Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I'm not familiar with "Happy" or "Fancy", and I just looked 'em up on YouTube to be sure. I mean, I was aware of the existence of "Happy" but hadn't actually heard it. I've been subjected to "Royals" on XMU (it's unavoidable) but change the channel quickly enough that I don't think I've ever heard the whole thing.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I've never heard of "Fancy" either. "Happy" on the other hand is totally inescapable. Adam Tyner, I hope you have air conditioning in your cave and access to clean drinking water; it's going to be a hot summer.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I get not knowing what's popular anymore, but come on, there's no way humanly possible you haven't heard "Happy."

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I'm not going to say I've never heard "Happy", but I haven't heard it enough to register. I watched the music video on YouTube earlier today, and it didn't sound familiar at all. I went through the same thing with "Let It Go" not too long before this too. :)

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Well good for you then. :lol: Happy is catchy but it has the dumbest lyrics imaginable.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

It's been YEARS now since I've even known what songs Weird Al has been parodying. I usually hear his version first and then get surprised when I happen to hear the original song someplace.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Awesome! Weird Al may be parodying Def Leppard! It's about time :)

http://youtu.be/BZgr_3BvTmg

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I only know it because he did it on the Oscars.

Regarding singles, doesn't everyone release a bunch of singles at once nowadays? The exception would be a release before the album's date, or maybe there are a few bands that won't allow their albums to be split up. But with the way music is distributed you could call every track a single.

That's how Taylor Swift could have 40 top-40 singles after just 4 albums. I was amazed when that came up on Jeopardy, but with iTunes and the like I guess I can see it.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Interesting article from EW.com... 'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Stories Behind The Songs
http://music-mix.ew.com/2014/07/03/w...es-eat-it-fat/

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

He posted this on social media:

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I think by Al not releasing any singles before the album comes out has made me anticipate this album even more. Half of the Alpocalypse album had been released months if not a year prior to the albums release. I wasn't too excited about buying it. In fact, I didn't purchase it for a year or so after it was released. Can't wait til Tuesday!

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I agree. I wasn't let down by it, but it didn't feel fresh considering one of the parodies was already 3 years old by the time the album had actually come out.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

The album has leaked... Here are your parodies:

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Don't know a single one of those songs.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

You may hear them when you climb out from under the horder's mess you've apparently been living under.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

lol! Where is Jace when you need him?

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I know it leaked, and as much as I want to hear it right now, I'm going to wait until my Amazon copy ships on Tuesday.

Informative interview on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/12/329873...age-of-youtube

This quote makes me sad:

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

He's been saying that for over a year, so it wasn't really a surprise to me. As much as I like my Al-bums, it does make more sense in the digital age for him to try to get his stuff out there as quickly as possible, which he really isn't able to do with a conventional album for more than one song.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

As long as he releases physical media later I don't mind if he puts out digital singles or eps from time to time first.

He sort of did that with the last album anyway.

Pop culture moves so much faster than it used to that if he wants to keep up, he kind of has to. Working with ERB was a smart move, maybe a bit of crossover and new audience and definitely shows that he still has it and can still be relevant.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Yes you do.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Give me a break. I know you're trying to act cool, but even if you hate popular music, you can't get away from these songs. Hell, there was a meme going on with one of those songs in freaking Iran. They seem to be hip to these songs more than you.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

More interviews:

http://www.dinnerpartydownload.org/weird-al-yankovic/

http://nypost.com/2014/07/12/why-wei...ium=SocialFlow

For those of you in the LA area, Al will be doing a signing at Ameoba Hollywood on July 18th at 6pm.

http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/upc...aign=WeirdALLA

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Let's not jump to conclusions. There might be a logical reason why he hasn't heard any of those songs --he might be deaf.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4ikdqNVoCYQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm a super sheltered white guy from the suburbs. I grew up listening to classic rock stations and most of the music I listen to is from the 60s and 70s. I love Bob Dylan, but I've come to Rage Against the Machine and Radiohead fairly recently. Most of the contemporary stuff to which I listen is country-pop. That's how behind the times I am, at least 20+ years. Even I know "Blurred Lines." There was a firestorm of controversy about it in every corner of the Internet. The video has topless women in it and it's been accused of being about rape. You seriously haven't heard it? It's been all but impossible to miss.

Incidentally, Weird Al will have to work hard to top Bart Baker's hilarious parody of it.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I've never heard Fancy so I looked it up on YouTube.

The song itself sounds like a parody.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Are there any exclusives being sold anywhere? Like a deluxe version or something?

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

First video... "Tacky"

<iframe src="http://content.nerdist.com/players/udcyXmsG-Y8zICmdy.html" width="320" height="260" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto"></iframe>

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Much better if you leave the embed and go directly to the website: http://www.nerdist.com/vepisode/weir...arrells-happy/

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Doesn't look like it.

On the other hand, apparently my Amazon pre-order is being delivered today. A little too excited right now...!

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

No DVD this time (I thought DualDiscs were neat but apparently nobody else did, and the separate DVD that came with Alpocalypse was in freakin' MONO!) but at least the CD is selling for $9.99 almost everywhere- gonna buy it at our last remaining record store to help keep them in business.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

That was awesome. :lol:

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

That's actually better than the original song *and* it's accompanying music video.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Tacky is freakin' awesome. Can't wait to see which video he releases tomorrow!

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

Listened to the whole CD today. Great stuff. The polka medley includes some surprises people may not see coming.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I knew Happy, but not Fancy so I decided to watch that video today. Awful, awful song, I'm sure Weird Al is going to make it much better :)

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

By listening to this album, I think I now know how to tell what a modern hit song is: if you hear it used in multiple commercials, it's a hit. I couldn't tell you what song "Fancy" is, but once I heard Handy, I go "Oh, that's the Gold Samsung Galaxy S5 Song!"

Or Radioactive is the "Defiance Video Game Song." Or Happy is the "Used in every other commercial Song."

I'm not knocking Al here mind you, but if it weren't for ads, I would never have heard of any of those songs.

Here's the Polka listing:

Overall, it's an OK album. Nothing really stands out, but part of that comes from a lack of good songs to parody.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I've been an Al fan for as long as I can remember. I've gotten less interested in his output over the years, but more because I stopped listening to the type of music he's been parodying more and more, so it's hard for me to get excited about his music, if that makes sense. Anyway, whatever. He's talented as hell, so I'll check this whole album out, but the reason I stated the above is because... I thought Tacky was just terrible. The video, the song... all of it. Hopefully the rest is better.

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

The parodies will still be listenable in 10 years whereas the original songs that he parodied will be like relics.

Poodle Hat is my least favorite "Weird Al" album, but even that has some gold on it. Can't wait to give this a spin tonight after work! :)

Re: The Weird Al Yankovic Appreciation Thread
 

I would less familiar with current pop music if not for my wife and kids. I haven't gotten the album yet (going to pick it up on my lunch break), but I just listened to the Amazon sample from "Handy" and busted a gut, I think I'm going to enjoy this album very much.

My wife is obsessed with Iggy Azalea for some stupid reason. She is coming to town in September, and my wife wants to go. I just flat out told her, "Do you really want to be the oldest people at the show?" She suddenly became much less interested after I said that.