World of Weird Al Yankovic

TMBJon wrote:My least favorite track right now is Inactive. Unlike most of this album, it's ground he has already covered lyrically. And the bad mixing during the choruses is hard to ignore.

This. I agree with this completely. It's the only song I needed the lyric book for. The verses are fine, but the choruses are just muddy as hell. The low vocals are mixed really loud when compared to the original.

I would add that a particular section ("welcome to my new place, to my new place, sorry it's a cramped space, but it's my place") is repetitive and, ironically, lazily written. Those lines are a missed opportunity to add clever internal rhymes.

drewdy9999 wrote:...wat

Kevbo1987 wrote: I don't know what any of that means.

The first part is way smarter than a fight song. The second part is way dumber than a fight song. The two parts are opposite from what would normally fit the music, and in different ways because they are also opposite to each other. It's clever and funny satire (unless all we see is a fight song and marching).

Hmm, the more I explain it the less funny it gets. I guess I should just be okay with some people not getting it.

It's gotta be "Inactive." We all know that Al likes alternative rock, but the last few albums have been pretty light on parodies of that genre ("American Idiot" is the last rock song he's parodied), so I sort of get the sense that when Imagine Dragons started permeating top 40 radio, Al latched onto the idea of parodying them even though he didn't really have a clever concept. It's a YouTube parody. In fact, listen to the first verse of this. It's lazy garbage, and you can at least appreciate that Al's isn't as bad as this. But we expect Al to raise the stakes and put these amateurs to shame. And "Inactive" doesn't really accomplish that.

I am surprised on the dislike for inactive. I love this one.

Initially, I was pretty lukewarm about "Lame Claim To Fame" and "Foil", but now the only song I tend to skip regularly is "Sports Song". I like the concept, and I think the execution is great, but from a musical standpoint (in terms of the musical concepts on this album) marching band songs are just about the only thing I wouldn't listen to if I weren't listening to a Weird Al album.

For what it's worth, "Mission Statement" has actually grown on me a LOT since the first listen, and it's now one of my favorite songs, and while I agree with what a lot of folks have to say about "Inactive", I still enjoy listening to it because I'm part of the camp that finds "Radioactive" to be catchy, so it stands to reason that the parody would hit my ear the right way, too.

Handy, hands down, is my least favorite and the one I looked forward to the most.

Least favorite... My Own Eyes. I chuckled the first time, but I don't even feel like making the effort to learn the words to sing along.

Runner up: Tie between Sports Song & Inactive. Inactive reminds me of Germs, which I'm also not overly fond of. And Sports Song... I DO like sports, but not high school or college sports & that's what it makes me think of. I wish it'd been a little more "We Are The Champions" lyrically & musically.

I don't think any of the songs of the album are bad, per se, but I agree with the others that "Inactive" is my least favorite among the parodies - interesting how my least favorite parody original ("Blurred Lines") has resulted in my favorite parody ("Word Crimes"), while my favorite parody original ("Radioactive") has resulted in my least favorite parody. The odd production that failed to recapture the massive sound of Imagine Dragons' original, combined with old hat lyrics, all adds up to a parody that is, well, unimaginative. The other parodies all rise above the originals, but not this one.

As for originals, "Sports Song" and "Mission Statement" both failed to grab me on first listen, probably because as a rule I tend to prefer heavier rock. Both songs are growing on me, but as originals go, they're still probably my least favorites.

Lauren27 wrote:Least favorite... My Own Eyes. I chuckled the first time, but I don't even feel like making the effort to learn the words to sing along.

Runner up: Tie between Sports Song & Inactive. Inactive reminds me of Germs, which I'm also not overly fond of. And Sports Song... I DO like sports, but not high school or college sports & that's what it makes me think of. I wish it'd been a little more "We Are The Champions" lyrically & musically.

I love Germs. Oh well, every one has different tastes.

Mine is probably Jackson Park Express.I liked where he was going with it for a while,but it's one of those few times where I felt the lyrics went a little too far into "disturbing" territory.It could've probably benefited from being shorter.