Even Worse

By 1988 Weird Al Yankovic must have known that he really had something back in 1984 when lampooning Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” with the wonderfully juvenile “Eat It.” Even Worse runs with that gag all the way to the album’s title and cover art, which culminated in the hilarious single and video, “Fat,” a rip on Jackson’s “Bad.” Returning to the roasting of Jackson via references to food and (this time around) morbid obesity, the brilliance of the parody is in the continuation to poke fun at Jackson’s over-posed arrogance; in “Beat It” Jackson played the harbinger of street violence and in “Bad” he attempted to personify it. But Even Worse is much more than just another Jackson ribbing. With his take on Tiffany’s cover of Tommy James & The Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now,” Yankovic reveals the lighter side of science fiction movies in pure Mad magazine fashion with “I Think I’m a Clone Now.” Coincidentally Tommy James takes another one for the team when Yankovic turns Billy Idol’s rendition of “Mony Mony” into the divorcee’s lament “Alimony.”