I leave the country for a couple of weeks and… Weird Al has a number one album?! What is the world coming to? Well genius marketing by Weird Al with his eight videos in eight days push to release it sure has a lot to do with it. I crack up at Word Crimes and may someday like Tacky (right now my brain has overheard that Happy song to the point where it’s just too much too soon). [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc?rel=0]
Maybe it’s harder to parody when pop stars are smaller than they used to be? Weird Al did parody a Lady Gaga song; it’s not bad but for someone who has recently refreshed his memory of Al’s whole career — Al’s parody of Lady Gaga is more similar to his parody of Madonna than… well you get the point. But he’s had a string of songs over the last decade that are more broadly aimed at problems; annoyances of society; technology run amok. The problem with email [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCSA7kKNu2Y?rel=0&w=550&h=309] The problem with cell phones [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwqFgnl4rMs?rel=0&w=550&h=309] The problem with the …
I don’t know how much credit is given to him, but Weird Al basically inspired a whole musical subgenre, Nerdcore, with his parodies of rap music that focused on suburban, middle class, well nerdy, subjects. He’s had three fairly large hit songs parodying rap songs and his last one, White & Nerdy was a top ten hit, a Platinum single according to the RIAA. Amish Paradise [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg?rel=0&w=550&h=413] All About the Pentiums [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMvS1Q1sos?rel=0&w=550&h=413] White & Nerdy [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw?rel=0&w=550&h=309]
This is turning into a whole week of Weird Al posts I guess. There’s a whole string of parodies Al did in the nineties where he took a popular song and then made fun not just the song and the band but a whole bunch of other pop culture stuff. More of a blender, shotgun approach. Smells Like Nirvana parodies the ur grunge song but also the whole grunge movement. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklUAoZ6KxY?rel=0] Bedrock Anthem parodies a couple of Red Hot Chili Pepper songs in the course of its affection for the television show The Flintstones. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtV_nQKhkdY?rel=0] Gump parodies not only …
I had forgotten how Michael Jackson MADE Weird Al. If Michael Jackson hadn’t gotten to be such a huge pop star — in a way I’m not sure anyone growing up in the 21st Century will understand – – than Weird Al might not have broken as big as he did in parodying two of Jackson’s hit songs: Beat It and Bad. Both songs from Al are pretty funny actually although fully appreciating the original is probably necessary to really laugh at the parody. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI?rel=0] Brothers from another mother? Weird Al in a fat suit and Eddie Murphy in …
As a kid and than a teenager I loved Weird Al songs and most of the time I felt largely embarrassed by my love of Weird Al songs. I still would probably be reticent to bring up all of my pop culture enthusiasms with everyone I know. I had these pockets of compartmentalization in my life even then – things I liked where I just knew a bunch of people I otherwise liked (or were trying hard to get to like me) would not “get it” or even worse think less of me (or at least that was my fear). …
by