Weird Al Yankovic is the Shakespeare of Modern Music (1 Viewer)

[Bruce Dickinson]

We've taken same paths, but got different results. I showed her parts, too, including my favorite - Spatula City! It just didn't click with her. And she usually loves the same type of humor I like.

There used to be a restaurant supply company in my metro area named "Spatula Central". Always made me think of Spatula City when I drove by their headquarters or saw one of their trucks.

I just assumed they greeted every customer on every delivery with a rousing "SUPPLIES!" But that's probably just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[dgreen]

I don't even know the songs he's parodying, yet I still find it hilariously awesome.

You pretty much have to have lived under a rock for the last year to not heard Blurred Lines, Royals and Happy somewhere.

I'd never heard any of those three, or at least I didn't remember them well enough to realize that the three Weird Al songs were parodies rather than originals. (Usually, his albums are nearly half originals, but it's generally the parodies that get airplay.)

Yeah, but you probably spend a lot of your time reading books and gettin' smarter and stuff. I think that qualifies as "living under a rock".

 

[Wingnut]

I don't even know the songs he's parodying, yet I still find it hilariously awesome.

You pretty much have to have lived under a rock for the last year to not heard Blurred Lines, Royals and Happy somewhere.

I'd never heard any of those three, or at least I didn't remember them well enough to realize that the three Weird Al songs were parodies rather than originals. (Usually, his albums are nearly half originals, but it's generally the parodies that get airplay.)

My first thought was "How can you have not heard these?" But I think without a 10 year old daughter, there's probably a good chance I probably wouldn't have heard of them either.

I have no kids and have heard them all, ad nauseum....the FFA has a 10 page thread about Blurred Lines and its video, which features a nekkid Emily Ratajkowski. If you haven't seen it, go to YouTube and search for the uncensored version of the video.Royals has been pretty much impossible to escape as well as Happy, but I watch a fair amount of TV and theyve both popped up in news, awards shows, and commercials.

 

[Jaysus]

I just googled Emily Ratajkowski for the first time. Wow. I want to join her fan club.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

As a card carrying Grammar Nazi...I approve of Word Crimes.

High school and college students taking English Composition this fall should go ahead and organize a pool guessing what day their instructor will show that Word Crimes video in class.

 

[rockaction]

Foil with Patton Oswalt was vintage Al. Great work.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Foil with Patton Oswalt was vintage Al. Great work.

That second verse goes to a very dark place. Weird Al must give his psychotherapist nightmares.

 

[rockaction]

Foil with Patton Oswalt was vintage Al. Great work.

That second verse goes to a very dark place. Weird Al must give his psychotherapist nightmares.

I always enjoyed when he went to a darker place, like "One More Minute" off of Dare To Be Stupid. As a kid, that was a pretty funny send-up of all the doo *** and 50's stuff my parents listened to.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

BTW, if you haven't seen Weird Al in concert, it's worth seeing. You get your money's worth. Al's band has extraordinary versatility. Solid production values. Al changes costumes a lot, cool video transitions between songs, usually a medley or two allowing him to go deep into his catalog, and often a song or two that didn't make it on an album.

One Weird Al show I saw live had a "Food Medley": a runthrough of every song about food he'd recorded, plus a couple bonus verses of "Chicken Pot Pie" (Live And Let Die), and a reading of "Green Eggs And Ham" to the tune of "Numb" by U2.

 

[Rayderr]

Foil with Patton Oswalt was vintage Al. Great work.

That second verse goes to a very dark place. Weird Al must give his psychotherapist nightmares.

That second verse is what makes the song. And that's not dark at all. You want dark, listen to Weird Al's "Good Ol' Days" which has lyrics such as:

Do you remember sweet Michelle

She was my high school romance

She was fun to talk to and nice to smell

So I took her to the homecoming dance

Then I tied her to a chair and I shaved off all her hair

And I left her in the desert all alone

Well sometimes in my dreams

I can still hear the screams

Oh I wonder if she ever made it home

 

[The Hank]

Weird Al is awesome. So glad to see he is getting all this publicity

 

[Psychopav]

Weird Al rules. One More Minute and Yoda are two of my all time favorite songs.

 

[Jaysus]

blackdot

I am thinking of picking up this album for my daughter.

I'm looking forward to showing my daughter tonight. I was explaining him to her a while back and she just couldn't relate to it. She didn't know the songs, so it was just some weird looking dude singing a strange song.

But now, I think she'll finally get to experience the true humor of hearing Weird Al.

UPDATE: My daughter is a Weird Al fan now. We spent most of last night watching his videos, she loved the 3 new ones, and even laughed at some of the old ones. I bought the new album for her already

P.S. I missed A LOT of Weird Al songs... there was a Star Wars one that cracked me up that I had never seen before.

 

[Jaysus]

Oh and I also watched the Blurred Lines video for the first time. I that one brunette chick!

 

[Rayderr]

"Handy" - Parody of Fancy

 

[Jaysus]

"Handy" - Parody of Fancy

I need that to be on Youtube so I can Chromecast it

P.S. he has all of the videos here: http://www.weirdal.com/

 

[Rayderr]

Interesting choice to look like a blond Schneider from One Day at a Time.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Foil with Patton Oswalt was vintage Al. Great work.

That second verse goes to a very dark place. Weird Al must give his psychotherapist nightmares.

I always enjoyed when he went to a darker place, like "One More Minute" off of Dare To Be Stupid. As a kid, that was a pretty funny send-up of all the doo *** and 50's stuff my parents listened to.

In a similar vein, I dig "You Don't Love Me Anymore" off of Off The Deep End. Solid skewering of hair metal ballads, too.

 

[Rayderr]

Foil with Patton Oswalt was vintage Al. Great work.

That second verse goes to a very dark place. Weird Al must give his psychotherapist nightmares.

I always enjoyed when he went to a darker place, like "One More Minute" off of Dare To Be Stupid. As a kid, that was a pretty funny send-up of all the doo *** and 50's stuff my parents listened to.

In a similar vein, I dig "You Don't Love Me Anymore" off of Off The Deep End. Solid skewering of hair metal ballads, too.

Funny thing is, everyone thought he was parodying Extreme's "More than Words" at least in style, but he actually wrote it and performed it like 2 years prior (I remember seeing it on a show called Comic Strip Live I believe. Stand up comedy show and he did 2 songs. The episode was hosted by Victoria Jackson.)

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Revisiting some Weird Al's catalog... realized today that back when I first saw the video for "White & Nerdy", I had no idea who Key & Peele were.

 

[TheIronSheik]

blackdot

I am thinking of picking up this album for my daughter.

I'm looking forward to showing my daughter tonight. I was explaining him to her a while back and she just couldn't relate to it. She didn't know the songs, so it was just some weird looking dude singing a strange song.

But now, I think she'll finally get to experience the true humor of hearing Weird Al.

UPDATE: My daughter is a Weird Al fan now. We spent most of last night watching his videos, she loved the 3 new ones, and even laughed at some of the old ones. I bought the new album for her already

P.S. I missed A LOT of Weird Al songs... there was a Star Wars one that cracked me up that I had never seen before.

I just came in here to post the same exact thing!

After watching the first video she said, "OHHHHH! I get it now." We watched all three and she was cracking up. I bought her the album, too.

 

[Psychopav]

Weird Al has a new release...and he's releasing 8 new videos from the album in 8 days.

Tacky (Parody of Pharrell's Happy), the video is one tracking shot:

http://youtu.be/XsWo8apgLys

Word Crimes (Blurred Lines parody and a grammar Nazi anthem):

http://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc

Word Crimes is awesome.

 

[Rayderr]

Weird Al has a new release...and he's releasing 8 new videos from the album in 8 days.

Tacky (Parody of Pharrell's Happy), the video is one tracking shot:

http://youtu.be/XsWo8apgLys

Word Crimes (Blurred Lines parody and a grammar Nazi anthem):

http://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc

Word Crimes is awesome.

Just re-watching Word Crimes, and in the beginning when it's flipping through the dictionary, you can see a "In 3-D" era pic of Al under accordion.

 

[B Maverick]

Showed my daughter the videos for Word Crimes, Foil and Tacky and she was laughing since she knows the original songs. Started Eat It and she lost interest. But she is 5....

Handy is pretty good

 

[Zow]

His new stuff rules. Love "Word Crimes"

 

[Rayderr]

Sports Song

 

[FBG26]

Weird Al has a new release...and he's releasing 8 new videos from the album in 8 days.

Tacky (Parody of Pharrell's Happy), the video is one tracking shot:

http://youtu.be/XsWo8apgLys

Word Crimes (Blurred Lines parody and a grammar Nazi anthem):

http://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc

Word Crimes is awesome.

All around greatness here. It's hard to pick a favorite part, but the image that goes with the line "Irony is not coincidence" at 2:41 is right up there.

 

[Al Czervik]

GB Weird Al.

His song NOW That's What I Call Polka! is hilarious too. Medley of pop songs redone as polkas.

 

[Rayderr]

GB Weird Al.

His song NOW That's What I Call Polka! is hilarious too. Medley of pop songs redone as polkas.

Always love the polka songs (fun fact only his original album and Even Worse don't have polka songs)

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Awesome comment on one of the Kinja posts about Weird Al this week.

The only difference between KISS and Weird Al is that Al and his fans are in on the joke.

I think that's pretty apt.

 

[Kal El]

Weird Al is one of the best artists currently working, but because his art is considered parody, he gets almost no airplay.

 

[Ilov80s]

Awesome comment on one of the Kinja posts about Weird Al this week.

The only difference between KISS and Weird Al is that Al and his fans are in on the joke.

I think that's pretty apt.

That is so true and so funny...also thinking about the 70s rock thread we had here, we forgot to mention Kiss. I think they were bad enough to cancel out Zeppelin, the Stones, and the early Springsteen stuff.

 

[Wingnut]

First World Problems #8videos8days

http://popcrush.com/weird-al-yankovic-first-world-problems-video/

 

[rockaction]

Awesome comment on one of the Kinja posts about Weird Al this week.

The only difference between KISS and Weird Al is that Al and his fans are in on the joke.

I think that's pretty apt.

Awww, man, people are too hard on Kiss. That first album was pretty killer. Strutter, Cold Gin, Black Diamond...

 

[Wingnut]

Lame Claim to Fame:

http://youtu.be/yazr8JkazmE

 

[Wingnut]

8th and final video, Mission Statement

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-82350

 

[(HULK)]

Weird Al has a new release...and he's releasing 8 new videos from the album in 8 days.

Tacky (Parody of Pharrell's Happy), the video is one tracking shot:

http://youtu.be/XsWo8apgLys

Word Crimes (Blurred Lines parody and a grammar Nazi anthem):

http://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc

Word Crimes is awesome.

All around greatness here. It's hard to pick a favorite part, but the image that goes with the line "Irony is not coincidence" at 2:41 is right up there.

Love the dig at Alanis there.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Saw Weird Al in concert tonight and got to meet-and-greet him after the show. Fantastic concert, great crowd, fun getting to shake his hand after the concert. Figuring a lot of folks in line we're going to run shtick or do weird stuff, I played it simple and straightforward, "I've been a fan since 'Another One Rides The Bus', it's a big thrill to meet you, and thank you."

Show was a smart mix of old and new. Several sings from Mandatory Fun, but some deep tracks mixed in (Dare To Be Stupid in full Devo gear was a welcome surprise) and a few medleys to cover more of the catalog.

Some of the video clips shown during costume changes included some material I hadn't seen before: Al "interviewing" Eminem was pretty good (Al loses his #### after one too many "youknowwhatI'msayin"s from Marshall), and a very funny skit with Al splicing himself into a scene from "Whiplash" swapping in his accordion for Miles Teller's drums.

Dug an "Unplugged"-inspired medley of jazz/blues takes on older stuff like "Eat It", "I Lost On Jeopardy", and "Like A Surgeon".

Also did a medley of faster-paced stuff that included "Canadian Idiot", "Gump", and out of nowhere picks up the accordion for a verse of "Another One Rides The Bus" that the crowd just exploded for.

Finish of regular set was three big crowd favorites:

White And Nerdy (Al rode a Segway for the first verse)

Word Crimes (Al wore a black-and-white striped suit similar to the one Robin Thicke wore while performing Blurred Lines at an awards show)

Amish Paradise (black suit, beard but no moustache)

Encore was "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda". Darth Vader and six Stormtroopers (provided by local 501st) joined Al and the band on stage, did a little choreography with the songs.

 

[rockaction]

Saw Weird Al in concert tonight and got to meet-and-greet him after the show. Fantastic concert, great crowd, fun getting to shake his hand after the concert. Figuring a lot of folks in line we're going to run shtick or do weird stuff, I played it simple and straightforward, "I've been a fan since 'Another One Rides The Bus', it's a big thrill to meet you, and thank you."

Show was a smart mix of old and new. Several sings from Mandatory Fun, but some deep tracks mixed in (Dare To Be Stupid in full Devo gear was a welcome surprise) and a few medleys to cover more of the catalog.

Some of the video clips shown during costume changes included some material I hadn't seen before: Al "interviewing" Eminem was pretty good (Al loses his #### after one too many "youknowwhatI'msayin"s from Marshall), and a very funny skit with Al splicing himself into a scene from "Whiplash" swapping in his accordion for Miles Teller's drums.

Dug an "Unplugged"-inspired medley of jazz/blues takes on older stuff like "Eat It", "I Lost On Jeopardy", and "Like A Surgeon".

Also did a medley of faster-paced stuff that included "Canadian Idiot", "Gump", and out of nowhere picks up the accordion for a verse of "Another One Rides The Bus" that the crowd just exploded for.

Finish of regular set was three big crowd favorites:

White And Nerdy (Al rode a Segway for the first verse)

Word Crimes (Al wore a black-and-white striped suit similar to the one Robin Thicke wore while performing Blurred Lines at an awards show)

Amish Paradise (black suit, beard but no moustache)

Encore was "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda". Darth Vader and six Stormtroopers (provided by local 501st) joined Al and the band on stage, did a little choreography with the songs.

So cool. Or, well...not cool, but fun.

It's so easy to do (dare to be stupid)

We're all waiting for you (dare to be stupid)

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Set list:

Tacky (started show from street, walked through theater lobby and audience to get to stage)

Lame Claim To Fame

Now That's What I Call Polka! (Videos of originals played on back screen while Al and band played polka versions)

Perform This Way (octopus costume with ice cream cone hat)

Dare To Be Stupid

Fat (controntation from video played to set up song; Al performed song in fat suit)

First World Problems

Foil (great production; stood at table with bright lighting for first verse, then went darker as the song went darker)

Smells Like Nirvana (just missed the cup that held the water for his gargling solo when he threw it into crowd)

Parody Medley (one verse and chorus of each, might not have exact order right, really impressive quickie costume/set changes): Party In The CIA / It's All About The Pentiums / Handy / Bedrock Anthem / Another One Rides The Bus (crowd went crazy for this one) / Ode To A Superhero / Gump / Inactive / eBay / Canadian Idiot

Wanna B Ur Luvr (Al went into crowd and serenaded/hit on every woman seated near aisle)

Unplugged medley: Eat It / I Lost On Jeopardy! / I Love Rocky Road / Like A Surgeon

White and Nerdy

Word Crimes

Amish Paradise

Encore:

The Saga Begins

Yoda

 

[Peak]

Always wanted to see WA live in concert, but never had the chance. I've heard its a lot of fun for all ages.

 

[MikeMan]

I went last night as well. He was very good. I enjoyed the show and have been a fan a long time. Heard him on Dr. Demento back in the day. My first cassette of his was Dare to be Stupid. My wife hasn't been a long-time fan and thought the concert was good. We both agreed the music drowned out the vocals. If you didn't know most of the songs before, you wouldn't have understood what he was saying.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Weird Al announcing 2018 tour dates tomorrow morning.  

Also issued a lengthy statement about what the tour would and wouldn’t be.  The show will feature the originals from his catalog, hardly any parodies.  No costume changes or elaborate videos, just Al and the band informally on stage.  The vibe he’s trying to create is like a stage set from Unplugged or Storytellers.  So without all the costumes and such, Al and the band will be able to vary the set list from night to night, keeping the performance fresh and exploring deep cuts in the catalog.  

He wanted to be upfront with fans about how this tour would be different, so no one would buy tickets expecting the usual shtick.

Also will be bringing along Emo Phillips as his opening act. 

 

[rockaction]

Weird Al announcing 2018 tour dates tomorrow morning.  

Also issued a lengthy statement about what the tour would and wouldn’t be.  The show will feature the originals from his catalog, hardly any parodies.  No costume changes or elaborate videos, just Al and the band informally on stage.  The vibe he’s trying to create is like a stage set from Unplugged or Storytellers.  So without all the costumes and such, Al and the band will be able to vary the set list from night to night, keeping the performance fresh and exploring deep cuts in the catalog.  

He wanted to be upfront with fans about how this tour would be different, so no one would buy tickets expecting the usual shtick.

Also will be bringing along Emo Phillips as his opening act. 

Yes.  

Emo's religion joke is one of my favorites ever.  

 

[The Noid]

The show will feature the originals from his catalog, hardly any parodies.  No costume changes or elaborate videos, just Al and the band informally on stage

Interesting. I've been to 3 shows in the last 6 years with my boys. Doubt they would have as much fun at something like this, but I can see a lot of the older fans really liking it. 

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Yes.  

Emo's religion joke is one of my favorites ever.  

My favorite Emo Phillips joke: "I asked my girlfriend what she wanted for her birthday.  She told me she wanted something expensive and extravagant that she didn't really need.  So I got her chemotherapy."

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Interesting. I've been to 3 shows in the last 6 years with my boys. Doubt they would have as much fun at something like this, but I can see a lot of the older fans really liking it. 

I'm old enough to remember hearing "Another One Rides The Bus" on the radio and seeing "I Love Rocky Road" on HBO Video Jukebox.  I'm looking forward to this tour and will go see it at the nearest city.  But yeah, Al has good reasons to call it "The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour" (No Frills!  Obscure Songs! Limited Commercial Appeal!  Lower Your Expectations!").

 

[Joe Summer]

I'm going to go ahead and predict right now that the whole "No parodies" thing lasts about 2 shows.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

I'm going to go ahead and predict right now that the whole "No parodies" thing lasts about 2 shows.

I think there will be parodies at every show.  But the ratio of originals to parodies will flip.  

On the set list I posted from his tour two years ago, there were 10 full-length parodies, two medleys of parodies (14 songs total), one medley of covers (polka medley of recent pop hits), and four originals that weren't parodies of specific songs but could be traced back to specific artists (Dare To Be Stupid is clearly intended to sound like a Devo song, First World Problems is in the style of The Pixies).

On this upcoming tour, I’d expect on a set list of about 20 songs to be 4-5 parodies.  

 

[rockaction]

I think there will be parodies at every show.  But the ratio of originals to parodies will flip.  

On the set list I posted from his tour two years ago, there were 10 full-length parodies, two medleys of parodies (14 songs total), one medley of covers (polka medley of recent pop hits), and four originals that weren't parodies of specific songs but could be traced back to specific artists (Dare To Be Stupid is clearly intended to sound like a Devo song, First World Problems is in the style of The Pixies).

On this upcoming tour, I’d expect on a set list of about 20 songs to be 4-5 parodies.  

So you're saying he'll be playing One More Minute a lot.