Customer Reviews

UHF

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was released in 1989, and is in part the soundtrack to "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie UHF, but most of its contents is not included in the movie. On this album, included in the movie, is the song "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies," the movie's theme "UHF," two clips from the movie, and an instrumental called "Fun Zone." All of those are quite good.

However, there's also a lot of great stuff on this album that is not included in the movie, such as "The Hot Rocks Polka," which is a polka medley of Rolling Stones songs. There are also some great parodies, along with some great originals. My favourite song on here is an original called "Generic Blues." Now, that one can sure crack listeners up!

A must-have for all "Al-oholics!"

UHF was a great movie, and Al topped it off by putting out a great soundtrack. It was great to hear the songs from the movie, such as Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies and UHF, but Al also brought in new parodies and originals to complete this album. He's at his best in the originals. Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars has a lot of funny moments, as do Generic Blues and The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. For parodies, Al is seldom funnier than he is in Spam. It is truly an indicator of Al's awesome abilites. This album, just like its corresponding movie, is sadly underrated.

his music keeps geting better with each album.

The hot rocks polka has nothing to do with the UHF movie, but it's Weird Al's best polka ever!
(if the Rolling Stones are going to keep recording and touring -- and they are looking for a fresh sound -- they'd probably do well to copy Weird Al's polka style)
As for the rest of the soundtrack ... well, it's just good plain fun!

As others before me have said, this cd is awesome. Its humor is infectious for those who have seen the movie and those that haven't alike. Songs from the movie include UHF and Money For Nothing, while the other tracks are pure Al hilarity. Fan of the Stones? You'll love Hot Rocks Polka. Or into Tone Loc? Try Isle Thing. And for the true Harry Chappen fan's out there.. remember 30,000 lbs of Bananas? Weird Al perfectly mimics the rhythm of that infamous voyage with his own Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. True fun for all types.

After the middle-of-the-road Even Worse, Al made a movie, UHF, now a cult 80's film, and the soundtrack to it shows him back in form. How many hours did Mr. Yankovic lie awake thinking about how to incorporate the lyrics to the Beverly Hillbillies song to Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing". Mark Knopfler was generous enough, as he also did the guitar for this song!

"Gandhi II" is a TV trailer from the UHF movie. "Next week, on U62, he's back, and this time he's mad. No more Mr. Passive Resistance" and it's done to the melody from Shaft by Isaac Hayes.

"Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from A Planet Near Mars." Yes, sounds like the title of a bad 1950's UFO movie and if you ever heard "Slime Creatures From Outer Space" from Dare To Be Stupid, you get the idea what kind of song it is. I wonder if Al had a pet hamster and was staring at intently enough to come up with a wacky song. Hamsters the size of a blimp, who play electric guitars, and "think the whole stinkin' world is their exercise wheel"... wow!

"Isle Thing" incorporates a TV song with Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" and Al's mimicking Mr. Loc's voice is simply funny. "I'm watching that Gilligan's Isle Thing" is the tag line to the chorus. His commentary on the various characters is great, as he says that Ginger and Maryann could've used some funky cold medina. And on the Professor, "If he's so fly, then tell me why he couldn't build a lousy raft?" Hasta la vista, little buddy!

Polka time, and this time it's all Rolling Stones song. "The Hot Rocks Polka" consists of a medley of "It's Only Rock And Roll", "Brown Sugar", "You Can't Always Get What You Want", "Honky Tonky Women", "Under My Thumb", "Ruby Tuesday", "Miss You", "Sympathy For The Devil", "Get Off Of My Cloud", "Shattered", "Let's Spend The Night Together", and "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."

The title track is another TV song and invites the listener to become a couch potato because "we got it all on UHF." However, don't watch too much, as Al sings "You can sit around and stare at the picture tube/'til your brain turns into cottage cheese."

"Let Me Be Your Hog" is a brief bluesy-rocker that gets cut off and segues into his parody of Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy", which is "She Drives Like Crazy." The driving-challenged girl here does "eighty...in second gear" and "got [her] license from Cracker Jacks." Auto sound effects are used here.

"Generic Blues" is a George Thorogood-like blues rock parody of the usual subjects of blues songs and even mixes things up around: "My daddy was a waitress/my mama sold bathroom tile/my brothers and sisters all hated me/'cause I was an only child." Funniest line: "I'd flush myself right down the toilet/but I'd just clog up the drain."

"Spatula City" is a commercial for spatulas of every shape, size, and colour, "Fun Zone" is a skippy instrumental--was it used in the movie as a prelude for a TV show?

"Spam" is a send-up of R.E.M.'s "Stand", much more developed than Monty Python's spam song to be sure.

The country-ish "The Biggest Ball OF Twine in Minnesota" starts another Al tradition--meandering marathon goofy story songs. Well, that's where the protagonists' kids want to go. It does indeed make one wonder, "Ohhh, what on earth would make a man decide to do that sort of thing/Ohhh, windin' up 21,140 pounds of string/What was he tryin' to prove?/Who was he tryin' to impress?" and other such questions.

After a slight dip that lowered with Even Worse, UHF is Even Better, as it shows Al back in silly form. Maybe doing the movie helped. Al's second wind would continue with his next album, and brother, was he really off the deep end.

In the great tradition of the Beatles's "Hard Day's Night" album, "UHF" not only presents all of the songs that appeared in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1989 film of the same name, but additional songs recorded in the studio. By now, the "Weird Al" formula is set in stone. Producer Rick Derringer not only plays guitar but makes sure the parodies on "UHF" sound as much like the originals as possible (e.g., "She Drives Like Crazy" versus the Fine Young Cannibal's "She Drives Me Crazy"). This serves to set up the humor of the lyricism sung in Yankovic's weird but strangely compelling voice (his singing talent as a parodist is probably the most overlooked aspect of his success). Yes, "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From a Planet Near Mars" is one of his worse original compositions, but clearly the man needs to purge such things out of his system with appalling regularity. But "Weird Al" makes up for this with "Gandhi II," a brilliant take off on the theme from "Shaft." "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies," "Isle Thing," and "Spam" all reinforce the "Weird Al" fixation on two key ingredients of modern American popular culture, namely television and food. The polka medley makes its return on this album, with "The Hot Rocks Polka" devoted entirely to the music of the Rolling Stones (I am still waiting for "Weird Al" to take on the Beatles, but that might require an entire album--which is perfectly all right with me, boys and girls). Ultimately, "UHF" is neither as good as the album that preceded it, "Even Worse," or the great one that would follow, "Off the Deep End," but on balance it is better than any of his first four efforts.

UHF was a bust at the box office, but is acheiving cult status on dvd. The cd is fine for anyone who enjoyed the humor of "UHF," and the music of Mr. Yankovic. Look and see:

1. Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies: 4/5 From the movie.
2. Gandhi II: 5/5 A funny sound clip from the film.
3. AOFRHFAPLM: 2/5 The name makes it repetitive.
4. Isle Thing: 3/5 Kind of a Dumb Parody
5. The Hot Rocks Polka: 5/5 Rolling Stones fans will love this one!
6. UHF: 4/5 "We got it all on UHF."

7. Let Me Be Your Hog: 2/5 Was featured breiefly in the film.
8. She Drives Like Crazy: 3/5 Funny parody.
9. Generic Blues: 0/5 I didn't care for this one.
10. Spatula City: 5/5 Just like #2.
11. Fun Zone: 2/5 Semi-amusing instrumental music.
12. Spam: 3/5 Funny parody of Stand.
13. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota: 5/5 Weird Al has always saved the best for last, from "Nature Trail to Hell" to "Albuquerque."

Thank you for taking the time to read my review and feel free to leave me a helpful/not helpful feedback. God Bless America!

this CD is just about everything you'd expect from a Weird Al CD.
Money for nothing/ Beverly Hillbillies- good, big laughs, almost a dedication song- A+
Gahndi 2- very funny sound clip song- A-
Attack of the radioactive hampsters from a planet near mars- good, makes some since, but not the ablosute best song- A-
Isle thing- a good dedication song to Gilligans Island-A
Hot Rocks Polka- what would a Weird Al CD be without a polka-B+
UHF- Very good!- A
Let me be your Hog-Not really even a song, more like 16 second worth of words-Can I give a grade?
She drives like crazy- funny!-A
Generic Blues-not so good-B
Spatchula city- hysterical!-A
Fun zone-one of the few instrumental songs-A-
Spam-wicked funny!-A
The biggest ball of twine in Minnesota-long, but all entertaining-A+

This was my favorite Al-bum, well, until "Poodle Hat" came along, but anyway, it's got one ultra-awesome song, eight great songs, one good song, and three mediocre/bad songs.

1. Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies - 3/5. Gets a little old after a while, but still good.
2. Gandhi II - 5/5. Hilarious clip from the "UHF" film.
3. Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars - 5/5. Cute little song. Also notable for the longest title of a Weird Al song.
4. Isle Thing - 3/5. Good lyrics, but I never liked the original.
5. The Hot Rocks Polka - 5/5. One of his best polkas. You'd really appreciate this if you were a Stones fan.
6. UHF - 5/5. Very funny song with a great tune. The music video is one of his most complex and funny.
7. Let Me Be Your Hog - 5/5. The shortest Weird Al song, only 0:17 seconds. It's also one of his stupid.
8. She Drives Like Crazy - 2/5. His voice is a little annoying on this one.
9. Generic Blues - 5/5. One of his best songs. Hilarious suicidal blues number with some witty lyrics.
10. Spatula City - 5/5. Another great clip from the film.
11. Fun Zone - 4/5. Al's only instrumental (if you pretend the "heys" and "yeahs" aren't there).
12. Spam - 5/5. Great REM parody about everyone's favorite lunch meat.
13. The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota - 6/5. Al's seven-minute-long epic tale of a tourist family going out to see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. One of my top three Weird Al songs. Pure genius. You are bound to love this awesome song!

So, UHF is worth buying for "Gandhi II", "Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars", "The Hot Rocks Polka", "UHF", "Let Me Be Your Hog", "Generic Blues", "Spatula City", "Spam", and "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota".