Home  ›  I'm Going to the Hardware Store

I'm Going to the Hardware Store

Written By Friday, February 25, 2022 Add Comment Edit

2003 studio anthology by "Weird Al" Yankovic

Poodle Hat
A man is standing in the middle of a subway car, wearing a suit. He is surrounded by seemingly normal people (e.g. commuters); however, the man has a poodle sitting atop his head.
Studio album past

"Weird Al" Yankovic
Released May 20, 2003
Recorded March 25, 2002 – March 21, 2003
Genre
  • Comedy
  • parody
Length 54:38
Label Volcano
Producer "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic chronology
Running with Scissors
(1999) 		Poodle Chapeau
(2003) 		Direct Outta Lynwood
(2006)

Poodle Hat is the eleventh studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on May 20, 2003. It was the fifth studio album cocky-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop of the early-2000s. The anthology's lead single, "Burrow Potato", is a parody of "Lose Yourself" past Eminem. The single failed to nautical chart, although the album's song "eBay" (a parody of "I Want Information technology That Way" by Backstreet Boys) eventually peaked at xv on the Bubbles Under Hot 100 Singles in 2007.

The album featured five parodies. Bated from the aforementioned "Couch Spud" and "eBay", the album also spoofs "Hot in Herre" past Nelly, "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne, and "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. The anthology includes six original songs, featuring many "fashion parodies", or musical imitations of existing artists. These mode parodies include imitations of specific artists like Ben Folds, Beck, and Frank Zappa. A polka medley of popular songs was also included on the album. A music video for the song "Couch Murphy" was planned just was cancelled due to objections by Eminem.

Poodle Chapeau was released as an Enhanced CD, meaning that when the disc is placed in a computer, bonus content (including alternate song mixes, brusque videos, and photo galleries) is viewable. The album met with mixed reviews from critics; some felt that the album represented an artistic misstep for Yankovic, whereas others enjoyed its skewering of early 2000s popular culture. The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200. The anthology also peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart, making information technology the first of Yankovic's records to earn a position on said nautical chart.

Production [edit]

Originals [edit]

Ben Folds

Dweezil Zappa playing the guitar

Both Ben Folds and Dweezil Zappa are featured on the album, performing on the tracks "Why Does This Ever Happen to Me?" and "Genius in France", respectively; the former spoofs the fashion of Folds himself, whereas the other is a pastiche of Dweezil's father, Frank.

On March 25, 2002, recording for Poodle Lid officially began at Santa Monica Sound Records, in Santa Monica, California. By mid-2002, half dozen originals—"Hardware Store", "Party at the Leper Colony", "Wanna B Ur Lovr", "Why Does This E'er Happen to Me?", "Bob", and "Genius in France"—had been recorded.[i] The album's first original song is "Hardware Store", which is a list vocal that, equally the title suggests, is most a new neighborhood hardware shop and the things that tin can exist purchased therein.[2] The song was originally supposed to be a way parody of some other (unspecified) artist, but information technology eventually evolved into its own, original limerick.[iii] "Party At The Leper Colony" describes a political party at a leper colony. The song makes heavy use of wordplay, using common English idioms to describe events wherein people literally lose body parts (eastward.g. "Trip the light fantastic all night to a rotten band/Come on, people, let's requite 'em a hand").[two] "Wanna B Ur Lovr", a pastiche of Midnite Vultures-era Beck, consists of choice-up lines which become steadily more ridiculous and suggestive.[2] [iv] Because the spelling of the vocal's title recalls the manner in which Prince titled many of his records, Yankovic specified on his website that the "song is really intended to sound similar me trying to sound like Beck trying to sound like Prince" [emphasis in original].[4]

"Why Does This Ever Happen to Me?" emulates the style of Ben Folds.[5] According to music critic Nathan Rabin, the vocal "amplifies the noxious self-absorption of the American character to hilarious extremes" by describing a narrator who, upon hearing almost a number of horrible tragedies, only complains well-nigh the (minor) inconveniences that affect him.[2] [5] [6] Folds himself plays pianoforte on the rail. Yankovic subsequently told The A.V. Lodge: "Ben and I are old friends at this betoken, and of course I sought his keyboard work for that song. Then he came in and knocked information technology out. I think that'south an F-Precipitous, so he was kind of mad at me for that."[5] "Bob" is a fashion parody of Bob Dylan, composed entirely of palindromes (for instance, the song's first line is "I, man, am purple—a German am I", which reads the same when reversed).[two] [7] Rabin argues that the song'south lyrics "audio cryptic enough to be genuine Dylanesque, but are in fact palindromes deliver in an uncanny re-cosmos of Dylan's nasal whine."[6] The album'due south closer, "Genius in France", emulates the idiosyncratic style of Frank Zappa.[7] [eight] Zappa's son, Dweezil performed the song's intro guitar solo.[nine] Lyrically, the song describes a person who, although rejected elsewhere, finds credence in France.[2]

Parodies and polka [edit]

On March 21, 2003, Yankovic began working on the album's parody songs, as well as the record's polka medley.[ane] The album opens with the parody "Couch Potato", a play on Eminem'due south "Lose Yourself", the critically acclaimed single from the film 8 Mile (2002). In Yankovic's version, the vocaliser describes his obsession with watching television; the song references many Idiot box shows, as well as cable and network channels.[2] Prior to recording "Couch Potato", Yankovic researched television so that his resulting parody would exist authentic. He noted, "If I'm writing a vocal nearly Television set, I'll spend a lot of time watching TV. I'll report TV Guide, I'll wait at articles about television, and I'll attempt to make sure I'm giving every show its fair practice [sic]. I tin can besides spend all 24-hour interval watching Television and convince myself that I'g working, because I'm doing inquiry."[ten]

The album's second parody, "Trash Twenty-four hour period", is a parody of "Hot in Herre" past Nelly. In this song, the narrator discusses the filthiness of his business firm and bemoans the titular mean solar day wherein people place their garbage outside of their living quarters to exist picked up by a waste product collector and brought to a landfill.[2] "A Complicated Vocal" is spoof of "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. The song is composed of three vignettes: in the offset, the singer laments that he is constipated, in the second, he discovers that he and his girlfriend are related, and in the 3rd, he expresses regret that he recently was decapitated.[2] "Ode to a Super Hero" is a play on Baton Joel's song "Piano Homo", and recounts to the plot of the 2002 Spider-Man picture.[two]

eBay company logo from 1995–2012

The anthology'southward final parody is "eBay", based on "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys. In this song, the narrator describes a variety of obscure items that he purchased on the online auction site eBay. Yankovic subsequently noted, "I was going to shoot a video for eBay, but right at the same fourth dimension, eBay started doing all of these commercials with song parodies. [...] I didn't want my parody to come off equally a commercial for eBay. In retrospect, I probably should have done a video because information technology would have been one of my biggest hits."[11] Indeed, the vocal is one of Yankovic'due south most pop, and ranks every bit one of his most-downloaded tracks on digital music outlets.[11]

"Angry White Boy Polka", a medley of popular hit songs set to a polka beat, was recorded at the same time every bit the anthology's parodies.[i] Yankovic explained, "[The medley] is a reflection on what songs I think would sound most ridiculous done as a polka [...] and for the [...] album, it reflected a genre of music that I thought probably would benefit from getting a polka treatment."[10]

Artwork and packaging [edit]

The comprehend of the CD depicts Yankovic with a poodle on his head, continuing in a crowded subway car. The poodle in question was Yankovic's own canis familiaris, Bela. Before deciding on the final shot of his poodle, Yankovic and his production crew tried a setup that featured Bela urinating on his head, but Yankovic later admitted, "It was more icky than funny."[12] In regards to the people standing behind him in the subway car, Yankovic specified via the "Ask Al" Q&A on his website:

Well, allow'southward run into… the guy with the poodle on his head would be me. The very significant woman with the sunglasses is my wife Suzanne. The guy in the surgical scrubs is my friend Joel Miller. The woman in the foreground with her legs crossed is my first-cousin-once-removed Tammy (who as well played Queen Amidala in my video for "The Saga Begins"). Uh Jeff, the guy that screens my fan mail, is the guy wearing the NY Yankees cap manner in the back. Steve Jay'south son Ian is the really alpine blond bicycle messenger. Tracy Berna, 1 of the writers for The Weird Al Show, is the waitress with the beehive pilus-do. The Male child Scout is Dylan Bostick, the oldest son of ane of Suzanne's oldest friends. Bermuda's wife Leslie is in at that place besides. Plus there'due south my mother-in-constabulary, my male parent-in-law, my electrician, a couple from my church, the owner of my favorite ice cream shop, my aunt's young man… I recall we got maybe ii or 3 people from the casting office, merely the overwhelming majority were friends and family unit members that but wanted to come to the shoot.[13]

The album was released on an Enhanced CD, and when the CD is placed into a computer, bonus content is made available. This content includes several of Yankovic's existent dwelling house videos and his commentary on them, as well as synchronized lyrics and instrumental or audio-visual versions of some songs. A photo gallery is also included.[14]

Music video controversy [edit]

Eminem performing

The album'south opening track is "Couch Spud", a parody of Eminem'southward (pictured) single "Lose Yourself". Although Eminem approved of the parody, he vetoed Yankovic'southward request to motion-picture show a music video.

A music video for "Couch White potato" was to be shot shortly later the anthology'south release, simply Eminem denied Yankovic permission to shoot it. Yankovic told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2003:

Nosotros were already in pre-production. We believed that it was just a formality, that Eminem only wanted to hear the terminal mix of the song... And and then we got a telephone call maxim he was not going to give permission for a video. We were devastated [...] I certainly don't have whatever bad feelings toward Eminem. He was gracious enough to allow us use the song on the anthology—and we use "The Real Slim Shady" in the "Aroused White Male child Polka" medley, too. Simply this is the first album I've always released without an accompanying video.[xv]

According to Yankovic, Eminem worried that a parody of his video might "detract from his legacy [and] that [...] would somehow make people take him less seriously equally an important hip-hop artist".[16] Yankovic was rather upset that a video for "Burrow Irish potato" would non be fabricated, equally he felt that it would take been "the best video that [he had] ever done".[sixteen] Yankovic later on revealed that the video would have taken on the class a "'patchwork quilt' montage spoofing the most famous scenes from Eminem'southward videos."[16]

Yankovic mocked the situation on his 2003 Al Television set special where he staged a mock interview with the rapper using footage from a existent Eminem interview on MTV News. Eminem said, "I believe in... artistic expression." Yankovic countered with, "And so you remember, for example if somebody wanted to practise, oh, I don't know, a parody of somebody else's video, they should be able to... artistically limited themselves and just do it?" Eminem was shown at a loss for words.[17] Eminem afterwards discussed the mock interview in the book The Fashion I Am, wherein he claimed to have taken the jab in good fun:

Weird Al also got me. He fabricated a video, did a imitation interview with me, spliced it with clips from my old interviews, and put it up on the Internet. He'southward a very funny motherfucker. When something like that happens, you lot accept to sit down back and say, "Oh, he got me." It'southward something y'all pick up from battles: you learn to be a good sport about a lot of stuff. If you want to dish information technology out, you've got to be able to take it.[18]

So that the album wouldn't be without a video, a quick one for "Bob" was shot and used on the tour and for the 2003 edition of Al TV. The video for "Bob" was subsequently released on "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection DVD (2003).[19]

Critical reception [edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [20]
Entertainment Weekly B[21]
Pitchfork half-dozen.5/10[22]
Billboard Positive[23]
Rolling Stone [24]

The album received mixed reviews from music critics. Evan Serpick of Entertainment Weekly awarded the album a "B". While he felt that "Couch Potato" was, musically, upwardly to par with Eminem'south original, he noted, "It'southward hard to imagine today's tough tykes choosing" to listen to the somewhat tame parody.[21] Serpick also felt that the Nelly and Avril Lavigne parodies were "total of noisome effects and clownish voices that would make fifty-fifty the widest optics roll."[21] He ended his review by praising the album's polka medley, saying it "exposes the songs for the pretentious rock blubbering they are."[21] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic claimed that the album was evidence that "pop culture [was] alee of Weird Al".[20] He felt that many of songs belied an inherent misconception of youth culture on the role of Yankovic, and that with Poodle Hat, the artist was "offering generalizations nearly a culture he doesn't empathize".[20] Only while he claimed that the tape "stumbles over the obviousness and awfulness of its parodies", Erlewine enjoyed "Hardware Store," "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", and "Genius in France" (for being "complicated" and "intricate"; a "sensitive pianoforte pop tune with a proficient transport-up of egotistic lyrics and prissy, layered vocal harmonies"; and "the most ambitious and weirdest thing here, which counts for a lot," respectively).[twenty] The writers of The Rolling Rock Album Guide awarded the album two stars, cogent a record that is "fair to poor" and that "fall[s] below an artist's established standard".[24] A review of the album by Billboard, withal, praised the album, noting that it "crackles with agreeable parodies", proving that Yankovic is "a sharp observer of the world—and that'southward what makes [him] such an enduring, compelling figure."[23]

Accolades [edit]

Poodle Hat won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. This made it his first Grammy Award win since 1988, when his video for "Fat" won for Best Concept Music Video. Part of the reason for this dearth in awards was because, from 1993 until 2003, the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album had been changed to "Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Comedy"—meaning that Yankovic's musical comedy records were not eligible for nomination.[25]

Commercial operation [edit]

Upon its release, Poodle Hat charted domestically at number 17 on the Billboard 200. Information technology also charted at number 12 on Billboard 's Top Internet Albums.[26] [27] Poodle Hat has not been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making information technology i of just a handful of "Weird Al" Yankovic albums to not receive the laurels. Nathan Rabin, in Weird Al: The Book (2012), argues that this is because "Couch Potato" never had a music video, resulting in the album stumbling commercially.[28] [29]

Although no official singles were released from the album, the song "eBay" even so charted at number 15 on Billboard 's Bubbling Nether Hot 100 Singles chart (which, in effect, corresponds to 115 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart).[25]

In late 2013, Yankovic sued his label, Volcano, and its parent company Sony Music for unpaid publishing royalties from several of his albums and singles, including Poodle Hat. Yankovic claimed that—despite the album's success—he never earned royalties from the record. The initial lawsuit was for $v one thousand thousand; Yankovic won the lawsuit and was awarded an undisclosed sum of money from Sony.[xxx]

Track list [edit]

No. Title Writer(southward) Parody of Length
1. "Couch Potato" Jeffrey Bass, Marshall Mathers III, Luis Resto, Alfred Yankovic "Lose Yourself" by Eminem 4:18
two. "Hardware Shop" Yankovic Original[iii] 3:44
3. "Trash Mean solar day" Charles Chocolate-brown, Cornell Haynes Jr., Pharrell Williams, Yankovic "Hot in Herre" by Nelly three:12
4. "Party at the Leper Colony" Yankovic Style parody of the Bo Diddley beat[31] iii:38
5. "Angry White Boy Polka" Various

A polka medley including:

    • "Last Resort" past Papa Roach
    • "Chop Suey!" by System of a Down
    • "Get Costless" past The Vines
    • "Detest to Say I Told You So" by The Hives
    • "Barbarous in Love with a Girl" by The White Stripes
    • "Concluding Nite" by The Strokes
    • "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed
    • "Renegades of Funk" by Rage Against the Motorcar, originally by Afrika Bambaataa
    • "My Way" past Limp Bizkit
    • "Outside" past Staind
    • "Bawitdaba" by Child Rock
    • "Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D.
    • "The Real Slim Shady" past Eminem
    • "Poodle Hat Polka" by "Weird Al" Yankovic
 v:04
six. "Wanna B Ur Lovr" Yankovic Manner parody of Midnite Vultures-era Beck[4] half-dozen:14
7. "A Complicated Song" Avril Lavigne, Yankovic "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne 3:forty
eight. "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" Yankovic Style parody of Ben Folds[5] four:52
nine. "Ode to a Superhero" Billy Joel, Yankovic "Piano Human being" by Baton Joel iv:53
10. "Bob" Yankovic Style parody of Bob Dylan[7] 2:29
11. "eBay" Andreas Carlsson, Martin Sandberg, Yankovic "I Want Information technology That Way" by Backstreet Boys iii:36
12. "Genius in France" Yankovic Fashion parody of Frank Zappa[seven] [eight] 8:58

Personnel [edit]

Adapted from the Poodle Chapeau liner notes and the official "Weird Al" Yankovic website.[2] [ix]

Charts and certifications [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c "'Weird Al' Yankovic: Recording Dates". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Archived from the original on September 13, 2006. Retrieved September 15, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d eastward f g h i j m Poodle Hat (liner). "Weird Al" Yankovic. Volcano Records. 2003. {{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ a b Yankovic, Alfred (July 15, 2014). "['Weird Al' Yankovic confirming that both 'Midnight Star' and 'Nature Trail to Hell' are not fashion parodies]". Reddit. IAmA. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Yankovic, Alfred M. (August 2003). "'Ask Al' Q&As for August seven, 2003". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site . Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d Rabin, Nathan (June 29, 2011). "Prepare Listing: 'Weird Al' Yankovic". The A.V. Club. Chicago, Illinois: The Onion, Inc. Archived from the original on July one, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  6. ^ a b Rabin and Yankovic 2012, p. 161.
  7. ^ a b c d Moss, Corey (May 7, 2003). "Weird Al Parodies 'Lose Yourself' But Won't Spoof Em's Video". VH1. Archived from the original on December 26, 2004. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Anderson, Kyle (July 3, 2014). "'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Stories Behind The Songs". Amusement Weekly . Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Players". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site . Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Gonshor, Adam (June xviii, 2003). "Interview: Weird Al Talks eBay, Simpsons, Joey Fatone". ANDPop. Channel Naught. Retrieved December twenty, 2016.
  11. ^ a b Bosso, Joe (April 15, 2012). "Weird Al Yankovic: My 10 Greatest Song Parodies of All Fourth dimension". MusicRadar . Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  12. ^ Rabin and Yankovic 2012, p. 163.
  13. ^ Yankovic, Alfred G. (August 2003). "'Enquire Al' Q&Every bit for July 5, 2003". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Spider web Site . Retrieved December twenty, 2016.
  14. ^ "Poodle Lid by Weird Al Yankovic". Sanity. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  15. ^ Vrabel, Jeff (July 25, 2003). "Speaking With... 'Weird Al'". Chicago Sun-Times.
  16. ^ a b c Grossberg, Josh (May 12, 2003). "Eminem Disses Weird Al". Eastward! News . Retrieved Dec xix, 2016.
  17. ^ Al Yankovic (author) (June 17, 2003). "Al Television receiver #9 - Poodle Lid". Al Television. VH1.
  18. ^ Eminem 2009, p. 88.
  19. ^ 'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection (DVD). Los Angeles, New York City: Volcano Entertainment. 2003.
  20. ^ a b c d Stephen Thomas Erlewine (May twenty, 2003). "Poodle Hat - Weird Al Yankovic | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic . Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  21. ^ a b c d Serpick, Evan (June 7, 2003). "Poodle Hat Review". Amusement Weekly . Retrieved Apr 1, 2012.
  22. ^ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. ""Weird Al" Yankovic - Piano accordion: The Consummate Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  23. ^ a b Paoletta, Michael, ed. (June 14, 2003). "Albums". Billboard . Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  24. ^ a b Brackett et al. 2004, pp. seven, 893.
  25. ^ a b c Yankovic, Alfred (2003). "Awards". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved Dec 11, 2008.
  26. ^ a b "Weird Al Yankovic – Nautical chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  27. ^ a b "Top Internet Albums". Billboard. June 7, 2003. p. 76. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  28. ^ Rabin and Yankovic 2012, p. 156.
  29. ^ Rabin and Yankovic 2012, p. 162.
  30. ^ Eakin, Marah (December 18, 2013). "'Weird Al' Yankovic Only Cashed in on a Major Lawsuit Against His Record Label". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  31. ^ Cunningham, Jen (September 23, 2015). "10 Times "Weird Al" Parodied Pre-1980s Hits (And Was Awesome)". REBEAT Magazine . Retrieved Dec 26, 2018.
  32. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic – Nautical chart History: One-act Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 24, 2010.

Works cited

  • Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide . New York City, New York. pp. vii, 893. ISBN9780743201698.
  • Eminem (2009). The Way I Am. Plumage. p. 88. ISBN9780452296121.
  • Rabin, Nathan; Yankovic, Alfred M. (September 25, 2012). Weird Al: The Book. Abrams Prototype. ISBN9781419704352.

0 Response to "I'm Going to the Hardware Store"

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel