Confessions Part III

[Bruce the Duck]

How many times do we have to go over this? Al has always been interested in what is popular and "OH NOES!!" he's doing 3 songs that appeal to a largely African American target audience! Oh, the world is coming to an end!

It's three songs out of twelve. Get over it.

Thank you.

It makes as much sense to say that Al has an "obsession with R&B/rap music" as it does to say that in the eighties he had an obsession with pop music.

So many people seem to have a problem with the fact that three of the artists parodied on this album are black (actually, if the DDTS rumor is true than four). Why did nobody complain that "Weird Al Yankovic," "Dare to be Stupid," and "Alapalooza" featured ONLY parodies of white artists. And RWS had FOUR songs that were parodies of white artists. I don't understand why the skin color of the artists parodied makes such a big difference to people.

[MarsBar]

I don't understand why the skin color of the artists parodied makes such a big difference to people.

One word, racism. It`s horrible, it`s archaic, but it dos still exist. I for one am fine with this parody listing.

[Akrovak]

I haven't seen a single person post, "I wish Al wouldn't parody so many black people" (of course, I don't recall every single post, but the one by Friz didn't say that). I have seen a few people say that they wish he wouldn't parody so many rap or r and b songs (in the most recent post, Couch Potato was listed as an example ... which was a parody of Emenim, who is white). That's their opinion, and they are entitled to it.

And I wouldn't call that racism ... I would call that having a personal taste in music (which everyone has). I personally don't like country music. Does that mean I'm racist against people who perform it or listen to it?

Pulling the racism card out just because someone's personal taste in music differs from yours seems out of line, and not at all fair. Of course, that's just my opinion.

With that said, Al is the professional ... he's always been on top of what's "hot" and what's "not" ... and I am sure this next album is going to be great (even with my bias against country music, I still greatly enjoy it when Al takes it on and makes fun of it).

[TheMeccaOfAlbinoPoodles]

I wish Al wouldn't parody so many black people.


As to the parody of rap- even though I never really liked rap, I'm a big fan of Al's rap songs, same with country.

[minnick27]

The fact that people dont want Al to parody so much rap is simply because we are so used to Al as a rocker, that it just seems odd. If you look at some earlier posts it was said that he should stick to what he does best, namely rock. But Al is a comedian first and foremost. If he feels that a song is good enough to tackle, then we should support him in every way. Does Al let us down? I dont think he will ever abandon his rock and roll roots, he just has to keep up with pop culture, which is leaning more and more heavily to "Urban" music. You can read that however you want, I dont mean it to mean black music. But it is an African American dominated field. But then again, a lot of white people are really into it as well. I live in a city with 1 country station, 1 classic rock station, 1 rock station and another rock station that went to talk for 13 hours a day. The rest of the big stations are hip hop, rap and R&B. So it does dominate our culture and that is Al's target. He isnt gonna parody a song because certain people may have heard it. He is going to parody a big song, regardless of who wrote it.

[Bruce the Duck]

I haven't seen a single person post, "I wish Al wouldn't parody so many black people" (of course, I don't recall every single post, but the one by Friz didn't say that). I have seen a few people say that they wish he wouldn't parody so many rap or r and b songs (in the most recent post, Couch Potato was listed as an example ... which was a parody of Emenim, who is white). That's their opinion, and they are entitled to it.

And I wouldn't call that racism ... I would call that having a personal taste in music (which everyone has). I personally don't like country music. Does that mean I'm racist against people who perform it or listen to it?

Pulling the racism card out just because someone's personal taste in music differs from yours seems out of line, and not at all fair. Of course, that's just my opinion.

With that said, Al is the professional ... he's always been on top of what's "hot" and what's "not" ... and I am sure this next album is going to be great (even with my bias against country music, I still greatly enjoy it when Al takes it on and makes fun of it).

That's very different. When people lump two genres of music which are INCREDIBLY different, like R&B and rap, there's got to be a reason for it. I'm not accusing anyone of racism. I would never do that. I think it's more of an unfamiliarity with the genres and simply not understanding that they're different.

But anyway, if the tracklist is correct, it looks like we'll have 3 rap songs anyway.

[Kevbo1987]

I'm going to say something that I've repeated more times than I can count. Let's not rush to judgement about an album that hasn't been released yet. Let's give Al the benefit of the doubt. He's never let us down before. He's a perfectionist. He's not going to give us anything that doesn't live up to the material he's already done. For the record, I'm not a rap fan. I like some R & B, but it's not something that I listen to on a regular basis. But I certainly don't mind Al doing parodies in these genres and I really don't think people should worry about Al doing parodies in these genres.

[Elvis]

Topic?

Who cares who Al parodies, as long as it's funny.

I don't think I'm taking any big leaps here by saying the Usher parody is "Maybe!" The title's kind of funny compared to the original, so let's hope the lyrics are too! (Please, no "Trash Day"... Please, no "Trash Day"... )

Dave

[CatraDhtem]

(Please, no "Trash Day"... Please, no "Trash Day"... )

A-bloody-men to that.

[TheMeccaOfAlbinoPoodles]

Consider that amen seconded.