"Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

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yankochick38
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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by yankochick38 »

Wow, this topic is...a mess.

I was SO excited when I accidentally rediscovered this song just a little while ago (it's been on repeat since), and I wondered why I hadn't heard it more often. Then I came back to this topic and remembered, oh yeah, everyone hated it! Al's Band was so ahead of its time, I'm so sad.

While browsing everynoise.com, I was led down a rabbit hole of undiscovered music genres I hadn't heard but quickly loved (ex. Shimmer Psych, Indie Psych-Pop, Vapor/Shiver/Gauze Pop...basically a bunch of weird smurf that's rad) and I ended up at the Spotify playlist "The Sound of Geek Rock." I realized I recognized a LOT of the names in this playlist so I sorted by artist to see just how many I recognized and BOOM right at the top - Al's Band!!!!

Honestly, this song rules and was just the kind of thing I was looking for. And I already knew this song!!! But now it's back!!! I LOVE the gypsy rock feel of it. It makes me think of when they go to an outdoor marketplace on a desert planet in a sci-fi TV show. Just me? Idk. I feel like those who weren't fans of the song perhaps did not have a wide grasp on what music can be. Also, there were apparently some weird expectations about what this song would be? Maybe hearing this song with fresh ears helped, but I immediately loved the music. Not just in a "I only want to listen to the instrumental" way either because the way the words flow make the song THAT much more fun!!! I listened to the instrumental a few times and was like "Yea! :)" but then I went back to the regular song and was like "HELLLLLLL YEAAAAAAA THIS IS smurfin' RAD :ttr: " I love how it's just like this cool song with words that oh yeah just happen to be about being Weird Al's band???? What a smurfin' sweet song this is, so underground like people into wacky deep indie smurf would smurf their pants over this. I'm so sad that this came out in 2008 and was so unloved and that there is NO PART TWO. We did not know how good we had it.

uuUUUuUuUUUghHgghHGGHh

I WANNA DANCE

Nothing wrong with the lyric structure, either. Not sure why, but my brain attributed not hating the lyric structure to hearing Hamilton on repeat for the past month. This song is so cool I want to cry. How can people say that this song is just the same notes over and over when it is like the exact opposite of that uuuUuUUuugHhHggh IT'S SO GOOD YOU GUYS THERE'S like these different PARTS but it still flows as the same SONG and just it's so goOD AND IT HAS SO MANY FEELINGS IN IT

alsband.net no longer exists I guess and everyone hated the song so much that no one bothered to post the lyrics in this topic and decided to argue instead ( :wacko: ), and I would like to read them just so I could be like "YEAH i LOVE that part"

honestly 28 seconds in, OHMYGOD
like first the intro is all like "ooOooOoOo, what's this gonna be?"
and then at 17 seconds it slowly gets into it and you're like :o
and then SUDDENLY BERMUDA AND EVERYTHING

you guuUuUuuUyyYyyyyyYYYyysss

i love this song

I am thankful for the instrumental, because now I can...implement it in a future project, perhaps? |) #AlsBandPart2

I'm looking at the CDBaby page for Al's Band, but I'm not seeing an option to purchase a CD? Honestly I would love to have this as a CD but I guess I can purchase the mp3s then listen on Spotify on repeat forever. But a CD!!!! Of this awesomeness???? Can you believe this song even EXISTS YOU GUYS DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND
If I had this as a CD I would definitely want to get it signed by everyone because honestly they should know how much they are appreciated and how much this SONG is appreciated.

I will single-handedly revive Al's Band. It WILL happen. Only two songs???? When THIS is what they are capable of????????? YOU GUYS.

This song. Is. My. Favorite. Song. You guys! It's so cool! And so cute! It makes me smile a lot!! I can't stop headbanging!!!

I have a lot of favorite parts but here's some of my favorite lyrics:

"We dared to be stupid
On plastic bovines
With ice cream pressed against our fooooreheads"
( :lol: I love this.)

"How about a solo from the drummer of the band?
Take it now Bermuda, don't make it too bland!
'I'll add percussion to lend a hand.'"
(Okay first off every line in this sounds like it's being sung by certain people every time so shhHHHhhhHHH with your whole "I can't tell who's singing this song the four voices singing the same words makes it hard to understand bleh bleh" because YOU GUYS this is so cute like they are FRIENDS omg and Bermuda's just like "hey guys" but they call him Bermuda!! They say Bermuda!! That's Bermuda!! Al's Band is SINGING THIS SONG YOU GUYS I KNOW THEM and this part makes me smile so much)

"People ask us what it's like to be in Al's Band
What it's like to be in Mr. Yankovich's band
Then we tell them that 'it's Mr. YankoVIC's band -
not a 'ch,' the 'c' sounds just like a 'k'!"
(Every time this part comes up I am so happy and sing along. It would be PERFECT if this part was followed by one of those "CRASH da da da da da da da da Al's Baaaaand" parts because that's one of my top favorite pieces of the song but still I love this part a lot)

(Also now I am fully realizing that it is not only a song FOR the fans but it is a song BY fans because Al's Band IS FANS YOU GUYS THIS is like the woway awards I'm crying. If everyone had reacted to the 2015 WOWAY Awards like they did with Al's Band I would have stopped three episodes in. I feel so hard for Al's Band. Why is it bad if it's similar to a fan project? Because they're Al's band, they can't be fans? Also please everyone bug Al's Band until they agree to perform this song for the 2017 WOWAY Awards. I WILL revive Al's Band.)

Also when they talk about how SOL hit top 10 and White & Nerdy went platinum and THAT was a big deal in 2008 and they say "we really hope that someday we might do it again," (WHICH THEY DID #MANDATORYFUN) then "if we do we know that it's all thanks to you" and this part in particular makes me feel SO happy and appreciated, yet so sad knowing that this song itself was not widely appreciated when it came out when it was just one big love letter to the fans. They put themselves out there and said "Here you go, we made this especially for you. Thank you, we love you." and it was received with one big "Meh."

okay NOW i AM crying

this song is my CHILD

I. LOVE. The gypsy rock elements of this song. Every time it swings into the da da DA da da da da daaaaaaaaaa I just wanna get up and DANCE WITH MY ARMS WAVING

Also like, the mandolin(??) parts and just that accordion with the drums and UGH
dededdeeeee, dededdeee
Again, the vocals are part of the music for me. I really like the instrumental, but the vocals bring the whole song together. Even if I'm not paying super close attention to the lyrics and just hearing how the words are going it's like YES
This song has so many parts. It's a 4 minute 33 second journey of FUN and RADNESS.
How does it all "sound the same"??? How???? There's so much

"One big happy family right here in Al's Band"

this is me @ this song:
Image

That first lil interlude at 0:51/0:52 is SUCH a dancey part like that's the part where you're like oh smurf yea this song RULES

I've literally had this song on repeat for um, wow, two hours now (I forgot to go to bed I guess :lookaround: it's not like I have work or school tomorrow nope AL'S BAND FOR DAYS) and I'm noticing new things with every listen. A lot of work and a lot of love was put into this song. There's a specific way everything is done here, this was most definitely not phoned in.

The part that starts at 1:21 is so cool!! Gets me every time
Also I just love every time it goes CRASH DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA AL'S BAAAAND
I might be getting the amount of DA's wrong but that's because I'M DANCING

1:44
"After that we found our keyboard man
'I am Ruben how do you dooooo'"
ohmygod
please. you guys. this song is so fun. and so silly. I don't know what you/we were expecting in November of 2008 but this is BETTER. I just want to give this song as much love as it gives us.

ohmyGOD
1:56/1:57-2:07??????
This part. The twang!! you guuUUuuuUUYYyYyyYYYYYssss

"That was where we learned how to say 'Saskatchewan!'" (wow I spelled that right apparently)

2:22-2:31
WHAT IS THIS
ARE YOU KIDDING ME
This is so different but still fits perfectly with the song. If this song had a music video, something would DEFINITELY be happening here. The first thing that came to my head was a black and white fast stop-motion type thing (Lame Claim to Fame mixed with Bob? That one part in the DTBS video) of Steve making and eating a sandwich off a table in front of a brick wall, but it could be anything. That doesn't quite fit here anyway. This is sneakier sounding music than just eating a sandwich music.

Also WHY DOES THIS SONG NOT HAVE A MUSIC VIDEO

I WILL make the music video if I have to

ohmygod that guitar bit at 2:36/2:37?? All through this part there's sneaky lil guitar bits I love it

"Our first single without a viiiideooooo"

and then IT'S MY FAVORITE PART AGAIN I want to cry so hard
~What it's like to be in Mr. Yankovich's band~
Because they KNOW that bothers us!!! And it bothers them!!! But also they're making fun of that! It has multiple layers! They put that IN THERE FOR US. YOU GUYS.

*ding!*
*ding!*
*ding!*
DO YOU HEAR THIS
THERE ARE SO MANY INSTRUMENTS

"You're the reason why we play"

YOU'RE.
THE REASON.
WHY WE PLAY.


*me just sobbing*

We can be the reason why they play again!!!!! There's so much to talk about that they're saving it for part two!!!!! PART TWO CAN STILL HAPPEN IF WE BELIEVE.

*me just singing Book of Mormon*

I BELIEEEEEEEEVE THAT AL'S BAND CREATED THIS SONG FOR US
I BELIEEEEEEEEVE THAT IT WENT UNAPPRECIATED FOR YEARS BUT WE CAN FINALLY REALIIIIIZE ITS TRUE POTENTIAL AND JUST HOW GREAT IT IS

"There's so much to talk about with Al's Band!
Pardon us for rambling, it went longer than we planned."

IT'S OKAY PLEASE KEEP GOING

"That's a little bit of what it's like in Al's band
This is our song - come and see us when you can!
One big happy family right here in Al's Band"

*sobs forever*

"Now that we've told you we hope you understand
why we love to play in Mr. Yankovic's band."

(CALLBACK!!!!!!)

"This is our song, come and see us if you can!"

This whole ending
The words and the music
It's all my favorite
ugh. ugh.


I need to go to bed now because it's after 6am (I started writing this post around 3:30am after hearing the song only a few times) and I have work at 11 then I gotta do a whole bunch of algebra after that BUT the takeaways from this are:

1. I love this song and it is beautiful and rad in every way
2. I WILL revive Al's Band
3. Get Al's Band to perform in 2017 WOWAY Awards
4. Alicia gets signed Al's Band CD
5. Music video?
6. ????????
7. Profit

Thank you for this song. I'm sorry it was so ahead of its time. Love you too.

-Alicia
Weird Al Yankovic is one busy daddy
YNN: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOwVDpf5zQrXyKPPJWxs-Q
I abused my power and learned nothing!
-Alicia
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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by catladyleeann »

Alicia! You made my year! Thank you SO much for writing about the "Al's Band" song. :hug:

I listened to it and wrote the following to the band on facebook. Lady, you inspire me!

Stephen, Rubén, Bermuda, Jim! How am I just now discovering this song? Thank God for WOWAY! Alicia just wrote a HUGE tribute for this song so of course, I listened to it, and it blew me away!

I am learning so much cool stuff on a daily basis, not only about Al, but also about you guys and your individual music endeavors. I know this is old to most of your fan base, but you have to remember that I'm a VERY new fan. I only just really started to get into everything that you do in the past couple years!

I swear, its always like Christmas morning right now! I tear into each new song, article or set of pictures with the exuberance of a kid opening presents! That's what it is - I am opening a gift even better than the last each time I discover something I haven't seen yet!

Thank you guys for everything! I am enamored with every single one of you! I know I told y'alll how my life was changed when I first saw your show. Well, every time I open anything "new" (to me :-) ) from you and Al, I get that same feeling of "hold on tight, gurl, because something is getting ready to happen!"

Love y'all to the moon and back! :clap: <3
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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by minnick27 »

There was a sequel song "We've Never Played in Hawaii"

Personally I loved both songs. I would love a third song. I'll ask them to do it in 2 weeks. What else can they do on the bus?

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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by Big Spoon »

This song came up on shuffle while I was driving a few days ago. I have to say, it's aged really well. I wasn't the biggest fan when it first came out, but really enjoy it now. I wish they had waited until after Mandatory Fun so they could sing about having a #1 album. Which, was there was no way they knew that was coming, really is unfair to hold against the song in any way.
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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by yankochick38 »

Big Spoon wrote:This song came up on shuffle while I was driving a few days ago. I have to say, it's aged really well. I wasn't the biggest fan when it first came out, but really enjoy it now. I wish they had waited until after Mandatory Fun so they could sing about having a #1 album. Which, was there was no way they knew that was coming, really is unfair to hold against the song in any way.
That's what Part 2 is for!! ;) #AlsBandPart2
Weird Al Yankovic is one busy daddy
YNN: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOwVDpf5zQrXyKPPJWxs-Q
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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by Yankopunk »

Alicia, that is one of the greatest posts in the history of all things that have been posted. Seriously. Your writing is awesome.

It also reminded me of that awesome song, and had me wondering where the hell it went to when I checked my iPod. I need to put it on there again. That song and "Hawaii" are both great. Hopefully we'll get some more songs in the future.
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Re: "Al's Band" Song Discussion Thread

Post by Wizzerkat »

I've always liked the instrumental version of this song. I never disliked the regular song, either!
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