tomatochives wrote:I think the title is starting to grow on me. But it would work a lot better if the cover had some more wackiness to it. For example, the soldiers could be holding water guns instead of rifles... Or the tank could have a teddy bear driving it... Or the badges on Al's uniform could resemble pieces of candy... Or instead of planes, there could be pigs flying...
ET CETERA
Reading this post was like nails on a chalkboard for me, so I had to share a few thoughts.
I realize completely that explaining a joke guarantees it won't be funny anymore, so I don't know why I'm doing this but here goes:
Weird Al has a bad reputation in modern pop culture. He always has been seen as a novelty act; we know this, and it is grating on the soul of every Weird Al fan to hear people say it.
Having some kind of extra humor on top of this cover art would be playing exactly into that trap. Non-hardcore fans would roll their eyes and think "there goes that nutty, zany, and trivial Weird Al again". However, in the last ten years or so the tide has somewhat shifted, and I believe Al realizes this. That is why the last few album covers have been remarkably different than the previous ones. The trend now seems toward ironic juxtaposition rather than overtly silly/goofy imagery. Both of those types of humor have been in Al's wheelhouse his entire career. I've always preferred the former to the latter.
The cover art of Dare To Be Stupid is the type of cover art that people have come to expect. Now we are getting more subtle cover art, like SOL and MF. In my opinion, the Mandatory Fun cover art is most similar to the SOL cover art. The ironic juxtaposition of "Weird Al" Yankovic posing similarly to a gangsta rapper of the mid-00's is intrinsically funny. It does not need to be enhanced by a tutu or flying pigs. The difference, I think, is that Al is more self-aware at this stage of his career than he was in the 80's. He knows what the public image is, and the last few albums play off of this. The zany, silly, goofy Weird Al... as a gangsta rapper. The kooky, nutty Weird Al... as a fascist dictator. Leading an army to enforce mandatory fun amongst his people. That itself is funny.
Additionally, I think Al is poking fun not only at himself but also at self-serious musicians, something that has always been an integral part of his work. For example, imagine an artist like John Mayer or Jack White posing for an album cover like Mandatory Fun. Or any of the
actual rappers who have done album covers very similar to Straight Outta Lynwood's. Like it or not, the idea of a white, middle-aged nerdy man most known for playing accordion-based song parodies is intrinsically funny in those contexts, justified or not. Al is playing with his own self-image, in addition to the pop culture that he's mocking. This type of ironic juxtaposition humor has always been crucial to what Al does - serious song lyrics set to polka music, a song about Craigslist set to The Doors. This album cover is more in the vein of that style of humor than, say, the You're Pitiful costume.
tomatochives wrote:That's just my opinion.
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I couldn't tell a dirt clod from a plate of caviar.
