Since his career began in earnest in the '80s, Al has had a habit of incorporating the number "27" into his lyrics, his videos, and even his album covers. Want a few examples? We live to serve. In 1985's "Cable TV," Al references having seen the film "Porky's" 27 times. In 1989's "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," Al mentions a group of kids who sang "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" 27 times in one day. In 1996's "Callin' in Sick," Al sings of hitting the snooze button 27 times, and in 2003's "Hardware Store," every 27th customer gets a free ball-peen hammer.
On the cover of 1999's "Running with Scissors," Al's tank top is emblazoned with a "27," and on the cover of 2006's "Straight Outta Lynwood," Al's standing in front of a car with the license plate "027 NLY." And, yes, it's still going on even now: for Al's most recent album, 2014's "Mandatory Fun," his video for "Foil," a parody of Lorde's "Royals" centered around conspiracy theorists, features a faked moon landing with a clapboard reading "Take 27."
There are plenty more 27s out there, but if you're wondering why Al latched onto the number in the first place, here's as best an explanation as you'll get: in a 2001 interview (via "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"), a reporter asked about the significance of the number, and he replied, "I thought it was fairly obvious, but if you need me to explain it ... It's the cube root of 19,683!" Well, duh.
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