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An Ode To Al
bwfcusa16 writes "The Boston Globe has up a feature story on Weird Al in its Sunday edition. The article refers to his staying power as prince of the parody. It's an ode to his determination, talent, and relevance ... and, of course, the funny." From the article: "Novelty artists--and he is one--have a notoriously short lifespan. They age badly, they run out of gags. But Al, by simply refusing to stop, has turned himself into a sort of cultural Geiger counter, ticking and squawking around the hot zones. The oddity of a humorist titling himself like a pro wrestler (there's no "Funny Jerry" Seinfeld) has long since worn off--he's the champ, and he's earned it.
Nice that he got an article, but....
it isn't comprehensive in the slightest.
doesn't mention Al-TV "taking over" M-TV for a half-hour.
doesn't mention the problems he's had except one album.
Must be slow news day.
Have you read my journal today?
"Pretty fly for a weird guy."
Seriously, there is nothing in that article worth reading for anyone with a passing aquaintance to Weird Al. Why don't you spend your time by going to iTunes or the record store and picking up his new CD (he has said he makes vastly more money from the CD sales, if that makes your decision easier). "White and Nerdy" is one of the funniest songs I have ever heard, and I've all but adopted it as my personal anthem.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
White and Nerdy - need I say more?
... 'This is the Life', probably released in 1985 or so. I eat filet mignon seven times a day, my bathtub's filled with perrier and I have women lined up outside my door, they've been waiting there since the week before, who can ask for more, this is the life. Genius =).
... particularly over the past 2 years. Note: the link above is to a work-appropriate humor site I contribute to ... I couldn't resist, hopefully I don't get flamed too hard, I'm a die-hard fan.
There's no doubt that Weird Al is seriously funny. How many comedians or comedic singers are around for 25 years, and have people remember their songs? I doubt even funnymen like Adam Sandler will have followings like him in another 10-15 years. My personal favorite song
While he had more duds than hits over the past 10 years, it seems like he's had some resurgance
Crack - Free with every butt and set of boobs
"Addicted to Love" was done by Robert Palmer not Robert Plant. Duh.
As a foreigner living here, I find that American culture often needs a little help to laugh at itself. Parker and Stone may have made doing so mainstream, but Al was ahead of the curve when he started it.
Aside from that, the simple fact is that using different words matching the same rhythm and rhyme of well known music is simply intrinsically funny, and he does a very good job of it - he also has a decent amount of musical talent, and he has shown superb diversity in keeping up with the times and parodying whatever is currently hip.
In short, Al is a key contributor to American culture, and deserves to be lauded for it.
If you want proof of Al's talent, look no further than "Bob," a brilliant tribute to the lyrical stylings of Bob Dylan. A parody of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Bob" is done entirely in palindromes while still retaining the lyrical absurdities of the original song. Al also interjects several completely unnecessary 1-second harmonica rifts in the song, poking fun at Dylan's use of the instrument. I'm a huge Dylan fan and this was by far one of the most original tributes to the man. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg
We really need to have fonts distinguish between I and l and | (as used in subject ).
I wonder what Weird Al will be like 20 years from now... will he be remembered as one of the "greats" of comedy, a name living long after everyone forgets the jokes? What will his parodies (and polkas) be like? Will he continue to be the pop culture barometer that we've come to know and love? Regardless, all of his songs have been a constant companion on my playlists and CD jackets and tapedecks, and I think I remember his songs with more clarity than the originals. Maybe he will be known as the last successful accordion artist. *grin*
(there's no "Funny Jerry" Seinfeld) This article makes a good point. X3
Absolutely ridiculous. >.>
I was just thinking, "Yeah, if they'd only cut off the last half-hour and the whole reviving his mother so he could say goodbye, it would have been a pretty awesome movie. JUst leave him trapped under the ferris wheel."
Put then I realized it was "An Ode to AL" and not "An Ode to AI". Whoever originated the Sans-Serif L should be shot ;).
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
The first thing to do is forget about writing original material. You are surrounded by material. Just look around. The things the rich and famous do ... you can't make that kind of thing up. All Weird Al has to do is just give up trying to be creative; all he has to do is be a bit observant. His stuff will practically write itself.
n es The Simpsons are American culture lite. The Simpsons have referenced everything important about American culture that has happened in the last half century. Example: How do my kids know about 'A Streetcar Named Desire'? They saw it on the Simpsons. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701048/ The Simpsons parody everything. Another example: Marge on the Lam is a parody of Thelma and Louise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_and_Louise
A similar example is the Simpsons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons#Storyli
I'm not surprised that Weird Al has lasted so long; I'm surprised that more people don't do the same. Maybe Weird Al and the Simpsons just do it better than anyone else.
Granted, I have not rtfa, but I'd like to chime in: I've been listening to Weird Al for close to 20 years now. Sure, I love his parodies, but they are NOT what he does best. The attention to detail that he pays in his original music is staggering. He simply does not get enough credit for his fantastic sense of music, style, and composition. His original works come in two main flavors: A parody in a particular style/genre, as well as fully original compositions. His style parodies are AMAZING. Even DEVO (was it Mark Mothersbaugh who said this?) has gone on record saying how much they simply hate Weird Al because Dare To Be Stupid (song, not album) was EXACTLY the kind of sound they had gone for all along. It's a friggin' great song, to boot. His fully original compositions, however, emulate the thoughts and ideas of his self-proclaimed musical influence, the late and great Frank Zappa. Be it Genius In France (featuring Dweezil Zappa, album Poodle Hat, which in and of itself is a direct reference to Zappa regarding the mention of poodles. This is touched upon more in Zappa's Project/Object theory, sorry, no link), or Fun Zone from the UHF OST, the man simply knows how to arrange a piece of music to appeal to the professional musician in all of us. Obviously, though, if really LISTENING to the music isn't your thing, you won't get it. It's like how Wesley Snipes said, in White Men Can't Jump, you can HEAR Jimmi, but you aren't LISTENING to Jimmi. Maybe it was the other way around, it's been a while, but my point should be fairly clear. I consider myself a severe musical snob, even to the point where I egotistically feel I'm being fully objective about why the music I like is so great. Weird Al has always secured himself a place in my musical interest, and although he is generally obligated to cover what's 'popular' at the time (both for economical reasons, as well as pleasing the majority of the listeners, who themselves listen to that kind of music [rap, most recently], it's his original pieces of work that continue to fill my mind with wonder, awe, and sheer admiration for his skills. I would love to keep rambling about why I think Weird Al is a DAMN FINE musician, but then this post would never end. Weird Al, granted you probably won't read this since you spend 12+ hours a day logged into MySpace, muahaha, you share a place in my mind right up there with Zappa, and I feel that your ingenuity as well as your raw talent is quite possibly equal to Zappa in my mind. I will be a fan of yours always, even if I don't listen to particular tracks off of particular albums because the music does not apply to my taste (for the most part, more recent material than anything else). Keep up the amazing work, and I will continue to buy your music as often as you release it. Please, don't ever stop. I won't even get into how aware the man is of technology, as well as world events, and humor. One last note: For the first time ever, you have grossed me out. Weasel Stomping Day is the first piece of work you've ever made that just seemed to catch me off guard. Then again, maybe I just love animals! Of course, I didn't mind it that time you had a wolverine in your underwear, and suddenly the guy behind you starting screaming evything you know is wrong. Again, I will always be an adoring fan.
For me, the proof that Weird Al really impacted our culture and was relevant was walking into a store and seeing, between "Rock" and "Country" an entire "Weird Al" section. I guess you just can't pin that guy down :)
I don't know if I'd go that far. In my not-so-humble AC opinion, that title shall forever belong to Tom Lehrer.
FWIW, to my knowledge there's nothing on the disc that prevents it from being copied. As I always do with my CDs, I ripped the disc to my computer and put the CD on the shelf. After looking at the videos on the other side that is. I suppose I might have watched the DVD half more if it had the "White and Nerdy" video on it, but the animations aren't terrible and the album itself doesn't disappoint this long-time Al fan. For those who care, which excludes myself, there are enhanced stereo and surround versions on the DVD side as well. Anyway, White & Nerdy, Canadian Idiot and Trapped in the Drive-Thru (a great sendup of Trapped in the Closet) were the album's high points for me. Even "Don't download this song" has enough sarcasm to make it funny, in a "We are the world" parody sort of way.
GPL: Free as in will
The disc is not copy-protected in any way that I can detect.
splunge (n) -- A good idea.. but it could be lousy... and I'm not being indecisive!
They must have run Fat on MTV like once every 10 videos for what seemed to be a year. I thought MTV was pretty awesome back then.
God spoke to me.
At least some computers (such as mine) have issues with ripping it.
And my car CD player doesn't like the CD/DVD - there's potential jamming issues with the DualDiss format.
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
As one poster has pointed out, the disc is a DualDisc format. This is not copy protection, but a 'clever' way of having DVD and CD content on one CD. And you know what? It sucks. So much so that I ebayed my DualDisc version and bought the Australian version which, while not having the Karaeoke option of the US DVD, actually does run on a PC. Then I sold the DualDisc version on E-Bay and I sure as hell won't ever be buying a dualdisc version again. The only way I could get the DualDisc version onto my MP3 player was to make a copy of the CD, then put that copy in the computer. The disc completely failed to either play on my Apple Mac Mini or my PC, and could only be read by one particular laptop I tried. It may not be actual copy protection, but it sure as hell worked like it, well, until I found a laptop it worked on.
From Al on MySpace: (no, I can't be bothered formatting it)
Hey everybody, Apparently there is some creep out there pretending to be me, and he has been spamming my MySpace friends list with offers to see me in Las Vegas if people sign up for a lot of garbage online. Just to be clear, this is definitely NOT ME. This is an IMPOSTOR, and we are looking into having his MySpace account yanked, after which he will hopefully be flogged and tortured. I'm very sorry if any of you were inconvenienced by this. Really, I don't suck. Thanks, Al Yankovic
I never actually got the invite, though I did get a very similar-sounding one supposedly from the Goo Goo Dolls. I guess that was a dud too.
In 1980 I was a DJ with Weird Al at KCPR, the radio station at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, California). For some idiotic reason the powers-that-be wanted the station to act like a commercial station, playing mostly the same bland hits that the commercial stations played. Someplace I've saved a hilarious interview in the student paper with Al, in which he says "They can tell me I have to play certain songs, but they never specified at what speed, or what direction to play them in!"
He was a very friendly guy, by the way. Always upbeat and helpful to everyone even though he was already something of a star.
I'm sick and tired of these hip, "ironic" sigs. This is an actual, honest-to-goodness no-nonsense sig!
Interesting quote from the article:
"His new album, "Straight Outta Lynwood" (Volcano), shot into the Billboard Top 10 upon its release last month--his highest chart placing since he opened his one-man spoof-factory in the early '80s."
So after all of those Internet hackers have been destroying musicians' careers with their file sharing, and leaking videos, and other piratical nonsense...
You make something people want, and it SELLS.
Considering the exposure Weird Al had in the 80s (his videos were in heavy rotation for years, every news organization wanted to talk with him and leech off the Michael Jackson bubble), to be selling even better today speaks volumes.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Slate's Weird Al essay by Sam Anderson is infinitely more insightful and thoughtful than the Globe's coverage: "He's not like them, he's like us. To the millions of us flitting around the edges of hipness, he is our Geek Bard, our Troubadork. Unlike his prey--the rappers and the rockers, the folk-pop shamans and the techno wizards--Weird Al is, in the only meaningful sense of the phrase, keeping it real."
Online citizen journalism from the inner city: The View From The Ground
Suddenly, everyone under the age of 25 was terribly confused. CDROMs only spin one way, and the read speed doesn't change the playback.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
But above all, Al's lyrics are clean. If they're funny while refraining from toilet humour and nonstop obscenities, then the audience is lauging because the content is funny, rather than because you're making it nervous. Case in point: prison bitch by Rodney Carrington. Try searching for other songs by Rodney, and you'll find a bunch of very short or unfinished parodies that aren't anywhere near as funny.
If you search your favourite file-sharing network for "Weird Al" you'll find almost as many songs wrongly attributed to Weird Al as there are actual songs by Weird Al. One of my favourite examples is "Asshole Son", parodying "Blackhole Sun". While the lyrics spring from the same sort of "deliberately mishearing something" as the article puts it, they aren't funny in and of themselves.
So while there's a bit of humor in parodying songs that take themselves entirely too seriously and poking fun at bands and cultural icons, that's not all there is to Al. Because his songs are actually *funny* (which is even more apparent in his original works like "Christmas at Ground Zero", or "You don't love me anymore"), they stand up on their own two feet.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
Did you just... Was that... a shout out?!