| Polka Party! | |
|---|---|
| |
| Studio Album by "Weird Al" Yankovic | |
| Released | October 21, 1986 |
| Recorded | April 1986 - September 1986 at Santa Monica Sound Recorders |
| Length | 34:07 |
| Format | Vinyl, Cassette, CD |
| Record Label | Rock 'n' Roll Records / Scotti Brothers |
| Catalog Number | FZ 40520 (Vinyl) (first release) |
| Producer | Rick Derringer |
| Lead Single | Living With A Hernia |
| Previous Album | Dare To Be Stupid |
| Next Album | Even Worse |
Cover in other countries
Polka Party! is Weird Al's fourth studio album released in 1986. The album sold terribly, and is generally considered by his fans to be one of his worst albums. It nearly destroyed Al's career as well. The album created 2 singles, Living With A Hernia and Christmas At Ground Zero. The album was originally released on Vinyl, Cassette and CD making it the first Weird Al record to be released on CD the same year it came out, with the last three albums being re-issued on CD later (with the exception of Dare To Be Stupid, which was released on CD a few months prior). The album was re-issued in 1999 on CD by Volcano Records.
Polka Party was a commercial failure. It received mixed reviews, and did not receive a Gold nor Platinum award from the RIAA. The album only got a 177 spot on the Billboard 100 at its peak, with even the lead single, Living With a Hernia, charting poorly as well.
The music on Polka Party is made upon parodies and style parodies of pop and rock music of the 80s.There are five originals, 4 parodies and 1 polka medley, adding up to a total of ten, which is the lowest track count on any of Weird Al's studio albums.
Singles[]
Tracks[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Parody of | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Living With A Hernia" | Dan Hartman, Charlie Midnight, "Weird Al" Yankovic | Living In America by James Brown | 3:20 | |
| 2. | "Dog Eat Dog" | Yankovic | Style parody of Talking Heads | 3:42 | |
| 3. | "Addicted To Spuds" | Robert Palmer, Yankovic | Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer | 3:50 | |
| 4. | "One Of Those Days" | Yankovic | Original | 3:18 | |
| 5. | "Polka Party!" | Can be found here. | 3:15 | ||
| 6. | "Here's Johnny" | Peter Wolf, Ina Wolf, Yankovic | Who's Johnny by EI DeBarge | 3:24 | |
| 7. | "Don't Wear Those Shoes" | Yankovic | Intro is style parody of The Kinks, rest is original | 3:36 | |
| 8. | "Toothless People" | Daryl Hall, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Yankovic | Ruthless People by Mick Jagger | 3:23 | |
| 9. | "Good Enough For Now" | Yankovic | Style parody of country love songs | 3:03 | |
| 10. | "Christmas At Ground Zero" | Yankovic | Style parody of Christmas Carols | 3:09 |
Personnel[]
- "Weird Al" Yankovic – Accordion, Keyboards, Vocals, Background Vocals
- Rick Derringer – Guitar
- Steve Jay – Banjo, Bass, Background
- Jim West – Guitar, Background Vocals
- Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – Percussion, Drums
- Tony Papa – Engineer and mixing
- Bill Anderson – Tenor Saxophone
- Sonny Burke – Piano
- James Cox – Guitar Synthesizer
- Dennis Fetchet – Fiddle
- Gary Herbig – Clarinet, Saxophone
- Tommy Johnson – Tuba
- Warren Luening – Trumpet
- Joel Peskin – Clarinet
- Lisa Popeil - Background Vocals
- Pat Regan – Synthesizer
- John Roarke – Voices
- The Waters Sisters – Background Vocals
Production[]
- Production - Rick Derringer
- Management - Jay Levey Associates
Trivia[]
- This is Weird Al's worst selling album and considered to be his worst by fans.
- The chord Al is playing on the album cover is an F.
- All of the songs on this album are longer than 3 minutes but less than 4 minutes.
- The CD reissue cuts out the back cover for the sake of a generic black background with white text.
See Also[]
- MySpace Music
- Buy:
| Studio Albums |
|
"Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) •
"Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (1984) •
Dare To Be Stupid (1985) •
|