Even Worse is the fifth studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on April 12, 1988. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between November 1987 and February 1988, this album helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after the critical and commercial failure of his previous album Polka Party! (1986).

The music on Even Worse is built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1980s. Half of the album is made up of parodies, featuring jabs at Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Tiffany, Los Lobos, and Billy Idol. The other half is original material, featuring several "style parodies" or musical imitations that emulate existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists such as Oingo Boingo, Beastie Boys, and James Taylor. Even Worse has the distinction of being one of two albums by Yankovic lacking any polka renditions of pop songs or medleys, the other being his self-titled debut album from 1983. This album's title and cover art are spoofs of Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad.

Even Worse was met with mostly positive reviews and peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, becoming Yankovic's best-selling album. The album also produced one of Yankovic's hit singles, "Fat", a parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad", which peaked at No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a staple on MTV. The album was certified as a gold record, and later as a platinum record with sales of over one million copies in the United States, becoming Yankovic's first platinum record. "Fat" won the Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video.

Production

Background and recording

After success in the early '80s, Yankovic released Polka Party! in 1986. Although featuring parodies of hit songs like "Living in America" and "Addicted to Love", the album was a critical and commercial failure. It did not yield a charting single and it peaked at number 177 on the Billboard 200. After the disappointment with Polka Party!, Yankovic went on record saying, "I thought it was the end of my career." For most of 1987, Yankovic took a break from recording.

Originals

Near the end of 1987, Yankovic returned to the studio to record the original songs that would eventually appear on Even Worse. Once again, former the McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer was brought in as producer. The album's originals were recorded in three sessions: During the first (which began on November 30, 1987), Yankovic started to record "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White" and "Melanie"; during the second session (which began on December 1, 1987), he began working on "Good Old Days", "You Make Me", and "Velvet Elvis"; and during the final session (which began on February 18, 1988), Yankovic recorded "Twister".

"Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White" is an original glam rock song in which the singer recounts a bizarre recurring dream about Vanna White. AllMusic described the song as a "real winner for Yankovic" because it was one of the musician's first originals that "his [...] target audience [...] liked as much or even more than his parodies." According to Yankovic, he wrote several additional verses for "Melanie" that he would only sing to his friends. "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" is a send up of James Ray's "Got My Mind Set on You" as performed by George Harrison of the Beatles about a song that does not have enough lyrics to fill 3 minutes worth of time. Jackson was so pleased with the song and video, he ordered twelve copies to give to his friends. Yankovic later said, "He doesn't have to let me do this kind of stuff. [...] The only reason he would let me is because he has a great sense of humor."

On February 19, 1988, Yankovic began recording the album's final parody: "Lasagna", a take on the traditional folk song "La Bamba". The song is mainly about Italian culture with a heavy emphasis on cuisine. When Yankovic began writing the song, he originally wanted it to be sung in Italian. He later said, "I was actually going through Italian phrase books and dictionaries until I realized that the humor would be lost on 99% of the audience, so I decided to do the whole thing in English but with kind of a bad Italian accent."

According to the Dallas Morning News, both Prince and George Michael turned down parody ideas that Yankovic asked permission to record for Even Worse. In addition, Even Worse did not contain a polka medley, Yankovic's second—after his debut—and last album not to include one. The album was originally set to include a polka of all U2 songs, but was left off the album due to licensing issues.

Reception

Critical response

Even Worse has received relatively favorable reviews. AllMusic awarded Even Worse four out of five stars, one of the highest ratings for Yankovic on the site. Reviewer Eugene Chadbourne said, "Trust Weird Al Yankovic to name an album Even Worse even as his recordings were getting better again."

Unlike previous albums, which were praised for their parodies but criticized for their originals, Chadbourne wrote that "Yankovic even manages to shatter all previous barriers and comes up with some funny original material as well," citing "Good Old Days" and "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White" as some of his best originals. On July 18, 1988—less than three months after its release—the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). At the time of its certification, it was Yankovic's first Platinum record and, until the release of Off the Deep End in 1992, it was his best-selling album.

| length4 = 3:06

| title5 = I Think I'm a Clone Now

| writer5 = Ritchie Cordell, Yankovic

| extra5 = "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany

| length5 = 3:20

Personnel

Credits adapted from LP liner notes.

| style="text-align:center;"|23

|-

!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums Chart

| style="text-align:center;"|44

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200