An Ode To Al 199
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.
Moo (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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Could've been worse. It could've been kdawson, in which case we'd have yet another "Stolen Election Sunday".
Perhaps this will make you feel better: (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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They are really that desperate for friends.
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I guessed right.
Article summary: (Score:4, Funny)
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Nothing to see here, please move along (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Nothing to see here, please move along (Score:5, Informative)
DRM? (Score:2)
Yeah, he had "Don't download this song" but you never know...
Re:DRM? (Score:5, Informative)
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The disc is not copy-protected in any
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And my car CD player doesn't like the CD/DVD - there's potential jamming issues with the DualDiss format.
Horror of DualDisc (Score:4, Informative)
Thanks... (Score:2)
This is the first I'd heard of a CD/DVD hybrid, which sounds like it could be the worst of both worlds (and has been for some people). Since they make dual-disk holders, you would think they would have just put in two disks, one DVD and one CD. I just bought a Japanese enka album that did that, and both work just fine.
Still not sure I'll buy this Weird Al CD/DVD thing, seeing the trouble people have had...
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If I ever meet ya
I'll CTRL-ALT-DELETE ya!
This guy has staying power! (Score:5, Interesting)
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
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Al, you rock. And the fact that you took time to see a John Hartford show when your touring paths crossed in upstate New York speaks even more highly for you...
Re:This guy has staying power! (Score:5, Interesting)
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I just smiled at him and I turned the other cheek.
I really don't care in fact I wish him well.
Because I'll be laughing my head off while he's burning in hell." - Amish Paradise
"I just can't understand it
Why won't you return my phone calls
Are you still mad I gave a Mohawk to your cat
If you'd just say the word
I'm certain that our love would last forever and ever
Or are you too dumb to realize that" - Melanie
"Since you've been gone
Well, it feels like I'm getting teta
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"My, my, this here Anakin guy,
Maybe Vader, someday later
Now he's just a small-fry.
He left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye,
singing 'Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi,
Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi'"
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Please turn in your geek card on your way out.
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No mere mortal. (Score:2)
Addicted to Love - Miscredited (Score:5, Informative)
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Self-Deprecating Humour is the Key (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Self-Deprecating Humour is the Key (Score:5, Funny)
That's not funny!
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-Eric
Al's greatest work (Score:5, Insightful)
Mr. Tambourine Man (Score:2)
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Ode to AI? ( I and l and | (Score:2, Insightful)
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Twenty years from now... (Score:5, Insightful)
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that depends on whether or not my Deathstar plans stay on schedule. You know how unreliable contractors are.
-Eric
Re:Twenty years from now... (Score:5, Interesting)
"If someone had told you in 1984 that in 2006 Michael Jackson = flameout and Weird Al = still relevant, you would have laughed your head off."
It's just so true.
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"Weird Al" Yankovic ("My Bologna", "Another One Rides the Bus") was released in 1983 and "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3D ("Eat it", "I Lost on Jeopardy") was released in 1984. Since I didn't even know who Dr. Demento was until the late '80s/early '90s, Weird Al's albums were my only exposure to his music. I know I've got a copy of Even Worse on tape somewhere...
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In fact, I didn't hear of Dr. Demento until the 1990's, whereas people were laughing about his songs in my school in 1984 and '85 ("Eat It" was amazingly popular, probably because everyone was listening to Michael Jackson at the time).
Vidar
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Dude, I'm still going to remember the lyrics to "Yoda" 20 years from now...
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I love his music but I would guess that he will eventually end up like Ray Stevens. Not that being Ray Stevens is a bad thing, he was popular for over 30 years and still has a tune that rates a bit of radio play once in a while. Other than that he lives comfortably and still does occasional shows. While Weird Al is definately the King of Parody, Stevens will always be IMHO the King of Novelty songs. I just hope Wei
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No Funny Jerry (Score:5, Funny)
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There's no funny Jerry Seinfeld. I've had funnier dental surgery.
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Now, can you tell me, is that actual Jerry Seinfeld material, or did I just make that up?
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Curse Sans-Serif (Score:5, Insightful)
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 ;).
Full speed to dangerously offtopic! (Score:2)
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There is no lack of material (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:There is no lack of material (Score:5, Insightful)
One of Weird Al's strengths is the fact that he keeps his humor clean, and the Simpsons has remained relatively clean compared to its competitors. There are many other comedians and parody artists who allow vulgarity and low-brow humor to slip into their work which undermines it. No one has a guilty conscience for listening to Weird Al's songs, so his humor is able to reach a larger audience. It also often takes more talent to be funny and clean as you are not relying on the "shock" factor as many "colorful" comedians do. There is something magical about a comedic routine that people of all ages and walks of life can enjoy.
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Someone hasnt heard the leper song, or "Weasel Stomping Day"...
I love Weird Al, but you don't have to swear to be low-brow. He manages it pretty well, of course, and its far from the only type of comedy he engages in.
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Re:There is no lack of material (Score:5, Insightful)
You are correct. I chose the wrong word. I will blame it on lack of sleep. I was trying to refer to the sleeze comedy that is so popular today where the only joke that seems to exist anymore is sex.
It has been in my experience, especially in regard to songs, that if one resorts to the use of bad language, they usually have run out of ideas. As a song writer I can tell you word space is limited in a song. You only have so many syllables to say exactly what you want to say. Swear words waste valuable real estate and generally do not add much to the meaning of the song (there are very few exceptions). Swear words are misused more often than not (not used for the meaning they actually have) and are not as poetic or descriptive as alternate forms. For example, consider "My life smells like sh*t" versus "My life smells like monkeys at the zoo". The second line has much more meaning and is repulsive without being vulgar. It is creative and different (I know the lines are not interchangable in a song, but you can see what I mean about the poetry). Too often those who use vulgarity don't have a whole lot to say or the creativity to say it right. (IMHO)
Regardless of taste, alienating the "kids, Christians and other sensitive types" alienates a very large percentage of the population. In order to remain popular have the kind of following Weird Al has, you need to be able to reach that audience as well. It is what has given him staying power. If you want your art to have vulgarity, innuendo, or nudity, that is fine, but do not complain when it doesn't reach a mass audience.
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I've been saying this all along, primarily with regards to debate. If you have to resort to ad-hominem or vulgarities, you've just shown you are out of ideas.
Well said, sir.
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Sean
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> usually have run out of ideas... As a song writer I can tell you word space is limited in a song.
Then you should widen your experience to include Frank Zappa. If only he'd had the opportunity to learn from your little pearls of wisdom before he died.
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What a great commentary on the O.J. trial! Absolutely fantas
err (Score:3, Interesting)
Agree (Score:2)
I'm glad to see he's reached a goal and getting recognition long deserved, even if most people will c
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Strike that, reverse it.
Ultimate Proof of his Greatness (Score:5, Interesting)
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Prince of parody? (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyone remember the Fat Video? (Score:3, Interesting)
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Weird Al's college days (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Speed and direction? (Score:4, Insightful)
Suddenly, everyone under the age of 25 was terribly confused. CDROMs only spin one way, and the read speed doesn't change the playback.
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I would say it is easier to play songs backwards and with different speeds now than in that time. My turntable could not spin backwards and had only three speeds, for a start.
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On file sharing and leaking videos (Score:5, Insightful)
"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.
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That said, it could be that fewer people are buying CD's these days and therefore there's less competition.
When the record stores in malls are going out of business and no one cares, times are changing.
Slate ran a better Yankovich essay (Score:5, Interesting)
Werid Al as gateway drug to pop music (Score:2)
Something the article missed. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Bingo (Score:2)
When somebody says "Yeah, that is too Weird Al singing what if God Smoked Cannabis" (or any other song that he'd never do) I have a simple reply. "I bet you $1,000 in cash that it's not."
They argue a lot less, and check their sources after that.
My point has always been that Weird Al has never done a dirty or off-color song. When I saw him last time, there were 3 generations of a family in the row in front of me. Little children, their youngish folks,
Similar Article of Love at Slate (Score:2)
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And yes, I do think Al and Luke should collaborate together.
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Oh god. For years, when I've sung that song I've always sung it as "Betty"!
"I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me you can call... me... Al!"
And here I thought Paul Simon was just a weirdo.
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Perhaps. I think Al's funny, but that's pretty much personal taste. What's more difficult to deny is that Al and his band are about the most versatile group of musicians you'll ever run across.
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Oh I agree (Score:2)
I mean, who can forget his latest "list of stuff that's irritating" or his other "list of annoying people"?
Or how about his "list of language he deliberately misinterprets for mildly amusing consequences"?
Carlin's act died a horrible death when he started playing Vegas 4 nights a week and letting that be his testing ground for new material.
Nothing he's done has been any good since Back In Town. Just lists of crap and his general nihilism.