) on the heels of his anything but by the numbers performance with the Roots, it's becoming more apparent that Al has gone from the music industry's performing monkey, to being seen for his humble, down to Earth nature, and dare I say it, his talent.This will be the second time in about a month that Al will be performing with "real" musicians. Note that I am not saying that to disparage TBITB, I'm referring to the (unfair) mass perception that they're a novelty band. In fact, I'd even go as far to include bands that Al's appeared with to do a song in concert (Presidents, Barenaked Ladies) in the category of "novelty" since their music is fun, often funny, and is more about having a good time than trying to change lives. But on top of that, thanks to Twitter, we're learning a lot more about Al's place in the music (and entertainment) world in regards to his peers. That strikes me as a long ways away from the (Sometimes coming off as half-handed and forced) comments like "It's an honor for Al to parody a song" (And certainly a long way away from "Stay away from me"
). Comments like "It's an honor" to me, have always seemed to be varying degrees of genuineness. Maybe it's just my untrusting nature, but outside of artists who've gone above and beyond the usual reaction (Like Kurt Cobain or Chamillionare), it just seems like it's a generic stock answer, and while some artists are genuinely thrilled and honored, it feels like others would just rather avoid the question and aren't too thrilled or honored at all (See: Blunt, James). In contrast, now when you see a comment like the one from ?uestlove of the Roots "Thank god Al is cool", it comes off as more genuine (Especially since we know Al is cool...not just from a music standpoint, but as an all around great guy).
There's still, and always will be haters, both music listeners and artist themselves. That's fine. Most of them aren't worth the energy (I've said it before and I'll say it again...one of my biggest regrets about being a part of this fanbase is reading about us taking the bait when people are obviously looking for a fight. It's an unnecessary headache as far as I'm concerned. But then again, I'm also pretty sure we're not the only fanbase that does that). There are people that will always see Al as nothing more than a novelty artist who does Michael Jackson parodies.and just rode MJ's coattails. I've been of the opinion that Al will never be taken seriously enough to get a fair chance atbeing inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I sent them a couple tweets during the tweet in (Though only one was about Al),and I do believe he deserves it, but that's as far as my support has gone.
To me though it just seems as, if not more, worth it that the real Al Yankovic and his alter ego are finally getting what's been due (And maybe even past due). to them all along.
