Rank the songs on Mandatory Fun

[CharlesNelson]

After taking a day and a good handful of listens, I'll take a shot at this.

1 Word Crimes
2 My Own Eyes
3 Tacky
4 Jackson Park Express
5 Handy
6 First World Problems
7 Lame Claim to Fame
8 Foil
9 Sports Song
10 NOW That's What I Call Polka!
11 Inactive
12 Mission Statement

These rankings will probably look bogus to me tomorrow morning, particularly in the 2-10 range, so I'll see what kind of edits I'll need to make.

[angnjc]

Is anyone else somewhat let down?
My wife, daughter and I just finished our first complete listen and have to say we hope it grows on us. We love Word Crimes, Tacky, Foil, and inactive. We like First World Problems and Handy, but the rest leave us wanting.
Anyone else agree?

[Good Enough For Now]

Um, did you not read the title?

MANDATORY FUN.

[Diva]

It's late and I didn't go leak-hunting so this is my impression of what I heard so far:

Handy-I much prefer this to the original and the wordplay is well done.
Word crimes-I want to run out and play this for every English teacher I ever knew. I DESPISE the original, making this an even sweeter success.
Tacky-I heard this yesterday so I may be unduly influenced by the video, but I really like this one. I would put this on top so far.
Sports song-reminds me of Tom Lehrer's "Fight Fiercely Harvard" without the sly references to Ivy League wusses.
Mission statement-the corporate speak may or may not grow on me. However, the second I heard the opening riff of CSNY's "Carry On" I was smiling a humongous smile. The end homage to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"was well placed. As I am of a certain age (read-same age as Al) I listened to the originals of those songs over and over as a teenager. Nostalgia is undoubtedly coloring my impression of this one.

I don't know if this album has a standout comparable to "White and Nerdy".

I will have to get to the rest tomorrow as I have work tomorrow morning and it is late.

Cheers, Diva
Actually as soon as I heard the opening riff of "Carry On" I thought 'Al's doing Carry On, well not really, but sort of, yippee!'

[Wizzerkat]

After listening last night and today(including while I was grocery shopping!) here is my initial list:

1. Word Crimes-Just a first rate parody all the way around. I doubt this will move down on my list
2. Tacky
3. First World Problems-Moved up on my list on subsequent listens. Was not as high up originally
4. Handy
5. Lame Claim to Fame
6. My Own Eyes
7. Sports Song
8. NOW That's What I Call Polka!
9. Foil-would be right at the bottom but moved up. It's much better than what I thought at first listen
10. Jackson Park Express-I think this might move up in time. I need to really listen to it more
11. Inactive
12. Mission Statement-This one just is not speaking to me yet at all

[TMBJon]

At first it seemed like I wouldn't be able to rank them, but after the ninth listen this is what I came up with:

1. Foil
2. Word Crimes
3. Mission Statement
4. My Own Eyes
5. NOW That's What I Call Polka!
6. Handy
7. Tacky
8. Jackson Park Express
9. First World Problems
10. Sports Song
11. Lame Claim To Fame
12. Inactive

I really love all 12 songs!!

[Killingsworth]

As of right now, I can only rank the originals. I can't really pick a a favorite parody from this album or rank them yet. I was very impressed with all of them.

ORIGINALS

1. First World Problems
2. My Own Eyes
3. Sports Song
4. Lame Claim To Fame
5. Jackson Park Express
6. Mission Statement

[CharlesNelson]

My updated rankings after a night to sleep on it:

1 Word Crimes
2 Tacky
t-3 My Own Eyes
t-3 Jackson Park Express
5 Handy
6 Foil
7 First World Problems
8 Sports Song
9 Lame Claim to Fame
10 NOW That's What I Call Polka!
11 Inactive
12 Mission Statement

I really like this entire album. I like it as a whole more than both Alpcoalypse and SOL. Specifically, I really like all six originals musically, although they vary in the humor department. I had My Own Eyes too high last night because it sounds so great - Tacky, specifically, is funnier to me. The other song I brought a few pegs down was Lame Claim to Fame, whereas Foil moved up two.

[Akrovak]

I've only been able to listen to the album a couple times so far, and a few of the songs have not had a chance to "sink" in yet ... but as of right now, my song rankings would be ...

1 First World Problems - it was one of the few songs that I actually found myself laughing at upon first listen ... and I think it had more to do with the Pixie "sound" (which was nailed) than anything else.
2 NOW That's What I Call Polka! - the polkas are always enjoyable and sexy ... LADY!
3 Word Crimes - will probably become one of my favorite parodies ever (he took it in a really creative direction).
4 Handy -enjoyable.
5 Tacky - not bad at all.
6 Sports Song - found the "We're Great!" "You Suck!" part pretty funny (and pumped that section up as I was listening to it while driving home from Best Buy)
7 Lame Claim to Fame

The below songs didn't really stand out to me at all upon just a couple listens ... didn't enjoy them, didn't really care about them at all ... as I said, this will probably change after a few more listens ...
t-11 My Own Eyes
t-11 Jackson Park Express
t-11 Foil
t-11 Mission Statement

12 Inactive - I didn't find anything enjoyable at all about this song, and I don't think repeat listens will change that ... and it's kinda weird, because I actually like the source song quite a bit. This just seemed lazy and non inspired and the sound was horrible.

Looking forward to giving the album quite a few more listens.

[WHiZZi]

I've listened a few times already and here's my list:

1: Foil. I already liked the original and Al's version made me laugh .. very much
2: Jackson Park Express. 9 minutes of song about absolutely nothing. Laughed very hard about this song too.
3: Word Crimes. Again, the original is very known to me. Very recognizable, even for a non native speaker ;-)
4: Sports Song. Funny lyrics.
5: That's what I call Polka. What not to like?
6: First World Problems. Funny lyrics, this song probably will grow on me.
7: My Own Eyes. Funny lyrics, good music. But I lack liking the melody. Again, this song will grow on me because it's musically very nicely done.
8: Lame Claim To Fame. I laughed about the cowbell, lyrics are fine, not awesome great. Music wise this is also a good song
9: Inactive. Funny lyrics. Interesting music wise. Is losing my interest to listen to it fairly soon, therefor 9th place.
10: Tacky. Overuse of Auto tune. Other than that, good lyrics.
11: Handy. Auto tune again. Not too funny lyrics in my opinion. Plus I don't like the 'rapping' stuff in general. Music wise this is just a boring song.
12: Mission Statement. Auto tune.. yikes.. not funny lyrics, boring music wise.

In general, I don't like the use of Auto tune at all. I actually resent auto tune. I do understand why (all these artists Al is parodying are unable to sing correctly and thus, overuse auto tune, therefor parody will use auto tune), but I really dislike it and it's hard for me to listen to.