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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:32 pm
by Bruce the Duck
We know the story about GJWHL. Al didn't want to do a Cyndi Lauper parody, but the record company demanded it because of her enormous popularity, so Al did it.

But when you listen to the song, it's noticably inferior to his other parodies of that time, in several ways.

1) Lyrically and comedy-wise, it's just not as clever, funny, or imaginative as most of his stuff.

2) Musically, it sounded more like something that would have been on his debut album, with the musical hands and so on.

3) Vocally, not only did he not attempt to duplicate Lauper's singing (which, granted, is very unique and difficult to imitate), but he sang in that really obnoxious, annoying voice.

So here's my question: Did Al intentionally make the song so weak as a way of sticking it to the record company? Was the song done poorly out of spite? What do you guys think? Perhaps Bermuda knows the full story.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:34 pm
by weirdojace
That's what I would think.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:36 pm
by Mad Genius
Good question Bruce! I think Al did a sloppy job with that song on purpose, to say to the record company that "I don't accept other peoples song ideas for a reason."

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:39 pm
by Kevbo1987
I think you're right Bruce. I had never really thought of it that way before. I knew that the record company forced him to write it, but I had never really thought of the fact that Al may have done a sub-standard job on purpose in order to teach them a lesson. That way, they would be displeased with the song, and never force him to write a parody of a certain song against his will. Good thinking!

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:52 pm
by Teh Dingo
Yeah, sounded like he was pretty cheesed off.


I think Al could see from a mile away that Cyndi Lauper would soon fade into obscurity, she only had 1 strong album (1 1/2 maybe, because there was some buzz on her next album. I actually saw her on her tour promoting it), while the label wasn't entirely convinced about Madonna's staying power.

Al's a pretty smart guy, isn't he?

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:55 pm
by Mad Genius
Indeed, Al is very intelligent. As for the Record Company doing that, I think that they won't be bothering Al anymore.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:57 pm
by Bruce the Duck
Well, I don't think it had as much to do with her staying power. After all, most of the acts Al parodies don't last too long. It's just that Al didn't have a good enough idea to do a Cyndi Lauper parody or he just didn't want to parody her. It was pretty foolish of the company to just demand that he parody the song, not knowing whether or not there was a decent parody idea there.

Actually, I bet Al COULD have made a parody of that song that would have been much better than GJWHL if he had wanted to.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:58 pm
by weirdojace
That's also why I hate it when people end up asking me to write a parody of a certain song. Usually I don't want to do it, and if I do, it ends up being the worst thing ever put down on paper.

Al did it bad on purpose, I think.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:59 pm
by Mad Genius
I agree. Al did a bad job on purpose, because he had something else planned. And as for you not accepting ideas from others, thats a good thing, becasue I too follow Al's formula.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 8:11 pm
by stupidsurgeon27
I'm not the only one who thought Al purposely did a bad job in this song than the other songs because he didn't want to do the song in the first place. I noticed it right off because of the tone of voice he's using for the song.

-CindyBob