Obi-Wanma

If it weren't for my wife listening to pop radio when I am in the car, I wouldn't know most of these songs. When I'm driving I listen either sports talk radio or a rock station.

BearFan

I listen to a fair amount of new music, but it is all rock. I hear about it from friends, Pandora, Spotify (I peruse the new music and the recommendations) ... I just of not care for pop music much at all and rarely, if ever, listen to the radio.

Canis Firebrand

I don't listen to the radio in the car or in general. I listen to podcasts... in my car when I'm driving I have my 160gb iPod that is full and I put it on shuffle. I listen to music on Spotify and other streaming sources that aren't playing typical radio pop stuff. I hear snippits of some of the current popular songs when I'm in stores or in tv shows/movies or see one of those annoying Kidz Bop infomercials.

I listen to stuff friends recommend and many recommend indie music, rock, and stuff of that nature.

Of the four Weird Al videos so far. for the source material, I'm 1 out of 4 for having heard the songs.

I've heard the song Royals and don't mind it too much.
Happy I've never heard before nor Fancy (before I ventured to YouTube a little bit ago)
Blurred Lines, as stated previously, I won't give the YouTube video a hit to pad the douche's stats.

Paff

I've only heard Blurred Lines when my trainer puts it on at the end of fitbody class for the ab workout portion

Dan

Yeah, of the four original songs so far, I had heard Fancy (from commercials) and Royals (from fucking everywhere), and I hate both considerably.

I have never listened to Blurred Lines. Maybe it played at the grocery store or whatever, but Al's version did not make me recognize the tune. I actually googled "weird Al word crimes parody" because I didn't know what song it was at first.
I have also never heard Happy. My wife says she's heard both of those a lot, and she actually kind of likes Blurred Lines (damn her). Apparently the video has naked women in it, but so does [insert URL of various adult websites here], so it's not like that's a reason to go watch/listen to it.

So far, of the four parodies, I only like Word Crimes. I think it's perfect. Tacky, Foil, and Handy are all pretty boring to me.

Also, at a guy named VHS wondering how people listen to music without listening to FM radio.

Fielding Mellish

If you've managed to go this far avoiding "Happy", you're a very lucky man.

My Other Self

I'm shamed to admit that I like the original Blurred Lines.

Hiro11

I'm telling you guys, it's all about "Jackson Park Express":

"I want to wear your skin, on top of my skin. But not in a creepy way."

bunkaroo

I look for new music within the genres I like. I see reviews or postings from numerous labels and websites. I check out what's new at vendors which sell the type of music I like. I check out the "Customers Also Bought" links on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

I listen to exactly what I want to listen to in the car and on my personal listening devices.

Radio is basically unnecessary for finding new music these days - especially good new music.

Adam Tyner

I listen to a ton of satellite radio -- Little Steven's Underground Garage, XMU, Alt Nation, CBC Radio 3, and a bunch of the '70s/'80s/'90s channels -- but these sorts of songs aren't played on those channels. ("Royals" being an exception.) I listen to a lot of things I see in music reviews, things recommended by friends and folks I trust on blogs/message boards, stuff promoted by labels who have a lot of bands I follow... Same deal there. "Blurred Lines" I definitely heard eight billion times in the wild. I don't actively avoid popular stuff, but it's just not really in my face the way it is with most people, I guess. I can't say I haven't heard these songs (and I've certainly heard people talking/posting about 'em on Facebook and all), but I haven't heard them enough to be deeply embedded in my head.

DRG

And see, I was more annoyed by all the parts where they were depicting everything *exactly* as it is in the lyrics... "And I open the car doors" = he opens the car doors, "Put my key in the ignition" = he puts his key in the ignition... took the bite out of the intentional mundanity of the lyrics for me seeing everything played out so literally and on-the-nose from the song. The whole thing just felt redundant and unimaginative to me and was worse than the "video in my head".

Obi-Wanma

I wouldn't mind a different interpretation, but when everything else was pretty much exactly what you'd expect to see, that stood out to me as awkward, and not what was intended.

Plus what I said isn't explicitly spelled out in the lyrics, even if it's what's implied. Maybe that's why it didn't make it into the video

EDIT: Also, maybe I just appreciate it because many of his animated videos go so far into left field that I'm left wondering what it has to do with the song. There should be room for interpretation, but still the purpose of the video should be to enhance the song, especially in a comedy song where the lyrics are so important.

pinata242

But... that's the entire point of the song...

PatD

Of all the music videos so far, "Tacky" is the champ. It's so well directed and choreographed that it's not just a good Weird Al music video, it's a stand-out music video PERIOD.

fumanstan

I know all of these pop songs, but i'm cool, young, and hip unlike you old farts

I love Word Crimes, like Tacky, and don't care much about Foil and Handy.

boc4ever

I may be an old fart, but I can tell you that Fancy song is a piece of garbage. I can see the attraction to Happy or Blurred Lines because they have a groove to them. She is just getting by on looks because what she is doing isn't singing. And yes, most people would consider what I listen to as garbage and I'm fine with that

Decker

For me, the video winner is "Word Crimes" that's both a clever parody and very smart at the same time. Best use of fonts EVER.

So which songs, besides "Inactive" do we think get made into the other three videos? My guess is Sports Song, First World Problems and maybe Jackson Parkway Express.

VHS?

It was a name I came up with as a play on the forum I was signing up for
And I didnt say "how do you listen to music with a radio". Read my post again.

I just cant imagine you guys were able to escape any of these songs be them on radio or TV. They were everywhere. I listen to Rock and Metal stations and even THEY have played snips maybe for bits or whatever. This shit was everywhere and inescapable.

BearFan

Al doing Tacky on Conan

Pretty good

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/0...ideo-on-conan/

Draven

I only listen to podcasts or things from iTunes/Spotify in the car. Never the radio and I fast forward through all commercials on TV.

I've still heard these songs a million times. I just don't know how anyone can avoid them.

Adam Tyner

Ignoring music-I-would-never-listen-to when it's played as background noise at gas stations, grocery stores, etc.? I don't know what kind of explanation you want to hear. I'm 35, don't have kids, and generally associate with people who have mutually tolerable taste in music. How often do you think I'm in situations where someone is blasting Iggy Azalea often enough for me to think "oh, I recognize that song"? I'm plugged in enough to be aware that some of these songs are a thing, but I'm not often in situations where I'm subjected to music in which I have no interest at a volume or forcefully enough that I can't ignore it. Even when "Royals" would come up on XMU, I'd pretty much instantly change the channel since that's not my thing. For me, anyway, "Blurred Lines" is the only song Al's parodying on Mandatory Fun that really fits the definition of being inescapable.

I'm not complaining or anything. I love the parodies on Al's new album, and even when I was younger and listening to the radio all the time, there'd be parodies or songs in the polka medleys that I'd not know.

DRG

??? Not sure I understand what you're saying here. I love the *song* and the way it marries mundane lyrics with overly dramatic music. But the *video* zaps that juxtaposition away (for me) by pairing the mundane lyrics with an equally mundane visual. It just dulls the whole affair instead of enhancing it. The visual should have matched the sweep of the music to help contrast those lyrics. Imagine a live action video where Al is overacting the hell out of it, soap opera style, all while singing about french fries and whatnot... to me that's the tone they should have went for.

Obi-Wanma

New Video is up at weirdal.com and funnyordie.com. I can't access it again because funny or die is blocked, but it appears to be "Sports Song" from the preview thumbnail. I would guess that we get the 3 originals over the weekend when there is less internet traffic and "Inactive" on Monday to close it out.

dsa_shea

This guy is really attracted to her.

dsa_shea

He is trying to avoid looking into Medusa's eyes. A few of those snakes are about to strike. Coolio wants him a little closer than it looks like Al wants to be.