March 5th, 2012

Ranking “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D

Al’s second album, released in 1984, which was still earlier than I first heard him. This is the big one, the one that put Al on the map.

11. Mr. Popeil – This album starts a series of Al albums where I don’t dislike a single song. Sure, I like some songs better than others (otherwise how would I do a ranking series?), but unless I tell you flat out that I don’t like a song, I still like it. This one’s a fun riff on all those “As Seen on TV” products.  Ron Popeil was the Billy Mays of his day, if Billy Mays was part Thomas Edison. “Now how much would you pay?” is the repeated punchline on this one.

10. That Boy Could Dance – An original that makes you think Al probably could have gone a less silly route into music and still have been okay. It’s the story of a kid who was a dweeby loser in school but grew up to be a great dancer and the coolest guy everyone wants to know.

9. King of Suede – A parody of a Sting song, which should immediately tell you this one’s not nearly as weird as the original. It’s all about a guy who sells suede … well, everything. Suits, shoes, all of it. And there’s a 30% sale!

8. Nature Trail to Hell – A spoof of horror movies, of all things. Not an every time listen, but enjoyable if you’re familiar with horror movie clichés at all.  Poor Cub Scouts :(

7. Buy Me a Condo – A reggae song about a guy movie to America from Jamaica and looking forward to all of the mid-America joys the country has to offer. Cuisinarts, jacuzzis, wall-to-wall carpeting – this guy is pretty psyched.

6. The Brady Bunch – Al (as you will see) loves him some TV. This is a parody of The Safety Dance, so it’s catchy as all get out.

5. Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser) – I didn’t hear this song until well after I saw Rocky III the first time (and became a life-long Sylvester Stallone fan because of it), so the spoof of that movie’s theme song showing what Rocky’s life would be several years after he retired was pretty humorous to me. In this song, Rocky owns a deli, and he’s constantly suggesting that people try “the rye or the kaiser,” rather than having the Eye of the Tiger. Love. It.  It’s particularly humorous to me that in the final Rocky movie, Rock is retired and owns… a restaurant. I’ll always wonder if that’s a nod to Al’s song.

4. I Lost on Jeopardy – This was the first Al video I ever saw. I think we were waiting for Star Trek to start and Entertainment Tonight played it over their credits as it ended right before. I didn’t really know what was going on, but I knew Al amused me.

3. Midnight Star – “They’re keeping Hitler’s brain alive inside a jar!” Al’s take on tabloid papers, as seen while waiting in the checkout lane.

2. Polkas on 45 – Ah, the beginning of the polkas. When Al was a kid, the story goes, a door-to-door salesman came around to the Yankovic household selling music lessons for either violin or accordion. Al’s mom chose the accordion, and the rest is history.  Though Al is not related to the famous Frankie Yankovic, you can’t help but know polka if you can play the accordion. Al’s polkas are mashups of several pop songs all together in a polka format, and they’re fantastic fun. I don’t know that I could list a favorite one of all his polkas, but you’re sure to see each one rank pretty high in this series.

1. Eat It – This is the song that made Weird Al a household name. Nobody was a bigger star than Michael Jackson, and there have hardly ever been bigger songs than Beat It.  It’s amazing to think that a) Al asked Michael if he could parody it, and b) that Michael said yes. Al has said many times over that he owes his career to MJ, and he’s probably not kidding. The video for this one is also a great parody of the Beat It video, with a little bit of Thriller thrown in.

When I type these up, I get some info on dates and track listings from Wikipedia, but any lyrics quoted are straight outta my head, because I still know pretty much every one of them.  I may not remember your name 5 minutes after meeting you, but ask me about some Weird Al lyrics and I’ve got you covered.

March 4th, 2012

Narrowing It Down

A week ago I took a sort-of electric guitar lesson from a friend of mine. It was more of a “how it works” than a “how you play it” kind of thing. I’ve been interested in electric guitars for several years now (Guitar Hero and Rock Band are to blame, I think), but didn’t really know how they worked. I was familiar with acoustic guitars and the strumming and even a few chords, but I couldn’t really wrap my brain around how it worked. I asked Scott if he wouldn’t mind showing me some things. He was happy to, and I learned some neat stuff (neatest to me was that the amp you use has more to do with the sound than the actual guitar).

The most important thing I learned, though, is the electric guitar is not for me. Yes, it was fascinating to learn about, but I knew after the half hour we spent on it that I didn’t want to learn how to play it. I’m not sure I can explain that, I just knew. No big deal, I still learned.

It struck me, though that there are many things I know I don’t want to do, more so than I know what I do want to do.  It’s a lot easier to put things in the Nope column than the Yep column. It isn’t a fear of trying new things, either. I’ve considered them, thought about them, even learned about them, and knew for a reason or several that I wouldn’t enjoy them. Hobbies, jobs – same deal.  I am equally sure that I want to be neither a janitor nor a surgeon.  Both jobs gross me out.

I feel like I’m starting to be defined by the Nopes, though. That doesn’t feel like a good thing. But I guess at the same time, you need to know the Nopes to get to the Yeps.

The next things on my list to see about are cross-stitch and model building.  I’ll let you know how those go.

February 21st, 2012

New Series: Ranking Weird Al Yankovic

Today I’m starting a series I’ve been mulling for a long time now: going through each of Weird Al’s albums and ranking the songs in the order I like them. (Sorry, mom – this series won’t interest you much, I’m afraid!)

When I think about things that have been an influence on my appreciation for comedy, Weird Al Yankovic is in the top five. (Other influences: Bill Cosby, the Muppets, Steve Martin, and ComedySportz.)  I don’t even remember when I first heard of him or who introduced me to his work (though I’m guessing it was either Eric or Josh), but I remember taking to him right away. Al parodies pop culture – music, mostly, but he tends to hit most areas – in ways that are both humorous and honoring. He might be making fun of TV, but you can tell he likes the stuff he’s poking fun at. He also parodies in what I would call a “gentle” way. He’s rarely mean towards his subjects, and he always asks permission of the artists before parodying their songs.

It’s funny to me that I have mostly experienced Weird Al/pop culture backwards from his intention. His songs generally rely on a person knowing either the song he’s rewritten or the topic to which he’s referring. Most of his music Is stuff I’ve heard before I’ve heard the originals he’s spoofing. In fact, there’ve been several things I’ve found out about through him that I’ve gone on to enjoy in their own right.

So. His first album was released in 1983 and it was called “‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.” I’ll list the songs in the order I like them, from least to most. Keep in mind that I still like most all of his songs, I just like some of them more.

12. Gotta Boogie – Ugh. One of my least favorite of all his songs.  It’s a disco/booger joke that gets old quick. I dislike gross humor, and I dislike this song.

11. Such a Groovy Guy – I can appreciate the 70s-ishness of the main character of this song and appreciate the skewering of that sort of guy, but I dislike the character enough that it affects my enjoyment of the song.

10. The Check’s in the Mail – A song full of “business speak” that still holds up today, really. Add a couple of “proactive”s and “think outside the box”s and it would fit right in.

9. I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead – When I was younger I liked this song more.  “Let’s go be crazy!” was a common thought I had as a teen. Now that I’m older, I’m more of a “Let’s chill out” kind of guy.

8. Buckingham Blues – The story of Prince Charles and Princess Diana,  set to the blues. A great song, but too sad to enjoy anymore since we saw how that story ended.

7. I Love Rocky Road – Classic. Al sings a lot of food songs over the course of the next 30 years, as you’ll see. This one only suffers a little bit because it’s hard to match the key change in the middle parts when you’re singing along.

6. Another One Rides the Bus – This song may be why I don’t like riding public transportation of any sort.

5. Stop Draggin’ My Car Around – I’ve come to love the song this one’s a parody of, so this one’s gotten higher on the list over the years. When I hear the original, though, I sing the words to this one.  That… actually happens a lot with most songs Al has covered.

4. Happy Birthday – Synopsis: go ahead and have a happy birthday even though terrible things are happening all over the world! Darkly hilarious.

3. Ricky – I Love Lucy in convenient catchy song form.

2. My Bologna – One of Al’s first big hits, and one of many that’s better than the original song. Also: another food song.

1. Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung – Another terribly dark song that has always amused me way more than it should. Poor Mr. Frump.

There are 12 more albums left to go. I’m curious to see if at the end of it I can put together my top ten favorite songs or put the albums in order.  We shall see!