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The Weird Al Yankovic Topic

Kromm

By Kromm
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Shannon L.

Shannon L.

I was just coming in here to see if I could post that video in one of these topics!  I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.  This one, for me, ranks up there with Smells Like Nirvana and The Saga Begins.

 

 

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Kromm

Kromm

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Okay, that video has some big guest stars.  I see Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Kristen Schaal, Jack Black, and that first one?  I actually thought for a second it was Ru Paul, but apparently it's actually Aisha Tyler. Who knew?

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Kromm

Kromm

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Al really is spreading the videos around.  First his own account, then Nerdist, and now College Humor.  I imagine Funny or Die will be coming up any day now.


And another guest star--this time Patton Oswalt.  And one of those Men in Black kind of looks like Tom Lennon (I though it was Rob Schneider for a second but now I think it's Lennon).

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Kromm

Kromm

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I'm soooo glad there's a thread for Weird Al!

 

This was my first introduction to him and his parodies:

It's not as good a song, or a video, as Like A Surgeon, but I think "I Love Rocky Road" might have been the very first one I saw.  Followed not long after by "I Lost On Jeopardy" (which arguable is even better than Like A Surgeon...)

 

GREAT!

 

SO-SO (but its probably the first of his endless series of making songs about food)

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Kromm

Kromm

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I legit laughed my ass off during the hat bit on "Foil." Didn't see that coming for some reason. 

There's a totally hilarious video on YouTube (unintentionally) with one of those conspiracy theorists who thinks the Illumnati are real, going on about how Al is a hero for exposing them in his video, and how "good" Al's analysis is.

 

Seriously.  The jerkoff doesn't even understand Al is making FUN of his kind.

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Kromm

Kromm

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Al did a long interview on the Ron & Fez Sirius show (I didn't even know those guys were still alive, muchless working).  Al reveals this is the last album on his contract, and likely the last album he'll ever do (don't worry--he's not quitting, he's simply switching to having no record label and putting out singles independently on a rolling basis).  Anyway, if you have 20 minutes to kill, here's the interview.

 


And he talks about how he PAID for all of these videos all at once.  (HINT: the record label had nothing to do with ANY of the videos)

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Taeolas

Taeolas

With the buzz these videos are generating around the 'net, and his 'netfamy in general, going independent and releasing singles is probably a great idea for him. Among other things it lets him release when he gets the inspiration, instead of waiting for an album.

 

In any case, Mandatory Fun in general has been a fun CD. Only listened to it once, and while it's not my favorite, it's still damn good. I think as I'm getting older and my music tastes are shifting more towards the Oldies/Classic end of the spectrum, I can't relate as close to Al's parodies. They're still great, but I don't have the grounding of the original songs to compare against. (Especially since most of the Pop songs he uses are songs my radio station does NOT play; it's pure Rock. :) )

 

Word Crimes and Tacky are probably my top favs so far. Foil I laughed at, but wasn't sure I liked. Listening to it without the video though, I think it's clicking better.

 

From the CD itself, I'm looking forward to videos for "Inactive" (I hope he figured out a way to get some puppets in it, like the Radioactive video.) and "First World Problems". (Is that using quotes for emphasis or just to indicate they are titles? ;) )

 

Oh and with respect to Tacky, besides being an impressive single take video across multiple floors of a theatre, the other thing I noticed was how thin Jack Black looked. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it buddy. 

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Kromm

Kromm

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Next video is out.  It's "Handy", parodying Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy".  ANNOYINGLY it's with Yahoo--which since they consider themselves competition to Youtube means it won't appear on YouTube until people post illegal copies (which may get taken down anyway).  Anyway, so no embedding (and with all the copies that will eventually appear, probably no accurate accounting of viewers, Albert!)

 

So here's the location: https://screen.yahoo.com/weird-al-yankovic-handy-parody-133702425.html

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BizBuzz

BizBuzz

Hard to imagine Al has been doing this for almost 40 years. 

 

I am liking the new vids this week, it's cool that he is still going strong.  I loved Word Crimes and Foil so far the best.  But nothing beats this so far:

 

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Kromm

Kromm

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Hah, I called it that Funny or Die would be in this mix.

 

Often FoD stuff appears on Youtube as well, but at least so far, this early in the day at least, this video is only on their own site.

 

SPORTS SONG


It's nice to hear an Al original in this mix.

 

hyH2qks.jpg

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Kromm

Kromm

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"Not on YouTube" seems to be a pattern with a bunch of these Al videos. 

 

PopCrush has a huge YouTube presence, nevertheless their copy of the new video, "First World Problems" is... on VEVO, and seems to only playable from this page:

 

First World Problems

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Kromm

Kromm

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Hmm. I can't say I really like this song much (mocking name droppers is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel) 

 

The good news is that we get a guest appearance by the floating head of Barry "Dr. Demento" Hansen.  It's been years since I heard anything about him (apparently his radio show has now transitioned to an online streaming version, but he seems to charge for access).

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Kromm

Kromm

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The final day of weird (al) ness.
 
The avenue for this one is doubly weird--The Wall Street Journal.
 
I am not making this up. When you actually HEAR the song though, the link to the WSJ actually makes... sense.
 
"Mission Statement" video and article, at the Wall Street Journal (click me) 
 
(again, like with the Al video for PopCrush, actually backed by VEVO, but keyed only to run from the above webpage)

===================================================================================


A bonus. Here's Al's Conan performance of "Tacky" from the 17th...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFlTfaQ6x0U

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Taeolas

Taeolas

I'm a bit disappointed that Inactiv didn't get a video, but I hope it will have one eventually.

I loved the conan version of Tacky; that they redid it in the walking take was extra icing on the cake.

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Shannon L.

Shannon L.

I'm wondering about his team of writers--if they've been with him the whole time or if there have been different ones over the years.  Also, how involved is he in the writing? It's so impressive, imo, that it's almost mind boggling.

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Kromm

Kromm

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I'm wondering about his team of writers--if they've been with him the whole time or if there have been different ones over the years.  Also, how involved is he in the writing? It's so impressive, imo, that it's almost mind boggling.

Al doesn't have a team of writers.  He has himself.  He writes the parodies of the songs.  Him performing the parodies is the sideline for him, the actual writing of the parodies is his main job.  I suppose he's had the occasional co-writer, but I think it's the exception, not the rule.

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BizBuzz

BizBuzz

Wow!  To have the kind of imagination to still be able to come up with great stuff after all of these years is amazing! Thanks for the info. 

 

Sometimes, people just have a knack.  My ex-husband was awesome at coming up with parody's at any moment.  He could hear a song just once, and be able to make up on the spot lyrics that made sense to go with music.  For some people, they just think that way.

 

I remember seeing Marvin Hamlish one time in concert.  He spent most of his time on stage working with the audience to create songs on the spot.  Some people just got it.

 

Weird Al is one of those peeps.  He has the knack, and as long as there are new songs and new fads/stories in the world, I think he will always be able to come up with something.

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Kromm

Kromm

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Apparently 8 videos in a week was the key to getting Al the one thing he's never had before--a #1 album.

 

'Weird Al' Yankovic Gets First No. 1 Album On Billboard 200 with 'Mandatory Fun'

 

I wonder if this will change his mind about his previously announced intention to give up the Album format of music releasing (now that his record contract is finally completely done with after more than 30 years)


Also: 'Weird Al' Yankovic Reflects On His Weirdly Successful Week

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SVNBob

SVNBob

I wonder if this will change his mind about his previously announced intention to give up the Album format of music releasing

Actually, I think a non-album format, (i.e., strictly singles released via download) would be better for a parody artist like Al.  The biggest reason: temporal capitalization.  How many flash-in-the-pan songs have there been in the last 30 years that Al did write a parody for but didn't release because the wonder of the one-hit had passed before the rest of his next album was ready?  Probably quite a few.   But now, without having to fill an album, Al has the freedom to release a song whenever he has one ready to go.

 

And according to the interview linked above, he's thinking the same thing right now.

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Twilight Man

Twilight Man

It appears as though Weird Al will be a panelist for at least one episode of "To Tell The Truth".

(I think that's him at the 13 second mark when they show the four panelists).

Maybe he will be on some of the other shows as well.   Previous summers have had some celebrities "jump" from one show to the other and appear on several.     ABC (as usual) is very sparse with details.

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topanga

topanga

On 7/1/2019 at 8:22 PM, merroni said:

Hubby and I saw Weird Al's Strings Attached concert last night.  I was AWESOME!!! I wish it had been longer so he could have done more songs. 

I’ve heard people campaign for him to be the Super Bowl halftime performer. I don’t know if that would ever happen, but he would be amazing. 

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