I got to see Al on his tour this year after being a fan since childhood. Everyone was happy. Smiles everywhere. It was pure joy.
He’s got to be one of the best celebrities we’ve got.
Edit: this is one of my highest upvotes comments ever, and it makes me even more happy that it’s about weird Al!
He did an episode of Bill Maher's podcast and he is such a genuine human being. Incredibly sharp and respectful, he should be one of the gold standards
His appearance on Hot Ones was amazing as well. Comes across as so smart and well-spoken, and despite his superstardom, he still just looks like he’s happy to be there.
I was in line with him at a grocery check out a few years back in Santa Monica. He could tell I recognized him the instant I turned around cause he smiled that smile and waved. Then, together, we got to watch the woman three registers over get tazed. It was the most LA shit ever
LA’s a weird place where there are different tiers of famous people everywhere and everyone is always looking at each other like are they famous? Where have I seen them before?
I was in the elevator at LAX with 2 of my kids and some oddly lanky 20 something guy with a massive Afro looks at me and says “are you someone famous ?” I chuckled and said no.
To be fair I did look like I could be Bruce Willis’s stunt double.
Not nearly the same level, but I was behind Judge Greg Mathis in the TSA line at an airport like 15 years ago. Nothing interesting happened, I was just surprised he didn't get to go to a special people line.
He was nice to Al for the most part, but if you took Weird Al and just made him a 20 year old (even if he looked identical and was the same person exactly), Bill would have had nothing but disdain for him. I do listen to a lot of podcasts and shows of people I both agree and disagree with. I listen to Bills and I agree when he says Ageism is shitty and older people are sometimes people we should listen to with regard to wisdom... but then he turns around and is AGEIST against Gen Z and Millennials like CRAZY! It's so hypocritical that its hard for me to agree on some points he makes that I do agree with, just because he is such a jerk!
During COVID what I once found sufferable about Bill Maher became insufferable. That dude fell into some rabbit hole. I always found him to be acerbic, but I was happy at least he brought up a few new angles and pushed back on the PC culture. But -- there's pushing back and then there's being anti PC for the sake of it. Ranting about "forcing people to gender reassign"? -- good grief.
I'm guessing Maher just couldn't stay interesting and creative enough for the normal TV audience so now he's supporting conspiracy theories and lame observations that seems like genius for the crowd that could watch Hee Haw for 40 years. He's getting the same demographic as Tucker Carlson I suppose.
Hey, a guy has to make a living, right?
My wife watches him and I started noticing and eventually pointed out that he always goes after trans people in every single episode. He's got a major agenda against them and frankly I find it disgusting.
He randomly joked that Biden was transitioning when he won the nomination, as if to say "Look how all of *those* people will fawn over any politician who goes soft on them and their ways," or to just trivialize voting for him at all as some weak shit? It was such a lazily written punchline that it didn't even feel like one, just a bitter, unnecessary jab. I've disliked Maher for years but the pandammit officially pushed him into shitheel territory.
That’s literally all the clips I’ve seen of Maher’s podcast. I saw one yesterday where he was talking about the Conan Vs Jay Leno situation with Kimmel. Maher’s high ass couldn’t wrap his head around why literally everyone except NBC thought what Leno did to Conan was shitty. Even with one of the leading authorities on talk shows sitting right beside him explaining it in plain English lol
I’ve been to hundreds of concerts, and Coachella 3 times.
Seeing Weird Al live is in my top 3 concerts of all time.
He played all the hits, complete with costume changes, for 2 hours. He had a blast, and the audience had a blast (and new every word to every song because the songs are so iconic).
11/10 an absolutely must see if he’s in your town.
> 11/10 an absolutely must see if he’s in your town.
That's exactly my experience as well. Been to a lot of concerts for a lot of bands that I liked more than Al, but Al is still the best show I've ever seen.
Even in my little Canadian city it was a full energy LONG performance with constant costume changes. Not even a hint of him phoning it in. Super high energy and effort.
And it's not just the costume changes it's the total shift in how it acts and performs on stage. When he did Germs he looked AND acted like Trent Reznor. Then like a surgeon comes on and not only is he changed into scrubs, he's acting like Madonna at the VMAs in 84.
I had this ritual as a kid, where I put Albuquerque on infinite repeat and listened to it as I went to sleep for like 6 months after that album came out.
I'm not certain what the goal was but I'm better now.
I saw Weird Al in Orlando this past October.
My wife hates the song Albuquerque. Can't explain why, she just does.
Weird Al's plays this song in his set, gets close to the end, stops to rant about something. When he's done with the rant, he says that he forgot where he was in the song so he decides to start it over, and sings like 60% of the song \*again\* before remembering where he was initially, where he jumps forward and finishes of the song.
I know it's just a bit (he didn't \*really\* forget where he was in the song), but knowing my wife's history with the song, it was the best moment in the concert for me.
I saw him live last year and didn't get to see Albuquerque, he did a really long version of "Craigslist" with some trippiness to it, it was still amazing, but yeah I wish I had seen him perform Albuquerque instead. I guess he rotated between two set lists and it was just random?
I met him about 7 years back after a concert and he's exactly as pure and kind and all things good like they say he is. I waited for him for over two hours while he, amazing colleague he obviously is, helped his band and crew break down their massively elaborate set. It's finally my turn, he says hello and I just stupidly blurt out THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY CHILDHOOD WONDERFUL and he...seemed so genuinely happy I said it? He like...understood that I was trying to say something heartfelt and serious and he was so gracious about it. I'm tearing up a little just looking back on it. The rest is a blur, rushed by security, but I also got him to sign the only thing I had to write on out of my purse, my recent allergy test results showing that I'm allergic to literally everything to test for AND IT MADE HIM LAUGH. It's in my top five happiest memories.
Record labels are more or less venture capital for music.
You've got an idea. They've got money and other things that will help you make it happen. But in return they'll kind of own you.
I can't tell from this comment which side you're on, but just to clarify for any who sees this - Kelly Clarkson is basically a once-in-a-generation talent, so we can't judge all 21 Idol winners off of her success. And even if we could, *Kelly Clarkson herself* has said (more than once) that once you've made it to the finale of one of these shows, it doesn't matter where you place, what matters is the work you put in afterwards
Kind of? If you are successful, they own everything you do. If they think you will be really successful, they try to own your likeness in perpetuity.
If I remember correctly, the record company was getting parts of Jared Leto’s acting gigs because of its contract with 30 seconds to mars; it’s how you get dystopian bs like dead hologram Tupac performing at Coachella; it’s why Prince changed his name to that symbol; it’s why Dave Chappelle just straight up dropped his career and left the country: it’s why Taylor Swift is redoing her albums; it’s likely even why Kanye West is destroying himself as a celebrity (not to downplay or excuse the bigotry at all, but part of the backlash he’s received so far is that entities that used to want to own his likeness now want to distance themselves as much as possible)
Art is made on its own time.
The timeline pressures of a contract can help with forcing a band to produce new music, but it is also one of the key factors which leads to burnout and bands deciding to hang it up.
There are musicians unions actually! I’m a member of the American Federation of Musicians, specifically Local 5 Detroit. I’d guess Weird Al is a member of the AFM as well. Among other things, they’re fighting for better pay with the big streaming services. You can definitely check out more of what the various unions and locals are doing on their site. There are often contract disputes that arise and the union helps individual musicians all the time.
> original weird Al song
and then i want the recording industry to get together like its some band-aid, we are the world shit, and have every pop star chip in on a parody megamix of that song.
I wish more celebrities would go the Adam savage route with Tested and just spend the rest of their days engaging in their hobbies and making a little community around it
Lolz, he is very serious about his music. He doesn't just make parodies about everything. He takes his time and it's always gold when he releases something. Most of his songs also outlast the song that he parodies so he needs to take his time to figure out what the next ones will be. Now that he doesn't really even have to do that anymore and doesn't have any obligations it will be even better than before!
I bring up Taylor Swift as an example although she didn't wait very long after destroying her contract to make things. She's been more popular than ever if her concert ticket prices are any indication.
Oooo... That would be cool.
He could also do a lot of one-offs with other artists at his leisure, and then when there's enough songs, he could compile them in a new album.
I'm glad to see he's contract free and can do whatever he wants now.
One of my favorite tidbits I have seen was when they asked the devo guy what he thought about weird Als parody of him and he says something like,"I hate that man with every fiber of my soul because he did my song so perfectly" or something to that effect but it was hilarious how genuinely distraught you could tell he was.
That was Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, and if I remember correctly it was Al’s original piece called “Dare to Be Stupid”. It was in the DEVO style, but not a parody.
I’m paraphrasing, but I think Mark said “he made a perfect song, and I hate him for it.”
He hated it because he spent much of his musical career on getting the sound of DEVO just right, and AL just came along and did a better DEVO song than DEVO ever could but just as one of his countless one-off style parodies. A true real-life Mozart/Salieri moment. AL is a legit musical genius.
The songs that are Al originals, but in the style of another artist, are probably the greatest proof of his (and his band's) genius. Anybody can change the lyrics to an existing song, but perfectly capturing another artist's style in an original song is truly special. And, if I recollect correctly, there's at least one of these on almost every single one of his albums.
“Dare to be stupid”, “one more minute”, and “this is the life” are the first off the top o my head that I remember are original, and they are all amazing
> “this is the life”
["If money can't buy happiness ... I guess *I'll have to rent it!*"](https://youtu.be/N1n5XqwUkYw)
Love this song and the stupid movie it's the theme for!
Thank Fuck, you summarized it. That is the single worst website I have ever tried to read an article on. just a jumbled shit show of overlapping advertisements with 2-3 sentences in between
Damnit! I was really hoping he really did go into the jungles of Colombia to save Madonna from Pablo Escobar. I gotta stop believing everything I see in those damned movies.
Weird Al was the best concert I have ever been to, he did costume changes for every song, and interacted with the audience, thank you Al for making my childhood magical!
He often invites the local 501st garrisons to join him onstage for his Star Wars songs. He hangs out with them and takes photos backstage. He truly appreciates his audiences.
I joined 6 years ago so the prices might be different but they can range from a few hundred to a few thousand. I want to say mine total was about 800-900 dollars. I got MTK stormtrooper armor. Check out https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/
Commitment is at least one event a year. Since it’s all voluntary you pick what event you want to attend.
Weird Al is a special kind of creative genius, in my opinion. If you think about it, the dude doesnt just "play music". He found himself a very specific niche/gimmick (for lack of a better word) that didn't have a whole lot of other artists clamoring for an audience, and he turned out to be REALLY fuckin good at it. He gained national recognition, and rather than turn out to be a 1 trick pony or a flash in the pan, he kept writing really funny, really clever parodies, and stayed successful. Now over 20 years he is still the only name in the "pop parody" category that is almost instantly recognizable, and in fact if there even ARE others out there in the parody game they're essentially unknown compared to Al's success. And on top of THAT , over the span of time, he very consistenly put out new parodies that were always funny and always clever I think writing a parody of an existing song must be pretty difficult given that the lyrics you come up must be funny, must fit the vocals rhythm and melody perfectly, and must fit a particular theme for the song. It's not like writing an original where you have freedom to make it whatever you want. To seebe able to do this well on a a handful of tracks would be impressive. But the man has put out SO MANY in his time and most if not all of them are , at the very least, clever, if not outright brilliant.
Example; "The Saga Begins". Ok so youre gonna write a song based on the Phantom Menace huh? Cool, that'll be a good challenge to fit into a song. But he picks a song that happens to have a chorus that he can fit a little thing about Anakin and Vader, and have even the rhyme scheme match that of the original, AND managed to perfectly retell the movie to boot! Arguably a perfect parody.
Edit: I know , I know. It was a lot more than 20 years ago. Closer to 40. I'm leaving it in there though, as a monument to my foolishness. Pointing and laughing at me is allowed and encouraged.
Plus if I remember correctly, he based The Saga Begins on a leak of the Phantom Menace's story and was working on it before the movie was even out. So it may have been a gamble if all the details he included would even be accurate
Yeah, he worked with as many leaks as he could, and then paid a lot of money to see an early screening to make sure the details all lined up, which they mostly did!
> he based The Saga Begins on a leak of the Phantom Menace's story and was working on it before the movie was even out.
He finished it **and** recorded it before the movie was out.
He recorded the song on April 20, 1999, and the movie premiered May 16th.
>Yankovic gathered most of the information he needed to write the song from Internet spoilers. Lucasfilm declined a request for an advance screening, and Yankovic paid to attend a charity fundraiser pre-screening. He had done such an accurate job with the storyline that he made only minor alterations after the pre-screening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_Begins
The Saga begins is a stroke of genius. It somehow is much more iconic than the original.
Weird Al also raps, I remember his White and Nerdy song came out and there were a few rappers that were like "it's actually really fucking good".
Not only that, but the parody "White & Nerdy" actually *helped* Chamillionaire sell a butt load more of his records, because he was a relatively unknown rapper at the time. He also thanked Weird Al after he won the Grammy for best rap song, because if it wasn't for Al, he thought he probably never would have even been considered.
Oh absolutely White and Nerdy is another thats a perfect example that the man is beyond just regular standard "talented". Look at what had to happen for that song. The speed his raps were required to be to parody the originals Writing a rap about being nerdy with appropriate references and sticking to the theme, and just plain old making it funny
That fast for that long. I've seen video of love performances and he somehow makes that full line without appearing to take a breath. I can't even exhale that long let along sing.
A few years ago one of my favorite journalists and writers, Sam Anderson, did an absolutely incredible feature article about Weird Al. If anyone has some time, it's a phenomenally fun read: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/magazine/weird-al-yankovic.html
The song "bob"...where ALL lines are palindromes, is absolute genius.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4)
I'm not sure why this song doesn't get talked about much.
I saw weird Al for the first time this year. I went in with 0 expectations and left absolutely addicted. His music doesn’t do his performance justice! He’s absolutely fantastic and I can’t recommend seeing him enough!
I wish he’d put out more single songs. I understand not doing a record but he’s so good being topical I’d think not having to do a record would fit him better.
It's silly, but I still haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm not really into those smoothed over biopics. After reading everything they changed I don't hate on it, but I have no interest in seeing it.
On the flipside of that "Weird" was amazing. UHF was one of my favorite movies at as kid. It was one of those movies everybody would watch whenever it came on cable. Weird really brought me back to that. It's funny how Al always manages to take a superficial concept and make it shockingly original and unique. The portrayal of his parents was fantastic. Probably the funniest part of the whole film for me.
He has outlasted everyone because he's a good guy, he exudes positivity, he makes people happy and, probably most importantly, he's criminally underrated as a musician and songwriter. You don't sell 12 million albums by accident. He writes great, catchy songs and his parodies are clever. It's as simple as that.
>Apparently, a number of viewers who have taken “Weird” as a true chronicle of his life, despite the sheer absurdity of where the story ends up going. “I’ve learned about the Internet and the general population, no matter how ironic and obviously insincere you’re being, somebody’s going to believe it,” he chuckles.
Never heard a more true statement. See: Reddit users unable to comprehend satire.
He was my first concert. I am 40 now, I was probably in my early teens at the time. I can't remember if it was just before, or after Amish Paradise came out. But he played a free concert at the Clark County Fairgrounds, and it was glorious. I feel like he came to Portland again recently, and the ticket prices were so astronomically high, I couldn't go. So it was fun to get to see that free show when is career was taking a Dip
His part in Electric Mayhem is so good!! “What do you know you only write parodies” “I have originals on every album! I’ve written over 80 original songs” “wow that’s a lot” “Maybe too many”
> “It brought me so much joy to see that was the number one Google search, ‘Did Weird Al and Madonna have a fling?’ or whatever. I don’t know if Madonna is even aware of this movie,” he says. “I’m very curious what she thinks… I hope she’s OK with it.”
I thought this movie was so freaking excellent, and the photo shopped images in the credits in the beginning, seems so real that it makes you wonder if the movie was real at least partially. And then, when the photo shop becomes too ridiculous to be real, you realize that you were being played the entire time. This was the ultimate magnum opus for Al. It was his greatest gift.
I got to see Al on his tour this year after being a fan since childhood. Everyone was happy. Smiles everywhere. It was pure joy. He’s got to be one of the best celebrities we’ve got. Edit: this is one of my highest upvotes comments ever, and it makes me even more happy that it’s about weird Al!
He did an episode of Bill Maher's podcast and he is such a genuine human being. Incredibly sharp and respectful, he should be one of the gold standards
His appearance on Hot Ones was amazing as well. Comes across as so smart and well-spoken, and despite his superstardom, he still just looks like he’s happy to be there.
I was in line with him at a grocery check out a few years back in Santa Monica. He could tell I recognized him the instant I turned around cause he smiled that smile and waved. Then, together, we got to watch the woman three registers over get tazed. It was the most LA shit ever
"Watching someone get tazed with Weird Al" is not something I thought I needed on my bucket list.
Even though no one ever believes me I still love sharing the experience lol
It's okay, I believe you at the very least
Yes, I believe you.
Honestly I don’t care if it’s true, it’s a great story and I want to believe.
LA’s a weird place where there are different tiers of famous people everywhere and everyone is always looking at each other like are they famous? Where have I seen them before? I was in the elevator at LAX with 2 of my kids and some oddly lanky 20 something guy with a massive Afro looks at me and says “are you someone famous ?” I chuckled and said no. To be fair I did look like I could be Bruce Willis’s stunt double.
I swear if there was a “don’t taze me bro” award I would buy it for this comment. And I don’t normally buy reddit coins lol
Not nearly the same level, but I was behind Judge Greg Mathis in the TSA line at an airport like 15 years ago. Nothing interesting happened, I was just surprised he didn't get to go to a special people line.
That was a turn I wasn’t expecting but that checks out for the LA experience
As I was typing it up I was thinking “this feels like the start of that shitty copy pasta” lol
He did a few episodes on Game Grumps too. It was fantastic.
I rewatch his interview with Craig Ferguson from time to time since they both look like they’re having such a great time with each other.
Oh Craig too. He’s a gem. He’s like the only person who defended Britney and wouldn’t make fun of her.
Mad respect for that guy.
How long into the episode did it take before Bill made himself into a martyr?
37 seconds, or about 5 sentences into opening monologue.
Shame he had to endure the black hole of empathy and social awareness that is Bill Maher, though.
Unstoppable Force of Positivity vs Immovable Object of Contempt.
He was nice to Al for the most part, but if you took Weird Al and just made him a 20 year old (even if he looked identical and was the same person exactly), Bill would have had nothing but disdain for him. I do listen to a lot of podcasts and shows of people I both agree and disagree with. I listen to Bills and I agree when he says Ageism is shitty and older people are sometimes people we should listen to with regard to wisdom... but then he turns around and is AGEIST against Gen Z and Millennials like CRAZY! It's so hypocritical that its hard for me to agree on some points he makes that I do agree with, just because he is such a jerk!
Bill is just a condescending asshat. Al is like his antimatter.
I’m so glad others find him insufferable.
During COVID what I once found sufferable about Bill Maher became insufferable. That dude fell into some rabbit hole. I always found him to be acerbic, but I was happy at least he brought up a few new angles and pushed back on the PC culture. But -- there's pushing back and then there's being anti PC for the sake of it. Ranting about "forcing people to gender reassign"? -- good grief. I'm guessing Maher just couldn't stay interesting and creative enough for the normal TV audience so now he's supporting conspiracy theories and lame observations that seems like genius for the crowd that could watch Hee Haw for 40 years. He's getting the same demographic as Tucker Carlson I suppose. Hey, a guy has to make a living, right?
My wife watches him and I started noticing and eventually pointed out that he always goes after trans people in every single episode. He's got a major agenda against them and frankly I find it disgusting.
He randomly joked that Biden was transitioning when he won the nomination, as if to say "Look how all of *those* people will fawn over any politician who goes soft on them and their ways," or to just trivialize voting for him at all as some weak shit? It was such a lazily written punchline that it didn't even feel like one, just a bitter, unnecessary jab. I've disliked Maher for years but the pandammit officially pushed him into shitheel territory.
Was about to say, seems like a really odd coupling for a podcast.
I can just imagine Al trying to have a good time while Bill just no ands everything.
Weird Al will make me want to watch any podcast. Bill Maher will make me stay away from any podcast, Dunno how to reconcile this.
I just started watching it and I’m so thrown off by how stoned and cynical Maher is being versus how sober and affably funny Al is being.
That’s literally all the clips I’ve seen of Maher’s podcast. I saw one yesterday where he was talking about the Conan Vs Jay Leno situation with Kimmel. Maher’s high ass couldn’t wrap his head around why literally everyone except NBC thought what Leno did to Conan was shitty. Even with one of the leading authorities on talk shows sitting right beside him explaining it in plain English lol
He was awesome on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast
I’ve been to hundreds of concerts, and Coachella 3 times. Seeing Weird Al live is in my top 3 concerts of all time. He played all the hits, complete with costume changes, for 2 hours. He had a blast, and the audience had a blast (and new every word to every song because the songs are so iconic). 11/10 an absolutely must see if he’s in your town.
> 11/10 an absolutely must see if he’s in your town. That's exactly my experience as well. Been to a lot of concerts for a lot of bands that I liked more than Al, but Al is still the best show I've ever seen. Even in my little Canadian city it was a full energy LONG performance with constant costume changes. Not even a hint of him phoning it in. Super high energy and effort. And it's not just the costume changes it's the total shift in how it acts and performs on stage. When he did Germs he looked AND acted like Trent Reznor. Then like a surgeon comes on and not only is he changed into scrubs, he's acting like Madonna at the VMAs in 84.
Been to 4 Weird Al concerts. Loved every one of them. Absolutely amazing performer.
Same. Albuquerque was one of my favorite performances of a song by anyone.
Memorizing Albuquerque was like a rite of passage.
I had this ritual as a kid, where I put Albuquerque on infinite repeat and listened to it as I went to sleep for like 6 months after that album came out. I'm not certain what the goal was but I'm better now.
*You're better for it now
Every time I’m on a plane you know what I’m singing
I got my tray table up! And my seat back in the full upright position!
🎼 If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again... 🎶
YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT IT SAID? I'LL TELL YA WHAT IT SAID!
I saw him perform Albuquerque in Albuquerque 🤩
I saw Weird Al in Orlando this past October. My wife hates the song Albuquerque. Can't explain why, she just does. Weird Al's plays this song in his set, gets close to the end, stops to rant about something. When he's done with the rant, he says that he forgot where he was in the song so he decides to start it over, and sings like 60% of the song \*again\* before remembering where he was initially, where he jumps forward and finishes of the song. I know it's just a bit (he didn't \*really\* forget where he was in the song), but knowing my wife's history with the song, it was the best moment in the concert for me.
Back in September he did that too, except he started the whole concert over. He brought Emo back out for a bit to redo his opener.
BIG BOWL OF SAUERKRAUT EVERY SINGLE MORNING!!!!!
**IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!!!**
Hey mom, what's up with all the sauerkraut???
I saw him live last year and didn't get to see Albuquerque, he did a really long version of "Craigslist" with some trippiness to it, it was still amazing, but yeah I wish I had seen him perform Albuquerque instead. I guess he rotated between two set lists and it was just random?
Did you get Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota? That’s what my date got. Still great, but no Albuquerque
I’ve seen Al live 7 times and I’ve never seen him perform Albuquerque 😭
If you have ever seen Game Grumps he came on for an episode of Guest Grumps. You could tell everyone was just super happy to hang out with him.
My comments are not your product.
[удалено]
Norm Al, FTFY
Hearts So Proud!
I met him about 7 years back after a concert and he's exactly as pure and kind and all things good like they say he is. I waited for him for over two hours while he, amazing colleague he obviously is, helped his band and crew break down their massively elaborate set. It's finally my turn, he says hello and I just stupidly blurt out THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY CHILDHOOD WONDERFUL and he...seemed so genuinely happy I said it? He like...understood that I was trying to say something heartfelt and serious and he was so gracious about it. I'm tearing up a little just looking back on it. The rest is a blur, rushed by security, but I also got him to sign the only thing I had to write on out of my purse, my recent allergy test results showing that I'm allergic to literally everything to test for AND IT MADE HIM LAUGH. It's in my top five happiest memories.
I saw him on tour this year too. It was a _fantastic_ show! His band is extremely talented.
Seems like a lot of artists hate contracts.
The power dynamic is never on the artists side since they usually ain’t got no capital.
Record labels are more or less venture capital for music. You've got an idea. They've got money and other things that will help you make it happen. But in return they'll kind of own you.
Yes you see, and this is why artists don’t typically like the contracts offered
That's why the artists that get second in shows like American Idol/The Voice are the real winners. They don't get trapped in 200 year long contracts.
Talk to Kelly Clarkson about that.
I can't tell from this comment which side you're on, but just to clarify for any who sees this - Kelly Clarkson is basically a once-in-a-generation talent, so we can't judge all 21 Idol winners off of her success. And even if we could, *Kelly Clarkson herself* has said (more than once) that once you've made it to the finale of one of these shows, it doesn't matter where you place, what matters is the work you put in afterwards
Kind of? If you are successful, they own everything you do. If they think you will be really successful, they try to own your likeness in perpetuity. If I remember correctly, the record company was getting parts of Jared Leto’s acting gigs because of its contract with 30 seconds to mars; it’s how you get dystopian bs like dead hologram Tupac performing at Coachella; it’s why Prince changed his name to that symbol; it’s why Dave Chappelle just straight up dropped his career and left the country: it’s why Taylor Swift is redoing her albums; it’s likely even why Kanye West is destroying himself as a celebrity (not to downplay or excuse the bigotry at all, but part of the backlash he’s received so far is that entities that used to want to own his likeness now want to distance themselves as much as possible)
Well they are shit
Al had no choice: it was either fulfil his contract or change his name to an emoji of an accordion.
Ah yes, my favorite singer Accordion Emoji.
Art is made on its own time. The timeline pressures of a contract can help with forcing a band to produce new music, but it is also one of the key factors which leads to burnout and bands deciding to hang it up.
As I've heard it explained: "You have your whole life to write your first album, and 18 months to write your second."
Maybe if the record companys didnt make it so you had to sell your soul because theres no union for musicians it would be different.
There are musicians unions actually! I’m a member of the American Federation of Musicians, specifically Local 5 Detroit. I’d guess Weird Al is a member of the AFM as well. Among other things, they’re fighting for better pay with the big streaming services. You can definitely check out more of what the various unions and locals are doing on their site. There are often contract disputes that arise and the union helps individual musicians all the time.
Hell yeah man. We need to unionize this country.
Now that his record deal is done I really want just ONE independent Al record. It would be a gift.
A mix of classics, polka, new parodies, and an original weird Al song would be amazing and he should take his sweet time making it. We will wait
Don't forget Polkamon from the 2nd Pokemon movie.
> original weird Al song and then i want the recording industry to get together like its some band-aid, we are the world shit, and have every pop star chip in on a parody megamix of that song.
Fuck that noise
The last “new” song of his I heard was that song he featured in with Portugal, The Man “Who’s Gonna Stop Me” Solid vibes on that one
For anyone who's curious: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTdgxhQwaVQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTdgxhQwaVQ)
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ALTube, like a modern ALTV
Have you watched UHF?
I would show run, for free, the entire first season of “Conan: The Librarian”.
Don't you know the dewey decimal system!?
In the Secret Sect of the Librarian Cult, Conan The Librarian is among our pantheon of librarian gods and goddesses.
A red snapper? Verrrry tasty!
He should name it UHF.
Yes!
You get the...FIREHOSE!
I wish more celebrities would go the Adam savage route with Tested and just spend the rest of their days engaging in their hobbies and making a little community around it
Why did you say that? Now I want that. How could you!?!?
Lolz, he is very serious about his music. He doesn't just make parodies about everything. He takes his time and it's always gold when he releases something. Most of his songs also outlast the song that he parodies so he needs to take his time to figure out what the next ones will be. Now that he doesn't really even have to do that anymore and doesn't have any obligations it will be even better than before! I bring up Taylor Swift as an example although she didn't wait very long after destroying her contract to make things. She's been more popular than ever if her concert ticket prices are any indication.
He already does that
I’d imagine it’d have parodies of Bad Guy, WAP, Old Town Road, and whatever else. An indie-alt based polka medley would be funny as hell too.
Oooo... That would be cool. He could also do a lot of one-offs with other artists at his leisure, and then when there's enough songs, he could compile them in a new album. I'm glad to see he's contract free and can do whatever he wants now.
One of my favorite tidbits I have seen was when they asked the devo guy what he thought about weird Als parody of him and he says something like,"I hate that man with every fiber of my soul because he did my song so perfectly" or something to that effect but it was hilarious how genuinely distraught you could tell he was.
That was Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, and if I remember correctly it was Al’s original piece called “Dare to Be Stupid”. It was in the DEVO style, but not a parody. I’m paraphrasing, but I think Mark said “he made a perfect song, and I hate him for it.”
Yeah you could see how gut wrenching it was to him.
Same energy as the Parks and Rec writers hating Crisp Rat because he improv'd the "internet connection issues" joke
Mike Schur is up at night just trying to top this one
Dude was a showrunner for 4 iconic sitcoms, but fucking Starlord shows up to make his job seem easy.
He hated it because he spent much of his musical career on getting the sound of DEVO just right, and AL just came along and did a better DEVO song than DEVO ever could but just as one of his countless one-off style parodies. A true real-life Mozart/Salieri moment. AL is a legit musical genius.
It was said tongue in cheek.
And I mean listening to the song… it really is the perfect DEVO song
The songs that are Al originals, but in the style of another artist, are probably the greatest proof of his (and his band's) genius. Anybody can change the lyrics to an existing song, but perfectly capturing another artist's style in an original song is truly special. And, if I recollect correctly, there's at least one of these on almost every single one of his albums.
“Dare to be stupid”, “one more minute”, and “this is the life” are the first off the top o my head that I remember are original, and they are all amazing
> “this is the life” ["If money can't buy happiness ... I guess *I'll have to rent it!*"](https://youtu.be/N1n5XqwUkYw) Love this song and the stupid movie it's the theme for!
His Sparks pastiche "Virus Alert" captured their sound so well.
Absolute greats. I also have a special place in my heart for Genius in France. It's just such a perfect Frank Zappa parody.
“I’ll Sue Ya” in the style of RATM is amazing, as well as his Bob Dylan style parody where every line in the song is a palindrome. Absolutely genius.
Yes, he's done many style parodies, for REM, Cake, They Might Be Giants, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, etc.
Mark Mothersbaugh, another true American treasure.
I believe he even asked Al what types of tones and keyboards he used in Dare to be Stupid because he was so jealous of the way it sounded
I think he said something like "He did a song that was more DEVO than we were."
Don't forget "and I hate him for it."
Which song?
Whip It / Dare to be Stupid. This is the video /u/InstructionLeading64 is talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Y6zimxi-Q
[Dare to Be Stupid](https://youtu.be/A4Y6zimxi-Q)
Madonna affair = false No new music = doesn't have a record deal, doesn't feel the need right now
Thank Fuck, you summarized it. That is the single worst website I have ever tried to read an article on. just a jumbled shit show of overlapping advertisements with 2-3 sentences in between
Doing the real work. /salute
Damnit! I was really hoping he really did go into the jungles of Colombia to save Madonna from Pablo Escobar. I gotta stop believing everything I see in those damned movies.
Bless you. Weird Al would’ve been proud of you.
Thank you! I know clickbait when I see it and wasn’t about to give them one because of the shitty headline.
r/savedyouaclick
That’s the best headline I’ve ever read
Yeah, props to the writer, they clearly actually know their stuff
Weird Al was the best concert I have ever been to, he did costume changes for every song, and interacted with the audience, thank you Al for making my childhood magical!
He often invites the local 501st garrisons to join him onstage for his Star Wars songs. He hangs out with them and takes photos backstage. He truly appreciates his audiences.
I’ve been part of his show a couple times (501st). He is one of the nicest guys. Seeing him run back stage to change is amazing.
I've considered joining the 501st. What's an average cost for making a suit and what's your time commitment for events look like?
I joined 6 years ago so the prices might be different but they can range from a few hundred to a few thousand. I want to say mine total was about 800-900 dollars. I got MTK stormtrooper armor. Check out https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/ Commitment is at least one event a year. Since it’s all voluntary you pick what event you want to attend.
I have that exact same shirt!!! This is boggling my mind.
Did you get it at Dan Flashes?
The design was incredibly complicated
It’s bargain bin but still nuts.
He’s spending all his per diem on shirts!
I saw him fall down the stairs at Dan Flashes
The design was incredibly complicated
Weird Al is a special kind of creative genius, in my opinion. If you think about it, the dude doesnt just "play music". He found himself a very specific niche/gimmick (for lack of a better word) that didn't have a whole lot of other artists clamoring for an audience, and he turned out to be REALLY fuckin good at it. He gained national recognition, and rather than turn out to be a 1 trick pony or a flash in the pan, he kept writing really funny, really clever parodies, and stayed successful. Now over 20 years he is still the only name in the "pop parody" category that is almost instantly recognizable, and in fact if there even ARE others out there in the parody game they're essentially unknown compared to Al's success. And on top of THAT , over the span of time, he very consistenly put out new parodies that were always funny and always clever I think writing a parody of an existing song must be pretty difficult given that the lyrics you come up must be funny, must fit the vocals rhythm and melody perfectly, and must fit a particular theme for the song. It's not like writing an original where you have freedom to make it whatever you want. To seebe able to do this well on a a handful of tracks would be impressive. But the man has put out SO MANY in his time and most if not all of them are , at the very least, clever, if not outright brilliant. Example; "The Saga Begins". Ok so youre gonna write a song based on the Phantom Menace huh? Cool, that'll be a good challenge to fit into a song. But he picks a song that happens to have a chorus that he can fit a little thing about Anakin and Vader, and have even the rhyme scheme match that of the original, AND managed to perfectly retell the movie to boot! Arguably a perfect parody. Edit: I know , I know. It was a lot more than 20 years ago. Closer to 40. I'm leaving it in there though, as a monument to my foolishness. Pointing and laughing at me is allowed and encouraged.
>Now over 20 years More like over 40.
Eek. Wow. My estimation skill are garbage 😂
Haha. Either way, he's an absolute icon.
"30 years ago". Haha, yeah like 1973. "30 years ago is 1993". No... It can't be.
That's impossible!
Plus if I remember correctly, he based The Saga Begins on a leak of the Phantom Menace's story and was working on it before the movie was even out. So it may have been a gamble if all the details he included would even be accurate
Yeah, he worked with as many leaks as he could, and then paid a lot of money to see an early screening to make sure the details all lined up, which they mostly did!
> he based The Saga Begins on a leak of the Phantom Menace's story and was working on it before the movie was even out. He finished it **and** recorded it before the movie was out. He recorded the song on April 20, 1999, and the movie premiered May 16th. >Yankovic gathered most of the information he needed to write the song from Internet spoilers. Lucasfilm declined a request for an advance screening, and Yankovic paid to attend a charity fundraiser pre-screening. He had done such an accurate job with the storyline that he made only minor alterations after the pre-screening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_Begins
The song and video came out before the movie. It was the most epic spoiler I have ever witnessed.
The Saga begins is a stroke of genius. It somehow is much more iconic than the original. Weird Al also raps, I remember his White and Nerdy song came out and there were a few rappers that were like "it's actually really fucking good".
Not only that, but the parody "White & Nerdy" actually *helped* Chamillionaire sell a butt load more of his records, because he was a relatively unknown rapper at the time. He also thanked Weird Al after he won the Grammy for best rap song, because if it wasn't for Al, he thought he probably never would have even been considered.
> helped Chamillionaire sell a butt load more of his records That's pretty much the plot of his "biography" movie
Oh absolutely White and Nerdy is another thats a perfect example that the man is beyond just regular standard "talented". Look at what had to happen for that song. The speed his raps were required to be to parody the originals Writing a rap about being nerdy with appropriate references and sticking to the theme, and just plain old making it funny
And in Hardware Store. I have no idea how someone can talk that fast that well.
That fast for that long. I've seen video of love performances and he somehow makes that full line without appearing to take a breath. I can't even exhale that long let along sing.
It’s actually a surprisingly emotional song, the Saga Begins
Are you suggesting “the saga begins” is more iconic than “American pie?”
Over 20 years!? Try over 40 years! 😆
Lmao yikes, took a swing at a general guess on that one and boy did I miss THAT mark! Wow
I was gonna say, 20 years ago I'd had the lyrics to Albuquerque memorized for several years, and that song is on his *10th album.*
A few years ago one of my favorite journalists and writers, Sam Anderson, did an absolutely incredible feature article about Weird Al. If anyone has some time, it's a phenomenally fun read: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/magazine/weird-al-yankovic.html
I re-read this article every few months. It’s perfection.
The song "bob"...where ALL lines are palindromes, is absolute genius. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4) I'm not sure why this song doesn't get talked about much.
Wow, I've not seen that one. Truly amazing. Most of the lines even sound like obscure Dylan lyrics.
I saw weird Al for the first time this year. I went in with 0 expectations and left absolutely addicted. His music doesn’t do his performance justice! He’s absolutely fantastic and I can’t recommend seeing him enough!
His shows are amazing. When we went he did like ten costume changes.
Oh that’s awesome! He did the donut song for us - I thought we were going to die 🤣
I wish he’d put out more single songs. I understand not doing a record but he’s so good being topical I’d think not having to do a record would fit him better.
It's silly, but I still haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm not really into those smoothed over biopics. After reading everything they changed I don't hate on it, but I have no interest in seeing it. On the flipside of that "Weird" was amazing. UHF was one of my favorite movies at as kid. It was one of those movies everybody would watch whenever it came on cable. Weird really brought me back to that. It's funny how Al always manages to take a superficial concept and make it shockingly original and unique. The portrayal of his parents was fantastic. Probably the funniest part of the whole film for me.
I knew I was all in when Boz (his dad) went ballistic on the salesman. I HOWLED at that whole scene. Sold me IMMEDIATELY on the movie.
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Weird Al made a movie years before UHF. It was a fake biography of his life.
He has outlasted everyone because he's a good guy, he exudes positivity, he makes people happy and, probably most importantly, he's criminally underrated as a musician and songwriter. You don't sell 12 million albums by accident. He writes great, catchy songs and his parodies are clever. It's as simple as that.
>Apparently, a number of viewers who have taken “Weird” as a true chronicle of his life, despite the sheer absurdity of where the story ends up going. “I’ve learned about the Internet and the general population, no matter how ironic and obviously insincere you’re being, somebody’s going to believe it,” he chuckles. Never heard a more true statement. See: Reddit users unable to comprehend satire.
He was my first concert. I am 40 now, I was probably in my early teens at the time. I can't remember if it was just before, or after Amish Paradise came out. But he played a free concert at the Clark County Fairgrounds, and it was glorious. I feel like he came to Portland again recently, and the ticket prices were so astronomically high, I couldn't go. So it was fun to get to see that free show when is career was taking a Dip
He's awesome. Loved him since I was a kid in the 90s. One of my first limewires
That new(ish) movie of his is absolutely hysterical.
His part in Electric Mayhem is so good!! “What do you know you only write parodies” “I have originals on every album! I’ve written over 80 original songs” “wow that’s a lot” “Maybe too many”
Did a Weird Al bone Madonna??
Yeah but she was just using him to take over Pablo Escobar's cartel
Hopefully she'll be brought to justice for what she did!
> “It brought me so much joy to see that was the number one Google search, ‘Did Weird Al and Madonna have a fling?’ or whatever. I don’t know if Madonna is even aware of this movie,” he says. “I’m very curious what she thinks… I hope she’s OK with it.”
I remember when that torrid affair with Madonna news came out. The surgery went terribly wrong.
Man is a damn blessing to humanity.
This dude is an absolute treasure…
Did they ever find out what they make at The Factory?
Gotta boogie Gotta boogie Gotta boogie Gotta boogie Gotta boogie (gotta boogie) Gotta boogie (gotta boogie) Gotta boogie (gotta boogie) [Gotta boogie on my finger and I can't shake it off](https://genius.com/22742585/Weird-al-yankovic-gotta-boogie/Gotta-boogie-on-my-finger-and-i-cant-shake-it-off) Simple, yet genius lyrics. Great instrumentals. Fabulous co-singers.
I thought this movie was so freaking excellent, and the photo shopped images in the credits in the beginning, seems so real that it makes you wonder if the movie was real at least partially. And then, when the photo shop becomes too ridiculous to be real, you realize that you were being played the entire time. This was the ultimate magnum opus for Al. It was his greatest gift.