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zwolanerd

I guess I just like liking things

He's mighty cheerful to be riding with those other guys.

He’s mighty cheerful to be riding with those other guys.

And now we finally arrive at the last (for now) studio album. Alpocalypse was released in June of 2011 and I’m just now realizing that, dang, that was two years ago.  Crazy. The most fun thing about this album for me is that I went to see him in concert several months prior to the album release and he performed the Polka Face polka from the album. It blew me away because the polka/poker thing was so perfect and it hadn’t ever crossed my mind. This is why Al makes the big bucks.

12. If That Isn’t Love – A common theme in these album rankings, I know, but this song doesn’t do it for me because it’s got some gross stuff in it.  I’ve never been a fan of gross humor and I likely never will be.  I blame my germophobia.

11. Whatever You Like – I like the joke of this song – “The economy’s bad, so I’ll still buy you things, they just need to be cheaper things” – but I don’t care for the tune at all. It gets on my nerves. That’s not Al’s fault, but it hinders my enjoyment of this one.

10. TMZ – Less of a joke and more of a “this is how things are now” kind of song.  It’s kind of depressing!

9. Ringtone – The first time I heard it, I enjoyed it. The next few times, I didn’t. Then I generally skipped it. When I listened to the album again in preparation for this write-up, I liked it again.  In fact, I was struck by how his problem could easily have been solved, but he persisted in his destructive behavior. I feel like this could almost be another subset of Al songs: right up there with “food songs” and “relationship songs” could be the “problems that could easily be solved songs.”

8. Craigslist – This is a spiritual successor to eBay of the Poodle Hat album. It out-Doors The Doors, in that it’s got their sound but has phrases that are way more fun to sing than most you’ll find in Doors songs.

7. Perform This Way – If I’d made this list the first month I had the album this song would be higher up. It’s another “make fun of the singer/group” songs, and it’s a great deconstruction of Lady Gaga (who he got permission from to do it… let that sink in a bit). The video for this song is disturbing, as it puts Al’s head on the body of a female model (with the result looking much like Jane Krakowski, oddly enough), but I do like the porcupine that sings “hey hey hey!”

6. CNR – Chuck Norris jokes for the Hollywood Squares fanset.  This is a style parody of the White Stripes and here’s the beauty of a good parody: as a result of this song, I got interested in seeking out some White Stripes music, something I’d not done before (aside from the song in Napoleon Dynamite).

5. Skipper Dan – Another entry in the “dark comedy” category. On the surface it’s this fun-sounding song about a guy at a dead-end job, but you soon realize you’re hearing a story about the death of dreams. Settling has never sounded so pleasant.

4. Polka Face – One of my favorite parts is how he sings the word “tool” from Pink’s “So What.”  He just kind of slides up the scale on it and it happies me every time.

3. Another Tattoo – Aside from a bit of grossness, I really enjoy this very singable description of all the different tattoos the singer has. The rad Boba Fett is playing clarinet, people!

2. Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me – I’ve had the good fortune to mostly shield myself from chain emails by teaching those around me how to recognize them and put a stop to them. The very few that I get stand out even more starkly against the general absence, but I’m willing to deal with that rather than a daily onslaught. Using this song to educate people would most likely have hurt some feelings, but it’s cathartic to listen to in a “yeah, I wish I could say that!” kind of way.

1. Party in the CIA – This song has caused me all kinds of grief. It gets stuck in my head so I’ll find myself whistling it or singing “yeah-eh-ah-eh-ah-eh-ah” outloud and then realizing that people around me now think the 41-year-old guy is listening to Miley Cyrus songs. Thanks for that, Al.

That’s it for the series, but I still have more Weird Al lists in mind, so it’s not the end of the category by any means.

The second week of October I’m going to see him in concert for the third time, and I am pretty excited about it. I’m sure you’ll hear all about it.

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