It has been too long without a thread on Weird Al’s “Straight out of Lynwood”.
The album came out on Tuesday and it’s definitely one of Weird Al’s best works.
It has a parody of R. Kelly’s retarded “Trapped in the Closet” called “Trapped in the Drive Thru”. The song is ten minutes long and it’s about how Weird Al and his wife order food.
Some of the lyrics could only be understood if you took a physics class, like:
“My pancreas attracts every other Pancreas in the universe
With a force proportional to the product of their masses
And inversely proportional to the distance between them”
Though I think he might have messed up a little bit. Anyone know if he got the physics right?
Other parodies on the album include:
“Canadian Idiot” a parody of “American Idiot” by Green Day.
“Confessions Part III” parody of “Confessions Part II” by Usher.
“Do I Creep You Out” parody of “Do I Make You Proud” by Taylor Hicks.
“White & Nerdy” parody of “Ridin’” by Chamillionaire.
My favorite song on the album is “Virus Alert,” which has been added onto my unoffical list of favorite Al songs ever (which also includes “Dare to be Stupid,” “Everything You Know is Wrong,” “Hardware Store,” and “Why Does This Always Happen to Me?”–yeah, all originals). My favorite parodies are “White and Nerdy” and “Canadian Idiot.” As usual, I haven’t heard many of the songs in the polka medley, although this time it was more than usual because I’m forced to listen to the radio on the bus every day.
What do the rest of you think of the DVD side of the album? I really enjoyed the “Al in the Studio” thing, but most of the music videos are kind of eeehhh, IMHO.
I have to say, I’m finding the album kind of lukewarm. White and Nerdy is fantastic, and Don’t Download This Song and I’ll Sue Ya are also fun for me, but most of the songs are parodies of artists I’ve never listened to and genres I’m not real interested in. When I compare it to Bad Hair Day, Running With Scissors, and Poodle Hat, it just doesn’t seem to stack up.
That said, because I AM a Weird Al fan, I’ll probably buy the physical album at some point (I grabbed it off iTunes on release day, so I didn’t get the DVD extras).
I have to agree with BayleDemon. His previous works parodied some (then) current works, but they also covered some classic songs and artists (American Pie, anyone)? In addition, the humor typically worked even when one was unfamiliar with the song that was being parodied.
In contrast, Straight Out of Lynwood appears to focus more on current and faddish performers. Much of the humor seems to rely on familiarity with the original songs as well. For these reasons, I don’t think that Al’s latest CD will have the same lasting appeal as his previous releases.
Overall, I liked it. Virus Alert and I’ll Sue Ya fell flat for me. I loved Weasel Stomping Day, White and Nerdy, and Confessions Part III. Close but No Cigar was good. While not a parody, it’s definitely in the style of Cake.
The video was animated by John Krisfaluci of Ren & Stimpy fame, who is both over-the-top and a diciple of Ralph Baskhi (they both worked on the new Mighty Mouse in the '80s). I liked that video along with Weasel Stomping Day (which originally aired on Robot Chicken) and the simplistic-yet-funny Virus Alert (lots of hidden gags in there- I liked the two refrences to UHF, and it took me a bit to realize the signifigance of the company’s name. I’m sure the DVD titles in the video are funny, too- the only one I could make out was “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Rogers.”)
Trapped in the Drive-Thru was better than I was expecting…the original annoys me to no end, and gets worse as it goes on…TitDT actually gets LESS annoying as it goes on.
Pretty solid, all the way through, I thought. Better parodies than his earliest stuff, better originals than most of the recent albums (except Poodle Hat…Poodle Hat had good originals).
Today’s music has passed me by. I’m no longer familiar with the music Weird Al parodies. I was a fan when he satirized songs by such artists as Queen, the Kinks, or even Nirvana and the PUSA. It’s not Weird Al’s fault. I guess I’ve turned into my father.
[Grandpa Simpson]
“I used to be with it. Then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with is no longer ‘it’. And what is ‘it’, I find weird and scary.”
I think this is where Al really shines- his parodies are so well-written that you can enjoy them even if you’ve never heard the original song they’re parodying. I’ve only heard three of the songs he parodies on the album, but I think all of the parodies are very well-done. Same thing with the polka medley- I’ve only heard about half of the songs before, but it’s just so darn fun to listen to.
What ticks me off is Ebaum’s world already had White and Nerdy on the site with their freakin’ watermark! :mad: :mad: If anyone has Weird Al’s ear and can get him to take notice, and perhaps bring forth a class action suit on behalf of all the people he’s ripped off, or at the least have his lawyers make them stop it’d be wonderful. He’s profiting from Weird Al’s genius and that isn’t right. We are discussing it on this message board in the topic “The List” in the Complaints forum. Some seem to think it’s not a big deal, but Bauman is making a profit by using Al’s work, and I don’t think Weird Al would be cool with it if he knew/thought of it that way.
ebaum’sworld is notorious for stealing other people’s stuff. (Indeed, the list of stolen stuff lists things that were originally posted by visitors on Newgrounds, Albino Black Sheep, You’re The Man Now Dog…and even stole from the freakin’ Walt Disney Company!) Actually, that’s why Weird Al posted the video to YouTube himself- because the video had been leaked to YouTube a day before it was to have its online premiere on AOL. (The RIAA has forced YouTube to take a number of infringing ones down.) I also read that the reason Al has his own MySpace page is because there were various impostor Als on MySpace. People suck, especially on the Internet. But I’m glad to see that Al’s beating them at their own game.
He’s not winning yet, since Bauman is making a profit by watermarking (implying ownership of) Weird Al’s latest video. I hope Ebaum’s is put out of business soon.
I didn’t mean he’s winning the battle against Bauman. He’s winning the war as a whole by beating would-be moochers at his own game- but the two battles so far were not for profit, whereas this one is. War is hell, after all. (Remember, as Bart Simpson once said, there are no good wars- except for the American Revolution, World War II, and the Star Wars trilogy.)
My knowledge of physics is flaky but that is what I thought. I looked it up for those interested and there should also be a gravitational constant in there, but that wouldn’t sound too good.
BTW, I am going to go ahead and try to tell girls that there is a force of attraction between us . . . proportional to the product of our masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between us.
I hope Ebaum’s is put out of business soon.