J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1500. Cloud Nine - George Harrison
Released on November 2, 1987, George Harrison's 11th studio LP, Cloud Nine, was his first in five years. I didn't have high expectations, considering the fact that its predecessor, Gone Troppo, hadn't produced any hits and had only made it to #108 on the Billboard 200. Harrison brought in ELO's Jeff Lynne to co-produce Cloud Nine, but none of us could have foreseen the success Lynne would have as a producer in the years to come. The sight of a smiling, sunglasses-sporting Harrison on the cover was somewhat startling. I was sharing an apartment with my bandmate and former college roommate Tom Dellaquila when Cloud Nine came out, and Tom bought it on CD — one of the first albums I heard in that newfangled format. Of course, you couldn't avoid hearing the lead single, "Got My Mind Set on You," on the radio; it wound up going the whole way to the top of the Hot 100 — Harrison's first #1 hit since "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" in 1973. He followed that up with "When We Was Fab," which went to #23. When all was said and done, four cuts from the album made it to the top 10 of the mainstream rock chart: "Got My Mind Set On You" (#4), "When We Was Fab" (#2), "Devil's Radio" (#4), and the title track (#9, of course). Cloud Nine sold a million copies in the United States and made it to #8 on the Billboard 200. I finally ordered my own copy in May 2006, and ApologetiX eventually spoofed "Got My Mind Set on You" in 2024. Harrison and Lynne would continue their successful collaboration with The Traveling Wilburys, releasing that group's first LP on October 18, 1988. Lynne would next co-produce successful albums for Wilburys Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, which would be released in January '89 and April '89, respectively.

1501. Even Worse - "Weird Al" Yankovic
Weird Al's fifth LP, Even Worse, was his second highest-charting album up till that point. It went to #27 on the Billboard 200, whereas his second LP, "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D,  had made it to #17. But Even Worse did even better in terms of sales. Released on April 12, 1988, it sold a million copies, making it his biggest-selling album at the time and his first to go platinum. The sole charting single, "Fat" (a parody of "Bad" by Michael Jackson) only went to #99 on the Hot 100, although it went to #12 in Australia and #3 in New Zealand. Moreover, the hilarious accompanying video won a well-deserved Grammy for Best Concept Music Video. Other parodies on the album included "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" ("Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison), "I Think I'm a Clone Now" ("I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany), "Lasagna" ("La Bamba" by Los Lobos), and "Alimony" ("Mony Mony" by Billy Idol). ApologetiX has spoofed all four of those songs as well, although we've never attempted "Bad." Even Worse also included six Al originals. The two that left the biggest impression on me were "Good Old Days," a warped take on James Taylor, and "Twister," which was basically the old commercial theme for the Milton Bradley game of the same name ... redone in the style of The Beastie Boys. You gotta fight for your right to party games. 

1502. Unusual Heat - Foreigner
Foreigner's seventh studio LP was their first and only with new lead singer Johnny Edwards (formerly of the bands Montrose and Wild Horses), who stepped in after Lou Gramm left in 1990. Released on June 14, 1991, Unusual Heat only went to #117 on the Billboard 200 and didn't even go gold, whereas each of the band's previous efforts had gone platinum and all but one had gone multiplatinum. But you know what? I picked up a used copy in 2006 and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the music. If you liked Foreigner's earlier efforts, you'd probably like this one, too, if you gave it a chance. It's primarily made up of melodic rockers, and Edwards sounds enough like Gramm to make for a smooth transition. None of the tracks hit the Hot 100, but two of them hit the mainstream rock charts, "Lowdown and Dirty" (#4 mainstream) and "I'll Fight for You" (#42 mainstream). My favorite cut is probably "Only Heaven Knows" but I also really like "Moment of Truth" and "Ready for the Rain." Other catchy numbers include  "Mountain of Love," "When the Night Comes Down," "No Hiding Place," "Flesh Wound," and the title track. Unusual Heat fared a lot better in other countries, hitting the Top 50 in Switzerland (#8), Germany (#13), Norway (#18), Austria (#30), Finland (#39), and Canada (#50). The advent of the grunge/alternative movement may also have had to something to do with its poor performance in the United States. Pearl Jam's debut single, "Alive," came out just three weeks later, and Alice in Chains had already established themselves, with "Man in a Box" hitting the mainstream rock chart in mid-April.

1503. Dare to Be Stupid - "Weird Al" Yankovic
About 16 months after his breakthrough second LP, which launched the million-selling single "Eat It" (#12), "Weird Al" Yankovic put out his third, Dare to Be Stupid. Six songs were selected as singles, although just one hit the Hot 100 — "Like a Surgeon" (#47), a parody of "Like a Virgin" by Madonna . The other five included "This Is the Life," "Hooked on Polkas," "I Want a New Duck," "One More Minute," and "Dare to Be Stupid." Of those, only "I Want a New Duck" was a parody; it spoofed "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis. My third daughter, Kelly, doesn't know the original, but she cracks up (quacks up?) every time she hears Al's version. "Hooked on Polkas" was a medley of pop hits from 1983-84 redone in polka style, and "One More Minute," was a doo-wop pastiche. The remaining two singles found further fame in films: "This Is the Life" was specifically written for Johnny Dangerously (1984) and the Devo-esque "Dare to Be Stupid" was eventually used in the The Transformers: The Movie(1986). My favorites of the bunch were "One More Minute" and "Dare to Be Stupid." Ironically, one of the five tracks not chosen as a single went on to become possibly the most popular on this project — "Yoda," which spoofed "Lola" by The Kinks. Never underestimate the power of Star Wars. The other parody on the album was "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch," which lampooned Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Released on June 18, 1985, Dare to Be Stupid went to #50 on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over a million copies. 

1504. Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul
Former choreographer Paula Abdul's debut LP, Forever Your Girl, arrived in stores on June 21, 1988 and entered the Billboard 200 on July 23. A record-setting 64 weeks later, it finally reached #1, where it spent a total of 10 non-consecutive weeks, selling over seven million copies in the United States. It generated six singles. The first, "Knocked Out," just missed the Top 40 (#41). The second, "(It's Just) The Way You Love Me" initially stalled at #88. Then came three straight #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Straight Up" (#1), "Forever Your Girl" (#1), and "Cold Hearted" (#1). After that, the record label re-released "(It's Just) The Way You Love Me," and this time it went to #3 on Billboard and #1 on Cash Box. The final single, "Opposites Attract" (with The Wild Pair) returned Abdul to the top of the Hot 100. She would go on to have three more Top 10 hits — all from her second LP, Spellbound, released in 1991 — "Rush, Rush" (#1), "The Promise of a New Day" (#1), and "Blowing Kisses in the Wind" (#6). My wife, Lisa, and I saw Paula in concert along with New Kids on the Block and DJ Jazzy Jeff on June 19, 2024 at the Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown PA. You can probably guess which one of us was the bigger fan of those artists back in the day, but I volunteered to go. We both enjoyed the show. Speaking of which, Lisa also got me to watch seasons three and four of American Idol in 2004 and 2005, and Paula was one of the judges at the time. I always liked "Straight Up" and "Kisses in the Wind," even before I met Lisa, and I purchased Forever Your Girl in the first half of the 2000s to supplement my playlists of #1 and #3 songs. The concert we saw took place on Paula's 62nd birthday, and she performed every song I mentioned in this entry except for "Blowing Kisses in the Wind." Her set list also included one other hit from Spellbound, "Vibeology" (#16).

1505. Greatest Hits - Guns N' Roses
Although not nearly as famous as Guns N' Roses' original LPs Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II, this compilation was a sneaky success. It's in the all-time Top 10 list of albums (by any artist) with the most weeks spent on the Billboard 200 ... over 680 weeks and counting as of June 20, 2024. I bought my copy soon after it came out on March 23, 2004. Greatest Hits initially reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold six million copies in the United States and four million in Europe. It featured the group's 11 highest-charting singles up to that point: "Sweet Child O' Mine" (#1), "November Rain" (#3), "Patience" (#4), "Paradise City" (#5), "Welcome to the Jungle" (#7), "Don't Cry" (#10 pop, #3 mainstream rock), "You Could Be Mine" (#29 pop, #3 mainstream), "Live and Let Die" (#33 pop, #20 mainstream), "Sympathy for the Devil" (#55 pop, #10 mainstream), "Since I Don't Have You" (#69), and "Yesterdays (#72 pop, #13 mainstream). The remaining three tracks weren't released as singles but still were hits on the mainstream rock chart — "Civil War" (#4 mainstream), "Ain't It Fun" (#8 mainstream), and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (#18 mainstream). The only GNR Hot 100 hit missing when Greatest Hits came out was "Nightrain" (#93 pop, #26 mainstream). Axl and Company notched another Top 40 single four years later with "Chinese Democracy" (#34 pop, #5 mainstream, #24 alternative). ApologetiX has spoofed seven of the 14 tracks on this album, although one of them dates back to our earliest days when used to release homemade cassettes. My wife and I saw the reunited Guns N' Roses (including Axl, Slash, Duff, and Dizzy Reed) with The Pretenders at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey PA on August 11, 2023. That's not something we would have done on our own, but a friend had four tickets very close to the stage (face value: $725 each!) and asked us to come with him to the show as his guests. He said that seeing GNR live was a longstanding item on his bucket list. Who were we to stand in the way of his dream? The band played for about three hours and performed every song I mentioned already in this entry except their remakes of "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones and "Since I Don't Have You" by Pittsburgh-based doo wop group The Skyliners, who had a #12 pop hit with it in 1959. However, Guns N' Roses did do a cover of Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" at the show, along with many other songs not mentioned in this entry. The following month ApX released a parody of another GNR song not featured on Greatest Hits, "Pretty Tied Up" (#35 mainstream). 

1506. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Weird Al" Yankovic
Although it didn't come out until May 3, 1983, "Weird Al" Yankovic's self-titled debut LP also contained his previously released singles "My Bologna" (parody of "My Sharona" by The Knack) from 1979 and "Another One Rides the Bus" (parody of "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen) from 1981. There were a total of 12 tracks, including three other parodies, "I Love Rocky Road" ("I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts), "Ricky" ("Mickey" by Toni Basil), and "Stop Draggin' My Car Around" ("Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers). The album itself went to #139 on the Billboard200 and sold half a million copies. A trio of tracks therein charted: "Ricky" (#63), "Another One Rides the Bus" (#104), and "I Love Rocky Road" (#106). Of the seven originals, my favorites musically are "I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead" and "Happy Birthday." As far as lyrics go, I think "Gotta Boogie" is clever, but it's too gross for me to fully appreciate. Meanwhile, "Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung" has one of the most interesting and memorable titles I've ever encountered, but the subject matter is a little morbid for my tastes. Nevertheless, it may be the most creative use ever of an accordion's air-release valve. Speaking of accordions, this is the only one of Al's LPs to feature his trademark instrument on every track. Ironically, it's also one of just two of his 14 non-compilation albums to not feature a polka medley. ApologetiX has spoofed "My Sharona," "Another One Bites the Dust," "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," and "Mickey," but not "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." We have spoofed songs sung by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty ... just not together.