W.O.C.K On Vinyl: Weird Al Yankovic - Jurassic Park (1993)

 Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song / album at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.

"Jurassic Park" is a parody of Richard Harris's version of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park", written and performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic; it was released both as a single and as part of Yankovic's Alapalooza album in October 1993. "Jurassic Park" was penned by Yankovic after he remembered the enjoyment he had when he combined a classic rock track with a recent movie topic with his 1985 song "Yoda". Yankovic decided to combine the plot of the recent movie Jurassic Park—a film about a park on a fictional island where geneticists have succeeded in cloning dinosaurs—with the classic Richard Harris track "MacArthur Park".

The song was paired with an elaborately animated music video, which was created by Mark Osborne and Scott Nordlund almost entirely via claymation. The video did not receive extensive play on MTV, although it was popular on The Box, VH1, and in Canada, where it was played on Much Music. The video, due to its animation, also later went on to be praised at various animation festivals worldwide.

"Jurassic Park" was met with mixed to positive reviews; while many reviewers enjoyed Yankovic's humor, others felt that the song did not satirize the source material, but instead merely recounted the plot to the movie. Webb himself was very pleased with the final result and has been known to sing the parody lyrics in concert. Although the single did not chart in the United States, it peaked at number 5 on the Canadian magazine The Record's single chart. The video was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video at the 37th Grammy Awards, although it did not win.

Early versions of the cover artwork had a red background to better resemble the Jurassic Park logo. The design was later changed to feature a yellow background out of fear that retail shoppers would confuse Alapalooza with the Jurassic Park movie soundtrack, despite the fact that Alapalooza had a sticker reading "No, this is NOT the 'Jurassic Park' soundtrack" glued to the shrinkwrap. When Warner/Elektra/Atlantic reissued Alapalooza in mid-1996, the original red-background artwork started to resurface.

This months WOCK on vinyl presents another clever parody by Mr Weird himself Al Yankovic.  I thought it appropriate to showcase his Jurassic Park musical take off, as the original movie Jurassic Park celebrated its 30th Birthday this month.  The Weirdness that applies to all Al Yankovic 's musical parodies definitely makes him a candidate for the WOCK on vinyl hall of fame. Hope you enjoy this one and if you are looking for more, why not take a look at these as well.

Ripped to FLAC, this post also includes full CD artwork, the lyrics and the humour which it brings.

Track List

1. Jurassic Park (3:53)

2. Frank's 2000" TV (4:04)

Jurassic Park Link (56Mb)