# "Weird Al" gives Pharrell the "Tacky" treatment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107 "2014-07-14T21:40:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/161 "2014-07-20T16:31:53Z")
I just have to say that Word Crimes is a vast improvement over Blurred Lines. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/162 "2014-07-20T16:57:26Z")
Latest one is out: “Lame Claim to Fame”. Great video! Very funny song, and the video is terrific. One of the best so far. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/163 "2014-07-20T17:22:23Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Latest one is out: “Lame Claim to Fame”. > > Great video! Very funny song, and the video is terrific. One of the best so far. That’s a rather good song musically. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/164 "2014-07-20T21:35:58Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Robin Thicke’s “[Blurred Lines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU)” was a big hit last year and there’s even an uncensored version of the video full of naked models. > > It was also the song that Miley Cyrus was performing with Thicke when she engaged in her infamous “twerking” scandal. > > It’s a catchy tune and a well-known song. I’d say it was his best choice for the current releases. Actually, I knew this one, so no need to edumacate me. Yeah, it’s really a crappy tune, isn’t it? I have never bothered to even watch the nekkid version. It wouldn’t help. And note it’s been ~a year since release. WA said that this is the last album he was contractually required to produce (after 32 years!) and is going with just singles from now on in order to stay more current. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/165 "2014-07-20T22:23:38Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Latest one is out: “Lame Claim to Fame”. > > Great video! Very funny song, and the video is terrific. One of the best so far. I got distracted because he said he shares his birthday with Kim Kardashian. I had to look that up. Her birthday is two days before his. I guess Al was playing a character born on October 21 🙂 Hey Al, you could have gone with Ryan Reynolds who really does share your birthday! ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/166 "2014-07-21T00:10:23Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > I got distracted because he said he shares his birthday with Kim Kardashian. I had to look that up. Her birthday is two days before his. I guess Al was playing a character born on October 21 🙂 > > Hey Al, you could have gone with Ryan Reynolds who really does share your birthday! Yeah, except Ryan Reynolds is a bit more legitimately famous, while Kim K. is mostly famous for being famous, so being connected to her is even more “Lame” of a claim to fame. The album arrived yesterday. It’s a bit uneven, but there are some gems. The Obligatory Polka is a great one, and several of the songs that don’t yet have videos are really great. Wondering what video #8 will be. Likely Inactive or Mission Statement, though I’m hoping for Jackson Park Express. But I don’t know what comedy website has a budget to fund a 9 minute music video. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/167 "2014-07-21T03:57:17Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Latest one is up – “First World Problems”. I think it’s one of the better efforts so far. Made my wife laugh, and she’s not a big Weird Al fan. Not bad. Kind-of a Pixie-ish style parody, right? If you haven’t heard it, my favorite pastiche of this style is [Mother Banger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQqzF7NdoXI), which gets the whole soft-loud-soft thing, as well as Frank Black’s esoteric lyrics, arbitrary injections of Spanish, and Joey Santiago’s oddball guitar stylings. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/168 "2014-07-21T04:29:50Z")
I’m really enjoying Mission Statement. The business lingo is excellent, but even more than that, I like the combination of CSNY’s music with those buzzword-heavy lyrics. It feels sort of like a comment on the way rock and roll is used in commercials and other corporate settings, although I’m not sure that’s what Al was going for. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/169 "2014-07-21T09:00:18Z")
If there’s anything that validates Weird Al’s decision to go off-label and produce Internet content, it’s the fact that no one complained about “spastic” until after the YouTube video came out. Also, isn’t it a slur against those with movement disorders, like cerebral palsy? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/170 "2014-07-21T11:29:00Z")
See post [#156](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17564119&postcount=156) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/171 "2014-07-21T11:42:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m really enjoying Mission Statement. The business lingo is excellent, but even more than that, I like the combination of CSNY’s music with those buzzword-heavy lyrics. It feels sort of like a comment on the way rock and roll is used in commercials and other corporate settings, although I’m not sure that’s what Al was going for. Yeah, that’s my favorite one from the album as well, for pretty much the reasons you say. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/172 "2014-07-21T15:27:17Z")
8th and final video is for [Mission Statement](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/07/21/weird-al-yankovic-wraps-8-days-of-videos-with-mission-statement-exclusive/), musically based on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Suite Judy Blue-Eyes” and apparently tied-in with the Wall Street Journal. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/173 "2014-07-21T15:54:03Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > 8th and final video is for [Mission Statement](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/07/21/weird-al-yankovic-wraps-8-days-of-videos-with-mission-statement-exclusive/), musically based on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Suite Judy Blue-Eyes” and apparently tied-in with the Wall Street Journal. I think most of it is based on Carry On, but it does go into Suite Judy Blue Eyes at the end. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/174 "2014-07-21T16:22:38Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > wow… Handy is one of the very few times that the original is so awful that even Al can’t improve it. “Fancy” is terrible to the point of parody anyway; it was probably not an ideal target. While unintentionally so, Iggy Azalea is as hilarious as Yankovic. Granted, “Royals” is an awful song too and “Foil” works, so I dunno. I’d agree that the album’s best work, by a long shot, is “Mission Statement,” which in addition to being screamingly funny is the album’s best musical work and is meta-ironic in having a CSNY-sounding song appear to be sung by a team of $5000/day management consultants. I’d put it easily among the five or six best songs he’s ever done, parody or pastiche. As to this video-a-day thing I’m not sure I think it was a good idea. “Tacky” was okay enough and the animated work in some of the others was okay, but the rest looked really cheap. “First World Problems” and “Handy” combined looked like they cost maybe $10,000 to shoot, including the bill for lunch, and “Sports Song,” a song I think is utterly hilarious, could have stood to have a more inspired presentation as well. “Handy” would have been much funnier had it in some way followed a similar video narrative to “Fancy.” “Foil” at least had an original idea that isn’t really in the song but, again, it looks cheap and would have been funnier had it stayed a bit longer with parodying “Royals.” But if you’re planning on pumping out eight videos at once you’re inevitably going to end up rushing things. “Word Crimes” really is a better song than “Blurred Lines” and will stand up as one of his best parodies. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/175 "2014-07-21T18:01:50Z")
I have only heard his 8 videos, but I’d say Word Crimes was the best on the album and he has more or less replaced Blurred Lines in my mind. If I hear that song start, I’ll think of Word Crimes from now on. Sweet relief to be saved from that crappy song. Songs he has done that with(for me, anyway): Amish Paradise - far better than Coolio’s White and Nerdy - again, just a lot better than the original Word Crimes A Complicated Song - hilarious enough that I nearly forgot about Avril Lavinge. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/176 "2014-07-21T20:14:29Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > When is the photo from? I believe it’s from the filming of the video for “[The Saga Begins](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU).” ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/177 "2014-07-21T21:06:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think most of it is based on Carry On, but it does go into Suite Judy Blue Eyes at the end. Hmm… I don’t think that sounds like Carry On at all… ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/178 "2014-07-22T02:58:09Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > It’s an old photo, but has anyone here seen Weird Al without the ‘weird’? > > [http://timbrosnan.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/weirdal\_goodlook.jpg](http://timbrosnan.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/weirdal_goodlook.jpg) > [@Frylock](#): > > When is the photo from? > [@GrandWino](#): > > I believe it’s from the filming of the video for “[The Saga Begins](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU).” When I first saw the photo, I thought “Yeah, that’s from a video shoot. There’s a video where he looks like that.” Then I started racking my brain trying to think which video it was, until I finally concluded I was mistaken. In “The Saga Begins” video, the hairstyle is similar but it is clearly a wig- an ill-fitting wig because his obviously still long hair is smooshed up inside of it. In the photo, it’s either a _much_ better wig job, or a photoshop job, or his hair was actually that short. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/179 "2014-07-22T03:56:57Z")
I thought photoshop immediately. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107/180 "2014-07-22T05:03:54Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Hmm… I don’t think that sounds like Carry On at all… I’m not sure if I’m getting whooshed or not, but: [Carry On](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP0VBB7BO64). [Mission Statement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY6YMP7iUzE). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-gives-pharrell-the-tacky-treatment/693107.md?page=10)