World of Weird Al Yankovic

Everything with Mandatory Fun has been moving pretty fast--in fact, we're less than four weeks away from its release. Unlike last time, where we'd heard half the tracks ahead of time, we know very little about this album. It's pretty easy to deduce that the lead parody will be of an Iggy Azalea song ("Fancy" seems like a safe enough bet, but even that is just speculation at this point), and we have some hints about an epic song, a Super Bowl halftime performance song, and a pastiche of a 90s band that Patton Oswalt likes. We've seen some behind-the-scenes peeks at some of the videos we can expect, but we have nary a song title to go by. Compare that to SOL, where weirdal.com revealed the parody targets a month-and-a-half in advance.

At this point, the release date is so close that I have to wonder how many spoilers are even necessary. Could it actually be more enjoyable to go into an album completely blind? How much info is just the right amount to enhance the anticipation without neutralizing our excitement for July 15?

The poll options were off the top of my head, and I don't consider it an exhaustive list by any means, so if you have any suggestions to add, go ahead.

For me right now, I'd have a hard time resisting listening to the lead parody, especially if there's a video attached to it. (Although if the video debuts on The View on July 15, that could solve that problem.) I think I want to know the parody targets and song titles, but honestly, the closer it gets, the more intrigued I am by the possibility of not knowing what to expect, besides the Iggy parody.

I decided to go with parody targets and polka targets. As much as I'd love to see the complete track list, the song titles don't necessarily help determine who the style parody targets are.

I picked parody targets, song titles, artwork & hearing the lead single. I feel like knowing the polka targets kind of deflates that first listen a little bit, and there's no way I'm looking at lyrics. If the whole thing was out there to listen to, I probably would, but I'd prefer if it wasn't.

I voted parody and polka targets, song titles, and hearing the lead single. Just because I can't wait for any of these any longer! xD

I picked parody targets, song titles, and listen to lead single.

I'd like to the know the targets because on every new album I've been around for at release, there were usually at least a couple songs I had almost NO familiarity with. I've gotten better at keeping up on popular music since Poodle Hat (the first new album released since becoming a fan), but all-in-all you can't always be 100 percent right on guessing which songs are targeted.

I picked song titles, but I do kind of have some mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, this very well may be the last full album released before Al moves on to his next plan for his music..and every time a new album has come out, I've basically eaten up every single spoiler available, so in some ways, I feel it would be a real nice refreshing chance to get the album and find out the tracks then. But still, seeing as how the track list will almost definitely be public before it is released, I have a hard time believing I will make it from then until the release without taking a peak at them.

And as for listening to the lead parody ahead of time, it is only one song and it would really give me a boost at anticipating the rest of the album. Plus, I've listened to Fancy so many times at this point, I'm ready to swap the lyrics I've memorized of Iggy's rendition over for some actual enjoyable lyrics from Al's version.

In all seriousness, my BIGGEST hope is that I can resist listening to the rest of the album once (or IF) it leaks. On Poodle Hat, I listened and downloaded every single new song when it leaked. With SOL, I listened to half of the leaked songs. On Alpocalypse, I listened to all the remaining unreleased songs..We'll see what happens I guess.

I went with song titles because it's fun to guess the original song based on the parody title. Songs like "Party in the CIA" "Canadian Idiot" "Whatever You Like" and so on are easy to tell what it's a parody of but sometimes it's kinda tricky like with "Another Tattoo" "TMZ" or Couch Potato" so I think at very least knowing the titles of the songs only is a fun, exciting anticipating way to look forward to the album. That way when you hit play and the songs start for the first time you can say "YES! I knew it!'

I went with the parody targets, the polka targets, and the song titles. I'd like to get to know the originals ahead of time that I haven't already heard. I also always love trying to come up with melodies for the other originals in my head before hearing the song. None of them have ever even come close, but it's still enjoyable.

But honestly, even if Al does decide to release a song before the full album, I might just wait for the full release at this point, like I did when DDTS was leaked before SOL.

Bring on the internet leaks man.

I picked parody targets/song titles. I'd like to study up on the original songs and speculate what song titles are about what, but other than that I'm pretty excited about everything being brand new on July 15!!!!!!!!!!!

LovelySortsOfDeath wrote:Bring on the internet leaks man.

Jace, you've always intrigued me with your disposition towards spoilers and leaks.
On the one hand, music is music, so the first time you get to hear it shouldn't affect the quality of the song in the end..
But, I know at least for a large handful of the members on here, they like to view an album's release as one big package that must be enjoyed in its entirety rather than incrementally.

What's your reasoning that puts you at the inclination of enjoying whatever happens to be released at the moment, rather than one as one big package?