself, after six albums made with Rick Derringer
• Follows the unsuccessful soundtrack to the 1989 film UHF
• Lead single "Smells Like Nirvana" helped revive a career that had lulled after "Fat" in 1988
• Half the album is parodies of Nirvana, MC Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Gerardo and Milli Vanilli
• Other half is original songs, many of them style parodies of artists such as the Beach Boys, James Taylor and Jan and Dean
• Peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200
• Certified gold, then platinum on January 25, 2006 for sales over one million in the US

Background

• In 1989 Yankovic starred in UHF, a satire of the television and film industries, which he co-wrote with manager Jay Levey
• The film was considered unsuccessful, only just making back its budget
• The UHF quasi-soundtrack charted at only 146 on the Billboard 200 and quickly fell off
• After UHF, Yankovic went back to the studio to record his follow-up album
• Yankovic had waited almost two years for the next "big thing" to emerge
• He had hoped Michael Jackson's new album Dangerous would give him material, but Jackson declined a parody of "Black or White" because of its racial subject
• Paul McCartney also turned down a parody idea, "Chicken Pot Pie", because as a vegetarian he could not condone eating animal flesh

Recording

• Recording officially began on June 6, 1990, at Santa Monica Sound Recorders in Santa Monica, California
• The first session started with "Airline Amy"
• The sessions marked Yankovic's first self-produced work, after Derringer found Yankovic would not listen to his input
• By late 1990 five originals were recorded, including "You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "Waffle King"
• "Waffle King" was later replaced on the album by "I Was Only Kidding", recorded in 1992
• "The Plumbing Song", a double parody of Milli Vanilli, was also recorded
• Yankovic approached Kurt Cobain for permission to parody "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; Cobain agreed, and "Smells Like Nirvana" was written and recorded on January 27, 1992
• Cheech Marin appears as a cameo on "Taco Grande"

Cover

• The cover parodies the cover of Nirvana's album Nevermind
• Yankovic replaces the baby with himself, and the dollar bill with a doughnut
• Yankovic wore a bathing suit positioned to hide his body

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.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

• Critical response was generally positive, and many critics praised the originals as well as the parodies
• AllMusic's Barry Weber wrote that the album re-established Yankovic's satirical craftsmanship and showcased some of his best originals, naming "Trigger Happy", "When I Was Your Age" and "You Don't Love Me Anymore" as the greatest songs
• Daily Vault's Christopher Thelen wrote that the originals were at times stronger than the parodies
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5, meaning it averaged between good and excellent
• Entertainment Weekly's David Browne called the "Smells Like Nirvana" video an old-fashioned laugh riot, but said half of Yankovic's humor was only visual, so songs without videos were less funny
• The "Smells Like Nirvana" video was named Video of the Year by Spy Magazine in 1993, ranked number 68 on Rolling Stone's Top 100 Videos of All Time, and nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Performance in 1992

Reappraisal

• Album reviews were not all positive; Entertainment Weekly's review was mixed on the humor of the songs without videos

Records

• Peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200
• "Smells Like Nirvana" peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, Yankovic's second-highest charting single after "Eat It"
• The single reached number 12 on Hot 100 Singles Sales and number 35 on Mainstream Rock Tracks
• Named the Best Selling Comedy Recording of the year by NARM
• Nominated for the Best Comedy Album at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in 1993, losing to Peter Schickele's Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion
• Certified gold, then platinum on January 25, 2006
• US sales exceeded 1,057,000 copies as of 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The original Seattle-based band's hit was parodied because Yankovic wanted a strong comeback after a long hiatus, and he felt he had a real contender only with Nirvana.
• The hidden track "Bite Me" sits after about 10 minutes of silence, a nod to Nirvana's hidden track on Nevermind.
• Later pressings by Volcano and pressings outside the USA removed the hidden track and the silence.
• Yankovic said he never expected to go full-frontal on any of his album covers, a joke about the Nevermind parody.
• Yankovic had already performed the "Polka Your Eyes Out" medley at Dr. Demento's 20th Anniversary Special on Comedy Central before the album came out.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

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