Cheech and Chong – Get Out of My Room
“Uh hi, it’s me again. Hey, I forgot to ask you, where would you like to go eat? Because I know this great Mexican restaurant, like it’s brand new you know, and like on Wednesdays they have all the tacos you can keep down for a dollar. (Pause) Oh, you dont like Mexican food? (Pause) Oh. You don’t like Mexicans.” – Cheech and Chong, Love is Strange
Throughout the 70s and 80s, Cheech and Chong’s drug-related albums and movies struck a chord with hippies and stoners everywhere. After the release of 1980’s Let’s Make a New Dope Deal, the pair focused their attention on films for half a decade before recording one last album together, Get Out of My Room.
A lot of things had changed between 1972 (the date of the pair’s debut album) and 1985’s Get Out of My Room — one of them being Nancy Reagan’s War on Drugs. As a result, the duo’s drug-fueled humor for which they were known is greatly toned down here — in fact, I can’t remember a single specific drug reference on the entire album.
Get Out of My Room contains both skits and original songs. The first half of the CD (originally, the first side of the record/tape) is the Dorm Radio side, on which two amateur college DJs broadcast “live from the basement of the science building.” There are three Dorm Radio skits, with original songs and skits appearing between them. In one skit, two businessmen talk business in a sushi bar as strange items keep appearing (including “Whale Anus” and “Half-Live Baby Seal”). The original songs include “I’m Not Home Right Now” (an ode to answering machines), Love is Strange (Cheech’s desperate attempts to land a date) and the only hit single from the album, Born in East LA (which Cheech later turned into a film without Chong).
The second half of the disc opens with The Music Lesson, a skit where two struggling British punk musicians give music lessons to a retarded boy (which they proceed to electrocute). We’re then taken to the Stupid Early Show (hosted by Stupid McCupid and Early Williams), an excuse to play silly commercials and radio bits. The disc culminates with Stupid and Early’s interview with the two punk musicians and the debut of their new single (the first heavy metal snuff tune”), Get Out Of My Room (And Leave Me Alone).
Despite this being Cheech and Chong’s last studio album together, it’s the first one I personally owned, and the album that introduced me to the pair’s humor. Long time Cheech and Chong fans complain that this album is weak and that the music reeks of the 1980s; as a fan of 80s music, I didn’t find the songs terrible, and personally, if you’re looking for the pair’s drug-related jokes there are at least seven other albums and probably as many movies with that stuff in it to pick from. Maybe it’s my own nostalgia, but I thought and think that Get Out of My Room is worth a listen. And, almost 20 years after its original release date, the album has been released on CD. Now, get out of your room and go pick it up.
01. Born In East L.A.
02. Dorm Radio I
03. I’m Not Home Right Now
04. Sushi Bar
05. Dorm Radio II
06. Love Is Strange
07. Dorm Radio III
08. I’m A (Modern) Man
09. The Music Lesson
10. The Stupid Early Show
11. Warren Beatty
12. Juan Coyote
13. Radio News
14. Get Out Of My Room