Tacky Video Thread

[Beepela]

I agree. Fancy is a horrible song (if you can even call it a song) that I had never heard of until it was reported that Al was parodying it. I looked it up, and I couldn't even get through the whole thing. Man! I am worried! I used to be so in touch with current music, and then I turned 30! I didn't think I was that out of it, but I guess I am no longer even remotely cool. Will I know ANY of the stuff he is drawing from for this album? Luckily, all of Al's songs are awesome and hilarious, even without knowing the original songs he is parodying.

[yankochick38]

Wow okay you guys first off, Fancy is great and second, not knowing pop music is not "cool" or whatever it's lame because pop music is always around
How can you be a proper Weird Al fan if you don't know pop music? I will never understand
Also stop hating on Fancy it is magnificent I cannot wait for this video/parody

[Mystik Tomato]

I hate all music except for Weird Al. He's the only musician that I'll ever listen to. Every single song that he's parodied has been terrible and it still is terrible unless he parodies it and then it's great.

I can't even listen to the instrumentals of his parodies because they sound so much similar to the original and that means it's terrible.

[spmahn]

Wow okay you guys first off, Fancy is great and second, not knowing pop music is not "cool" or whatever it's lame because pop music is always around
How can you be a proper Weird Al fan if you don't know pop music? I will never understand
Also stop hating on Fancy it is magnificent I cannot wait for this video/parody

"proper Weird Al fan"? Give me a break. Anyways, this Fancy song is just an otherwise talentless Australian girl rapping at machine gun pace and having her voice run through auto tune.

[Kevbo1987]

I don't hate all pop music by any stretch, but there is definitely some I don't care for at all. I've never been a fan of rap, and anything by either Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber makes my skin crawl. I try to keep up with pop music as much as I can, and I'll usually do some research if I'm not familiar with an artist and/or song Al is targeting.

I'm not sure what a "proper" Al fan is, but I think Al's parodies are designed to be funny regardless of whether the listener is familiar with the source material. While I think it is difficult to have a full appreciation of an Al parody without knowing the original song, you can certainly still enjoy it.

[Grom]

"Sorry everyone but your opinion is wrong. You're not a true fan." No wonder I stopped coming here.

[Skippy]

How can you be a proper Weird Al fan if you don't know pop music? I will never understand

Yes you will.

[Mystik Tomato]

Not a True Scotsman, y'know?

God, both sides of this argument are silly.

"I ignore most aspects of popular culture, despite the fact that the person I'm a fan of needs that popular culture to exist"

"If you don't listen to popular music, you're not a true fan and that somehow makes your opinion of shitty music wrong"

[TMBJon]

"I ignore most aspects of popular culture, despite the fact that the person I'm a fan of needs that popular culture to exist"

"If you don't listen to popular music, you're not a true fan and that somehow makes your opinion of shitty music wrong"

So glad to see you back here, Chris! I've missed your voice of reason.

I agree there is a middle ground here which is a more rational approach. When I first started listening to Weird Al, it was right before Bad Hair Day came out. When I got that album, I realized I still didn't know most of the subject matter. So I vowed that summer to start watching MTV constantly so I would be 100% familiar with the next album's parody targets. (A few years later, MTV stopped playing music videos altogether.)

Obviously terms like "true fan" and "have to" have no place in this discussion. Having said that, I do think you should at least be vaguely familiar with the source material in order to fully appreciate a Weird Al parody. That does not mean you have to actually be a fan of every pop artist, but I have tried to make a habit in the 18 years since BHD came out to have a working knowledge of as many Top 40 hits as possible, so as to be ready for when the parodies come.
This has meant that in addition to discovering cool new bands, I occasionally also listen to terrible music like Justin Bieber and One Direction. In my opinion, that comes with the territory of being a Weird Al fan. If Al has to listen to all that crap, we should do the same. If you don't, hey, cool! I hope you enjoy the parodies all the same. But let's get real here - by definition, a parody is funnier if you know the source material first. I hope everyone will at least listen to the targets once or twice once we know what they are. And don't forget that you can always listen to a shitty music act for "research purposes"!

[minnick27]

I listen to talk radio and classic rock and country. My 9 year old is into pop so Ive been hearing it alot more, but previously I would listen to whatever people on here would think is a good target to get myself acquainted with the songs. Because I dont listen to pop doesnt change my enjoyment of the songs. If it funny then its funny regardless. I had never and still have not heard Whatever You Like. Does that mean i cant appreciate Als version? No. If I didnt know it was a parody I would just assume its an original