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Dare to Be Stupid

 
Album Review: Dare to Be Stupid

Review

Dare to Be Stupid begins with what is perhaps Weird Al Yankovic's best parody ever, the brilliant and cutting "Like a Surgeon." Turning the tacky Madonna hit inside out and upside down, Yankovic comes up with a hilarious satire of the medical profession. Although the implications were probably missed by the none too bright Madonna, and may not have even been intentional on the part of Yankovic, it was a rich idea to use his parody to ridicule a serious subject rather than just take another poke at junk food or game shows. The record's title track follows, and it is the best of Yankovic's original songs that had been recorded so far. Any song that begins with a request to put down your chain saw can't be all bad. One of the best tracks is the amazing medley "Hooked on Polkas" that concludes the album. Yankovic goes for broke here, his slick band barely keeping up with him as he drags all manner of hit parade schlock through the harmonic wringer washer known as the accordion. It's a hell of a trip, including references to Z.Z. Top as well as disco and punk rock, and accomplishes more musically in less than four minutes than an entire evening with the likes of Brave Combo. Rick Derringer put the whole production together expertly. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Like a Surgeon Weird Al Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic (3:32)
Dare to Be Stupid (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic, Vince DiCola Weird Al Yankovic (3:25)
I Want a New Duck (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic (3:04)
One More Minute (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic (4:04)
Yoda (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic, Ray Davies Weird Al Yankovic (3:58)
George of the Jungle (Lyrics) Sheldon Allman, Stanley Worth Weird Al Yankovic (1:05)
Slime Creatures from Outer Space (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic (4:23)
Girls Just Want to Have Lunch (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic (2:48)
This Is the Life (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic, Vernon Reid Weird Al Yankovic (3:06)
Cable TV (Lyrics) Weird Al Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic (3:38)
Hooked on Polkas D. Hall, J. Allen, T. Horn, J. Hill Weird Al Yankovic (3:53)

Credits

Al Viola (Scratching), Dennis Keeley (Photography), Weird Al Yankovic (Keyboards), The Waters Sisters (Vocals (Background)), Lou Beach (Illustrations), Rick Derringer (Producer), Sonny Burke (Piano), Weird Al Yankovic (Vocals (Background)), Tommy Johnson (Tuba), Steve Jay (Guitar (Bass)), Weird Al Yankovic (Accordion), Joel Peskin (Clarinet), Gary Herbig (Saxophone), Steve Jay (Vocals (Background)), Gary Herbig (Clarinet), Jimmy West (Vocals (Background)), Steve Jay (Banjo), Pat Regan (Synthesizer), Weird Al Yankovic (Vocals), Rick Derringer (Guitar), Mike Kieffer (?), Jimmy West (Guitar), Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz (Percussion), Tony Papa (Engineer), Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz (Drums), Lane (Art Direction), Warren Luening (Trumpet), Donald (Art Direction), Weird Al Yankovic (Theremin)
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Wikipedia: Dare to Be Stupid
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Dare to Be Stupid
Studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Released June 18, 1985
Recorded January-March 1985
Genre Comedy
Length 37:04 38:20 (Reissue)
Label Scotti Brothers
Producer Rick Derringer
Professional reviews
"Weird Al" Yankovic chronology
The Official Music of "Weird Al" Yankovic
(1984)
Dare to Be Stupid
(1985)
Polka Party!
(1986)
Singles from Dare to Be Stupid
  1. "Like a Surgeon"
    Released: June 4, 1985
  2. "I Want a New Duck"
    Released: July 1985
  3. "One More Minute"
    Released: August 1985
  4. "Dare to Be Stupid"
    Released: August 1986

Dare to Be Stupid is the third album recorded by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1985.

Contents

Refused parodies

Yankovic had one parody idea that was refused:

  • A parody of Prince's hit "When Doves Cry". Yankovic once stated in an interview that he had attempted to do a parody of "When Doves Cry", circa 1984. Prince, however, refused, and has been unopen to any parody ideas Yankovic has ever presented to him.[1]

Track listing

Track Title Length (Style) Parody of Description
1 "Like a Surgeon" 3:32 "Like a Virgin" by Madonna About an incompetent surgeon performing surgery.
2 "Dare to Be Stupid" 3:25 Style parody of Devo The song (and video) are a parody of Devo, bearing closest resemblance musically to Devo's "Big Mess".[2] It describes many stupid things a person can do, such as "Stick your head in the microwave and get yourself a tan." Several figures of speech are referenced, too. It is one of Al's most renowned original songs. It was also used in The Transformers: The Movie as the theme song for the Junkions,and in this capacity, it was used as a line by Wreck-Gar voiced by Eric Idle, leader of the Junkions. In his Transformers Animated incarnation("I am Wreck-Gar! I dare to be stupid!")he was voiced by Weird Al himself. It was later covered by mc chris in 2007.
3 "I Want a New Duck" 3:04 "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and the News About how much the singer wants a better pet duck.
4 "One More Minute" 4:04 Doo-wop and Elvis Presley style parody Singer describes the myriad tortures he would sooner endure than spending one more minute with his ex-girlfriend. Yankovic wrote this song about an ex-girlfriend. Her picture can be seen being torn up in the video.
5 "Yoda" 3:58 "Lola" by The Kinks Describes the Dagobah-setting events of The Empire Strikes Back as told from the point of view of Luke Skywalker.
6 "George of the Jungle" 1:05 Cover version of the George of the Jungle theme song Yankovic's record company suggested that he do a straight cover song on this particular album.
7 "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" 4:23 Style parody of 80's synthpop, most notably Thomas Dolby's "Hyperactive"; also contains a spoof of the line "Who you gonna call?" from the Ghostbusters theme Earth is under attack by the titular characters.
8 "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch" 2:48 "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper Yankovic's record label insisted he do a Cyndi Lauper parody. The song is about every girl's habit of consuming nothing but afternoon meals. This song was notably omitted from Yankovic's 1993 The Food Album compilation.
9 "This Is the Life" 3:06 Original Exaggerated description of a lavish lifestyle, used in the gangster spoof movie Johnny Dangerously.
10 "Cable TV" 3:38 Style parody of Randy Newman Singer describes his love of cable television.
11 "Hooked on Polkas" 3:51 Polka Medley A polka medley including the following songs:

Personnel

Production

  • Producer: Rick Derringer
  • Engineer: Tony Papa
  • Art direction: Donald Lane
  • Illustrations: Lou Beach
  • Photography: Dennis Keeley

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1985 The Billboard 200 50

Notes

  • As the song "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" ends, and it becomes quieter and quieter and the final shouted lines of the song become harder to hear, turning up the volume as this is happening allows a normally inaudible final line to be heard. This line is "Who ya gonna call (Slime Creatures!)". It is a reference to the film Ghostbusters, and not in any way relevant to the song.

References


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dare to Be Stupid" Read more