Mandatory Fun (Album 14) Speculation :3

[Marko_The_Odd]

Or a really surprising left field choice for Al would be Fugazi.

[mrmeadows]

Looking over his quotes again, some confusion is setting in...is this a parody or a style parody? I assumed the latter, because of the "celebrating their whole catalog" line, and the "dig deeper" part. But everything else makes it sound as though this is an actual parody of an actual song. Have any 90s icons had a recent hit that Al might have tackled? Or did he perhaps take on a vintage track?

My initial thought is that it was a style parody, but like Killingsworth speculated probably starts out with a recognizable riff from one of their songs and then moves into the pastiche. Also guessing it's a band Al has not touched yet (in a parody or polka), such as Pearl Jam or the aforementioned Pixies.

Another bit of semi-baseless speculation to ponder--is this perhaps a special polka (ala "The Hot Rocks Polka")? Would a medley of songs from the past 2-3 years really merit both Patton and Bermuda calling it the best polka ever? Al's at the end of a record deal, and if he moves away from traditional albums, this could potentially (tragically) mean no more polkas, since if he's releasing songs one at a time on iTunes, the royalty situation of a polka may not really be cost-effective. Did Al decide to close out polkas with a bang by finally doing the all-Beatles (or all-Zeppelin) polka?

I think that would be a great way to close out the era of AL-bums. If both Patton and Bermuda are calling it the "best polka in ever", I have to think there's more to it than just the usual "medley of recent Top 40 hits" formula. Either Beatles or Zeppelin would be awesome, although I've always been holding out for the former. (I hope you're wrong about this being the end of the line for polka medleys, though.)

[minnick27]

One band that popped in my head was Ween, but they themselves are also masters of pastiche and don't necessarily conform to a specific sound.

Look at Frank Zappa and GiF.

[bermuda]

If Patton already heard the whole album, its in the can and we're very close to a release

He didn't, it's not.

However, eleven songs are done - mixed, mastered, and in the virtual 'can'. The big hit single is YTBD. Might happen next week, or next month, or next February. YGIAGAM.

But this is a really great album, and the videos are killer!

Bermuda

[joseyklein]

Nice!!

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[Killingsworth]

Since Al said on CBB he'd be looking at what might be the big hit song of this summer for his next lead single, he may not have it figured out until late July at the earliest.

[You Make Me]

I hope it's Primus. Would love to see Steve assault the bass. I know that won't be the case though and my guess is Pearl Jam.

[Teh Dingo]

I'd add Primus to the list too. They definitely fit the genius, silly, lovable quote.

[CharlesNelson]

I agree with everything everyone has said and I am just too upside down right now to stop drooling over how good Album 14 is gonna be ugh

I think my interpretation of Patton's tweet is that we are getting either a kind of song parody/style pastiche hybrid we've never seen before, or a mini-parody medley of 3 or more songs by this one band, which we also have never seen before. Either way, this mystery song, plus the best polka medley ever as approved by Patton and Bermuda, plus the potential timely parody of the next big summer hit song - I have a great feeling this will be Al's best album yet.

EDIT: And I don't know very many 90s bands, but I think Radiohead and Pearl Jam are good guesses. It's one thing to find an influential 90s band, but Al also had to consider the band's popularity too, so enough people would understand the references. So I would probably count out Neutral Milk Hotel, for example.

[joseyklein]

If Patton already heard the whole album, its in the can and we're very close to a release

He didn't, it's not.

However, eleven songs are done - mixed, mastered, and in the virtual 'can'. The big hit single is YTBD. Might happen next week, or next month, or next February. YGIAGAM.

But this is a really great album, and the videos are killer!

Bermuda

By the what is YGIAGAM?

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