Historically, most performers primarily known as singers did not write their own songs. They would have thought it weird if anyone did. Leave it to professionals!
The “Brill Building” writers (Goffin and King, Greenwich and Barry, Bacharach and David; Marvin Hamlisch wrote hits for Leslie Gore) provided maybe half the hit songs in the late 50s/early 60s. The Motown writers (Holland, Dozier, Holland, Smokey Robinson, Barry Gordy) followed in the second half. That’s why “singer-songwriter” was needed, because the world changed as it did going from just “guitar” to “electric guitar”.
Writing their own songs became a must for groups, but not for singers - and singers now dominate. Almost all of 21st century popular music now is back to that model. (Which is why I think so many old-timers hate modern music.) Very few groups, lots of singers, with the songs written by others. Max Martin has written or co-written 29 Billboard number one hits, lots of them for people we boomers sneer at.
Other than the lyrics being funny, how is that different from anyone else writing a song in the doo-wop style?
The same for other of Weird Al’s style parodies. “Bob” is obviously a Bob Dylan parody, but that distinctive Bob Dylan style just came from Woody Guthrie and earlier folk music, and is no more a pure Dylan’s invention than any music is truly unique.
“Penny Lane” is just Bach, so is the only difference that Weird Al has funny lyrics?
I was at a formal event and the violinist was playing “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” which I totally thought was an original Cake song. And when I asked my father in law he told me not only was it a classic song, it was covered many times, and back in the day the measure of how good you were as an artist was often how well you could cover these classic songs. The Beatles definitely covered a lot of stuff in their early years. Elvis as I understand it also had a lot of hit songs that were covered. It’s interesting because I think nowadays we can appreciate a good cover but kind of look askance at artists who don’t sing their own stuff. But a really creative cover can transform a song - like Cake’s rendition of “I Will Survive” or Disturbed’s take on “The Sound of Silence” which I basically think of as a completely different song than the Paul Simon version. I think music, like other art, is iteritave, perhaps because human experience itself has always dwelt on similar themes.
There has to be a place for individuals who excel at holding a mirror up to society and critiquing popular culture - through music. I’m not going to claim Weird Al is just like other Hall of Fame inductees in every way. He contributes something utterly unique to the industry and I’ve never seen another artist come close to replicating it, though another great comedic musical talent I think would be Bo Burnham. If Burnham isn’t a fan of Weird Al I’ll eat my hat. If musical comedy is a thing, he’s definitely been influential, he’s definitely left a legacy.
So what we’re left with is the claim that musical comedy isn’t real music. That something must be serious to be great. I don’t know if I can agree with that.
I haven’t been in a record store in decades. Is Weird Al in the Rock section or the Comedy section? Not that it really matters to the HoF; you never saw a Dolly Parton album in the Rock section.
Well yeah, it’s long since become the Hall of Somewhat Better Than Average Artists and Groups, and based on that, Al Yankovic definitely deserves a place in the R&RHoF.
A HoF that was limited to those who were either top stars or their music was tremendously influential, you could argue either way. But THIS HoF? Gimme a break.
Elvis never wrote a song in his life. The songs he sang were either covers (all of his early songs for Sun Records) or written by staff writers exclusively for him.
Certainly, in the past, there were other popular artists who specialized in musical comedy and musical satire: Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, and Tom Lehrer come to mind; their songs, like Yankovic’s, were staples on the Dr. Demento show.
Those sorts of songs often get put into a niche of “novelty” music, a place where there are also hundreds of songs, by lesser-known artists, where the artist may only be known for one or two comedy songs that “stuck” – and those, too, had a life on Dr. Demento. Unfortunately, that “niche” probably also leaves that sort of music in low regard by some music fans.
But, for Weird Al’s era, he’s definitely unique, for his particular style of comedy, his longevity, and his popularity within the music community (as well as his fans).
Yes, obviously the Beatles bring a whole lot to the party. The point is if “Dare to be Stupid” is just a Devo parody, then “Penny Lane” is just a Bach cover, with some other bits tacked on.
Something can be a cover, re-imagining, inspired by, homage, or even (legally) plagiarism, and still have unique and novel artistic merit.
No, he specifically tried to mimic Devo with Dare to Be Stupid, create a song that could have been mistaken for a Devo song (but, with sillier lyrics, although they have some silly lyrics, too). That’s different from One More Minute, which is a song with in a 50s or early 60s style, but completely original, sort of like Billy Joel’s (terrible) homages to 50s music.
Dare to Be Stupid is a style parody of a specific artist. One More Minute is an original song in a certain music style.
I haven’t liked Weird Al’s music since I first heard it on Dr. Demento in the 70s. The entire genre of parody music annoys me. It’s just not my thing. One of his show or any musical theater would be torture for me.
That said, he is an objectively very talented musician. He took that genre of music to a level far beyond what anyone has done before. He’s respected by very well respected artists. He’s by all accounts a genuinely fine human being. He’s prolific as hell without a drop in quality.
There have been petitions before (with signatures reaching 6 digits). And Al has said that he doesn’t see it happening, and that he’s not sure he’d be comfortable doing it.
