Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Music / Alpocalypse

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alpocalypse_cover.jpg
Weird Al, the understudy for famine.

Alpocalypse is the thirteenth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, which was released in 2011 through Volcano Entertainment, Way Moby Records, and Jive Records. It contains some songs that were previously released on his 2009 EP Internet Leaks.

Tracklist:

  1. "Perform This Way"note 
  2. "CNR"
  3. "TMZ"note 
  4. "Skipper Dan"
  5. "Polka Face"
  6. "Craigslist"
  7. "Party In the CIA"note 
  8. "Ringtone"
  9. "Another Tattoo"note 
  10. "If That Isn't Love"
  11. "Whatever You Like"note 
  12. "Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me"

Baby, I just trope this way.

  • Affectionate Parody:
    • "Perform This Way" parodies Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", and it doesn't make fun of the topic she sings about in her song, but rather about Lady Gaga and her costumes, celebrating her Cloud Cuckoolander-ness.
    • "TMZ" spoofs "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift, though it's not at all affectionate towards TMZ or the scandalous behavior that they report on.
    • "Party In the CIA" parodies "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus to tell the story of a weirdly enthusiastic CIA agent.
    • "Another Tattoo" is a parody of "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B and Bruno Mars, about a guy who's borderline-addicted to getting tattoos.
    • "Whatever You Like" parodies the T.I. song of the same name, changing the narrator's socioeconomic status from rich to working-class (due to the recession) but keeping the general theme of a man promising to spare no expense in making his lover happy.
  • And Show It to You: One of the things Charles Nelson Reilly could do.
  • Animated Music Video:
    • "Skipper Dan".
    • "Party in the CIA", with several animators and a style that partially resembles Samurai Jack with the edges and proportions.
    • "TMZ", animated by Bill Plympton.
    • "If That Isn't Love"
    • "Whatever You Like"
    • "CNR"
    • "Polka Face" uses multiple animation styles.
    • "Another Tattoo"
    • "Ringtone"
    • "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me" is this as a lyric video.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Referenced In-Universe in "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me": "And by the way, your quotes from George Carlin aren't really George Carlin…"
  • Bestiality Is Depraved: In "CNR", Charles Nelson Reilly "made sweet, sweet love to a manatee." Rather than thinking it depraved, the singer is very impressed, while the audience at the aquarium are appalled.
  • Big Eater: In "CNR", several lines say that Charles Nelson Reilly is this, and also an Extreme Omnivore.
    "He ate his own weight in coal/and excreted diamonds every day."
    "He can eat more frozen waffles/than any other man I know."
    "I've seen the man unhinge his jaw/and swallow a Volkswagen whole."
  • Bilingual Bonus: "Perform This Way" has « Excusez-moi, qui a pété? », which means "Excuse me, who farted?"
  • Black Comedy: "Party in the CIA" is pretty dark, with the narrator cheerfully committing assassinations, abductions, torture, and destabilizing whole countries.
  • Brick Joke: In the music video for "Skipper Dan," Dan's co-star from his performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof shows up at the end as a fellow tour guide, and the two share a silent moment of commiseration over their dead-end jobs.
  • Camera Abuse: Charles Nelson Reilly punches the screen and cracks it at the end of "CNR".
  • Careful with That Axe: "You can have my styrofoam peanuts... THEY'RE ON CRAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIGS LIIIIIIIST!"
  • Classically-Trained Extra: "Skipper Dan" is built on this trope. It's the tale of a former up-and-coming, critically-acclaimed Broadway actor... who is stuck giving shows on the "Jungle Cruise" at Disneyland.
  • Curse Cut Short: The last part of "Another Tattoo", at the very end, is the closest he ever comes to swearing in a song (as in, Seven Dirty Words levels of swearing). The line in question? "Ow! Motherf..."
  • Death by Music Video: In the Animated Music Video for "Party in the CIA", Al plays a young CIA operative undergoing a number of illegal missions to destabilize other countries. He's eventually captured and tortured by the general he's supposed to assassinate, last seen having a good-hearted laugh as he stares down the barrel of a gun.
  • Deconstructive Parody: The original "Whatever You Like" is a song about a rich rapper buying whatever his girlfriend wants. Weird Al's parody is about someone who was made broke by the then-recent recession and treats his girlfriend to things like White Castle and Government Cheese.
  • A Degree in Useless: The aspiring actor in "Skipper Dan" who ends up hating his life as "a tour guide on the Jungle Cruise ride."
    I shoulda listened when my grandfather said
    'Why don't you major in business instead?'
  • Die Laughing: In the video for "Party in the CIA", one of the agency's enemies (the one Al failed to kill) have caught up with Al, and Al dies this way.
  • Digital Head Swap: Al had his face digitally placed on a female dance model in the video for "Perform This Way".
  • Discredited Meme: Invoked; in "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me," Al calls out anyone who clutters people's inboxes with basic and outdated attempts at internet humor.
    You're passing around the link to some dumb thing on YouTube
    That everybody else already saw three years ago
    And wacky, badly-Photoshopped billboards were never that amusing to me
  • Disturbed Doves: These show up in the music video for "If That Isn't Love" during a couple of repeats of the chorus.
  • Doo-Wop Progression: The chorus of "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me" uses it.
  • Downer Ending:
    • "Party In the CIA" readily comes to mind, as the protagonist is captured and is about to be executed.
    • Averted by "TMZ", which is more of a downer song with a sort of heroic The Dog Bites Back ending.
  • Driven to Suicide: Al threatens to slit his wrists if you don't stop forwarding that crap to him.
  • Edible Theme Clothing: "Perform This Way", a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" themed around her notoriously bizarre public shenanigans, references her infamous meat dress in the second chorus. The music video accordingly features a model in a recreation of said dress, with Al's face superimposed onto her.
    I strap prime rib to my feet, cover myself with raw meat
    I'll bet you've never seen a skirt steak worn this way!
  • Embarrassing Ringtone: "Ringtone" is about this:
    "Why did I buy the stupid ringtone?
    I just can't imagine now
    what I was thinking at all!
    (Really, what was I thinking?)
    My friends all stare at me whenever I get a call!
    Well, everybody (everybody)
    everybody (everybody)
    everybody in the world really hates my ringtone!"
  • Enemy Eats Your Lunch: When the CIA spy in the "Party in the CIA" music video shoots a South American dictator who shows up next to him at a bar, he takes the dictator's drink with him when he leaves.
  • Everyone Has Standards: The narrator of "Perform This Way" admits that even he would never wear white after Labor Day.
  • Eye Scream: In "Perform This Way", Al sings "I'll poke your eye out with a dress like this," and in the video, Al as Lady Gaga pokes a dancer's eye out with sharp protrusions from the dress, causing a Stock Scream.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: In "CNR", Charles Nelson Reilly goes onstage and starts attacking Weird Al's band, then smashes the "screen".
  • Genius Bruiser: Charles Nelson Reilly was, according to Al, an eight-foot-tall ninja warrior who could rip out your heart And Show It to You. He also figured out cold fusion (although he kept it a secret).
  • Glurge Addict: Whoever sends Al those emails in "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me" seems to have an obsession with all things saccharine and schmaltzy.
    No it isn't okay if you brighten my day
    With some cut-n-pasted, hackneyed Hallmark poetry

    No, I don't want a bowl of Chicken Soup for the Soul

    Glittery hearts and unicorns and pictures of somebody's cat
    Now tell me, in what alternate reality would I care about something like that?
  • Gratuitous French: Parodied in "Perform This Way".
    And for no reason now I'll sing in French
    Excusez-moi, Qui a pété?     (Translation: Excuse me, who farted?)
  • Hated by All: Everyone despises Al's ringtone. His wife, his friends, his neighbors, his coworkers, total strangers — everyone.
    "Chinese factory workers (they hate my ringtone)
    Muslim women in burqas (really hate my ringtone)
    Starving kids in Angola (they hate my ringtone)
    Even folks with ebola (just hate my ringtone)
    All the nuns and nannies (all the welfare mothers)
    All the Pakistanis (all the Wayans brothers)
    Everyone on the land, everyone in the sea
    Every single person everywhere unanimously!"
  • Hollywood Silencer: A sound effect in "Party In The CIA". Lampshaded by the lyric "And my silencer was on".
  • Human Head on the Wall: The video for "CNR" has a brief look at a wall in Charles Nelson Reilly's house which is covered with trophy heads. One of them is human. Even better: it's Chuck Norris.
  • Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Parodied on the album cover, with Al being one of the four horsemen, replacing Famine. Appropriate, given how many of his songs are about food.
  • I Am Not Shazam: "Perform This Way" has the line "I'm Frankenstein, I'm Avatar". Not an Example of Cowboy BeBop at His Computer though, as it was deliberately invoked.
  • I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You: From "Party In The CIA"
    "Burn that microfilm, buddy, will you?
    I'd tell you why but then I'd have to kill you"
  • Institutional Apparel: Parodied with "Weird Al" as Lady Gaga dressed in a gold lame straight jacket in the video for "Perform This Way".
  • In the Style of:
  • It's All About Me: "If That Isn't Love".
  • Lame Pun Reaction: In "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me," Al bemoans all the "corny jokes" and "cringe-inducing puns" that get emailed to him on a regular basis.
  • Longest Song Goes Last: The album ends with "Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me" (5:42).
  • Lyrical Dissonance: "Skipper Dan" and "Party in the CIA".
  • Man on Fire: In "Perform This Way".
    I'll wrap my small intestines around my neck
    And set fire to myself on stage.
  • Medley: "Polka Face". Songs featured, in order:
  • Memetic Badass: Invoked by "CNR", a song all about the incredible Chuck Norris-esque feats of Charles Nelson Reilly.
  • Naked People Are Funny: From "Perform This Way":
    Hope you won't think it's cliché if I go nude today
    Don't call the cops now, baby, I perform this way
  • Parody Assistance:
    • The late Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for The Doors, played keyboards and keyboard bass on the Doors style parody "Craigslist".
    • Taylor Hanson played the piano on the Hanson pastiche "If That Isn't Love".
  • Record Producer: "Weird Al" Yankovic.
  • Shout-Out:
    • To Madonna as a Blonde Ambition Tour lookalike of her says "Express yourself" in the video for "Perform This Way," spoofing the controversy of "Born This Way" supposedly ripping off the melody from Madonna's song.
    • The line from "CNR," "'Cause you can spit in the wind or tug on Superman's cape", is borrowed from the chorus of the Jim Croce song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim".
    • The concept of "CNR" is a take off on the then-popular Chuck Norris Facts.
  • Signed Up for the Dental: According to "Party In the CIA", they have "a better dental plan than the FBI".
  • Special Guest: Ray Manzarek of The Doors played keyboard on "Craigslist".
  • Spoken Word in Music: Al does this in the bridge section of "Craigslist" as a parody of Jim Morrison doing the same in his songs.
  • Stock Scream:
    • From one of the dancers in the video for "Perform This Way" when Al as Lady Gaga pokes his eye out with a sharp protrusion from a dress.
    • The Wilhelm scream is heard in the video for "CNR" when Reilly punches someone.
  • Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: Incredibly subtle example in "Whatever You Like" - the singer calls himself a "sweet guy", setting up the next line for him to declare that when he buys his girlfriend toilet paper, he gets "three-ply". As it turns out, he is so cheap that the line ends with "two-ply" instead.
  • Sunk Cost Fallacy: In "Ringtone", the protagonist explains that he absolutely despises his ringtone, that it's caused him nothing but trouble, and he can't even remember why he bought it in the first place... but he refuses to just delete it because he doesn't want to waste the $1.99 he spent on it.
  • Super Gullible: In "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me," whoever keeps sending Al the titular crap emails tends to go on "paranoid rants" and generally seems to believe all sorts of ludicrous conspiracy theories, urban legends, hoaxes, scams, and superstitions.
    I have high hopes
    Someone'll point you toward Snopes
    And debunk that crazy junk you're spewing constantly
  • Tabloid Melodrama: "TMZ" is the anthem for this trope.
  • Take That!: "TMZ" calls out both the website and the bad celebrity behavior that ends up on it.
  • Triple Nipple: "CNR" claims that Charles Nelson Reilly had a third nipple on the back of his neck.
  • Uniformity Exception: In the video for "Party in the CIA", all the CIA agents are in black and white, except for Al.
  • Waiting for a Break: In "Skipper Dan", the titular character (who was an aspiring theatre actor) has to work on the Jungle Cruise ride to pay the bills.
  • Would Rather Suffer: "CNR" references the Jim Croce "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", which declares that messing around with Jim is an act of being Too Dumb to Live equivalent to tugging on Superman's cape or spitting into the wind. "CNR", on the other hand, declares that you'd be better off tugging on Superman's cape or spitting into the wind than messing around with CNR.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Party in the CIA

Agent Al gets thrown in a van by kidnappers.

Example of:
Vehicular Kidnapping

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top

Party in the CIA

Agent Al gets thrown in a van by kidnappers.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (13 votes)

Example of:

Main / VehicularKidnapping

Media sources:

Report