Best Last Tracks

[joseyklein]

I'll take a wack at it here........

1.Nature Trail To Hell - Always been my favorite song on In 3-D. I love horror movies and predates White Zombie for the horror rock qualities.

2. Albuquerque - this needs no explenation, hands down one of the best.

3. Ball of Twine - Great story telling; I still haven't had beer with pickled wieners, don't know if I'll try.

4. Bohemian Polka - Love the original, the way this one is set up makes it hilarious. Love the SFX.

5. Santa Went Crazy - Love the Ozzy-esk intro, the extra gory version should have been on the album.

6. Ground Zero - Another great Christmas song, very catchy, but due to 9/11.. ground zero has new meaning.

7. You Don't Love Me Anymore - Hilarious. Video improves the song greatly.

8. Good Old Days - The best of the soft ballad songs, love the subtle way he goes about telling the story.

9. Don't Download This Song - Great song, a little dated on the subject, love the Lars Ulrich reference.

10. Hooked On Polkas - Don't know why it was the ending track, but still a solid polka.

11. Genius In France - Love the subject matter, love the Zappa vibe, went on for too long.. very repetitious.

12. Mr. Frump - Great for the first album... Al has come a loooooong way... good for nostalgia though.

13. Forwarding Crap - Love the jokes at the beginning, but it gets so repetitive that I shut it off.

[TheLazenby]

Iamabrawler, "Biggest Ball of Twine" wasn't even supposed to be a country parody.

It was a nod to folk-rock balladeer Harry Chapin - especially his comedic track "30,000 Pounds of Bananas."

[Bruce the Duck]

Well, I don`t see what`s so pro-Christmas in Santa snapping and killing all his reindeers, as well as getting real close to murdering all his employees.

It's not "pro-Christmas", but it certainly isn't "anti-Christmas" either. You're setting up a false dichotomy wherein the song must necessarily be either for or against Christmas. The song doesn't appear to have any message one way or another about Christmas. Al's songs rarely have any position about the topics they discuss.

[TMBJon]

All I'm saying is I like The Night Santa Went Crazy because it satirizes or lampoons the idea of Santa Claus and Christmas itself, which I find funny. I'm sure that's the same reason everyone likes it.

[Way_Moby]

1. You Don't Love Me Anymore - This song is so beautiful, but its lyrics are so horrible terrible at the same time. The Extreme parody video is also excellent and is one of his best video parodies. Part of me wishes this could've somehow been a "More Than Words" parody in and of itself.
2. Albuquerque - I don't care that this song is 11 minutes long, it is so ridiculously long and stupid that it is just awesome. Even though I do skip it a lot, I think that's part of the song; it's supposed to not be on everyone's playlist. It's got such a zany plot too.
3. Don't Download This Song - I'm one of the few who actually likes this song and its video. SOL holds a special place in my heart, because that's when I became a born-again Al fan, and this song was the second 'new' Weird Al song I had heard (after "White & Nerdy"). Also, I love the faux-charity feel.
4. Nature Trail To Hell - This is my second favorite song off of In 3-D (after "Eat It"). I love the backmasking, the creepy factor, and the general feel of the tune. It's macabre! It's awesome!
5. Genius in France - I speak (very very broken and bad) French, so this song is particularly funny. I enjoy the French culture, so the whole joke is awesome (I'm using that word a lot, aren't I?) Much like Albuquerque, this song is super long, probably for the sake of it. Also, Frank Zappa is the man.
6. Christmas At Ground Zero - Christmas and bombs? Yes. How can you not like this song.
7. The Night Santa Went Crazy - This song is good in the same way "Christmas at Ground Zero" is. It's so horrible and dark, you just can't deny how funny it is. I like this song less than C@GZ because I feel like the joke has already been played (*Ahem* See C@GZ).
8. Bohemian Polka - This is a pretty funny polka, erm, thing, but it's not my favorite (That would go to "The Alternative Polka"). However, taking on such an ambitious song was, well, ambitious, and thus, I applaud Al for his efforts.
9. Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota - Don't get me wrong, I like this song, I just thing when compared to some of his other zany enders (Albuquerque), it just isn't the same (I!M!O!). I do like the line about pickled wieners for some reason... (Please, no Freud jokes).
10. Good Old Days - This is a very good song, but YDLMA is the same joke only better.
11. Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me - I just can't seem to get into this song that much. Too repetitive I feel. The next part is more personal. Plus, my (serious) foray into emailing was about 4 years ago. This song would've been funnier for me on SOL.
12. Mr. Frump In The Iron Lung - This song is cute, but it's nothing compared to Al's later work. Plus, it's very depressing. Although, a plus, it uses the accordion in a very cool way.
13. Hooked On Polkas - This ends DTBS on a fast note, but not a particularly good note. The medley isn't bad, but seeing it near the end makes it rather skipable. I think "Yoda" would've been the best ender for DTBS for several reasons. A) The song has a gently, relaxing, yet funny feel. Perfect way to end the album; on a high note. B ) The fade out would be a very good way to end an album.

That is all.

[mrmeadows]

1. Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota -- Have to agree that this is not only the best album closer ever, it's one of Al's best songs period.

2. Good Old Days -- I have always loved this song, and it was a favorite among me and my friends in high school. We wanted to do it for our year-end "Senior Follies" show, but it got shot down as "too tasteless". Whatever.

3. Genius In France -- The one-joke aspect of this doesn't bother me a bit. . .I'm amazed at how well Al nailed Zappa's style, and it's a really fun song to sing along to. Excellent.

4. Bohemian Polka -- This is not only a great polka and great album closer, the concept of doing a "polka" version of a "rhapsody" was brilliant way to both send-up the at-the-time resurgence of the Queen song and give the album its obligatory polka.

5. You Don't Love Me Anymore -- Although the general style always struck me as a little derivative of Good Old Days (slow song with primarily Al and a guitar), the lyrics are hilarious. Great song.

6. Christmas at Ground Zero -- My favorite of the Christmas songs. Agree with Jon that he should have actually used the Reagan sound bite in the album version.

7. Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me -- Again, not sure if it's because of the newness, but I really enjoy this one. Derivative of DDTS, but it's funnier overall and easier to relate to. I love those corny big rock ballads from the 80's too, so that adds to my enjoyment.

8. Mr. Frump In the Iron Lung -- The only throwaway track he's ever used to end an album, but there's something likable about it. Invokes Mad Magazine's Don Martin not only in grotesque subject matter but with the name "Frump", and I've always appreciated that.

9. Nature Trail to Hell -- Very cool album closer, and one of his first "epic" songs. A staple on my Halloween party mix tapes.

10. Albuquerque -- I'm not as enamored of this one as some, but I guess it deserves to be in the Top 10. I remember being disappointed when I found out how closely it resembled that song by The Rugburns when I'd thought it was 100% Al the whole time. Still, it's a fun song and I'm glad I got to see him do it live on the last tour.

11. Don't Download This Song -- Good song, and probably the best choice for the SOL closer, but just not really all that funny.

12. The Night Santa Went Crazy -- Tough call between this and DDTS for the 12 spot, almost a toss-up. I think in the end while this song might be a little funnier I just don't enjoy the musical style all that much. I don't care for Christmas songs in general, and this one does almost too good a job at sounding like a legitimate one. I really have to be in the mood for it.

13. Hooked On Polkas -- Agree that this was a really dumb choice to end the album with. One of his weakest polkas, too. However, I don't think I would have ended with "Yoda", since almost all of his closers are originals ("Bohemian Polka" notwithstanding). I think "One More Minute" or even "Dare to Be Stupid" would have made superior album closers.

[HappyGilmore]

What does it have to do with this anyway? I also like anti-Christmas songs, because when December comes by, I get very rapidly fed up of all those dumb Christmas songs that we hear 5 times per day. When December comes, I usually listen to CAGZ and TNSWC.

Not here. Where I live, we have like, 2 radio stations that play Christmas songs, nonstop, 24/7, from roughly November 2-December 28th. One year, we had a total of FIVE stations that started at 3pm HALLOWEEN. It's crazy. So I play Al's two songs and the South Park holiday cd, and Dr. Demento's Demented Christmas to help me out.

Back on topic: "Hooked on Polkas" was a terrible idea for a closer. Is there any chance there was supposed to be a twelth song that fell through, and he was stuck with 11, so this was chosen? No?

[Way_Moby]

I think the album closer was supposed to be "Girls Just Want to Eat Cheese." XD

[HappyGilmore]

I think the album closer was supposed to be "Girls Just Want to Eat Cheese." XD

Should've done a Hall and Oates parody.

Granted they showed up in the polka. Eh.

[TMBJon]

I just listened to Hooked On Polkas. It's still the worst last track, but I have to give Al credit for ending his third album with the line, "when you want to cooommmmmeee!!!!"