And this brings us to Al’s newest album, even though it was released over 3 years ago (Al’s kept us tied over with 6 more new songs since then, but I don’t know if that’s enough to constitute another poll. Thoughts?). After the semi-disaster that was Poodle Hat, SOL had a great mixture of parody and original work. This album was weird for me in that most of the parodies (and many of the polka songs) I had absolutely NO familiarity with, but it didn’t make me like them any less. White & Nerdy is also Al’s biggest parody where it was IMMEDIATELY more popular than the song it was based on - infact, many people go up to Ludacris and compliment him on re-doing a Weird Al song, which he’s fortunately a good sport about. I believe that technically speaking, White & Nerdy was Al’s most successful song ever as well. And well-deserving, since it’s an excellent song. When I saw Al live last month, I just sat there in amazement at Al’s rhyming skills on it.
Not that W&N is the only good thing on there. With the exception of one song (which was funny the FIRST time, but now just takes up 11 minutes of waste on the CD), there is some damn fine music on this album. Al also made up for the lack of videos on Poodle by having a video made for almost every single song on this album, even though W&N was the only one that Al actually directed and appeared in.
Rejects from this album include You’re Pitiful (You’re Beautiful by James Blunt, which got released as a stand-alone single due to label politics, which is why I included in the poll), In Love With the Skipper (Stripper by T-Pain) and Photograph Polka (Nickelback).
= Let’s Get It Started, Take Me out, Beverly Hills, Speed of Sound, Float On, Feel Good, Dontcha, Somebody Told Me, Slither, Candy Shop, Drop It Like It’s Hot, Pon de Replay, Gold Digger
This is a tough one. The song I play most off this album is Virus Alert. I love the music and the rhythm of the song. I didn’t like I’ll Sue Ya at first, but I love it now. Close But No Cigar is a fantastic parody of Cake, and Do I Creep You Out is solid too. Good polka, if not standout in my mind like Alternative and Angry White Boy. But I had to vote for White & Nerdy. It’s just…perfect. I would be totally satisfied in saying it’s his new flagship song, supplanting his Michael Jackson parodies.
On the downside, I really didn’t like the videos. Al’s music videos are always wonderful, and White & Nerdy is no exception, but I kind of feel like he cheaped out by letting animators handle the other videos. Not that some aren’t good; I’ll Sue Ya was good and Do I Creep You Out was done by the ever excellent JibJab. But the rest? As much as I like Close But No Cigar, I hate hate HATE the Ren & Stimpy animation, and I hated the video in particular. It does not appeal.
The newer songs he’s done since Straight Outta Lynwood are part of an album, sort of, called Internet Leaks. I think they’re worth collecting so that I can vote for CNR.
“White and Nerdy” is perhaps the greatest achievement in popular song parody ever.
Chamillionaire was so impressed that he put “White and Nerdy” up on his own MySpace page, right alongside his original song- and he kept in on his page for, I don’t know how long but a really long time.
This is a no contest vote as far as I’m concerned- and I’m saying that as someone who would go out of his way to draw attention to Al’s original songs for the benefit of people who think he only does parodies. “White and Nerdy” is so amazingly good I have to give due credit.
Again, perhaps the greatest achievement in popular song parody ever.
Crap, you are right. Ludacris did the Whatever You Like song.
Am I the only one here thinking “who the hell is Chamillionaire?” If not, it deserves an extra special achievement since so many people thought that Al penned the song, rather than being a parody.
I already voted for Virus Alert (I don’t know who this Sparks band is that Al claims he was homaging…I still swear it’s a Styx style parody), but I’m starting to reconsider. Ah well, W&N will win this one without my help.
I’ll do Internet Leaks next week. Considering that ArchiveGuy is trying to poll anything remotely Beatles, one more of these won’t hurt. Thanks for everyone who stuck with this!
I know, right? I love Virus Alert’s sound so much I wanted more of the same style, but when I looked up the band their stuff really didn’t sound like VA.
And I have to imagine that Chamillionaire got a HUGE boost in popularity due to Al.
We had a similar discussion in another Weird Al thread a little while back - it wasn’t more popular than the original. Still a huge hit and a huge achievement for Al, but there seems to be a misconception that White & Nerdy was the bigger success, it wasn’t.
Definitely T.I. I quoted that song in my last flashfic story. Though to be honest, I’ve only heard the orginial once - I discovered it through a cover by Anya Marina. The last few lines of the song sound a lot less strange when sung by a dude, though.
As for the real topic at hand, though, I haven’t heard any of the songs off of this Weird Al cd
I’m going to break from the herd and go with Pancreas. It’s just so… jaunty. White and Nerdy and Don’t Download This Song are really strong contenders too, though.
I’m less fond of Canadian Idiot and Virus Alert - the former has a bit too much recycled Canadian humor even if it’s meant ironically; the latter just doesn’t mesh with me, musically. I like them both more than I dislike them, but they’re still the weak links on the album for me.
My understanding is that Al, as of the completion of his American tour this year, is going back to the studio to record the last few songs that, in combination with the originals/style parodies from Internet Leaks, will comprise his new album.
I voted for White and Nerdy because – frankly – it’s just so utterly flawless, in my opinion the best thing he’s done. But I admit to being unduly tickled by the lyric:
The really impressive thing about “Pancreas” is that Al wrote a style parody with lyrics meant humorously that could very easily be mistaken for lyrics that Van Dyke Parks would have written in all seriousness.
Anyone who enjoys “Pancreas” but is unfamiliar with Smile should listen to Smile then listen to “Pancreas” again. Appreciation for Al’s song will increase 100-fold.
