I decided it was really important to rank the studio albums of "Weird Al" Yankovic, my favorite performance artist.
You can see just how close it was.
I realized doing this that I have a high esteem for the polka medleys, and there are a few albums that don't have one.
With Alapolooza, the source material for the direct parodies just didn't move me. That's just me. Likewise, in other cases, the style parodies/pastiches might not reference material to which I normally listen. When the song being parodied or the style being referenced is something I tend to really enjoy, the genius of Al's lyrics and the various vocalizations are like sweet, sweet icing on a very tasty cake.
Only full-length studio albums were considered, not compilations, not Peter and the Wolf, which is an outlier collaboration (which I like).
I have CDs of all of these albums.
I want to make it clear that even my least favorite album is something I enjoy, and this ranking doesn't take into account artwork, packaging, extras (like hidden files), or official videos. The evaluation was strictly based on the songs, although it's possible videos and concert performances have unavoidably influenced me. For example, I gave a "4" to "The Fun Zone" from UHF, as this all-instrumental piece, played from the recording, has traditionally signaled the start of the concerts, a moment that is a highlight of my "dull, miserable life." UHF definitely got a boost because I included the Gandhi II and Spatula City tracks, and they got the highest rankings. Those two tracks aren't songs, but rather the audio from the faux television commercials running on the fictional station that is the setting for UHF.
My evaluations do not give any benefit to the longer albums, other than me perhaps liking a song more (or less) because the song was longer. This is despite that I think "The more Al, the better." In these rankings, an album with some shorter or fewer tracks has just as much chance of ranking higher as an album with more or longer tracks. If I were to take that into consideration, maybe it would break the tie for second place.
Do my rankings line up with yours? You DO have rankings, right?
The Best of the Best
Rather than counting them down, I'll just get right to it. I'll give some explanation and caveats after the list.
1. Poodle Hat
1. Poodle Hat
2. Bad Hair Day/Mandatory Fun (tie)
4. Polka Party
5. Even Worse
6. Alpocalypse
7. In 3-D
8. Running With Scissors
9. UHF
10. Dare To Be Stupid
11. Off The Deep End
12. Weird Al Yankovic (debut)
13. Alapalooza
14. Straight Out of Lynwood
It's not a surprise to me that Poodle Hat was number 1. I love every song on that album. What did surprise me is that I ranked SOL lower than Alapalooza, which I had, until now, figured was my least favorite. Both Poodle Hat and Polka Party were less appreciated albums by critics and music buyers, but Polka Party is number 4 on my list. I'm not sure what this says about me.
Each song got a number, then I totaled up the numbers and divided by the number of songs on the album, giving that album its overall score.
Here's how it ended up:
4. Polka Party
5. Even Worse
6. Alpocalypse
7. In 3-D
8. Running With Scissors
9. UHF
10. Dare To Be Stupid
11. Off The Deep End
12. Weird Al Yankovic (debut)
13. Alapalooza
14. Straight Out of Lynwood
It's not a surprise to me that Poodle Hat was number 1. I love every song on that album. What did surprise me is that I ranked SOL lower than Alapalooza, which I had, until now, figured was my least favorite. Both Poodle Hat and Polka Party were less appreciated albums by critics and music buyers, but Polka Party is number 4 on my list. I'm not sure what this says about me.
There's not a released WAY song I dislike. But there are some I'm just... eh, I'll skip this one for the sake of time. It was all very close. I had to create a number system to make it more "objective".
4 - Awesome/Must Listen
4 - Awesome/Must Listen
3 - Love
2 - Like
2 - Like
1 - Skip For Time
Each song got a number, then I totaled up the numbers and divided by the number of songs on the album, giving that album its overall score.
Here's how it ended up:
Poodle Hat 3.83333333333
Bad Hair Day and Mandatory Fun 3.5 (.3 drop from Poodle Hat)
Polka Party 3.4 (.1 drop)
Even Worse 3.272727272727 (less than .13 drop)
Alpocalypse 3.25 (.02 drop)
3-D 3.1818181818 (less than .07 drop)
Running With Scissors 3.166666666 (.02 drop)
UHF 3.153846...... (.012 drop)
DTBS 3.0909090909 (.06)
Off the Deep End 2.91666666666667.... (.17)
WAY 2.8333333333 (.083)
Alapalooza 2.75 (.08)
Straight Out of Lynwood 2.66666666 (.08)
You can see just how close it was.
I realized doing this that I have a high esteem for the polka medleys, and there are a few albums that don't have one.
With Alapolooza, the source material for the direct parodies just didn't move me. That's just me. Likewise, in other cases, the style parodies/pastiches might not reference material to which I normally listen. When the song being parodied or the style being referenced is something I tend to really enjoy, the genius of Al's lyrics and the various vocalizations are like sweet, sweet icing on a very tasty cake.
Only full-length studio albums were considered, not compilations, not Peter and the Wolf, which is an outlier collaboration (which I like).
I have CDs of all of these albums.
I want to make it clear that even my least favorite album is something I enjoy, and this ranking doesn't take into account artwork, packaging, extras (like hidden files), or official videos. The evaluation was strictly based on the songs, although it's possible videos and concert performances have unavoidably influenced me. For example, I gave a "4" to "The Fun Zone" from UHF, as this all-instrumental piece, played from the recording, has traditionally signaled the start of the concerts, a moment that is a highlight of my "dull, miserable life." UHF definitely got a boost because I included the Gandhi II and Spatula City tracks, and they got the highest rankings. Those two tracks aren't songs, but rather the audio from the faux television commercials running on the fictional station that is the setting for UHF.
My evaluations do not give any benefit to the longer albums, other than me perhaps liking a song more (or less) because the song was longer. This is despite that I think "The more Al, the better." In these rankings, an album with some shorter or fewer tracks has just as much chance of ranking higher as an album with more or longer tracks. If I were to take that into consideration, maybe it would break the tie for second place.
Do my rankings line up with yours? You DO have rankings, right?
The Best of the Best
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