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The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread


Gonzo

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I love pretty much everything Al does. A lot of it is easy cheapshots and lazy puns and fat jokes, sure, but he's got that zany cheerful energy which makes it all feel like he's laughing with you at how stupid his own lyrics can get. Also, he's got stuff like "Albuquerque" which isn't a parody of anything and feels like it's inventing its own new genre of spoken-word, I-have-no-idea-what-the-hell-this-is tracks that feel like they were improvised on the spot (in a good way). Also: the letters f, h, and u, but not in that order.

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First concert I ever went to. First CD I ever bought.

 

Can't say enough about him.

 

Pretty much the same. "Dare to Be Stupid" was the first cassette (yes, I'm old) that I ever owned. Unfortunately, I still haven't seen him in concert, which is something I definitely have to do sooner rather than later.

 

And UHF was awesome, too. Think I read somewhere that it's still banned in India because of the "Gandhi II" bit in the film.

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At this stage of my life, I think I prefer the stylistic pastiches Al does over the 'specific song' parodies. The fact that he can cheerfully mimic the style of just about anybody makes him IMO one of the best songwriters alive.  My favorites are the ones like "Dare to be Stupid", "Everything You Know is Wrong" or "Genius in France" that could easily have BEEN a song by the original artist he's riffing on. (I make an exception for "You Make Me", which feels like he WANTED to write a parody of "Grey Matter", couldn't make it work, and did something that sounds like that song but isn't, rather than either parodying it specifically or doing a more general Oingo Boingo pastiche.)

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First off, he's in a class by himself at what he became famous for: parody songs. The style parodies are even better, (personal favorite: I'll Sue Ya,) and then there's the purely original stuff like "The Night Santa Went Crazy". It seems to me that these three things all take slightly different skillsets.

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Speaking as a musician AND someone who has been paid to be funny for most of his adult life, I can tell you that to combine BOTH disciplines as seamlessly as Al has done for as long as he has is a hell of an achievement. I really do consider the man a genius.

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Daniel Powter did not allow Weird Al to make a parody of the song, Bad Day. 

 

Obviously Powter did not realize that Weird Al asking permission to parody your song means that you have made it big, not that you are a laughing stock.

 

When was the last time Powter had a hit on the US Charts?

 

Weird Al makes your career, asshole, he does not break it.

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He will be releasing 8 videos for this new Al-bum over the course of the next 8 days. Well.....7 now, since Tacky has already been released. I think it's really smart in this digital age. Release videos for as many songs as possible and see what goes viral and catches on naturally rather than picking just one lead single. I'm very curious to see what other songs from this Al-bum get videos.

 

I've listened to his new Al-bum several times over the last few days (found a leak of it over the weekend) and it is good. I wouldn't say it's his best ever (which I still consider to be 1999's "Running With Scissors"), but it's up there. Some of the songs didn't grab me at first, but they are growing on me over repeat listenings. I think "Word Crimes" (parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines") is the best on the Al-bum and hope it's the one that takes off the most. Other parodies are "Handy" parodying "Fancy" by Iggy, "Foil" parodying "Royals" by Lordes, and "Inactive" parodying "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons.

 

There's also Foo Fighters, Pixies, Cat Stevens, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young style parodies on the album, and they're all quite great.

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Daniel Powter did not allow Weird Al to make a parody of the song, Bad Day. 

 

Obviously Powter did not realize that Weird Al asking permission to parody your song means that you have made it big, not that you are a laughing stock.

 

When was the last time Powter had a hit on the US Charts?

 

Weird Al makes your career, asshole, he does not break it.

 

Yeah, when a pop artist says that they're too good for something that Michael Jackson was cool with, you might as well just tattoo "jerkoff" on their forehead and be done with it.

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Remember when MTV was awesome and Weird Al's pirate signal use to take over the broadcast every April Fool's Day!

 

 

Of course you don't because you are a goddamned worthless whippersnapper.  GET OFFA MY LAWN~!

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One of the more underrated 80's moments ever was the Junkions scene from Transformers: The Movie with "Dare To Be Stupid" playing...

 

 

Combining Weird Al and Transformers is about as 80's as reading Bloom County in a mesh shirt and Jams while hopping on a Pogo Ball...

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This reminds me of my all-time favorite Weird Al "controversy" when Coolio was complaining about Amish Paradise.

 

First, if he really didn't give permission, then he is fully within his rights to be mad.  But then he was talking about how "Gangster's Paradise" was a serious song about a real issue (true) and not something like "Beat It."

 

 

*record scratch noise*  BEAT IT IS ABOUT THE EXACT SAME DAMN TOPIC YOU MORON.

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