Off the Deep End is the seventh studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992. This album was the first album self-produced by Yankovic, after six albums with Rick Derringer. Recorded between June 1990 and January 1992, the album was a follow-up to the unsuccessful soundtrack to Yankovic's 1989 film UHF. Off the Deep End and its lead single "Smells Like Nirvana" helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after a lull following his last hit single, "Fat", in 1988.
The musical styles on Off the Deep End are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the newly arisen grunge movement. Half of the album is made up of parodies of Nirvana, MC Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Gerardo, and Milli Vanilli. The other half of the album is original material, featuring many "style parodies", or musical imitations of existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists like the Beach Boys, James Taylor and Jan and Dean.
Off the Deep End was met with mostly positive reviews and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200. The album also produced one of Yankovic's most famous singles, "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of Nirvana's major rock hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song was Yankovic's second-highest charting single, after "Eat It", which was released in 1984. The cover also parodies the cover of Nirvana's album, Nevermind. The original had a naked baby in the water with a dollar bill cast by a fishing rod; Yankovic's replaced the baby with himself, and the dollar bill with a donut. Off the Deep End was Yankovic's fourth Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of over one million copies in the United States. In addition, the album was later nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1993.
Production
Background
In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called UHF. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop. The movie was considered unsuccessful, only just making back its budget ($6 million at the box office compared to a budget of $5 million). After the release of UHF, Yankovic returned to the studio to record his follow-up album. The first recording session started with "Airline Amy". In regards to this split, Yankovic said: "We [i.e. Yankovic and his band] had a great run with Rick, he's a terrific guybut I had become more and more of a control freak over the years, and I'd finally gotten to the point in my recording career where I felt that I could capably hold the reins all by myself." By late 1990 five originals—"Airline Amy", "Trigger Happy", "When I Was Your Age", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "Waffle King"—were recorded.
"You Don't Love Me Anymore" was one of the last original songs recorded during the 1990 sessions. "You Don't Love Me Anymore" was subsequently released to radio on June 19, 1992. The single received moderate radio attention, which surprised Yankovic, because he had always thought that radio stations "usually just go for the parodies".
The album also contains a hidden track at the end called "Bite Me". The "song", which consists of several seconds of loud music and Yankovic screaming, appears after 10 minutes of silence following "You Don't Love Me Anymore". According to Yankovic, the song was supposed to "come on [...] and scare you to death". The track is a nod to Nirvana: pressings of Nevermind featured the hidden track "Endless, Nameless".
Parodies and polka
After recording the first batch of originals in 1990, Yankovic focused his attention on parodies. By early 1991, only three parodies had been recorded. Two of them, the cookie-inspired New Kids on the Block parody "The White Stuff" and the television-centric MC Hammer parody "I Can't Watch This", were slated to be released as singles. In fact, several cartons of promo singles were pressed, but they were deleted from the record company's catalogue at the last minute. These CDs were later discovered by Yankovic and his drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, in a trash heap and have since become collector's items. "The Plumbing Song", a double parody of Milli Vanilli's hit singles "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame It on the Rain" was also recorded. In a 1992 interview with Dr. Demento, Yankovic said that he believed the parody to be "kind of redundant" at that point in time, given the lip-synching scandal that had effectively destroyed the band almost two years prior. In reference to this scandal, Yankovic also jokingly affirmed that he did indeed sing lead vocals on his parody.
thumb|upright|left|Nirvana felt that they had "made it" when Yankovic parodied "Smells Like Teen Spirit". (1992, P.B. Rage)
Yankovic soon turned his attention in another direction. Guns N' Roses had just released a version of Wings's 1970s hit "Live and Let Die". Yankovic approached Paul McCartney, leader of Wings, about a parody idea entitled "Chicken Pot Pie". Although McCartney was a supporter of Yankovic's work and he wanted to give Yankovic the chance to parody one of his songs, he begrudgingly turned him down due to the fact that, as a vegetarian, he could not condone the eating of animal flesh. Yankovic, a fellow vegetarian, has stated that he respects McCartney's decision.
It was around this time that Nirvana's Nevermind was making waves in the rock and pop scene. As the popularity of 1980s pop gave way to grunge, Yankovic decided it was time to record a parody of the Seattle-based band's huge hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". To secure permission for the parody, Yankovic wanted to approve it with Kurt Cobain. After learning that Nirvana was to perform on Saturday Night Live, Yankovic called up his UHF co-star, Victoria Jackson, who was, at the time, a regular cast member on the show. Jackson got Cobain on the phone so that Yankovic could make his request. Cobain agreed, although he asked if the new parody was "going to be a song about food". The Off the Deep End cover shows Yankovic in the baby's place apparently swimming to catch a doughnut on a string. While the Nirvana cover has a fully nude baby, Yankovic instead wore a bathing suit in a way that his body position hid it; he later jokingly noted, "I never really anticipated going full-frontal on any of my album covers." The CD, liner notes, and artwork continue the parody of Nirvana's album, borrowing the same blue, wave-light graphics from the printed surface of Nevermind.
Reception
Critical reception
Critical response to Off the Deep End was generally positive. Many critics praised not only Yankovic's parodies, but also his originals. Barry Weber, of AllMusic, wrote, "In addition to re-establishing his satirical craftsmanship, Deep End showcases some of Yankovic's best originals ever; "Trigger Happy," "When I Was Your Age," and "You Don't Love Me Anymore" prove to be the album's greatest songs."
Commercial performance
Off the Deep End was released April 1992, and was subsequently named the Best Selling Comedy Recording of the year by National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM). The album's lead-off single, "Smells Like Nirvana" was a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at number 35. and the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart at number 35. Both the album and hit single helped propel Yankovic into the 1990s.
Track listing
Note
Personnel
Credits adapted from CD liner notes,
- Luther Waters – background singer (track 5)
| style="text-align:center;"|45
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian RPM Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|24
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| style="text-align:center;"|17
|}
Certifications
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Country
!Certification<br /><small>(sales thresholds)</small>
|-
|United States
| style="text-align:center;"|Platinum
|-
| 1992
| "Smells Like Nirvana"
| style="text-align:center;"| 35
| style="text-align:center;"| 58
|}