Weird Al's Latest Album, Mandatory Fun

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Weird Al's latest album is coming tomorrow, and to promote it he'll be releasing a new video every day for eight days (8 Videos in 8 Days), starting today--July 14th.

All videos available at: Weird Al's Website

7-14: Tacky [Parody of Happy by Pharrell Williams] youtube
7-15: Word Crimes [Parody of Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke] youtube
7-16: Foil [Parody of Royals by Lorde] | youtube
7-17: Handy [Parody of Fancy by Iggy Azalea (Explicit-ish version*)]
7-18: Sports Song | youtube
7-19: First World Problems | youtube
7-20: Lame Claim to Fame | youtube
7-21: Mission Statement | youtube

* if someone knows a URL for a non-explicit version, let me know.

Added official youtube links for most videos.

That album looks really good.

It's awesome! Bought it first thing this morning. Almost through my second play-through.

It's one of his best albums. I'm not sure I've enjoyed one so much since the "Dare to be Stupid" days. Easily equal to and likely surpasses "Straight Outta Lynwood".

My wife commented on multiple songs, "awesome, because I hate that song and now I have another one to put in its place when it's on!"

Today's video will be Word Crimes, which is destined to be legendary around these here parts. I keep refreshing the page waiting for it to post.

LilCodger wrote:

. I keep refreshing the page waiting for it to post. :)

It's up!

http://www.weirdal.com/

Oh weird. It just wasn't working in Chrome for me. (shrug)

Another winner.

Oh my god he hit a home run with this one. So, so good.

Expected a better video than an infographic, but, as an editor, the song is now my anthem.

I love the picture that accompanies the "accordion" dictionary entry. (Mentioned that in the video thread, too)

The only things I noticed after watching the video many times is when it talks about "moran" and "its" I don't think they work if you ware not watching the video. They lyrics say "you would not use it's in this case" but you kind of need to see the sentence "Every dog has it's day" because...well that is the case in the lyrics.

Anyway still a great song.

farley3k wrote:

The only things I noticed after watching the video many times is when it talks about "moran" and "its" I don't think they work if you ware not watching the video. They lyrics say "you would not use it's in this case" but you kind of need to see the sentence "Every dog has it's day" because...well that is the case in the lyrics.

I think the video just adds stuff to the song. Standing alone "don't be a moron" still is a relevant request. The video using "moran" just makes it funnier, but without the video the lyric still stands.

Similarly, with the discussion of "it's," I think the video is actually distracting you. The line after "in this case" states the case as 'as a possessive'. You don't need to see the sentence to understand that, it just makes it clearer and better.

"Say you've got an I T
followed by apostrophe-s
now, what does that mean?
You would not use it's in this case
As a possessive (no no no)
It's a contraction (yeah yeah yeah)
what's a contraction?"

It's a terrible way to say what he's trying to say, "you would not use it's in this case, as a possessive." But ... I still think it stands alone. Got to give him a pass though, since it's a song. Sentences in songs get artistic license on form....

LilCodger wrote:

It's awesome! Bought it first thing this morning. Almost through my second play-through.

It's one of his best albums. I'm not sure I've enjoyed one so much since the "Dare to be Stupid" days. Easily equal to and likely surpasses "Straight Outta Lynwood".

Yup, I've listened to it two or three times, and it's one of his strongest albums. All the parodies are excellent, especially his performance on "Handy", and "Inactive" gets an extra layer of irony after being used to advertise so many video games (I knew it sounded familiar). "My Own Eyes" and "Mission Statement" are perfect; "First World Problems" is almost perfect, but the Pixies soft/loud dynamic isn't really there in the production; and MC Frontalot already nailed the topic in 2010 with the identically titled song. The only real weak pick is the competent "Sports Song", and that's the worst thing I can say about it. Actually, the song is worth it just for the shouted "Ehhhh".

As mentioned in the love thread, my two-year-old will now only watch "Tacky" and no longer wants to hear "Happy" (to reiterate: thank God), and "Foil" will be in the rotation too (though I've nothing against the original).

E2A: Further to LilCodger's callback to Dare to Be Stupid, I thought this line from a New York Post article on Al is either hilarious or profound:

After all, if someone had told you in 1984 that in 30 years Michael Jackson would be dead and Weird Al would still be on the Billboard charts, would you have believed them?

Also also: is this WEIRD'S AL LAST ALBUM [size=6]for his RCA Records contract[/size]?

I think the real value of "Sports Song" will come in when folks around me start having a meaningless, unproductive argument about football and I can start playing it really loudly.

I have an odd affinity for "Lame Claim to Fame", but then I've been a big fan of Southern Culture on the Skids for years (which is the style, if not band, he was going for).

Gravey wrote:

Also also: is this WEIRD'S AL LAST ALBUM [size=6]for his RCA Records contract[/size]?

He's been saying for years he wanted to move to a singles model, especially with the advent of the internet as a viable sales medium. It has to be rough to make your living parodying the Billboard top 100 when all the songs are gone by the time you finish writing your parody, let alone record, produce and ship. Cut out any necessity for physical copies and he can likely turn stuff around in a week, ala Jonathan Coulton.

And yeah, little 1984 me couldn't even imagine 30 years later. I can't believe the guy I remember from the Dr. Demento show with John Schwartz beating on his accordion case is still well known and releasing critically acclaimed material in 2014.

My wife even likes "Word Crimes" and she isn't a Weird Al fan.

Gravey wrote:

Also also: is this WEIRD'S AL LAST ALBUM [size=6]for his RCA Records contract[/size]?

This is actually his first album with RCA. He was on Volcano for many years and switched for this album. I'm kind of surprised he didn't decide to either go solo or do the "pay what you want" thing given his popularity. That said, the whole awesome way this album's coming out is very not-big-label either.

I've so far listened to the full album once this morning, and all of the odd-numbered songs (the parodies & polka) close to ten more times today during my long and boring commutes. It's a great album; he's once again nailed it perfectly, both in terms of original source material selection and songwriting.

He said in his reddit ama that this will be his last album. Solo tracks from here on out

Man, only GWJ could cause me to channel my inner impulsive five-year old. Watched the two videos, loved them, listened to the samples on Amazon this afternoon, was nearly in tears laughing, bought the album when I got home. I've listened to maybe four or five songs, loving it. I LOVED the choices for the medley on this album.

Of the recent groups/songs I'm aware of, I'm surprised Fun was overlooked. Three big hits in recent years, lots of fun with autotune and prerecorded sound bytes, pretty distinct style (which makes it hard to polka-fy, for sure). Maybe the music video potential wasn't that great. Who knows, might be one of the first singles he releases. Just my two cents.

I bought it on iTunes, and also pre-ordered the vinyl version. There are some great songs on there. Weird Al makes me want to take up the accordion.

Vinyl version? Sold!

Holy Crapola I didn't know this was out yet! Fantastic news.

I hate to be a dissenting voice, but Alpocalypse was a better overall album.

Having said that, I absolutely love Tacky and Foil.

I think that the problem with me is that I am listening to less and less pop hits, so I don't recognize as many parodies as I used to. Word Crimes is brilliant and I recognize the tune but I have no idea what the original is or who sings it. Even in the polkas I don't recognize some of the songs he's using.

Strewth wrote:

I think that the problem with me is that I am listening to less and less pop hits, so I don't recognize as many parodies as I used to. Word Crimes is brilliant and I recognize the tune but I have no idea what the original is or who sings it. Even in the polkas I don't recognize some of the songs he's using.

+1

I have to admit that I haven't yet listened to Aplocalypse; the vinyl version is sitting, in its Amazon packaging, on the piano.

Foil! Youtube exclusive today.

Wow, that took a weird turn.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Wow, that took a weird turn.

Well foil clearly means different things to different people.

I don't care how weird it gets, I still love his stuff.
(Tagging and following)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/kIrM8wI.jpg)

I like it. Probably rates as my 3rd favorite of his albums, failing to top Alpocalypse and Lynwood but still fantastic. Word Crimes is great as is First World Problems, and NOW That's What I Call Polka! is the best polka since Angry White Boy Polka.

I'm holding out on purchasing the album until the 8 days are over. I want to keep the suspense of what song will be next by not knowing much of anything about the album.

Afterwards, I'm already sold on the album.

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