UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff
| UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||||
| Released | July 18, 1989 | |||
| Recorded | December 20, 1988 - May 25, 1989 | |||
| Genre | Comedy, parody | |||
| Length | 42:28 | |||
| Label |
Rock 'n Roll Records Scotti Brothers |
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| Producer | Rick Derringer | |||
| "Weird Al" Yankovic chronology | ||||
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| Singles from UHF | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff is the sixth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on July 18, 1989. The album is the final of Yankovic's to be produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between December 1988 and May 1989, the album served as the official soundtrack to 1989 film of the same name, although the original score by John Du Prez is omitted. The album's lead single was the titular "UHF", although it was not a hit and did not chart.
The music on UHF is built around pastiches of rock, rap, and pop music of the late-1980s, featuring parodies of songs by Dire Straits, Tone Lōc, Fine Young Cannibals, and R.E.M.. The album also features many "style parodies," or musical imitations of existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists like Harry Chapin, as well as various musical genres like blues. The album also features many music cuts from the film as well as some of the commercials, like "Spatula City", and other parody bits, like "Gandhi II".
Peaking at only 146 on the Billboard 200, the album was not a commercial success, and received only lukewarm critical attention. The UHF soundtrack is one of only a few of Yankovic's studio albums that is not certified either Gold or Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. It would also be Yankovic's last studio album to be released on vinyl record in the US until 2011's Alpocalypse.
Following the success of Yankovic's 1988 album Even Worse, which featured the Michael Jackson spoof "Fat", Yankovic pitched a screenplay co-written by his manager Jay Levey called UHF to Orion Pictures. A satire of the television and film industries, the film starred Yankovic as George Newman, a man who stumbles into managing a low-budget UHF television station and finds success with his eclectic programming choices. Also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought the floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop. Although the movie made slightly over US$6 million domestically — out of a budget of $5 million — it was considered unsuccessful.
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Wikipedia