Classic or Dud: Weird Al Yankovic

B)Weird Al's never been profound about anything but music. Mojo's tackled other issues well. Haven't heard El Vez.

C) I think Barnes And Barnes were before him and he shouldn't get credit for the others. THEY'RE the ones that got pretentious with it.

Also, his weird obsession with food is kinda creepy.

I would say he has had several "Headline News", with all those tabloid stories to the melody of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was classic. Same about the way he turned "MacArthur Park" into "Jurassic Park". "Amish Paradise" wasn't too bad either.

Still waiting for him to do an Eminem parody though, media phenomenons like Eminem are usually what inspire him more than anything else.

The first letter to the editor I ever wrote was to Rolling Stone re:the greatness of Weird Al.

The first mix tape anyone ever made me was of Weird Al. So he is kind of a fundamental base of music....and my taste in humor at that time. I preferred parody to the real thing most all the time.

However, he does too many songs about Santa acting mean. He had a depressing Saturday morning program that was a d-d-dud, worse than "The Mad Scientist Toon Club" if you can imagine. I hate the argument "he tries too hard" but I get that feeling from WA sometimes, esp. when he's acting. Like "Look how wacky I am!" But when you add it up at the end of the day, the man is just rad.

I stick by my controversial statement on the work of Wierd Al Yankovic. You liked the Headline News bit? All of the news stories he was parodying were stale by the time of the song's release. Mr Miccio's previous statement about Al having become a kareoke artist is pretty much exemplfied by the Flintstones, Amish Paradise, and Jurassic Park stuff, he really added nothing sonically to the songs he was parodying. Unlike Smells Like Nirvana, where the guitar solo is replicated by the sound of Al gargling water and an army of kazoos.

I still think Polka Party! is one of his best albums. Or maybe it's just the reverb.

this should say "throughout the 90's" - sorry

Classic for being like the sanest popstar ever.

i have a friend who's a huge collector, i've heard tales of al's college days at cal poly san luis obispo when al would hold 2 hour accordian/polka concerts in the men's room. pretty legendary stuff.

God, I loved UHF as a kid. Who could forget Conan the Librarian?

Did Weird Al make any other films beside UHF?

Listen to the outros to "Headline News" and "Achy Breaky Song". Definitely adding some stuff there.

Cameo on Naked Gun comes to mind.

The Survivor rip-off "Theme From Rocky XIII" is also excellent, and reconfiguring of the The Brady Bunch theme to "The Safety Dance" is shockingly easy.

he's classic though, of course, especially for the un-mean-spiritedness of his parodies. "smells like nirvana" is smarter than any frank zappa song ever.

(I was 12)

"Another One Rides the Bus".....
"Grapefruit Diet"....
"Muh-muh-muh-my bologna".....
"I've churned butter once or twice"....

Genius.

Also, that's awful what happened to his parents.

I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah
Where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda
S O D A, soda

I saw the little runt sitting there on a log
I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said "Yoda"
Y O D A, Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Well, I've been around, but I ain't never seen
A guy who looks like a muppet, but he's wrinkled and green
Oh, my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Well, I'm not dumb, but I can't understand
How he can lift me in the air just by raising his hand
Oh, my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Well, I left home just a week before
And I've never ever been a Jedi before
But Obi Wan, he set me straight, of course
He said, "Go to Yoda and he'll show you the Force"

Well I'm not the kind that would argue with Ben
So it looks like I'm gonna start all over again
Though with my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

So I used the Force
I picked up a box
I lifted some rocks
While I stood on my head
Well, I won't forget what Yoda said

He said, "Luke, stay away from the darker side
And if you start to go astray, let the Force be your guide"
Oh, my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

"I know Darth Vader's really got you annoyed
But remember, if you kill him, then you'll be unemployed"
Oh, my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Well, I heard my friends really got in a mess
So I'm gonna have to leave Yoda I guess
But I know that I'll be coming back some day
I'll be playing this part 'till I'm old and gray

The long-term contract I had to sign
Says I'll be making these movies till the end of time
With my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda
Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda
Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda
Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda

Mr. Popeil
by Al Yankovic

I need a Vegematic
I need a Pocket Fisherman
I need a handy appliance
That'll scramble an egg while it's still inside its shell

Operators are standing by
How does that make you feel
Help me
Mr. Popeil

I wanna shine some pennies
I wanna mend some leather
I wanna Krazy-Glue my head to the bottom of a big steel girder

Please, no C.O.D.'s
Don't miss out on this deal
Ah, help me
Mr. Popeil

Help me
Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil

Woah
It slices, it dices
Look at that tomato
You could even cut a tin can with it
But you wouldn't want to

Mr. Popeil, I'm in trouble
Need your assistance on the double
Oh no, now how am I gonna make
My old vinyl car top look like new
Mr. Popeil
Tell me, what am I supposed to do

Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil

Now how much would you pay
But wait, there's more
It's not sold in any store

Now how much would you pay
Don't answer yet
Just look what else you get

Now how much would you pay
If you order today
You get a Ginsu knife and a smokeless Ashtray

Now how much would you pay
Now how much would you pay
Mr. Popeil, Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil, Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil, Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil, Mr. Popeil

Make me buy a Garden Weasel
Make me buy a Bamboo Steamer
Make me take advantage
Of this amazing TV offer
Call our toll-free number
We'll make you such a deal

Aw, help me
Mr. Popeil, I want it
Mr. Popeil, well, I need it
Mr. Popeil, I got to got to got to have it
Mr. Popeil
Mr. Popeil
Hey

His UHF is one of the ultimate movies for 10-12 yr old dorks.

Those who have cited In 3-D are right on, I still listen to that to this day and love it. The s/t and large chunks of Dare To Be Stupid and Polka Party are solid also.

There are two secret weapons to Al: 1) his backing band is shockingly tight and dead-on, and occasionally generates hotter performances than the originals (cf, the Survivor one) 2) the non-parody songs. If they weren't "funny" tunes on records full of parodies, you can bet a lot more people would be talking about the following excellent rock and roll songs: "Dare To Be Stupid," "Mr. Popeil," "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars," "I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead," "Nature Trail To Hell," "You Make Me," "Velvet Elvis," "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," "Trigger Happy," "Frank's 2000 Inch TV," "Waffle King," and maybe "Everything You Know Is Wrong."

I would buy a compilation of that exact track order, I think.

TS: Rick Derringer on "Eat It" versus Eddie Van Halen on "Beat It."

Add "Slime Creatures From Outer Space", which is the best Thomas Dolby record not made by
Thomas Dolby, to that list.

“You don't want to err on the side of Weird Al Yankovic. The idea of being weird is as quaint as a gaslight lamp, of course. Like calling mental institutions Laughing Academies. I suppose that's an example of humor obscuring truth. I use it more like psychological realism. I don’t take pleasure in Ingmar Bergman movies or bleak music that aggressively exterminates hope, like Nico albums. All humor falls between Weird Al and Nico.”

"Ricky"? "I Love Rocky Road"? "Another One Rides The Bus"?

One thing I don't believe I'll ever get sick of if I live to be 100 years old: Weird Al gigantic pop hits of the day polka medleys. Polkamania is awesome. The gimmmick that keeps on giving! (And some of that shit like the Killers and Franz F sounds BETTER as polkas!)

I vaguely remember a Grammys-themed special Weird Al did for syndicated TV as a one-off back in 1985 or so. Much Prince mocking, as well as Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon as a guest star, scarily.

new album's pretty good, although a Cake pastiche might be the worst idea he's ever had. I do love "Confessions Part III", though.

I caught some VH1 in a hotel last week and there was some sort of "this week's countdown" going on - Al was in the top five!

It's on Even Worse.

Also think that "Smells Like Nirvana" is very actively about Nirvana, probably to the point of killing it. It does seem to be a gradually accelerating trend in his work though...

"My Bologna" was a Dr. Demento staple, and crossed over to mainstream Bay Area radio, while Yoda was still a sketch in Jim Henson's workshop. Approximately.

Unless he was 15 when he did "My Bologna", he's um, several years older than 45 . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzRxkxu5ZKc

Makes more sense if the previous one was a cover though. I didn't know that.

1:55-2:10 in this video = career peak

aznlilhero (13 hours ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply wtf is with the face at the end lol hella scary

"Amish Paradise"- brilliant and much more interesting than the original
I say classic

Hey girl,
You know our economy's in the toilet
But I’m still going to treat you right

I said you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah

Tater tots, Cold Duck on ice
And we can clip coupons all night
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah

Take you out for dinner, anywhere that you please
Like Burger King or Mickey Ds
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can even have the large fry (large fry) yeah, yeah

Baby, you should know I am really quite a sweet guy
When I buy you bathroom tissue I always get the two-ply
Want it, you can get it, my dear
I got my Costco membership card right here, yeah

You like Top Ramen, need Top Ramen
Got a cupboard full of 'em, I’ll keep 'em coming
You want it, I got it, go get it, just heat it
Dump the flavor packet on it and eat it

Pork and beans and Minute Rice
And we can play Cribbage all night
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah

I can take you to the laundromat downtown
And watch all the clothes go round and round
And baby we can go wherever you like (if you like)
I said we can go wherever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah

Hottest shorty I know, if you had some lipo
You could be second-runner-up Miss Ohio
Seven dollar bills rolled
Up inside my plastic billfold
Buy you a bagel even if it isn’t day old
And you never ever gotta wear your sister’s old clothes
As long as I’m still assistant manager at Kinko’s
Cut your hair with scissors and a soup bowl
You ain’t got to pay me, that’s the way that I roll

My chick can have want she want
At Wal-mart she can pick out anything she want
I know girl you ain’t never had a man like that
Who doesn’t make you buy generic brand like that, Yeah

You like my Hyundai, see my Hyundai
I can take you to see your cousin Phil next Sunday
But that’s kind of far and I’m not made of cash
Do you think you could chip in for gas?
Mac and Cheese would be all right
But let’s send out for pizza tonight
And you can order any toppings you like (if you like)
I said you can even have the last slice (the last slice) yeah, yeah

Ran myself a cable from my neighbor next do'
Now I can get free HBO
And baby you can watch whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can watch whatever you like (if you like) yeah

And you can always ride the city bus
Got a stack of tokens just for us
Yo, my wallet’s fat and full of ones
It’s all about the Washingtons, that’s right

You want White Castle, need White Castle
Long as you got me it won’t be no hassle
You want it, we’ll get it, just don’t be a hater
If I grab a bunch of napkins for later

Thrift store jeans on sale half-price
The underwear at Goodwill is nice
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah

Baby, I can give you anything you please
Even share my government cheese
And baby you can have as much as you like (if you like)
I said you can have as much as you like (if you like) yeah, yeah

omg

Kurt Cobain was supposedly a big Weird Al fan as well ("a musical genius" etc)

how many artists are there that dedicate their careers to following & emulating trends in pop music? dude has spent nearly thirty years studying Top 40 songs inside & out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R32aFmxL9HY

"white and nerdy" and especially its video is so classic.
it always cracks me up when, at the beginning, the guys try to lock up the car... so many great details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp6eswhgOKk&feature=fvst

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/weird.JPG

^^^ respect

That was three of four years ago at a book release party at BB King's on 42nd Street. He was exceptionally cool, but I was surrounded by HARDCORE Yankovic-heads. Think Insane Clown Posse have devoted fans? They have nothing on Yankovic. He commands a nation.

And if I had to pick a single Weird Al track, I'd go for either his Devo tribute, "Dare to Be Stupid," or his 1992 send-up of "Rico Suave" called "Taco Grande." Genius.

I kind of think they're the same ppl sometimes; the average Juggalo does look a lot like a Weird Al fan once you take off the makeup...

"Dare To Be Stupid" would be me one pick as well. That whole album is probably my favorite.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3231da28bb/weird-the-al-yankovic-story

this goes out to jaymc (you were robbed and did NOT look like a shame and a disgrace on national tv) and greg kihn, who was once popular enough to be parodied by weird al

<3 weird al, jaymc, greg kihn, and what the hell -- alex trebek too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ

this was recently brought to my attention. genius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8Hi-HAIgs

Kinda great, if just as a sort of time-capsule of what signified mellowing-out at the turn of the 80s. "No Joni Mitchell 8-tracks in the car!"

"hey, he's gonna sit by you!" = genius

I interviewed Al last month; it was interesting to read the responses on the Yankovic fan forum, which I didn't even know existed until I checked the traffic logs for my blog.

This is a really interesting interview, unperson! Nice job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWBeRF7cqvw&feature=fvst

I put in a Slim Whitman tape,
my wife put on a brand new hairnet
Kids were in the backseat,
jumpin' up and down, yellin' "Are we there yet?"
And all of us were joined together in one common thought
As we rolled down the long and winding interstate in a '53 Desoto!
We're gonna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota!

^^^ starting to come around to thinking this might be his crowning achievement. Certainly his most loving sendup of Middle American leisure. He definitely pokes fun at the family but it's a pretty gentle poke and you get the impression he probably went on some trips like this as a kid.

Indubitably. Had no idea it was a parody until I checked the wikipedia entry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZZqnVYB4UA

More than 30 years of cutting satire have made ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic a comedy megastar in the US. Now he’s daring to be stupid in the UK for the first time.

Words by Daddy Bones
Illustration by Tom Bingham

From humble beginnings in 1976 as an amateur contributor to a novelty radio show in his native California, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic has sung, rapped, acted, aped and generally mocked his way to the very top of his game: comedy music. No, don’t laugh. In fact, yes, do laugh. But at least know that it’s no big joke. Since he first rendered The Knack’s 1979 new wave anthem ‘My Sharona’ into a screwball polka entitled ‘My Bologna’, he has been a regular exclamation mark in the saga of pop media, satirising music, film and cultural phenomena at will and with exquisite pungineering, all the while clocking up over 12 million album sales and winning three Grammys.

The 1980s were his boom time. His 1983 debut album serendipitously caught the cresting wave of MTV as it broke into TV sets across the globe, reinventing music marketing. Thus many ‘Weird Al’ singles since have been promoted by an equally zany video and, throughout the eighties, it seemed like Al and the channel were made for each other. Parodies of Madonna (‘Like A Surgeon’), Michael Jackson (‘Eat It’ and ‘Fat’), James Brown (‘Living With A Hernia’) and Joan Jett (‘I Love Rocky Road’) were put on rotation by MTV and, within a year of his first appearance on the network, he was hosting his own Al TV show. By 1989 he had a feature film, UHF, released worldwide.

The following decades witnessed ever-sharper satire (acts like Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers claim they never knew they’d really made it big until Al had flipped their hits), but once MTV had fully fractured into several less tangible lifestyle channels, Yankovic’s megastardom waned in the UK, and he’s now practically unknown to the latest generations here, despite continued iconic status in the US. At the time of this interview, an online fan campaign to have Al’s fame embodied in a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame was about to hit a donations level of $25,000.

He’s due a reintroduction to the UK, not least because he’s never yet been able to bring over his epic live show. However, thanks to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, headliners and curators of December’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, Alfred Matthew Yankovic and his long-serving backline — rightfully hailed as “the greatest cover band in the world” — will be giving some lucky Britons a spectacular pre-Christmas dose of weird at Butlin’s in Minehead, and then at a solo show in London. Corrective eye surgery and a modicum of good taste have done away with the once-famous spectacles and moustache, respectively, but the “poodle-perm wig” (actually his own natural, untreated hair) and ear for a wacky twist on the pop zeitgeist remain his stock-in-trade. As does his penchant for the accordion, god help us.

SP Can we start at the beginning? Few people in the UK will know of the Dr. Demento Show on US radio, on which you got your first exposure.

WA It’s how I got started doing what I do. I never anticipated I’d be ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic for a living. I went to college to do a degree in architecture. I thought I’d be an adult by now and have a grown-up job, but when I was in my mid-teens I was a fan of the show. The good Doctor played all sorts of strange, odd, demented novelty tunes by the likes of Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, Frank Zappa; a world of music I wasn’t familiar with. It struck a responsive chord with me and I thought, ‘Y’know, maybe I could do that.’ I started writing funny songs and recording them with my accordion in my bedroom, on a tiny cassette recorder.

SP Why the accordion?

WA Because that’s the only instrument that I had! When I was seven, my parents decided I should take accordion lessons. I can’t imagine I was begging for lessons. I think that was a parental decision — to make me really popular in high school.

SP Were you not into ‘normal’ pop music at all as a kid?

WA Not when I was a kid. Later, I listened to the Top 40 and FM stations, and I got an appreciation for the rock music of the time. I’d try to play along with my accordion and my friends would laugh at me, because there’s something inherently funny about rock’n’roll music played on the accordion. So I learned early on the connection between my chosen instrument and humour.

SP What was your big break, so to speak?

WA I was a 19-year-old college student and I ran into The Knack who were doing a show at my college, and they had heard my recording of ‘My Bologna’ on the Dr. Demento Show, which I’d recorded in the men’s bathroom across the hall from my college radio station. It didn’t have much production value, but for the listenership of the Dr. Demento Show it was a hit! Doug Fieger, the lead singer of The Knack, offhandedly mentioned to Rupert Perry, head of A&R at Capitol Records, who happened to be in the room: ‘Hey, you should put this out,’ and Rupert said: ‘Uh, okay!’ It was considered a kind of one-off joke, but it got me thinking: ‘Boy, this seems a lot more fun than being an architect! Maybe I should do this for real.’

SP What did your parents think at the time?

WA I don’t think they were ever really worried about me because I was always practical and adult-minded, and it’s not like I was running off to Hollywood to try to be a star. I was graduating with a degree. I think they trusted that I wouldn’t do something entirely crazy. The nicest thing my dad ever told me was that the only real measure of success is doing what you wanna do in life for a living. So as long as I was happy, I was successful.

SP Your first album came out in 1983…

WA Yeah, 1983, eponymously titled. The timing couldn’t have been better. I’ve just finished reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and it reminded me of my career, because my first album came out virtually with the start of MTV and they were just really in need of programming. Their people were like, ‘Okay, let’s have a 24-hour music video channel, but, oh, we need people to make music videos!’ My first couple of videos were extremely low budget and, quite frankly, they weren’t that good. But MTV desperately needed something to put on the air. I was in the right place at the right time and I got a lot of early exposure, just because they came about at the same time I did.

SP With your parody songs is it a case of ‘hear a new song, pun the title and work backwards’?

WA That’s one of the ways. I can either do that, or if I have a very topical subject matter, I’ll reverse-engineer and find a song that goes along with it.

SP Do you genuinely need to love a song to parody it? Or are some songs just too ripe not to parody, whether good or bad?

WA It helps. It’s not essential that I love a song I want to parody, but in all honesty I’ll pick a song that I actually like because in the back of my mind I know that I’ll have to live with it for the rest of my life, singing it on stage every night. I don’t really wanna be playing one that’ll drive me crazy.

SP You always ask permission of the artists and their labels before you parody a song, is that correct?

WA I always think it’s a grey area, legally. I could probably get away with not asking permission, but I’ve always wanted it to be above-board so that the artists are in on the joke, and don’t feel like they’re getting their toes stepped on. More often than not, I don’t talk to them personally, but my peeps talk to their peeps and work out a deal.

SP Do you preapprove the idea or theme of the parody with the artists, too?

WA I at least take their temperature because I got burned once or twice very early on. I see if they will approve a concept based on one of their songs, and when they’ve done that they’ve never had a problem with my finished work. One odd exception was Eminem. I did a parody a couple of years ago of ‘Lose Yourself’ called ‘Couch Potato’. He was fine with me recording the song but while we were in preproduction for shooting the video we heard back from him: ‘Oh, you can’t do a video for it.’ We were like, ‘What? No?’

SP But that’s what you’re known for!

WA Yeah! I don’t know what his reasoning was. Like, he was okay with the song but he was afraid that a ‘Weird Al’ video would detract from his street cred? I didn’t quite understand his logic.

SP …not when there are plenty of rap stars you’ve poked fun at. And here’s a thing: you’ve gone from honking on an accordion and shouting in a bathroom to far more sophisticated send-ups like the Chamillionaire parody, ‘White And Nerdy’. It’s clearly not just mockery. Over the years, you’ve had to learn to sing certain styles and accents, learn to rap... It’s homage; you have to do this properly.

WA I don’t consider myself to be an impressionist, but I give it my best shot. My band is comprised of extremely talented musicians and they are excellent at doing everything from polka to gangsta rap. We take pride in paying attention to detail and getting every specific right.

SP Because if you don’t, it doesn’t really work.

WA Sometimes people denigrate comedy music and what I do because they think, ‘Oh, they can’t be serious musicians,’ or, ‘What kind of talent does that take?’ But in actuality my band has some of the best players in the world, I think. Not only are they extremely versatile, every single genre that they take on, they nail perfectly.

SP Are you finding it easier or harder to do what you do as time goes by?

WA I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I’ve got more experience and confidence in what I do, but there are several things that make it more difficult. First, I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s difficult for me to be funny in different and fresh ways, and not just repeat myself over and over again. Second, it’s difficult for me to be unique or the first person to ever parody something because of portals like YouTube. I mean, everybody in the world, it seems, is doing their own song parodies now and because the internet is so immediate, people can get their parodies out before I’m able to get a record in the stores. A third one is, and it may be hard for me to articulate this… I don’t think there are as many superstars or even mainstream hits as there used to be. Our pop culture is now so segmented and compartmentalised, I don’t think there’s as much of a communal experience in terms of who is a superstar or what is a hit song. Everything is kind of broken down into their genres and sub-genres and it’s harder to pinpoint what a hit even is any more.

SP It can’t help also that there’s a lot of material out there misattributed to you.

WA That is a pet peeve of mine. The internet has been very good to me in a number of ways, but my biggest problem is that a lot of songs misattributed to me that are somewhat vulgar, or just not that good. I’ve had a number of parents say, ‘I’m never letting my kid listen to ‘Weird Al’ again after this filthy song I found on the internet!’

SP Your stuff is known to be family-friendly. There’s nothing vulgar in anything you’ve done, really.

WA Well, it’s not squeaky clean; it’s got a bit of a bite, but it’s certainly not X-rated.

SP You’re a clean-living guy. You’re teetotal, you don’t smoke...

WA Yep, pretty clean-cut!

SP ...and vegetarian, too. Makes me wonder why Paul McCartney didn’t let you parody ‘Live And Let Die’, as planned.

WA Oh, now I hate to see Paul’s name dragged into this because he’s been a terrific sport. In fact, I got to direct Paul in a short 3-D movie I did last year. He’s a wonderful guy and a great friend. The only reason he had a problem with ‘Chicken Pot Pie’ is that he didn’t want the song to condone the eating of animal flesh. I thought that was a valid reason and I had no problem with it. He said: ‘If you can think of a different subject matter or take on the song, I’d be happy for you to do it.’ But I couldn’t.

SP It’s not just artists you have to deal with over permission, though, is it? I mean, if you’re going to do a song about eBay or Star Wars, as you have, you need to approach these huge companies…

WA That’s true. Well, sometimes we get permission and sometimes we don’t. Because it’s so difficult to deal with international corporations, we just do it and hope they have a sense of humour. Like in the case of eBay [‘I Bought It On eBay’ done to Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’], I don’t think we actually got their permission. But they were so happy when the song came out that they flew me to a big convention to perform it for their shareholders! However, I did have to get permission from Steven Spielberg for ‘Jurassic Park’, and permission for [Forrest] ‘Gump’. Thankfully a lot of people in the industry realise it’s all good fun, and good promotion for them, really.

SP Taking a comedy route actually afforded you a life of unusual opportunities, maybe even more so than a ‘normal’ rock star…

WA Every morning I wake up amazed that I still get to do what I do. Because of all the genres I’ve spanned and all the time I’ve been able to ‘hang around’ in the business, I’ve managed to meet an amazing group of people and been invited to all sorts of things which never, in my wildest dreams, did I think I’d be a part of. It has been quite a ride.

SP You’ve played over 1000 live shows, and yet never performed in Europe before…

WA That’s true. It’s always been something I wanted to and, until this year, we just haven’t been able to work it out where I could go and not lose a tonne of money. When I do a show, it’s not just me on stage; it’s me, my band, there are costume changes — it’s a whole multimedia show. It’s expensive to transport overseas, so we’d have to have a number of guaranteed gigs just to break even. This time we’re doing five shows in Europe and it looks like we might even make a little bit of money. So there we go!

SP One of which is All Tomorrow’s Parties. It’s a very hip festival.

WA Well, now that I’m on there, of course it is! I’m extremely gratified to have been invited by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. They’re the ones entirely responsible for me coming to Europe. If they hadn’t extended the invitation, I wouldn’t have been able to line up the other dates and I wouldn’t be coming to the UK at all.

SP Have you yourself ever been… let me think of a verb for this… Yankofied? You Yankofy other artists, but has anyone done a mockery of Al Yankovic?

WA Oh yeah, I’ve seen a few over the course of my career, mostly fans doing their versions of my songs.

SP Ah, yes — your songs. We should point out that only half of what you do is parody of existing material.

WA Oh yeah. So there’s those and did you ever see Mr. Show over there? It was on HBO in the States about 10 years ago. They did a brief bit where they had a character call Daffy Mal Yinkle Yankle, a bit of a vicious parody of me. Every now and then somebody will take a shot. But it’s cool.

SP I guess you’ve got to get as good as you give, take the rough with the smooth and all that.

WA But of course.

SP It’s quite a badge of honour to be Yankofied. Several artists have said that they had no idea how big they were until Al Yankovic did their song.

WA I suppose it’s like being on The Simpsons; it’s a rite of passage, it’s a sign that you’ve reached a certain plateau in your career. Better than at the beginning of my career when it was, ‘‘Weird Al’? Who?’

SP Where does Yankovic come from?

WA My grandparents were Yugoslavian. I’d say my nationality is half-Yugoslavian, a quarter English and a quarter Italian.

SP For years I thought you were Jewish. Oops.

WA Ha! I’m an honorary Jew.

SP And an only child.

WA As is my kid. And my wife! We’re all familiar with the paradigm of the only child. My daughter, Nina, is seven years old and has no aunts and uncles! But she’s got lots of friends and is very social. We’re just enjoying every day with her.

SP You’re not going to push the accordion on her, are you?

WA Oh no. We gave her some piano lessons but she never really took to them. She’s an excellent artist, though. Great with animals, great with art. So I don’t know what the future holds for her.

SP Painting animals? Sorry. Hey, you haven’t been remotely weird during this interview. Whoever called you that in the first place?

WA Ah, gosh. I don’t know. People are just cruel, y’know?

SP Aren’t they, though? Well, you don’t seem weird to me. Weird implies a smear of unpalatable darkness. You’ve been very affable.

WA I try and save up my weird for special occasions.

SP So you’re just a fairly normal, slightly zany chap at home?

WA Fairly normal, but slightly zany is just how I’d put it. I’m certainly not bouncing off the walls 24 hours a day.

SP I guess you take certain things in life seriously, of course, but you’re not seen as, say, a politicised character at all.

WA Well, I have political feelings and leanings, but I’m not vocal about them. I have a fan base and I don’t want to alienate half of them with something I’ve said.

SP It’s not a good idea to mix pop, comedy and politics, I guess.

WA Especially because nobody cares what I think!

--

apologies for printing the whole thing but The Stool Pigeon (from whence it came) doesn't seem to want to let me link to it.
anyway great piece i thought especially the bit about Macca. he seems like an amazing chap!

Dude reminds me so much of one of my college roommates

Classic. Some of Weird Al's parodies are better than the forgettable hits they spawned from. I may not remember the original lyrics but I'll be able to recite Al's version. My favorite in particular will always be Amish Paradise because it was the only instance when I had both Coolio's and Al's raps memorized.

Didn't know he was married! Congrats, Al!

i just remembered the existence of his "i got my mind set on you" parody, "this song is just six words long." then i was trying to figure out how he justified that title, given that both "i got my mind set on you" and "this song is just six words long" have seven words. turns out the title is actually "this song's just six words long." this seems a little cheap to me.

how to fix? we can fix it a little by changing "just" to "only" (makes the words align more with the original song) but song's is still song's

Y'know, Al gets a lot of grief but having heard every morning moron on the radio try and write song parodies and fail miserably, it tells me that there's an art to what he does and that he's among the best at it.

Also, caught him live with my brothers (one of whom worships Al) and my then 7-year old son. We had a blast. Really, really funny show for all of us, which I think also says something.

It was surreal eating Chinese food after the show and, peering out the window, seing a line of Storm Troopers marching down the street like it was nothing (they had appeared in the show earlier).

I saw him twice last year. Totally spot on in Portland. Then he stole ATP fest even though he had a high fever and his voice was giving out. Incredible performer. Comedy genius. And the same band since 1981. Those guys can play anything.

I will not miss him again.

Having wanted to go to ATP for the more ATP-esque acts (with "lol Weird Al" as a side-thought) and missed it, Weird Al is now totally the act I most regret not having seen. I'm not even that familiar with his stuff, which is a lot less well-known in the UK, though probably getting less so thanks to Youtube etc.

If it's any consolation, the dude was really sick that night. It was clearly not his best performance. But he gave it his all anyway. I like that.

My interview with him is the most-viewed page on my blog.

Would pay money to see this as a full-length movie:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3231da28bb/weird-the-al-yankovic-story?rel=player

Haha! They played that "trailer" as one of the many AV interludes when I saw him in concert. Awesome...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWLNq193DBY

this is fuckin sick

Hell yes on that Owner Of a Lonely Heart breakdown!

perform this way video is strangely hypnotic/disturbing

vote in the poll! POLLka Party: "Weird Al" Yankovic's Polka Medleys

Wonderful interview:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic,58244/1/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAZ-2gMJXY0

back on his feet, now he's choppin up meat

A Gen-Y classic.

Gen Y? Kids today a bunch of Rocky fans?

anyone who miscredits the title of that song is missing out on the best joke imo

I took this photo of "Weird Al" Yankovic at the godspeed you! black emperor-curated ATP festival in December last year...

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v34/p200752422-3.jpg

His set was fantastic fun.

can't get "Here's Johnny" out of my head even though that song is stupidly unfunny

that said I do get a huge kick out of the two-note guitar solo on "Generic Blues"

great photo!!

Thanks! I really enjoyed his set. Within the context of the rest of the festival it was really quite different, in a good way. I wholly applaud gy!be for asking him to play the event.

i remember having some convos with some of the more chin-strokey types there about "how do you think al will be recieved?" since it was basically The Wire Tapper in festival format. The answer was WITH RAPTUROUS OPEN ARMS.

I was in the front row. :D

Indeed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GSgc2yD_jU

I think I like this better than "Closer"

the lyrics are certainly no more embarrassing

In Brooklyn next month

http://thewildhoneypie.donyc.com/event/2013/06/09/weird-al-karaoke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdyLNXdeO-Q

Songs in the video:

Flatbush Avenue
Spam Eater
Feel Like Throwing Up
Avacado
Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut
Take The L Out Of Liver
Fatter
Whole Lotta Lunch
We Got The Beef

lol, he barely even tried on those lyrics, which somehow makes the medley even funnier

weird al has some strange preoccupation with food. he seems to find them inherently funny.

He's right!!

"Flatbush Avenue" had me rofling

yesss

http://gawker.com/5993520/huey-lewis-and-weird-al-reenact-classic-american-psycho-scene-in-honor-of-sports-30th-birthday

Don't just stare at it, EAT IT

Those lyrics are pretty good for one-verse parodies to throw into a live set I think! They might need another couple drafts to be album-worthy but whatever.

still basically classic though: http://www.theonion.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic-nears-completion-of-livin-la-vid,697/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM1FAq7jd5k

From 5/6/94 - "Weird Al" Yankovic faces off against Little Richard, the late James Brown, and Lee "Mr. Soul" Greenwood.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqHT6u8CcAEX54X.jpg

new album is gr8t

you should never write words using numbers unless you're seven or your name is Prince

maybe it was cultural satire

The Pixies style parody is so on point.

it's a great pixies song

Haha, "First World Problems" is so fucking expertly done. I'm cracking up just at the arrangement.

There have already been three songs that I don't know what they are parodies of :/

dyingggg

ok I just heard First World Problems and now I'm gonna go find the rest - a+

Oh because they aren't parodies. I feel a little better now. Though I didn't know the Foo Fighters song.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/MandatoryFun.jpg

I picked up that it was a Foos parody, but barely. xp

Crosby, Stills & Nash, Southern Culture on the Skids and Cat Stevens seem like weird choices for style parodies in 2014, though.

his style parodies are always kinda anachronistic

Southern Culture on the Skids is a weird choice for any time period.

"Word Crimes" is the best.

it's really underappreciated that al has had the same backing band for 30 years.

al is a better singer than pharrell

"Word Crimes" really is the best.

al is a better singer than pharrell

― katherine, Tuesday, July 15, 2014 11:28 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you should never write words using numbers unless you're seven or your name is Prince

― guwop (crüt), Tuesday, July 15, 2014 12:33 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up."[76] Yankovic related one story where, before the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, he got a telegram from Prince's lawyers, demanding he not make eye contact with the artist.[61]

it should have been sent by carrier dove

d0v3

I would say Prince has no sense of humor, but he's capable of being dryly funny now and then.

dying @ the prince story

Prince himself is totally funny, but he doesn't like people making fun of him

Isn't it more that's he's just really overprotective of use of his music/image outside of his own control? Like not letting any of his music be on YouTube for example

mildly scandalized that weird al would say "cunning linguist"

That's racy by Al standards, yeah.

he did once make an 'original' song that was as "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" close to a "Let's Go Crazy" parody as he could get away with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCs6pKXJ0t4

Eh, Dare to Be Stupid was the first album my parents every confiscated from me, primarily due to the quote of Frankie Goes to Hollywood during the polka "When you wanna come?" LIKE I WOULD HAVE EVEN UNDERSTOOD WHAT THAT MEANT WHEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD MOM! SHIT! Anyway, there have been a couple other racy moments in the Weird Al canon, but I can't think of them right now.

Prince himself is totally funny, but he doesn't like people making fun of him

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, July 15, 2014 1:44 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

given that this was the official cover art for a Prince single recently, if i was Yankovic i'd totally approach him again:

http://media.musicfeeds.com.au/files/4f30f18ddd63fccaa75482a81e7361e2.png

the polkas have definitely had their randyness (stones' "shattered," iirc from a tv special he'd mime jerking off briefly during "i touch myself") but dammit i have every right to be mildly scandalized by this, don't give me no "eh"

berlin' "sex (i'm a...)" made the first polka i think

Yes! that was the other one I was thinking about. I respectfully retract my "eh" though.

was trying to think of any other early '80s artists that try as hard to stay on top of the zeitgeist and could only come up with duran duran

i definitely raised an eyebrow when i heard "cunning linguist" this morning

Madonna, surely. xp

haha oh yeah her

and i guess prince, i mean the dude just made an edm song with zooey deschanel

"Word Crimes" is the best.

― Immediate Follower (NA), Tuesday, July 15, 2014 11:25 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Word Crimes" really is the best.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, July 15, 2014 11:29 AM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark

So far "Word Crimes" and "Foil" are my two favorite tracks, but "Mission Statement" is pretty fucking glorious too.

God i love Weird Al.

I haven't listened to a new Weird Al record since I was 11, but you guys have sold me on this.

I dunno if he'll ever top White n Nerdy

was trying to think of any other early '80s artists that try as hard to stay on top of the zeitgeist and could only come up with duran duran

U2?

this is easily his best since Poodle Hat

U2 def

Hi, Al!!
Was the video for Tacky really a single shot, or was there some seamless edits?

alyankovic 997 points an hour ago

While it looks like there MIGHT have been an edit somewhere, I absolutely guarantee you, that was all done in ONE CONTINUOUS SHOT. That was a bit of a challenge for me, because I start the video on a 5th floor fire escape, and I reappear on street level wearing completely different clothes. That means - for EVERY TAKE - as soon as the camera was off me I had to run down 5 flights of stairs WHILE CHANGING MY CLOTHES so I could be on camera again at the end. Definitely got my workout THAT day!

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2as5t1/this_is_weird_al_yankovic_amaa_ask_me_anything/

I respect Weird Al for being such a hard working guy!

Let's remember he also memorized/mimed the entire last verse of "Amish Paradise" backwards for that video.

al is a better singer than pharrel

Why is it a surprise or noteworthy that someone who can accurately mimic the phrasing and flows of a wide range of disparate singers and rappers would be a better singer than a producer who barely has a voice and has problems staying in tune or in rhythm?

Great story from the AMA (in response to the question "Do artists ever request parodies"):

That happens sometimes in social settings - an artist will make a comment at a party or awards show like, "Hey Al, when are you going to do a parody of one of MY songs?" I don't know if they're being polite or making conversation, but that's always nice to hear. Actually, last year I was in New York doing a satellite radio tour, and Graham Nash was in the very next room... and it just so happens I had just recorded my CSN pastiche "Mission Statement" (which is on the new album). So I walked over to say hi... he sees me, and the first words out of his mouth are, "So, when are you gonna do a parody of 'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes'??" I whipped out my iPhone and played "Mission Statement" for him. Instant request! (He loved it, BTW.)

Nash vmic offering one of Stills' songs to Weird Al.

haha

'Handy', 'Foil' and 'Sports Song' have all made me legit lol so far

Actually, last year I was in New York doing a satellite radio tour, and Stephen Stills was in the very next room... and it just so happens I had just recorded my CSN pastiche "Mission Statement" (which is on the new album). So I walked over to say hi... he sees me, and the first words out of his mouth are, "you know I invented the song parody."

omg yes

we need to have a Stephen Stills bingo card

Hey Al! I'm a huge fan and have been ever since my older brother introduced me to The Food Album when I was little. You've been a big influence on me since I was young and I loved your last AMA so I thought I'd show up early for this one! I messaged you on Facebook yesterday but I'm sure you have tons of mail to read and might not get to it for a while so I'm here to say hello.

My question is a lame one, but important to me and a good number of your fans: Have you begun considering taking crypto-currency for your records (i.e. BitCoin, LiteCoin, and DogeCoin)? There's a great payment processor called GoCoin that allows you to easily take all three. I know that you are currently selling through iTunes, Amazon, and MyPlay Direct, but do you ever talk to them (mostly MyPlay Direct, the smallest but most malleable of the three companies for sure) about accepting new digital currencies?

can't wait for Al's bitcoin song

been around the world don't speak the language
but the bitcoin don't need explaining

I was thinking more "it's going down, I'm yelling bitcooooooin"

i got one more bitcoin without ya
i got one more bitcoin without ya
i got one more bitcoin without ya
i got one more one more biiiiitcoooooin

why you gotta be so rude
don't you know it's money too
why you gotta be so rude
it's a virtual currency

all of you OTM

Can I buy fedoras with this virtual coin
say yes, say yes, cuz i need to know
you say you'll never accept bitcoin till the day that you die
please shop Target, but the answer is no!

The Faux Fighters jammer is so perfect. Bemuda Schwartz nails Taylor Hawkins drum style

you could say it's

THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST

lol

lol.

these bitcoins ain't loyal

played a mix of nothing but the polkas this afternoon...pure bliss
new one is a jam

Yessss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-0TEJMJOhk

that is perfect

Where's the National Medal of the Arts for this dude, seriously?

so goddamn awesome

i hope weird al lives forever

what if he does

poor Weird Al, cursed to watch all he loves age and die around him

Weird Al lives forever to parody an Oasis song

I just realized the first B-52's song I ever heard was probably "Mr. Popeil".

al is a better singer than pharrell

― katherine, Tuesday, July 15, 2014 11:28 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― mattresslessness, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 17:30 (Yesterday)

Even Moby sings better than Pharrell.

whoa hey now

I waited all day to watch that video, we're in a place in this house where the dinner hour is pretty high fucking octane

thank you weird al for an absolutely perfect remedy

Carl Wilson:

Fallon and Yankovic both seem childish when you compare them with the deftness of musical satirists such as the hip-hop-appropriating, adults-only, Saturday Night Live-sponsored Lonely Island, with half a dozen near-classics already behind them (including better grammar humor than “Word Crimes”); or understated New Zealand style-synthesizing-virtuosi imports Flight of the Conchords; or the polymath improvisational genius Reggie Watts.

Now, I love Carl, but "Weird Al" < Lonely Island, Flight of the Conchords?! WROONNNNG!

Fallon and Yankovic both seem childish when you compare them with the deftness of musical satirists such as the hip-hop-appropriating, adults-only, Saturday Night Live-sponsored Lonely Island, with half a dozen near-classics already behind them (including better grammar humor than “Word Crimes”)

Cursing! Rapping! You know, grown-up stuff! Totally unlike the childishness of singing corporate jargon in perfect CSN harmonies.

I can't think of a single Lonely Island song I've ever wanted to hear (or video I've wanted to watch) twice. Meanwhile, I've watched the "Foil" video about a half dozen times today.

Dude presumably meant kid-friendly more than childish

I mean, the idea that Andy samberg isn't childish

I like Lonely Island a lot and the suggestion that they are better than Weird Al makes me stabby

otm that is so wrongheaded I can't even

Ok if you're going to damn weird al for not going for the throat, I'd advise not making a running of gag of different words in place of Weird

Running gag, rather

i'm pretty sure lonely island themselves would scoff at the idea that they're better or more adult than weird al

the turn at 'o and btw i cracked the code' in 'foil' is so great. how i know i'm old: his classic rock parodies consistently my fave now - 'bob', 'craigslist', 'mission statement'.

to me just the way that Yankovic's parody best songs hold up as songs *in their own right*, often with fully-fleshed out narratives...to me that alone puts him above all those guys right away

I played 'foil' for a few coworkers who had never even heard of Lourde and they all dug it as a song in and of itself, because it was funny that second verse conspiracy hook is so good

I do miss when al would have spike jones sounds throughout the songs, not down with the increasing karaokeness of his backing tracks for the last, uh, twenty years

Lol and apparently I expressed this sentiment on this thread a decade ago

Still stands, bring back the squelches

al does pastiche better than lonely island for sure

al does polka better than lonley island point game set match

"Foil" is so expertly done. It tricks you into thinking it's going to be a weak joke, then turns amazing.

yessss "foil" was my favorite non polka.

I can't think of a single Lonely Island song I've ever wanted to hear (or video I've wanted to watch) twice.

if you don't want to watch Threw It On The Ground at least nine times a year for the rest of your life, smh

Reggie Watts and Flight of the Concords are both legit unfunny dogshit

To call anything about Reggie Watts' non-sequitur diarrhea stream "deft" is some serious just trying to justify your shitty taste in comedy

"Word Crimes" = song of the year so far

Reggie Watts lonely island and conchords can't hold a candle to my dick.

anyone that likes weird al would certainly enjoy my dick

did you name it "bermuda" schvantz?

Reggie Watts shits all over his haters' posts itt. Love that dude.

The Crash Test Dummies parody + "Dare to Be Stupid" are classic

all these critics in al's demo who are all 'OMG BUT LONELY ISLAND IS BETTER' are getting serious side-eye from me

like i mean 'jack sparrow' is good but michael bolton makes it work!

IT'S NOT LIKE STICKING RICHARD MARX IN THERE WOULD HAVE MADE THE JOKE LAND SIMILARLY

benny mardones maybe

I liked Reggie Watts for about five minutes the first time I ever saw him. Now I find him a boil on society's ass cheek. Same with Lonely Island for the most part. I have so little exposure to Conchords that I can't really weigh in.

Weird Al and My Dick CHAMPS 4 LYFE

this isn't anything about Weird Al but part of why Lonely Island's best stuff works is cuz they know how to riff off specific rap tropes (whether they enjoy it or not,) it's not solely "OMG white guys rapping how hilaaaarious"

It's not that all

*at all

The fact that Weird Al is not a "hip-hop-appropriating, adults-only, Saturday Night Live-sponsored" act is probably why he's had a three-decade career, I think

do kids these days like weird al or is it just millenials / gen x'rs listening to this?

This is hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIrggalp3o

That Carl Wilson article suuuucked. Is that "Semicolon" song where Lonely Planet is supposedly doing a better job with grammar humor?

i don't think weird al did that great of a job with "grammar humor" tbh
he resorted to calling people who make errors in their writing stupid mouthbreathers
i thought part of weird al's thing was that he was funny, but not mean?

eh lots of his songs take on an extreme perspective or unreliable narrator that insults people as part of the premise.

i was just hoping i could play this song as a fun intro to my classes in the fall and i can't because of the stupid mouthbreather thing
which means it's only good for the "grammar nazis", who are not my people

oh well

LL is my people, word crimes is def mean spirited

some dude is right in that Al is assuming the role of a grammar nazi for the purposes of this song, an extra layer to the onion that might not be suitable for playing in class should anyone not pick up on that.

Al recorded a full version of Eat It Unplugged at a radio station last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=260i9fJE_Z0

there's a far more serious reason not to play that song to kids

maybe
but i still find it disappointing he wouldn't skewer the nazis rather than the people who make the errors
that would take too much maneuvering i guess

i love weird al
this thing just bummed me out a little

(my students aren't kids btw)

to anyone learning appropriate use of English

btw i may as well plug the playlist i made of Weird Al deep cuts: http://narrowcast.blogspot.com/2014/07/deep-album-cuts-vol-22-weird-al-yankovic.html

i just thought it might be a fun mood-lightener
nothing sinks spirits like talking about prepositional phrases
anyway that's my 2 cents

Oh great, now I have to add Weird Al in a k.d. lang wig to the spank bank.

omg

the title of the next ILE gay thread has arrived

xps: Good list! Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is probably my personal favorite of his.

Oh, we couldn't wait to get there
So we drove straight through for three whole days and nights
Of course, we stopped for more pickled wieners now and then
The scenery was just so pretty, boy I wish the kids could've seen it
But you can't see out of the side of the car because the windows are completely covered with the decals from all the places where we've already been

Buy Me A Condo is probably the deep cut that gets stuck in my head the most, probably because it impressed me the most when I was 8. I didn't know who Bob Marley or Jackson Brown were.

one of my favorite things about Mandatory Fun is how Weird Al chops a full minute off of songs like "Royals" and "Happy" that went on way too long in the original versions.

Al doesn't bury the lede in "Word Crimes"

The "You will find/People make fun of you online" is right in the first few lines.

Phew, thought this thread revival was because he was dead.

No, he might live forever

Buy Me a Condo is at least as good as late era Kinks.

Midnight Star from that album is also a hell of a jam.

Whole album rules except for "That Boy Could Dance," see also POLLkas on 45: "Weird Al" Yankovic, in 3-D

I have a fun lil project w/my middle school elective class where we write a song parody and I start out by showing them the "Beat It" and "Eat It" videos. My sweet Mormon mom texted me last night to say that I could do this with "Word Crimes" and "Blurred Lines" videos, that it would be more fun and modern and they would also learn about grammar. "i havent seen the robin think but the weird al is cute" <3

looool

"Handy" is up

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/17/5912379/weird-al-iggy-azalea-fancy-parody-handy-music-video

reluctant to listen to "Handy" because I still haven't heard "Fancy"

I've only heard the CSNFallon version, the Weird Al one's funny enough on its own

hahaha crabbits, you need to just respond with a link to the uncensored #THICKE vid

reluctant to listen to "Handy" because I still haven't heard "Fancy"

― guwop (crüt), Thursday, July 17, 2014 11:40 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've only heard the CSNFallon version, the Weird Al one's funny enough on its own

― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, July 17, 2014 11:45 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://greatlakesoutdoors.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/unfrozen-caveman-lawyer.jpeg

lol at "Mission Statement," pretty great idea. Parody would be a little more perfect if it sounded a little less 'digital.' The solo is dead on though.

yeah weird ppl haven't heard a song that gets less exposure in the culture than the #20 song would've gotten ten years ago. it's almost like the monoculture is dead or something.

it's kind of great how totally avoidable the worst chart shit is

I'm not saying it's weird they haven't heard the song, I'm saying it's stupid that they would rather post about it on a message board than take the 2 seconds to pull it up on YouTube before listening to a parody of it

So I don't understand, are some posters contending that Word Crimes is actually some kind of meta comment on internet grammar sticklers and that's why he built an entire song out of things that have gotten really boring/unfunny to complain about ("OMG LITERALLY USED TO MEAN FIGURATIVELY" etc.)

it's weird ppl wouldn't want to pull up some song on youtube that pretty much nobody has anything positive to say about

it's great but the weird al iggy azalea parody is less absurd and hilarious than the real thing

*Curiously looks up what was #20 ten years ago*

Hmm, I think I've been exposed to Fancy more than I have to Christina Milian's Dip It Low, but I understand your point.

I hope that Weird Al at least had the class to include a shoutout to Charli XCX

i've heard 'happy' and 'radioactive' like a dozen+ times out in the wild (and 'royals' several dozen) but never heard 'fancy' or 'blurred lines' without youtubing them, its weird how arbitrary a cross section of chart music you get without seeking it out.

i think i knew all of the songs in the polka though

it's weird ppl wouldn't want to pull up some song on youtube that pretty much nobody has anything positive to say about

― balls, Thursday, July 17, 2014 1:41 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The number one song that nobody had anything positive to say about.

I have heard parodies of Fancy (the Weird Al one and a couple of really shitty ones on Facebook) more than I have heard Fancy

Moodles otm: Link to the bizarre piece shout-out piece being referenced:

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2014/05/29/3443070/why-doesnt-iggy-azalea-give-charli-xcx-a-shout-out-in-fancy/

fancy is used in a bunch of ads now, so that makes it more inescapable.

dip it low is amazing and everyone should listen to it more.

also weird al's dancing in the handy video really puts it over the top

"word crimes" is going to get a sudden numbers boost the first week of september.

i am literally an unfrozen caveman so whiney otm

I'm not saying it's weird they haven't heard the song, I'm saying it's stupid that they would rather post about it on a message board than take the 2 seconds to pull it up on YouTube before listening to a parody of it

― dilligaf escape plan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, July 17, 2014 11:39 AM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not everyone gets paid-not-paid to keep up with this shi

Where did hit songs get more exposure 10 years ago? On Myspace?

I hope that Weird Al at least had the class to include a shoutout to Charli XCX

― odd proggy geezer (Moodles), Thursday, July 17, 2014 12:48 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thumbs up!

I'm not saying it's weird they haven't heard the song, I'm saying it's stupid that they would rather post about it on a message board than take the 2 seconds to pull it up on YouTube before listening to a parody of it.

lol when I saw "last updated by Whiney" in Site New Answers I figured he literally took a shit on the thread

the first two seconds of fancy are killer tho

I've said this multiple times elsewhere; just about everything about "Fancy" should be repellent to me but somehow it coheres into something... kind of great.

I hate it if only because it finally managed to made Charli XCX annoying to me.

I think I'd heard Fancy before without realizing what it was...? Maybe I thought it was a Nicki song. At any rate, I have already totally forgotten the hook, so apart from everything else wrong with it, it's a shitty song

that "fancy" thinkpiece is so bizarre. of all the things to write, and after going to the trouble of getting an actual university professor to answer your questions, repeatedly asking "but what about charli xcx??? but what about charli xcx????" is dumb

i agree with djp re: "fancy", it's a banger. i'm half-disappointed that iggy's album is shit (would've loved trying to rep for her, she's nowhere near as awful as she's made out to be), half-relieved (bc she's so #problematic), but i'm fine with the song. i think the best thing about it is the sheer chutzpah of opening it with "first things first, i'm the realest". irl lol every time. not even just "real" which is an actual arguable case but REALEST. amazing.

i didn't know you were talking about more interesting things than this comedian in here, only came in to register disapproval of that dickish grammar nazi song where he calls people spastics and mouthbreathers. exhibit 9390228022 of comedians being a wretched fuckwit who gets off on kicking down and mocking others.

btw Paris Hilton has a new single out

so you know, rather than lecture us you could go fawn over your pretty blonde rich no-talent racist

that must be the first time anyone has ever criticized Weird Al for being mean to people

lol Dan

xp

lol i can't even remember the last time i typed paris hilton's name? and what is it with this dude that makes everyone get snippy in his defence

most humans enjoy laughter

He's got a 30+ year history of being one of the most delightful people on the planet.

what is it with this dude who's been around 30 years that makes someone comedysplain his "terribleness" having heard A song

calling people spastics and mouthbreathers is highly delightful, yes

i appreciate it when you tell me about comedy

guys guys we all know lex and whiney are remarkably stupid, proudly ignorant, and generally morally bankrupt manchildren, i think we can move on. let's not make another thread about the 'let's talk about me' guys.

I think we've established in some other discussion here that spastic has different connotations in the UK than it does in the US, and mouthbreathers is fairly innocuous as an insult.

I'm sorry I was unaware that mouthbreathers were an oppressed minority

xp

He should call them stupid hos instead.

I told y'all they'd show up.

let's all be friends

how about we play

WHEEL

OF

FISH

this was news to me, thank you for teaching me something, music comedy man!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spastic

For those of you just joining us, today we're teaching poodles how to fly.

]In his song 'Goodnight Saigon', Billy Joel tells the story of young American soldiers going to Vietnam, naive on arrival and some going back home in body bags in the end. He sings, "We came in spastic like tameless horses, we left in plastic as numbered corpses." The lyrics are in no way offensive in this American context. - beg to differ

"we came in spastic like tameless horses" is one of the dumbest things I've ever read, so I enjoyed that article (xpost)

Billy Joel's general existence is offensive

man even at the 9/11 memorial concert? for shame shakey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6T2B3Vhtzk

i have no beef with weird al but goodnight saigon is pretty great tbh

xpost lol

I love goodnight saigon and most of Billy Joel from storm front & before

AS SHARP AS KNIVESKNIVESKNIVESKNIVES

still keep hoping someone will take the reins and do the billy joel track by track thread. have heard/loved 'goodnight saigon' a million times but apparently have been too...moved by it's story to catch 'spastic like tameless horses' before.

can a mod get the offensive reference three posts ago

we CAN'T have refs to the piano man on this board

didn't know billy joel was on $t0rmfr0nt

plus the cadence of that line is cool,
weeee came in spas tic...like tameless hor ses

i know i know take it to the billy joel thread I'll stop

still keep hoping someone will take the reins and do the billy joel track by track thread. have heard/loved 'goodnight saigon' a million times but apparently have been too...moved by it's story to catch 'spastic like tameless horses' before.

― balls, Thursday, July 17, 2014 5:06 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ballot poll coming someday!

"Goodnight Saigon" was always the song that I would ask my parents to fast-forward through whenever we listened to the Greatest Hits cassette on car trips.

We came in spastic like tameless horses/we left in plastic as numbered corpses

^i keep imagining this as rapped by MC Paul Barman

except he would have said "nameless corpses"

you went to berkeley and took the lamest courses

An acquaintance once tried to tell me that MC Paul Barman was the first rapper to ever use internal rhymes.

Also that it's actually pronounced "MC Par Barman"

lol

That Wikipedia article is pretty appalling. "Gay has come to be a playground synonym for weak, stupid, soft, embarrassing or otherwise undesirable. Therefore it is in no way offensive to use it as an insult, or say a rugby player is playing 'like a giant poofter' on broadcast television."

Love Weird Al but seeing him team up with College Humor just depresses the hell outta me

? which entry are you reading?

nobody in the U.S. is offended by the word spaz, just accept it.

xp

Love Weird Al but seeing him team up with College Humor just depresses the hell outta me

― 龜, Thursday, July 17, 2014 6:36 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the "Tacky" video was done w/ Nerdist and the "Handy" video was put out through Yahoo!'s comedy channel and the "Word Crimes" lyric video was done by a guy who's done some popular animated videos. imo it's pretty brilliant that he's using all these small internet comedy brands to help push his album, if the "Foil" video sucked i'd blame it on College Humor but it's awesome so who cares.

but there's 4 more videos from the album coming out in the next week, so maybe the next one will make me go "for fuck's sake, why did Weird Al have to make a video with Seth MacFarlane" or something

It's more the about the principle than the product, College Humor is up there with Funny or Die as top sites to be avoided

I do agree that it's cool he's figuring out how to leverage his brand though

College Humor is up there with Funny or Die as top sites to be avoided

Both sites are guilty of hosting bad content, but also some great content. Not sure it makes them any different from anything else, really.

like ubuweb, for instance

Johnny Fever owns a College Humor t-shirt, mug

man dayo is gonna lost his shit when the next vid debuts on engrish.com tomorrow

Shut up barrs

Hahahahaha

That Wikipedia article is pretty appalling. "Gay has come to be a playground synonym for weak, stupid, soft, embarrassing or otherwise undesirable. Therefore it is in no way offensive to use it as an insult, or say a rugby player is playing 'like a giant poofter' on broadcast television."

― boney tassel (sic), Thursday, July 17, 2014 6:35 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if only there were some way to change what a wikipedia article said

also that paris hilton video is pretty amazing, shame about the song

nobody in the U.S. is offended by the word spaz, just accept it.

1. Al doesn't use the word 'spaz' in the song
2. It's the fact of using a neurological condition as a pejorative, not the specific word that's the issue
3. "get over it" is not historically a useful response to using descriptors as slurs

if only there were some way to change what a wikipedia article said

Don't think this was Shakey's point in citing it as backup for "lol stfu spastics".

I'm pretty offended by Al's use of the word "Weird." Is it meant as a perjorative? Isn't he reifying received norms with its usage? Perhaps "Decentered/Problematized Al" would serve as a more useful nomiker.

"what is normal anyway al"

Spastic is simply not an offensive term in the u.s., it does not refer to a specific group of people or medical condition. I'm sorry this is difficult to understand.

Spastic is not a medical term, it is not used to refer to a neurological condition.

IN AMERICA. Where Weird Al is from.

I will not be lectured on the offensiveness of the word spastic by a nation of people who throw cunt and fag around indiscriminately.

Robbie Williams to thread

obsessed with the dolly zoom in the "foil" video

tbf if a british family entertainer used 'cunt' or 'fag' in their act it would be perhaps a little controversial

also his lil spokesmodel gesture towards the mushroom clouds xp

tbf if a british family entertainer used 'cunt' or 'fag' in their act it would be perhaps a little controversial

Right, I get that. It was just exaggerated hardmanning.

Spastic is not a medical term, it is not used to refer to a neurological condition.

What do you call people with CP?

I will not be lectured on the offensiveness of the word spastic by a nation of people who throw cunt and fag around indiscriminately.

What nation?

lol what do you call ppl w/ cp?

We call them people with cerebral palsy ime

lol what do you call ppl w/ cp?

cunts and phags

What do you call people with CP?

rolling teen pop thread?

huge lol

huge fp

"Spastic" is indeed a medical term, referring to a particular type of velocity- and direction-dependent increased tone in the skeletal muscles (seen mostly in the limbs), which is typically produced by a lesion in the corticospinal tract. Many neurological diseases cause some degree of spasticity, from spinal cord injuries to MS to stroke. People with cerebral palsy often have spasticity, but not always. "Spastic cerebral palsy" (often specified as "spastic hemiplegia", "spastic diplegia", etc) distinguishes that type from "ataxic" and "athetoid" CP, in which spasticity is not a feature.

There is no class of patients referred to simply as "spastic" by doctors in North America (and I don't think in the UK either). The word sometimes is used as an adjective to describe a pattern of gait or a form of dysarthria.

/neurologist

I knew the first time I heard Word Crimes that Language Log would have a post up within hours pointing out that the less vs fewer distinction and other "prescriptivist peeves" are not actually poor grammar. It took another couple of listens before it occurred to me that BrE speakers would find "spastic" offensive. Never thought "mouthbreathers" was offensive, how does that work again?

Great song anyway, way easier to take than the original.

"wretched fuckwit"

Not only is spastic completely inoffensive in America, the word "moron" in the song, which nobody has singled out, is inarguably more offensive in America. Nobody actually cares about either as anything more than making an inconsequential point, though, so it's not a big deal.

Is the word "retarded" considered offensive in the USA?

Yes, a lot of disability rights groups have rebranded away from the term. The American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) became the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). IDD is generally considered the more appropriate term right now.

Nobody actually cares about either as anything more than making an inconsequential point, though, so it's not a big deal

I was genuinely shocked by it ("Aw, not Al...." :( ), as per my posts to LL (and hl in the other thread) before it blew up itt

I'm pretty surprised someone would use the word "spastic" as a pejorative in 2014 too but then again I'm not familiar with Weird Al nor do I care about him. Also never been to the USA.

xp Fair enough, but as someone with several family members with pretty severe disabilities, I find that people love occasionally pointing out a spot of inappropriate language, but are perfectly content to ignore the issues otherwise. My school of thought is that as long as there's a world where a show like Derek exists, I have a really hard time caring about such a minor issue.

spaz if you want to

Weird Al seems a bit eugenicist, too, with his desire to get grammar offenders out of the gene pool — perhaps less compassionate than The Onion's old nation's educators alarmed by poorly written suicide notes.
The heroic persistence of Yankovic marches alongside the progressive normalization of geek culture, which may find itself enraged that the tools it created have made the voices of those it hates all the more publicly visible/audible ("we gave them Spell Check, yet look what they do!"). Weird Al generally seems innocuous enough to me, but this song seems to feed off some genuine resentment (even if it's not quite Al's own so much as something that "just works" for the song — not that I know one way or the other). What happened to daring to be stupid? One could care less about these things!

Yes Weird Al Yankovic is deliberately advocating for Eugenics, great call and excellent interpretation

This is ilm. We can ruin anything.

the entire premise of the song is dickish grammar nazi shit that anyone over 20 should have grown out of

sorry i didn't realise he was some sort of national treasure or w/e but yknow, deal

Can we all just go back and watch the "Foil" video again?

Seriously. Do it now if you haven't done it already.

The "I" of Weird Al's songs is alway Weird Al himself. He is also a fat surgeon who was in Nirvana.

he cannot pretend

he must actually be it

also he was in love with ricky?

the entire premise of the song is dickish grammar nazi shit that anyone over 20 should have grown out of

yes, i'm glad you got the joke!

With proper disciple "humour" is not necessary

I'm pretty offended by Al's use of the word "Weird." Is it meant as a perjorative? Isn't he reifying received norms with its usage? Perhaps "Decentered/Problematized Al" would serve as a more useful nomiker.

― relentlessly pecking at peace (President Keyes), Thursday, July 17, 2014 9:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

genius post imo

http://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-answers-our-11-questions-206949

5. How would your enemies describe you?

WAY: Very poorly, I’m sure. Probably using monosyllabic words, bad grammar, improper syntax. I have to assume my enemies are idiots.

otm based on available sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqg-YZhr3bA

so i googled to see whether weird al has ever acknowledged that his "trigger happy" was a total jack of "Skeet Surfin" from Top Secret and all i found was a big interview he did with the dissolve about Top Secret where he mentions how great "skeet surfin" is without bringing up "trigger happy."

maybe he made a deal with z.a.z. where in exchange for them not suing he has to praise the movie whenever possible?

lol i love that naked gun scene

i'm sure he takes a lot of inspiration from other comedy and sometimes it's just more transparent than it usually is. when the guy's whole thing is parodying ostensibly 'serious' songs, there's a weird gray area as far as borrowing from fellow comedians. i was always annoyed at "Truck Drivin' Song," which is like a carbon copy of the whole concept of Monty Python's "Lumberjack Song."

the new one, "sports song," is up - some funny lines but my least favorite so far, people doin the "I will hip you to how silly sports fandom is" thing is like

c'mon bro

sports song is like straight from the tom lehrer era

clearly inspired by "Fight Fiercely Harvard", but he takes it somewhere else, and it's good.

It's no "Fight Fiercely, Harvard".

xp fuck

Heh, while looking up to see if I could find any info on the "Trigger Happy"-"Skeet Surfin" connection I found this thread from a newsgroup from 1992.

Oh wow, I never even heard "Fight Fiercely Harvard." It's pretty decentered/problematized that I made that connection anyway, wow.

But yeah, it's so Tom Lehrer/Allen Shermany that I was kind of disappointed that the video wasn't like full of fur coats and triangular flags

HURL THAT SPHEROID DOWN THE FIELD

DEMONSTRATE TO THEM OUR PROWESS, DO!

Tim and Eric have the best sports song

do you wanna go sit in the cell where we put the guy who said Flying Conchords are better than Weird Al?

BECAUSE THERE'S PLENTY OF ROOM

a nice roomy cell sounds nice yes thank you

VG forgot to mention that we filled it with farts

are they smelly farts?

lots of people eating fried and poached eggs around here. they are probably smelly.

pickled weiners.

also vegemite

FWIW I find it kind of endearing (if bizarre) that this weird release format is putting really close, brief attention on what are, videos aside, obviously Weird Al album tracks, a dicey category of song for at least two decades. Love the guy at his best but buying a Weird Al CD always involved some recognition that there would be some lame jokes that didn't work, some concepts pushed too far, some forced wackiness etc etc - - - so yeah surprise surprise not all these tracks are genius, I'm just amazed he can still actually knock out a few parody songs that people like and laugh at, this late in his career.

*gives weird al a treat*
*pats weird al on head*

i think the pastiches on this one are better executed than the straight-up parodies tbh

"on this one" hardly necessary there imo

yeah, still blown away by the pixies one

there should be a playlist of pixies parody songs

There is no class of patients referred to simply as "spastic" by doctors in North America (and I don't think in the UK either). The word sometimes is used as an adjective to describe a pattern of gait or a form of dysarthria.

thanks for clearing this up Plasmon; I would hope it was obvious that I was referring to the former usage as being nonexistent in the US

many many xp

there should be a playlist of pixies parody songs

It's called Indie Cindy.

haaaa

My piano teacher from high school has been in Al's touring band for >20 years :)

and he's the newbie of the group! i don't know why i find the consistency of his line-up so cool but i do

from steve jay's website:

Stephen's bass recording credits include 3 Grammy winners and 9 Grammy nominated albums. He is the credited bassist on 9 Gold and 5 Platinum albums (RIAA). Stephen specializes in combining ethnic and modern instruments to create a blend of the exotic and contemporary. His world music experience includes live performance and studies throughout West Africa and Southeast Asia. From his field recording of world music Stephen produced 2 albums for the Nonesuch Explorer Series. He has scored more than seventy nationally broadcast PBS specials and series episodes, including three George Foster Peabody Award winners, and contributed to TV and feature films. His background includes a BA and MM Graduate Fellowship in composition, and studies with composers John Cage, Lucas Foss, Max Neuhaus and Charles Wuronien. Stephen's past work includes performing and recording with Rick Derringer, Wayne Shorter, Hugh Masekela, Alex Acuna, Luis Conte, Isah Hamani, Joe Higgs, Betty Buckley, Jimmy Haskell and others. He is an original and continuing member of "Weird Al" Yankovic's band.

"oh and i've played Eat It for 30 years"

Ruben's:

After leading Santa Cruz, California's most popular funk/fusion group Rush Hour for seven years, Rubén moved to L.A. Soon after arriving, he was playing, recording and traveling the World with members of groups such as Santana, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, Shakira, Marc Anthony, Tom Jones, Temptations, Deniece Williams, Natalie Cole, Tower of Power, et al.
Following International tours with rock legend Glenn Hughes/Deep Purple and blues legend Charlie Musselwhite, Rubén found himself touring and recording with Rock/comedy icon "Weird Al" Yankovic.

if i was rick rubin i'd try to get weird to make an album of songs that either stuck to his original accordion/fart sound template or really let his band of jazz-fusion guys wild out. "We either need to move forward, Weird...or we need to go all the way back...back to My Bologna."

"what if instead of making the band listen to ariana grande...why don't you just play 'Gollum' with the accordion...and let them react in the moment. Roll tape."

Apparently most of the fart sounds from his earlier albums came courtesy of "Musical Mike" Kieffer who hasn't seemed to have worked with Al since Headline News. But I do knd of miss that sound he brought to the recordings, as juvenile as it might be.

yeah the ones added to the mtv theme here are pretty great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evEHos82Wew#t=38