Off the Deep End by “Weird Al” Yankovic

Off the Deep End is the seventh studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992. This album was the first album self-produced by Yankovic, after six albums with Rick Derringer. Recorded between June 1990 and January 1992, the album was a follow-up to the unsuccessful soundtrack to Yankovic's 1989 film UHF. Off the Deep End and its lead single "Smells Like Nirvana" helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after a lull in the late 1980s. The musical styles on Off the Deep End are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the newly arisen grunge movement. Half of the album is made up of parodies of Nirvana, MC Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Gerardo, and Milli Vanilli. The other half of the album is original material, featuring many "style parodies," or musical imitations of existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists like the Beach Boys, James Taylor and Jan and Dean. Off the Deep End was met with mostly positive reviews and peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard 200. The album also produced one of Yankovic's most famous singles, "Smells Like Nirvana," a parody of Nirvana's major rock hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which peaked at number thirty-five on the Billboard Hot 100. This song was Yankovic's second-highest charting single, after "Eat It," which was released in 1984. The cover also parodies the cover of Nirvana's album, Nevermind. The original had a naked baby in the water with a dollar bill cast by a fishing rod; Yankovic's replaced the baby with himself, and the dollar bill by a doughnut. Off the Deep End was Yankovic's fourth Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of over one million copies in the United States. In addition, the album was later nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1993.