This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Records – 21 Oct 1986
A rare low point in an otherwise spotless career
It’s kind of hard to imagine that there was a time when “Weird Al” Yankovic didn’t have a multi-decade career that had won the respect of pretty much everyone in the music industry, but in the mid-1980’s Al was still hard at work defining his legacy. His first self titled album had not been a massive hit, but was enough to put him on the map. It was the second album, In 3-D, that really raised Al’s profile, largely due to the success of songs like “Eat It,” and “I Lost On Jeopardy.” When Al repeated himself with Dare to Be Stupid and it’s lead single “Like a Surgeon,” he seemed unstoppable. Unfortunately, the 1986 follow up, Polka Party proved to be something of a low point in Al’s career.
In general, Polka Party feels like a lot of Al knowing that he should be putting out a new album, but returning to ideas that had worked for him in the past because he hadn’t thought of anything else yet. “Addicted To Spuds” and “Here’s Johnny” exemplify that failing. If there are any common themes across Al’s work, they’re food and television. “Addicted To Spuds” is kind of cute, but returned to a trope that Al had already done so much of and it fell flat. Sure, he would have a food based hit just two years later with “Fat” but “Addicted To Spuds” lacks the wit and panache that had made “Eat It” such a winner. “Here’s Johnny” has the same problem. It felt like Al was running out of ideas and returning to writing about TV since it had proven to be successful for him in the past.
One of the qualities of Al’s work that has made it stand out among other comedy artists is his ability to recognize when a song is becoming a serious cultural touchstone. “Eat It,” “Like A Surgeon,” and “Another One Rides The Bus” – among many many others – remain effective songs in his catalog not just because they’re funny and witty, but because they parody and reference source material that continue to have an important place in pop music. This is obviously a harder task as culture has started to move faster and faster – a big part of why Al has said that he is unlikely to make any new full length albums. The big issue with Polka Party is that of the four direct parodies on the album, three of them are of songs that no one really remembers. Mick Jagger‘s “Ruthless People”?! El DeBarge‘s “Who’s Johnny” was a minor hit but seems to only show up on Polka Party because the TV references are so easy to make. Robert Palmer‘s “Addicted To Love” had more of a life on its own but doesn’t have the same staying power as other Al parodies.
“Living with a Hernia” is my favorite song on the album, although as Nathan Rabin says in his book The Weird Accordion To Al, perhaps starting your album with a disco / funk song about hernias was maybe not the best commercial move. Nevertheless, the song is Al at his funniest and wittiest. The band is extremely tight and clearly having fun. Al is known for meticulous and in depth research on his songs, and he’s at his strongest here. Who would have guessed that this would have an extremely catchy call and response section just listing different kinds of hernias?
Other stand out tracks are “Dog Eat Dog” – a style parody of Talking Heads that is honestly a great track all on its own, parodic impulses aside, “Good Enough for Now” – a kind of mean spirited but goofy country love song, and the fan favorite, “Christmas at Ground Zero” – a deranged Christmas song that captures the paranoia of the Cold War but maybe hasn’t aged terribly well post 9/11. Of course the title track, “Polka Party,” should be mentioned, which in the tradition of all the great Al polka medleys has an extremely mid-1980’s line up, including songs by Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, INXS, Tears for Fears, Madonna, and more.
All in all Polka Party is worth listening to at least for “Living With a Hernia,” “Dog Eat Dog,” and “Christmas at Ground Zero,” all songs that I’d include in my best of Weird Al playlist. It’s an anomalous record in that it has more flops than hits, and shows Al very briefly struggling to find his footing as an artist. That struggle clearly didn’t matter too much since he followed this up with Even Worse (a hit), UHF (not a hit but a cult classic), and Off The Deep End (a hit!). When Al’s had a career with so many high points, we can forgive a momentary low.
Musician and writer – I play in Cheap City and run Dollhouse Lightning
