History Music / OffTheDeepEnd

* CluckingFunny: The cheerleaders in "Smells Like Nirvana" start dancing like chickens at one point.

* CluckinFunny: The cheerleaders in "Smells Like Nirvana" start dancing like chickens at one point.

# "I Can't Watch This" (3:31)[[note]]Parody of M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This."[[/note]]

Enter an obscure UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}-based band called Music/{{Nirvana}}, who decided to release [[Music/{{Nevermind}} their second album]] in 1991. The album's lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", rapidly shot up the charts, catapulted the band and the general {{grunge}} scene into mainstream popularity, and rapidly instigated the cultural genesis of the new decade. Having wanted to parody Nirvana for a while but being concerned about their initial obscurity, Al saw "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as his chance. Al managed to obtain permission from Music/KurtCobain to parody the song as "Smells Like Nirvana"[[labelnote:*]]Cobain's sole request was that it not be about food and was otherwise overjoyed at the idea of having Al parody his music, having seen it as evidence that Nirvana had officially "made it" as a band[[/labelnote]], and with that, found his career [[CareerResurrection rapidly careening back on track]].

** The album's cover art is one to ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', the album which "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the opening track of.

At the start of TheNineties, Weird Al's career was in a rut. His 1989 film ''Film/{{UHF}}'' bombed due to its poor choice of release date, the associated [[Music/UHFOriginalMotionPictureSoundtrackAndOtherStuff soundtrack & studio album]] was mostly ignored, Music/MichaelJackson declined permission for Al to parody his recent hit [[Music/{{Dangerous}} "Black or White"]] as "Snack All Night" (due to Jackson feeling that the song's message of race relations in America would be trivialized by the parody), and the public was generally starting to move away from Al, who was seeming more and more like a relic of TheEighties. It seemed more than likely that Al was over as an artist, but the man was determined to prove he could keep his head above water in the new decade.

''Off the Deep End'' spawned three singles: "Smells Like Nirvana", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "Taco Grande". The album was a commercial success, peaking at No. 17 on the ''Billboard'' charts; its release just a few months after ''Nevermind''[='s=] displacing of Jackson's ''Music/{{Dangerous}}'' as the No. 1 album certainly helped.

* FanDisservice: Actually wearing swim trunks or not, Weird Al is the last person anyone would want to see naked on an album cover.

* JumpScare: Al has stated that "Bite Me" was made specifically for this effect on the poor people that forgot to turn off their players.

At the start of TheNineties, Weird Al's career was in a rut. His 1989 film ''Film/{{UHF}}'' bombed due to its poor choice of release date, the associated [[Music/UHFOriginalMotionPictureSoundtrackAndOtherStuff soundtrack & studio album]] was mostly ignored, Music/MichaelJackson declined permission to parody his recent hit [[Music/{{Dangerous}} "Black or White"]] as "Snack All Night" (due to Jackson feeling that the song's message of race relations in America would be trivialized by the parody), and the public was generally starting to move away from Al, who was seeming more and more like a relic of TheEighties. It seemed more than likely that Al was over as an artist, but the man was determined to prove he could keep his head above water in the new decade.

Enter an obscure UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}-based band called Music/{{Nirvana}}, who decided to release [[Music/{{Nevermind}} their second album]] in 1991. The album's lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", rapidly shot up the charts, catapulted the band and the general {{grunge}} scene into mainstream popularity, and rapidly instigated the cultural genesis of the new decade. Having wanted to parody Nirvana for a while but being concerned about their initial obscurity, Al saw "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as his chance. Al managed to obtain permission from Music/KurtCobain to parody the song as "Smells Like Nirvana"[[labelnote:*]]Cobain's sole request was that it not be about food and was otherwise overjoyed at the idea of having Al parody his music, having seen it as evidence that Nirvana had officially "made it" as a band[[/labelnote]], and with that, found his career [[CareerResurrection rapidly careening back on track.]]

''Off the Deep End'' spawned three singles: "Smells Like Nirvana", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "Taco Grande". The album was a commercial success, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard charts; its release just a few months after ''Nevermind''[='s=] displacing of Jackson's ''Dangerous'' as the No. 1 album certainly helped.

* WhenIWasYourAge: "When I Was Your Age, obviously. The song's narrator tells young children how his childhood was much harder than theirs:

* WhenIWasYourAge: The name of the track on this album, where Al sings just that line in the chorus.

''Off the Deep End'' is the seventh studio album by Music/WeirdAlYankovic, released in 1992, and his first to be self-produced after Rick Derringer produced all of his previous ones.

* ManOnFire: One runs around behind Al during the "Smells like Nirvana" video.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* ShoutOut: "Trigger Happy" has a couple.
** "Now why'd ya havta get so mad?/It was [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail just a lousy flesh wound, dad]]."
** "I always keep a Magnum in my trunk/You better ask yourself, [[Film/DirtyHarry do you feel lucky, punk]]?"

** "Smells Like Nirvana" is a parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and makes fun of the latter song's IncomprehensibleLyrics.

** "Smells Like Nirvana" is a parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and makes fun of the latter song's incomprehensible lyrics.

* HiddenTrack: Done as a prank on absent-minded listeners who'd forget to turn their CD players off after the last song. After "You Don't Love Me Any More," there's about ten minutes of silence followed by eleven seconds of cacophonous noise entitled "Bite Me."

Enter an obscure UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}-based band called Music/{{Nirvana}}, who decided to release [[Music/{{Nevermind}} their second album]] in 1991. The album's lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", rapidly shot up the charts, catapulted the band and the general {{grunge}} scene into mainstream popularity, and rapidly instigated the cultural genesis of the new decade. Having wanted to parody Nirvana for a while but being concerned about their initial obscurity, Al saw "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as his chance. Al managed to obtain permission from Music/KurtCobain to parody the song as "Smells Like Nirvana", and with that, found his career [[CareerResurrection rapidly careening back on track.]]

-->''You slammed my face down on the barbecue grill''
-->''Now my scars are all healing, but my heart never will''

** At the end of the "Smells like Nirvana" video, Al smashes his guitar, the audience smashes plates on a guy's head, and then Al pushes a plunge-detonator to demolish a building.

-->''It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss???''
-->''With all these marbles in my mouth''

-->''Dad would whoop us every night till a quarter after twelve''
-->''Then he'd get too tired and he'd make us whoop ourselves''
-->''Then he'd chop me into pieces and play frisbee with my brain''
-->''And let me tell ya, Junior, you never heard me complain''

--> ''I was only kidding''
--> ''I really love you, not!''

-->''Oh, I accidentally shot Daddy last night in the den''
-->''I mistook him in the dark for a drug-crazed Nazi again''
-->''Now why'd you have to get so mad?''
-->''It was just a lousy flesh wound, Dad''
-->''You know I'm trigger happy, trigger happy every day''

* SpecialGuest

** “I Can’t Watch This” is a full list of these about TV shows and personalities, including:

* DeadSparks: "You Don't Love Me Anymore" hilariously takes it UpToEleven when the girl in the song gets with everyone on the local hockey team, tells her friends that the protagonist in the song is the Antichrist, and then she starts trying to kill him on multiple occasions.

** Discussing "The Plumbing Song" which parodies Music/MilliVanilli's "Girl You Know It's True" and "Baby Don't Forget My Number", Al called his joking on the infamous duo "redundant" in the wake of their 1990 Grammy Awards lip-syncing scandal. He went on to confirm that he did, in fact, sing his song himself.