Seva @ Nov 30 2004, 08:29 AM wrote:
Agreed too. And I even remember Bob Ricci saying the same thing. He said that he feels sorry for making Weird Al look like a fool (or something else, I can't remember it now), because he recorded and released a "Constipated" parody long before Al did. Well, there are two reasons for me to bash this: 1) Just what Cathra said about the same wavelength of feeling what's funny; 2) Please name this ultimately serious label where Bob released it. Oh, and yes, 3) I seriously don't think that Bob's parody is a lot funnier than Al's.
I'm not angry at you, Bob, but please... Al is Al. Right?
You didn't know? Bob cut the song from the album. It was replaced by a Stacy's Mom parody called "Mrs. Claus."
Second of all, I know where that came from. It's from Ask Bob. Someone asked him why he "stole" Al's idea with "Constipated" and Bob said "Aww... poor guy didn't realize I released my song a year before the Weird Al song in question came out. Now he has to look like a fool on my website." He was referring to the guy that asked that.
Believe me, I talk to Bob Ricci a LOT. And he's a really nice guy. Heck, he even gave Mad Genius his instrumentals for Constipated and Mrs. Claus so MG could record his parodies of those songs.
Speaking of Bob Ricci, EVERYONE NEEDS TO BUY HIS NEW CD. It's AWESOME!!!!.
CatraDhtem @ Nov 30 2004, 12:44 PM wrote:
I think I mentioned over in the Rock Hall thread how one comedy radio show wasn't going to mention our campaign unless I was somehow able to justify helping out Weird Al when there were so many other comedy artists out there. I really felt like responding with "Uh, because nobody outside of fourteen people, you and I included, has ever heard of the Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre," but I played nice.
Well, one good reason is that the comedy category should be represented. And who else will better represent it? Even if I weren't a fan, if someone mentioned comedy music, the only name I would be able to come up with would be "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Which is pretty much what you said, now that I re-read it. Well, you know... GMTA.
You know, in Luke's defense, the rest of what he said that night was pretty interesting. I always find the behind the scenes stuff interesting, and for the most part, I enjoyed listening to Luke's thoughts about the parody process.
One of the things he talked about was that he had figured that Al was going to do an Eminem song on the new album, and he was pretty nervous since he had also recorded an Eminem song. He was relieved that Al had chosen to parody Lose Yourself instead of the Cleaning Out My Closet. Since it wouldn't matter how good a song Luke did, Al's would have overshadowed it. And one thing that Luke did with his Em parody, is that he included riffs from other Em songs. I don't think Al's parody did that. He pretty much stayed true to the original.
Aww, sorry weirdojace! Didn't know all that! Sorry Bob!
Now I feel myself REALLY bad.
But again, I have an interesting thought. (Guess what! geeky Russian guy has it!)
I think Catra pretty much nailed the idea about the parody making. I made also a song this year and then discovered that several people in the Net came out with the same idea. (Of course, I consider my parody far more cleverer, but that's not the point.) I also do think that Bob's parody isn't THAT equal to Al's, or am I wrong?
Thus, there are one thing that saves Al from being called retarded and stealing other people's ideas - his originals. Those are hard to copy, methinks. For cryin' out loud, go and find me some person or any living creature who can write something like "Hardware Store"!!!
Seva @ Nov 30 2004, 04:05 PM wrote:
I also do think that Bob's parody isn't THAT equal to Al's, or am I wrong?
For the record, I think Al's is better... an entire song about constipation doesn't really work. But Bob's is totally different... Al's is about pizza, Bob's is about fast food in general.
He cut it from the album though, so, no worries anymore.
Well maybe Luke was a little upset that it was the second time that him and Al had the same idea and it came out the wrong way. And I think Bob Ricci's comment was a joke.
And there have bben several incarnations of Star Trekkin over the years, they did a Next Generation one, and a Deep Space Nine one as well.
Talking about music is like fishing about architecture- FZ
If you love parodies and keep up with the news, The Capitol Steps are amazing.
They are funny yet topical. You have to know more than the biggest headlines to understand some of their songs, so it's also a little cerebral. Perfect for a news-junkie parody lover like me!
Tara Lyn
P.S. The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead is an XTC song -- another group you might like if you are an Al fan. Clever lyrics. Again cerebral.
Okay...there seems to be some general dissing of Luke Ski here (I use the word "dis" only for lack of a better one. I'm tired, forgive me). As someone who has known Luke for quite a few years now, I think I should respond.
First, regarding Luke's comment, where he (supposedly) criticized Poodle Hat - based on my memory of the evening (a year and a half ago), all he did was point out that he had done "Keanu Man" (a parody of Piano Man by Billy Joel) a year before Al put out HIS Piano Man parody. For two parodies of a 30+ year old song to come out so close to each other seemed, to him, too big a coincidence. Personally, I think it WAS just coincidence, but Luke sometimes takes things like that a little too seriously in general - everybody has character flaws, and that's his. Anyway, he played the songs back-to-back and compared and contrasted them afterwards, suggesting that in his (admittedly biased) opinion, "Keanu Man" was funnier. He did not say "Ode To A Superhero" was a bad song by any means at all, and he certainly did not say anything negative about Poodle Hat as an album, or Al as a musician (Quite A Man For An Al Fan was DEFINITELY a tribute). Besides, is there anyone out there who believes OTAS is truly the best song on Poodle Hat? Anyone?
Speaking of which - Jace, are you SURE Luke directly told you to **** off? That doesn't sound at all like Luke to me, and he's been one of my best friends for years - believe me, at cons I've overheard him talking to some of the DUMBEST people you've ever heard, and while he often complains about him later (True Tales of Ignorance, etc.) I've rarely seen him be anything other than Mr. Diplomacy around the people themselves. If that is, in fact, what he told you, then I can only assume that at that exact moment he had hugem personal problems at the time and didn't want to talk to ANYONE - we've all had moments like that. He really isn't usually like that.
And finally, about being too inside-jokish...how many Luke Ski albums do you own? Because it sounds to me like you only have Carpe Dementia. If you bought Luke's newest album, Worst Album Ever, I truly think you'd enjoy it. Did you see Lord of the Rings? Did you see Attack of the Clones? Are you at all familiar with the villains of Batman? Do you watch The Simpsons? Do you know who Gilbert Gottfried is? Are you familiar with the song "Yes We Have No Bananas"? Do you eat soup? If you answered yes to any of those questions, I think you'll find something to like about it. Hey, there's even a Harry Potter song!
Which brings me to another point: did it ever occur to you that maybe there's someone out there who cares not for the Harry Potter franchise, just as you care not for Star Trek? And to that person, maybe "Sirius Black" is every bit as indecipherable as "What's Up Spock"? Maybe you should try to judge things like this more on their principles.
Bottom line, me and Luke Ski collaborate a lot. He was the assistant director on my video "Rage Against the Mundane" (coming to the internet and home-burned DVDs soon), and has almost as big a part in it as me. In fact, he even does the voices of Ron and Snape on "Sirius Black." Yes, I wish he'd do a bit more non-parody material (and charge a bit less for his relatively mediocre fan club-only material) But if you've got a problem with him, MAYBE you've got a problem with me.
Well, there are two reasons for me to bash this: 1) Just what Cathra said about the same wavelength of feeling what's funny; 2) Please name this ultimately serious label where Bob released it. Oh, and yes, 3) I seriously don't think that Bob's parody is a lot funnier than Al's.
I also do think that Bob's parody isn't THAT equal to Al's, or am I wrong?
Tara Lyn
