World of Weird Al Yankovic

Bruce the Duck wrote:

JEDM wrote:Mormons seem to still be slightly popular, but I doubt he'd go down any "religious" path. It would fit the "Mission Statement" title though.

"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi?"

Touché.

He also did "Amish Paradise," so the topic is not off-limits, but I doubt he'd do it for an original. I don't know why exactly, but those things seem to work best as parodies.

I doubt this would be religious-themed. Why would he do a song mocking Mormons when Book of Mormon pretty much cornered the market on funny Mormon songs? This almost has to be about the mission statement of a business or club. I'm guessing a business, and it will be full of indecipherable double-speak.

I have a feeling that guessing what this song is about is a bit like speculating what "Germs" would be about. The lyrics of Germs aren't really the point, so much as it being a Nine Inch Nails style parody. I think that's what this will be - a song whose focus is more on the style parody aspect than comedic lyrics. Just a guess, of course!

TMBJon wrote:I have a feeling that guessing what this song is about is a bit like speculating what "Germs" would be about. The lyrics of Germs aren't really the point, so much as it being a Nine Inch Nails style parody. I think that's what this will be - a song whose focus is more on the style parody aspect than comedic lyrics. Just a guess, of course!

Of course the lyrics of "Germs" are the point of the song. The song is about a germaphobe. The style is NIN, but there's still a discernible subject of the song. What you said there doesn't make sense. That's like saying, the point of "Skipper Dan" isn't about a guy who is stuck in a job he hates instead of doing what he wants. It's just a Weezer style parody. No, it's both!

All of Al's originals combine a humorous topic with a style of a band/artist. Since we have nothing to go on as far as the style of this one yet, all we have to speculate on is the subject matter.

Bruce the Duck wrote:That's like saying, the point of "Skipper Dan" isn't about a guy who is stuck in a job he hates instead of doing what he wants. It's just a Weezer style parody. No, it's both!-

Actually, that one is precisely the opposite! It's primarily a comedy song, which happens to riff off of Weezer.
I highly doubt that Al set out to do a song about a germaphobe and then settled on making it sound like NIN. I think he wanted to do a Nine Inch Nails style parody and later realized the perfect subject matter given their oft paranoid lyrics.

Also I could see this being a Radiohead or Muse style parody. Corporate banality, paranoia and overload of information seem like very Radiohead-ish themes, while the title also seems very Muse-ish.

I don't know what about "Mission Statement" gives you that idea. We don't know a single thing about it yet. Is there a popular artist (either contemporary or classic) whose style would lend itself to a song about a Mission Statement? If so, what artist do you have in mind?

And still what would the song really be about? So far, I think Big Spoon's idea is the most plausible.

TMBJon wrote:I have a feeling that guessing what this song is about is a bit like speculating what "Germs" would be about. The lyrics of Germs aren't really the point, so much as it being a Nine Inch Nails style parody. I think that's what this will be - a song whose focus is more on the style parody aspect than comedic lyrics. Just a guess, of course!

So are you saying that there's no way on predicting what the song is about or that we should be thinking backwards as to what artist would have a style that would lead Al to do a song with the title Mission Statement? Because Germs feels like a theme that comes naturally from it being a Nine Inch Nails styled song.

Whereas something like Craigslist came mostly out of how it unlike Doors-like a theme it is.

Marko_The_Odd wrote:Corporate banality, paranoia and overload of information seem like very Radiohead-ish themes

Right, that was what I was speculating on.

Having said that, I want to reiterate this was a total stab in the dark. It's more or less impossible to guess a style parody from the title alone. Over the last few albums, only Don't Download This Song, I'll Sue Ya, Wanna B Ur Lovr, and Bob could have possibly been guessed based on title alone.