If Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ is the default Song of the Summer (which appears to be the case), it’s only fitting that ‘Weird Al’ takes a shot at it.
I don’t like ‘Handy’ as much as the other tracks I’ve featured this week, possibly because I don’t like ‘Fancy’ as much as the other songs he parodied, but it’s still a clever parody.
‘Tacky,’ ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s parody of Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy,’ is more impressive as a video than a song.
The first clip released to promote Mandatory Fun, ‘Tacky’ features guest appearances by Jack Black, Eric Stonestreet, Margaret Cho and (a favorite of mine) Aisha Tyler and appears to be shot in one unbroken take.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is very good at what he does. It might seem easy — juvenile, even — to write funny words to the tune of existing hits, but to do it with his precision and have so many of the jokes land… that’s difficult.
Even more impressive is Yankovic’s ability to mirror the sound and style of so many different genres. Yesterday it was the laid-back funk of Robin Thicke, and here it’s the sparse indie pop of Lorde.
This summer, the world finally caught up with “Weird Al” Yankovic.
His unique brand of spot-on parody (and the occasional polka track) has been consistently enjoyable for more than three decades, but it took the era of Facebook and viral videos to finally deliver him a #1 album.
He promoted that album, Mandatory Fun, through a daily release of YouTube clips and the fans took it from there.
As years have passed, I’ve increasingly looked at R.E.M. as a band that broke up in 1997, with Bill Berry’s departure. The band put out ten albums before that point and five after, but those five never quite felt like “real” R.E.M. albums.
I found something to love in each of them when they were released (even Around the Sun, by far their weakest record) but looking back on R.E.M.’s career in total, it definitely splits into two eras.
Meet Me In Montauk 