If there were a new Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic...

[drewdy9999]

What songs since the last one would you add to it? I'm not saying there needs to be another compilation album, but I think it'd be fun to talk about what should be included from (mostly, but not strictly) Alpocalypse and Mandatory Fun that's considered 'essential' to experiencing Al's discography.

Here's the current tracklist from the Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic:

(Disc 1)
1. Another One Rides the Bus
2. Polkas on 45
3. Eat It
4. I Lost on Jeopardy
5. Yoda
6. One More Minute
7. Like a Surgeon
8. Dare to Be Stupid
9. Dog Eat Dog
10. Lasagna
11. Melanie
12. Fat
13. UHF (single version)
14. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota
15. Trigger Happy
16. Smells Like Nirvana
17. You Don't Love Me Anymore
18. Bedrock Anthem
19. Frank's 2000" TV
20. Jurassic Park

(Disc Two)
1. Since You've Been Gone
2. Amish Paradise
3. Gump
4. Everything You Know Is Wrong
5. The Night Santa Went Crazy (extra gory version)
6. Your Horoscope for Today
7. It's All About the Pentiums
8. The Saga Begins
9. Albuquerque
10. eBay
11. Bob
12. Hardware Store
13. I'll Sue Ya
14. Canadian Idiot
15. Pancreas
16. Don't Download This Song
17. White & Nerdy
18. Trapped in the Drive-Thru

and the 3.0 edition added these...

(Disc 3)
1. Ricky
2. Midnight Star
3. Living with a Hernia
4. Good Old Days
5. Wanna B Ur Lovr
6. Genius in France

So as you can see, anywhere from 1-6 songs per studio album was featured. Following that pattern, here would be my picks for new additions -

1. Skipper Dan - really rockin' pseudo-Weezer original that doesn't sound too much like anything else in Al's career. It's got one humorous overarching theme, really reminds me of Frank's 2000" TV in terms of humor.
2. Party in the CIA - one of the most popular parodies from Alpocalypse, still being performed live. Funny, sounds great and represents Al covering Miley Cyrus, who seems to be here to stay... at least for a while.
3. Perform This Way - Lady Gaga was absolutely huge for many years, and has only slightly dwindled in popularity... this song lampooned her at just the right time, much like Smells Like Nirvana. Also a unique-sounding song for Al
4. Craigslist - Like Dare to Be Stupid and Bob, this song absolutely nails The Doors' laid-back rock style, again nothing really like it in Al's career
5. Word Crimes - literally the most popular parody off of MF, and an absolutely genius one. Addresses a pet peeve I think most people on the Internet can relate to, and in such a hilarious, relentless way.
6. Mission Statement - See Craigslist, but CSNY instead of The Doors
7. Foil - Really Al's only food-related parody in the last decade, made even greater by the second-verse twist that it's not a food-related parody.
8. First World Problems - had a tough time choosing between this and Jackson Park Express, but went with FWP because of its hard rock Pixies vibe and because there are already great twisted love songs on the compilation.
9. Now That's What I Call Polka! - Polkas on 45 is featured as Al's first polka medley, and NTWICP will most likely (unfortunately) be his last. But it's probably his best one - there's just SO much energy and the songs flow perfectly!
10. Tacky - An amazing satire of modern culture, and with how much fun Al seems to have performing it live, it certainly has staying power. Plus it's SO catchy!

The order I put these in is somewhat based on when the original versions of the parodies released, but also on how well the songs flow into one another. What do you think? What would be your choices?

[Heds]

I would at least like to see all 14 tracks from MF. They can never be forgotten.

[Killingsworth]

Glad I'm not the only one who had been thinking about this. If Sony had waited to release the Essential 3.0 collection until AFTER MF and Alpocalypsee had been released and the third disc was just songs from those last two albums, these are the songs that I think he would've included based on their sheer popularity and what types of his own songs Al seems to be most fond of (keeping in mind that he would be picking the songs and that he is proud of songs with lots of big production value). Also, these Essentials discs would be filled to "near capacity" as AL would say so I tried to include as many songs as I reasonably could to fill out the third disc

1. Perform This Way
2. Party In The CIA
3. Skipper Dan
4. CNR
5. Craigslist
6. Whatever You Like
7. Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me
8. Mission Statement
9. Sports Song
10. Lame Claim To Fame
11. First World Problems
12. Foil
13. Word Crimes
14. Tacky
15. Jackson Park Express

[anthontherun]

I will try to tackle this this weekend, but I think the more interesting challenge would be to keep it to two discs and see what songs people would remove in order to add Alpocalypse/MF tracks.

[Big Spoon]

There were far too many songs from Straight Outta Lynwood on it. So definitely a few of those at least.

[Yankomaniac]

Sports Song is anything but an essential Al cut.

[Big Spoon]

Hey! You're messing with Sports Song, you're messing with me.

[yankochick38]

Boooooo Sports Song rules!!!!!!!

[Killingsworth]

Sports Song is anything but an essential Al cut.

My rationale for thinking AL himself might include it as an "essential" cut...

1. It's a song with quite a bit of production value to it (in a similar vein as DDTS, Albuquerque, Genius In France which were all included in the essentialsame as AL professed to liking them)

2. AL had admitted before we even heard it that he write it with the intent to perform it at the Super Bowl halftime show (should he get the chance by some inconceivable miracle)

3. It was the first original video released as part of #8Videos8Days

[Yankomaniac]

I knew you'd mention points 1 and 3. Good points sure, it still isn't in any way an essential track. Just because I'm saying this does not mean I have anything against it. I can guarantee we will never see Al put it in any type of essential compilation, specially when considering the other tracks on MF. MANY other tracks have amazing production value, all their stuff does, but they can't all break the essential barrier. I think Let Me Be Your Hog is one of the coolest tracks in the book, but that wouldn't be making it to an essential compilation for one simple reason, it is not essential.