Werid Al Unleashes the "Alpocalypse"

When I was a kid my music collection was more Weird Al music than not. I first heard the man on a Dr. Demento mix tape someone made for me and then preceded to buy every album he ever made. I did not listen to Weird Al as if he was a novelty comedy act, I listened to it as real music and to this day I have many of the lyrics to his song memorized. As I got older Weird Al fell to the side of my listening tastes and I did not keep up with his career. When he was getting "White and Nerdy" I was being too cool with some heavy metal or another. The year 2011 saw the release of a new Weird Al album "Alpocalypse," and I decided it was time to see if Weird Al still had his mojo going for him. Below are my song by song thoughts.

"Perform This Way": A decent parody of the song and Lady GaGa herself, however, the brief spat he had with her management when they first denied Weird Al their blessing to release this was more interesting.

"CNR": This song is a play on the sound of The White Stripes and tells the tell of a guy in the vein of those Chuck Norris facts that are hilarious. This song is hilarious. I was looking for music to listen to while exercising, but this one would mess up my breathing, possibly make me laugh a snot rocket.

"TMZ": A parody of a Taylor Swift song, "You Belong To Me," and the horrible source material hurts the humor as it is more annoying than funny for the ears to sit through.

"Skipper Dan": An old school Weird Al story telling song, right in line with what he does and he gets your ear, but it's not all that funny. Skipper Dan thought he was going to make it big in the movie industry, but became the tour guide on Disney's Jungle Cruise instead.

"Polka Face": Weird Al's music mash-up polka mixes are always fun. On these tracks he takes bits and pieces of lots of songs and twists them together with accordion music. "Polka Face" makes Justin Bieber music fun.

"Craigslist": A song about weird stuff found on Craigslist, including a weirdo couple setting up a date, sung in the style of Jim Morrison and The Doors. I tried not to chuckle, but could not hold it back.

"Party In The CIA": A parody of the Miley Cyrus song "Party in the USA." It is gooftastic.

"Ringtone": A song about a guy who has his life ruined by the stupid ringtone he bought. Relevant and semi-funny, but not a song I would groove to very often.

"Another Tattoo": A parody of the song "Nothin' On You." Weird Al is a master at capturing the tone of other singers, but him singing a list of weird tattoos isn't really that interesting.

"If That Isn't Love": A cute song, singing about weird things he is willing to do for the one he loves. Some examples: he'll let her warm her hands in his butt crack and hold the ladder when she cleans the gutters. Yep.

"Whatever You Like": A T.I. parody really didn't make me laugh, but maybe if you know someone who is cheap and thinks buying you stuff with coupons is sweet, maybe it'll make you laugh.

"Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me": A piano ballad about all of the stupid stuff someone forwards to him in his email account. This could be a useful weapon to send back to the worst offenders of the email forward, but the song did not exactly strike my funny bone, even though the "sound" of the song is fun. There is some passion in this comedy.

Overall, "Alpocalypse" was on par with what I figured it would be. I was never in danger of shooting my beverage out of my nose, but I did find it impossible not to grin a time or two. I won't be buying any of the new tracks, but do recommend Weird Al to young music listeners if for no other reason than to see how a real parody is done and inspire the quality of their own Youtube sensations.