Off the Deep End is the seventh studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992.

Half of the album is made up of parodies of Nirvana, MC Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Gerardo, and Milli Vanilli.

These style parodies include imitations of specific artists like the Beach Boys, James Taylor and Jan and Dean.

Off the Deep End was Yankovic's fourth Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of over one million copies in the United States.

A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop.

"[8] By late 1990 five originals—"Airline Amy", "Trigger Happy", "When I Was Your Age", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "Waffle King"—were recorded.

[11] Although they were formerly in love, the "flames died down" and they are no longer passionate—in fact the girl hates Yankovic to such an extent that she repeatedly attempts to kill him.

Because he was concerned that one of the jokes from the song "I Was Only Kidding" might be dated by the time his next album would finally be released—a line that references the movie Wayne's World: "I really love you...

The "song", which consists of several seconds of loud music and Yankovic screaming, appears after 10 minutes of silence following "You Don't Love Me Anymore".

[17][18] "The Plumbing Song", a double parody of Milli Vanilli's hit singles "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame It on the Rain" was also recorded.

In a 1992 interview with Dr. Demento, Yankovic said that he believed the parody to be "kind of redundant" at that point in time, given the lip-synching scandal that had effectively destroyed the band almost two years prior.

After hearing the hit single "Black or White", Yankovic approached Jackson about a potential parody entitled "Snack All Night".

[20] Yankovic approached Paul McCartney, leader of Wings, about a parody idea entitled "Chicken Pot Pie".

As the popularity of 1980s pop gave way to grunge, Yankovic decided it was time to record a parody of the Seattle-based band's huge hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

[11] Yankovic later said, "I wanted to make sure that when I came back after that long hiatus, it was with something strong, and it wasn't until Nirvana that I felt I had a real contender.

After learning that Nirvana was to perform on Saturday Night Live, Yankovic called up his UHF co-star, Victoria Jackson, who was, at the time, a regular cast member on the show.

[5] After "Smells Like Nirvana", Yankovic recorded "Taco Grande", a Mexican food-themed parody of Gerardo's "Rico Suave".

However, a bilingual secretary translated what Yankovic wanted him to say from English to Spanish and Marin read the resulting rap phonetically.

[22] The Off the Deep End cover shows Yankovic in the baby's place apparently swimming to catch a doughnut on a string.

"[23] The CD, liner notes, and artwork continue the parody of Nirvana's album, borrowing the same blue, wave-light graphics from the printed surface of Nevermind.

Barry Weber, of AllMusic, wrote, "In addition to re-establishing his satirical craftsmanship, Deep End showcases some of Yankovic's best originals ever; "Trigger Happy," "When I Was Your Age," and "You Don't Love Me Anymore" prove to be the album's greatest songs.

"[25] Christopher Thelen, of the Daily Vault, wrote, "In fact, it's strange to admit, but the originals on Off The Deep End actually are, at times, stronger than the parodies.