Mandatory Fun (Album 14) Speculation :3

[Killingsworth]

Every time Al posts something on Twitter or Instagram you rush to say it is because of the new album. Do you think that is the only thing on Als mind at all times? He's a comedian, he makes jokes. Patton Oswalt posted something on twitter, does that mean it ended up in his act? Probably not

I didn't say Al's Beyonce/Instagram post implied anything about the new album. I just said it made ME think about what it would be like if he finally parodied her on his next album.

When I post something like that, it's not meant to reflect anything more than my own personal thoughts and speculation on what Al might do. Maybe if you read my posts a little more carefully, this would become more apparent.

As for Mr. Thompson's tweet, I take "coming soon" to mean that his new website will be up in the near future and his video for Al will come out whenever Al damn well says it does.

Still, I could see it if Al decides to release this particluar song/video similar to how he released DDTS when SOL was about to come out just a few weeks ahead of the scheduled release of the album and its lead parody. Maybe that could be what "coming soon" refers to.

Again, this is all my own personal opinion/speculation and you're free to disagree if you so choose. This only reflects my views and certainly not Al's.

[CharlesNelson]

I doubt there would be an official release like Internet Leaks, mostly because Al commented that people were pretty bummed by the time Alpocalypse came out since half of the album was no longer "new". But I also can't imagine that Tim Thompson would release a video without Al's consent either -- although this is entirely speculative. Perhaps there's going to be a video without a full-fledged single? Or maybe there's a little bit of a mix-up in regards to what the word "soon" means.

All of the above are possibilities. Additionally, he recorded three originals 9/4/2012 - maybe the subject material of one of those is getting dated now, and Al wants to release the song and video as a single before it becomes irrelevant.

Or maybe, everything I just said is untrue, and Al just wants to release one of his singles ahead of the album just to be a nice guy! I'd like that, too.

[CharlesNelson]

I just read the new announcement that McDonalds is now sponsoring WOWAY. WHiZZi says that "there will be a link between Weird Al Yankovic and McDonalds in the future, which I'm not allowed to talk too much about." Barring the possibility of this being an April Fools' prank two weeks early, can we speculate on this? Could there be a McDonalds-related song on Album 14? My only other hypothesis is that Al is going to do a McDonalds commercial. Given Al's vegetarianism (or veganism? I never remember), none of this makes sense to me.

[mrmeadows]

I have to doubt Al feels the need to shill for McDonald's. . .he doesn't need money that badly, unless he recently formed a gambling habit or something. Last I heard, he was a vegan, and I remember hearing him say once that the prime reason he doesn't do many food songs anymore is because he would rather not be seen as promoting unhealthy eating habits. Maybe I dreamt that, but seems like I saw him quoted to that effect in print somewhere. In any case, it would be a little gauche if one of the new album songs was nothing more than a 3-minute McDonald's commercial. Doubt Al would do that.

Wonder if it has something to do with "Trapped In the Drive Thru"? Maybe he's licensing an existing song to McD's to use a snippet from in an ad?

[minnick27]

It's very interesting. I can't see Al doing a commercial for them or even licensing a song Unless they are gearing up to promote healthier items again. Maybe Al bought them?

[Kevbo1987]

I definitely can't see Al doing a McDonald's commercial unless they're introducing some new healthy/vegetarian menu items or something. Even then, I think it's a stretch. I doubt it's a song about McDonald's. That doesn't seem too likely, and if Al did a song about McDonald's, it probably wouldn't be all that complimentary. I think the idea of him licensing a song for McDonald's to use in commercials is more likely (maybe Eat It?). This is all sort of puzzling.

[mrmeadows]

Well, this is interesting: Right after posting my last comment doubting that Al would shill for McD's, the guys on our L.A. morning news show were doing a story about how Burger King has been beating McD's in the "Burger Wars" lately. Here's an article from a couple days ago about it:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/per ... s/6569211/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As the end of the article poinst out, McD's has yet to make a counter move. Surely they are going to look at competing with BK by shaking up their menu options, and that would of course change the direction of their ad campaigns and promotions. I still find it odd that Al would team up with McDonald's for. . .well, anything! But it sounds like something must be on the horizon, so we'll just have to wait and see.

But God, I hope it's not a song. Especially if it's PRO-McDonalds! (i.e. a commercial). As Kevbo says, I might be okay if it were a subtle SLAM at McDonalds, but if McD is somehow sponsoring the whole thing then that's out.

[mrmeadows]

Also, didn't McDonalds reject Al's job application when he was out of college because he was "overqualified"?

If our speculation turns out to be correct, I guess Al got the last laugh on this one.

[TMBJon]

There's really no way to look at this other than the undeniable fact that Album 14 is very likely to contain twelve songs all about McDonalds. Al has officially sold out. I say we all move on to a different fandom.

[Kevbo1987]

I'm with you there, Jon. What is Gallagher up to these days?