Ryushikaze
Deus Admiral Parsimonious, PHD, DDS, MD, JD, OBE
- AKA
- Tim, Ryu
Alright, I picked up Weird Al's new Album, Mandatory Fun. It was Mandatory, the album said so. Fortunately, the Album is also fun. So I'mma go through and give my feedback on the original songs and parodies on the album, in order.
1. Handy, Parody of Fancy- Takes a song about being super rich (with a strange homage to Clueless as the original music video) and turns it into a song about home repair. The original has rather jarring, dischordant music at times, and Iggy's not exactly comprehensible, but the original wasn't terrible. Al's version is definitely superior. This might be one of the situations where Al's version is remembered long after the original.
2. Lame Claim to Fame- an original song, this anthem to second, third, and kevin bacon hand fame starts a bit slow, but picks up by the first chorus. Not his best on the album, but pretty good.
3. Foil- Parody of Royals, by Lorde. Taking advantage of Lorde's original line "My friends and I have cracked the code," Al takes the original song about not giving a shit about one's low economic status and turns it into a song about preserving food AND the shadow government! While Lorde's song is the better of the two, Al's video definitely beats hers, just through sheer enjoyment factory of everyone involved.
4. Sports Song- This is my favorite song on the album, and may be my go to theme re: tabletop RPGs. Sung in marching band style, this song explains to the opposing team how little chance they have of winning, and cheerily informs them they suck and should just give up.
5. Word Crimes- Parody of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines. Now, I'm not on the bandwagon that Blurred Lines promotes rape (on the contrary, the song seems to be telling a woman it's entirely okay for her to initiate sexual actions and that doesn't make her less of a person, with the blurred lines either referring to her mixed signals or the madonna/whore complex, I'm not sure), but the song itself is kinda boring and shitty. Al's version is much better, being up tempo, to the point, and considerably easier to understand. Hilariously, it too has fallen afoul of the outrage machine, and people are trying to villify it for being classist and ableist for the crime of enforcing basic grammar in writing. I sigh heavily.
6. My Own Eyes- an original song, about a man who's seen some stuff. And some things. And wishes he hadn't. Very catchy, I cannot place who this is a tribute to, but it's very good.
7. Now that's what I call Polka- the polka medley, has wrecking ball, gangnam style, and a couple others.
8. Mission statement- Corporate Buzzwords, the theme song. Made entirely of real corporate jargon, this song says nothing, just like the corporations who use the same language.
9. Inactive- Parody of Radioactive- Both of these songs are strange. Radioactive seems to be about a new age in a man's life, while the music video is about a stuffed toys fighting ring? The parody is about an extremely lazy slob. I expect this will have a music video soon.
10. First World Problems- Weird Al making fun of the extremely overblown reactions to trivial issues that are first world problems. Catchy, and just mean enough.
11. Tacky- parody of Pharrel's happy. While Pharrel's song doesn't tell a story and doesn't try to, Al's tells the story of an extremely tacky man and the tacky things he does. The music videos are similar, but Al's version is superior because A: Single. Fucking. Take. and B: A bunch of celebs being derps for fun.
12. Jackson Park Express- This Album's Albuquerque/ Drivethrough, this song is a 9 minute love anthem between a man and the woman who sits across the way from him on a bus. If you liked Albuquerque or Drivethrough, you'll like this.
Anyone else listened to it or watched the videos?
1. Handy, Parody of Fancy- Takes a song about being super rich (with a strange homage to Clueless as the original music video) and turns it into a song about home repair. The original has rather jarring, dischordant music at times, and Iggy's not exactly comprehensible, but the original wasn't terrible. Al's version is definitely superior. This might be one of the situations where Al's version is remembered long after the original.
2. Lame Claim to Fame- an original song, this anthem to second, third, and kevin bacon hand fame starts a bit slow, but picks up by the first chorus. Not his best on the album, but pretty good.
3. Foil- Parody of Royals, by Lorde. Taking advantage of Lorde's original line "My friends and I have cracked the code," Al takes the original song about not giving a shit about one's low economic status and turns it into a song about preserving food AND the shadow government! While Lorde's song is the better of the two, Al's video definitely beats hers, just through sheer enjoyment factory of everyone involved.
4. Sports Song- This is my favorite song on the album, and may be my go to theme re: tabletop RPGs. Sung in marching band style, this song explains to the opposing team how little chance they have of winning, and cheerily informs them they suck and should just give up.
5. Word Crimes- Parody of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines. Now, I'm not on the bandwagon that Blurred Lines promotes rape (on the contrary, the song seems to be telling a woman it's entirely okay for her to initiate sexual actions and that doesn't make her less of a person, with the blurred lines either referring to her mixed signals or the madonna/whore complex, I'm not sure), but the song itself is kinda boring and shitty. Al's version is much better, being up tempo, to the point, and considerably easier to understand. Hilariously, it too has fallen afoul of the outrage machine, and people are trying to villify it for being classist and ableist for the crime of enforcing basic grammar in writing. I sigh heavily.
6. My Own Eyes- an original song, about a man who's seen some stuff. And some things. And wishes he hadn't. Very catchy, I cannot place who this is a tribute to, but it's very good.
7. Now that's what I call Polka- the polka medley, has wrecking ball, gangnam style, and a couple others.
8. Mission statement- Corporate Buzzwords, the theme song. Made entirely of real corporate jargon, this song says nothing, just like the corporations who use the same language.
9. Inactive- Parody of Radioactive- Both of these songs are strange. Radioactive seems to be about a new age in a man's life, while the music video is about a stuffed toys fighting ring? The parody is about an extremely lazy slob. I expect this will have a music video soon.
10. First World Problems- Weird Al making fun of the extremely overblown reactions to trivial issues that are first world problems. Catchy, and just mean enough.
11. Tacky- parody of Pharrel's happy. While Pharrel's song doesn't tell a story and doesn't try to, Al's tells the story of an extremely tacky man and the tacky things he does. The music videos are similar, but Al's version is superior because A: Single. Fucking. Take. and B: A bunch of celebs being derps for fun.
12. Jackson Park Express- This Album's Albuquerque/ Drivethrough, this song is a 9 minute love anthem between a man and the woman who sits across the way from him on a bus. If you liked Albuquerque or Drivethrough, you'll like this.
Anyone else listened to it or watched the videos?
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