UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff

UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff
Soundtrack album by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Released	July 18, 1989
Recorded	December 1988 to May 1989
Genre	Comedy, soundtrack, hard rock, pop rap, polka, pop rock, alternative dance, chicago blues, instrumental rock, alternative rock, folk rock
Length	42:28
Label	Warner Brothers
Producer	Rick Derringer
"Weird Al" Yankovic chronology
"Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits (1988) UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989) Off the Deep End (1992)
Singles from UHF
"UHF" Released: July 1989 "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*" Released: August 8, 1989 "Isle Thing" Released: August 22, 1989

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone Record Guide
SputnikMusic

UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989) is the sixth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The album featured many music cuts from the film as well as some of the commercials ("Spatula City") and other parody bits ("Gandhi II"). The album also featured new original material such as "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota", which brought the running order up to album length. Skits written by Jay Levey, such as "Conan the Librarian" and "Plots R Us" are omitted, as is the original score by John Du Prez. It would be the last Weird Al album to be released as a vinyl record until 2011's Alpocalypse.

Notable refused parodies

Yankovic had one parody idea that was refused:

• A parody of Prince's hit "Let's Go Crazy" entitled "Beverly Hillbillies". Yankovic revealed in the DVD commentary for "UHF" that the concept "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*" was originally a parody of a Prince song. Prince, however, refused, and has been unreceptive to any parody ideas Yankovic has ever presented him with.

Track listing

Track	Title	Length	(Style) Parody of	Description
1	"Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*"	3:11	"Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" written by Paul Henning	The slightly-altered lyrics of The Beverly Hillbillies theme song set to the tune of "Money for Nothing". The song appears in its entirety within the film as a computer-animated music video/dream sequence. As part of his terms that allowed Yankovic to record this parody, Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler plays guitar on the track.
2	"Gandhi II"	1:00	Original	A commercial parody re-imagining Mahatma Gandhi as the hero of a blaxploitation-style sequel to the film Gandhi. Gandhi was played by director Jay Levey.
3	"Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet near Mars"	3:28	Original	A rock song about a number of mutated hamsters terrorizing the planet.
4	"Isle Thing"	3:37	"Wild Thing" by Tone Lōc	About a girl who introduces the singer to the television show Gilligan's Island, this song is Weird Al's first rap parody (an earlier rap, "Twister", is a Beastie Boys-flavored original). Another Tone Lōc hit, "Funky Cold Medina", is referred to in the lyrics: "Ginger and Mary Ann coulda used some funky cold medina".
5	"The Hot Rocks Polka"	4:50	Polka Medley	A polka medley of the following Rolling Stones songs: "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)" "Brown Sugar" "You Can't Always Get What You Want" "Honky Tonk Women" "Under My Thumb" "Ruby Tuesday" "Miss You" "Sympathy for the Devil" "Get off of My Cloud" "Shattered" "Let's Spend the Night Together" "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" plus: "Ear Booker Polka" by "Weird Al" Yankovic The name of the song refers to Hot Rocks 1964-1971, the Stones' first compilation album, which features most of the songs used in this medley.
6	"UHF"	5:09	Style parody of "State of Shock" by The Jacksons	Title theme to the movie, with lyrics written in the style of a TV station's large promotional campaign.
7	"Let Me Be Your Hog"	0:16	Original	Rock snippet, heard in the movie as Uncle Harvey lounges in his pool. Contains elements of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges.
8	"She Drives Like Crazy"	3:42	"She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals	About a man who fears his girlfriend's crazy driving habits.
9	"Generic Blues"	4:34	Style parody of Chicago blues	"The ultimate blues song", with deliberately clichéd and over-the-top lyrics. According to Yankovic in the liner notes of Permanent Record: Al in the Box, B.B. King mentioned this song as one of his ten favorite blues songs of all time.
10	"Spatula City"	1:07	Original	Commercial for a spatula outlet store.
11	"Fun Zone"	1:45	Instrumental	Theme to Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse, the main show-within-a-show in the film. Originally written for failed Saturday Night Live replacement Welcome to the Fun Zone, this song is played at the beginning of every Weird Al concert.
12	"Spam"	3:12	"Stand" by R.E.M.	An ode to the canned luncheon meat Spam
13	"The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota"	6:50	Style parody of "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" by Harry Chapin	Folk song about a family road trip to a tourist location in Minnesota.

Personnel

• "Weird Al" Yankovic – accordion, keyboards, vocals, backing vocals
• Kim Bullard – synthesizer
• Rick Derringer – guitar, backing vocals
• Steve Jay – bass, backing vocals
• Jimmy Z. – harmonica
• Mark Knopfler – guitar (only on "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*")
• Guy Fletcher – synthesizer (only on "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*")
• Warren Luening – trumpet
• Jim Rose – vocals, announcer
• Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – percussion, drums
• Donny Sierer – saxophone
• The Step Sisters – vocals
• The Waters Sisters – vocals, backing vocals
• Jim West – banjo, guitar (except on "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*"), backing vocals, background music

Production

• Producer: Rick Derringer
• Engineers: Daryll Dobson, Tony Papa
• Assistant engineer: Jamey Dell, Bill Malina
• Arranger: "Weird Al" Yankovic

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1989	The Billboard 200	146

External links

• Music Nerd track by track commentary
• UHF and Other Stuff at MusicBrainz
• UHF linear notes