This Is Comp: Weird Al’s The Alternative Polka (1996), Tracks 1-6

This week, we don our lederhosen and celebrate the return of our compilation series dissecting "Weird Al" Yankovic's polka medleys, on which he rounded up and lovingly lampooned the chart music of the day. Originally released on his 1996 album Bad Hair Day, "The Alternative Polka" was Al's attempt to catalog the emerging radio format of alternative rock, though the artists in this batch cover so much stylistic ground as to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the whole "alternative" label was just a marketing gimmick. Whether it's a real genre or not, we've finally reached the radio hits our hosts grew up listening to, which makes for a fun discussion with a healthy dose of '90s nostalgia.

Tracks:

• Beck - Loser
• Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing
• Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do
• Nine Inch Nails - Closer
• R.E.M. - Bang and Blame
• Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know

Other clips:

• Beck - The New Pollution
• Beck - Soul Suckin' Jerk
• Beck - Get Real Paid
• "Weird Al" Yankovic - Wanna B Ur Lovr
• Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
• "Weird Al" Yankovic - Syndicated Inc.
• Michael Jackson and Sheryl Crow - I Just Can't Stop Loving You
• Sheryl Crow - All Kinds of People
• Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy
• Sheryl Crow - Soak Up the Sun
• "Weird Al" Yankovic - Germs
• Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie
• David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails remix)
• R.E.M. - Crush with Eyeliner
• Talking Heads - The Lady Don't Mind
• "Weird Al" Yankovic - We All Have Cell Phones (live)
• Alanis Morissette - Too Hot
• Alanis Morissette - No Return