"Weird Al" Yankovic – "Hot Rocks Polka" (1989)

 

If I could stick my pen in my heart

And spill it all over the stage

Would it satisfy you? 

If you ask me – or even if you don’t – I would say that the best radio show that’s currently on the air is Drew Carey’s “Friday Night Freak-Out” show on Sirius/XM.

Yes, I’m talking about the same Drew Carey who hosts The Price Is Right – one of the lowest-common-denominator game shows in history. 

Carey’s playlists are incredibly eclectic and interesting.  He includes some well-known classic rock – Beatles, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, etc. – but relies mostly on obscure garage rock, hardcore punk, and crazy novelty records.  I’d say that I’ve never heard at least half of the records he features.

Drew Carey

For example, one set from his most recent show kicked things off with “Never F*ckin Know” by Poutyface.  It’s a song sung by a girl who went to a party at a stranger’s house and woke up the next morning unable to remember anything about the random guy she had sex with after getting blackout drunk:

I wash the puke out of my hair

What was I on?  I’m unaware

I guess we’ll never fuckin’ know

I tried to piece it all together

I wish I could remember

I blacked out like a hero

Next came “Ain’t Nice” by the Viagra Boys, a Swedish post-punk band that formed in 2015:

I’ll borrow your stuff and never put it back

I’m kinda hungry, can you give me a snack?

I ain’t nice, I ain’t nice, I ain’t nice

Then we heard the truly remarkable “Mutha F*kka On a Motorcycle” – a 2000 hit for the Australian band, Machine Gun Fellatio:

Well, my pills are white

My leather’s black

My chick grips tight

To my mutha f*kken back

‘Cause I'm a mutha f*kka on a motorcycle

Carey delivered the coup de grace with the final record in his set, which was “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Polkas on 45” – a medley that begins with an excerpt from Devo’s “Jocko Homo” and also includes snippets from “Smoke on the Water,” “Hey Jude,” “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” “L.A. Woman,” “Burning Down the House,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and Lawrence Welk’s theme song, “Bubbles in the Wine” . . . all performed polka-style.

That is one set out of a dozen or so that Carey plays every week, boys and girls.  “Friday Night Freak-Out” airs Friday nights between 800p and 1100p Eastern on Sirius/XM’s channel 21 (“Underground Garage”).

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I’m not a huge “Weird Al” fan, and I wasn’t aware that most of his albums contain medleys of polka-style covers.

“Weird Al” Yankovic

“Polkas on 45” – which was released in 1984 on his second studio album, “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D –   was the first of his 12 polka medleys.

Today, we’re featuring his fourth polka medley, Hot Rocks Polka.  The title of that medley – which includes excerpts from a dozen Rolling Stones hits – was inspired by the Stones’ famous “greatest hits” album, Hot Rocks 1964–1971.  

However, only nine of the 12 songs in the medley are on the Hot Rocks 1964-1971 album – “It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It),” “Miss You.” and “Shattered” were released after 1971.

Click here to listen to “Hot Rocks Polka.”

Click on the link below to buy that record from Amazon: