World of Weird Al Yankovic

ergalthema wrote:
FWIW, it's more than Jim - you can hear Al sing "or I'm gonna have to blow you away". But yeah, this seems to use clips from various time periods.

I didn't even hear that the first time around. You guys are 100% correct. It's Trigger Happy

In light of the endless mass murders we live with, Trigger Happy now makes me feel sick.
There's no way that it's funny anymore.

I'm having trouble sleeping knowing that we're vulnerable to murder any day any where. Children are dying.
I'm going to Al's concert to relax and forget about it all for a while, please don't play it.

People who are over sensitive, perhaps should not attend concerts. Trigger Happy all the way!! Glad Al isn't playing in to all this sensitivity crap, it's not like the Fat people cared over the years. Do the diabetics care when he did Eat It? The Amish? It is a Weird Al concert, should be a sign that says check your sensitivity at the door. Unfortunately murder and shootings will happen every day, weather or not Al plays a song he wrote in 1992 that many die-hards are dying to hear. Them playing or not playing it will not change the world in any way. It would almost be the same as Albuquerque, is it ok to cut off someone's arms and legs with a chainsaw? Take it for what it is, funny, hilarious, catchy, hooky rock and roll. No need to be too serious about anything at the Weird Al concert, good grief.

Yankomaniac wrote:People who are over sensitive, perhaps should not attend concerts. Trigger Happy all the way!! Glad Al isn't playing in to all this sensitivity crap, it's not like the Fat people cared over the years. Do the diabetics care when he did Eat It? The Amish? It is a Weird Al concert, should be a sign that says check your sensitivity at the door. Unfortunately murder and shootings will happen every day, weather or not Al plays a song he wrote in 1992 that many die-hards are dying to hear. Them playing or not playing it will not change the world in any way. It would almost be the same as Albuquerque, is it ok to cut off someone's arms and legs with a chainsaw? Take it for what it is, funny, hilarious, catchy, hooky rock and roll. No need to be too serious about anything at the Weird Al concert, good grief.

I wish this site had a broken heart emoji, for all of the children who have died from someone who was trigger happy.

Concerts are a place where one can put themselves in a different environment than the real world. Al pokes fun at anything and everything, it is a truly terrible world we live in right now and this is a sensitive subject, I am in no way shape or form saying forget about it. This forum and the music of Weird Al is not meant to be taken literally like that. This band has all sorts of morbid lyrics as metal bands do. It is not like anybody believes zombies are going to rip out of our bodies like a Cannibal Corpse song. Al's music especially takes on a different world of silliness like where the point I'm trying to make here is it is all in good fun. The song Trigger Happy is mostly poking fun at people having the right to own guns for their protection and accidents that could occur in the funniest of ways. Beach Boys inspired masterpiece which showcases Al's wit for humor and jokes and Steve's amazing bass work, Jim's unbelievable guitar fills, the backup vocals. It is a musical masterpiece which a lot of us fans have been listening to since we were small children so to hear it Live finally is a big deal. So all I'm saying is never to really mix Al's music with reality or let it interfere with the amazing time your having. Reality and music really shouldn't be compared like that especially with this band. You will have to place yourself in 1992 for that time in the show, everybody who actually got to be alive then will feel like it is '92 again, and that will be an amazing experience for them!

I'm normally in the "jokes can be made about anything, nothing is off limits" camp, but I'd really prefer it if Al and the band don't play Trigger Happy, at least for a bit. Considering all the gun violence going on (17 people just died for christ's sake) and all the anger and debate over what's going on, I don't feel like it'd be in Al's wheelhouse to perform the song for the time being.

This is a Weird Al concert, not an episode of South Park.

As much as I love that song, and think it would sound awesome live, I have no idea how he will be able to pull it off. Not musically, but like, how will he introduce it? How will he not make half the audience upset? He always tries to stray away from taking a political stance, and this song (even if he is joking) kind of makes a statement. If he doesn't preface it by saying it's a joke, the anti-gun people will be angry. If he prefaces it by saying it is a joke, the pro-gun people will be angry. There is really no win in this scenario.

My guess is that rehearsal clip we heard was from a little while back, so maybe plans have changed since the tragedy in Parkland

To answer MuppetBoys' question, I believe someone posted on this forum a while back (I think it was TMBJon, actually) about how Al did a charity benefit for the ACLU a year ago. IIRC, it was reported that Al and the band played their cover of "Close To You" which they opened by saying it was dedicated to Donald Trump. After they finished performing this song Al said "Oh BTW, in case you couldn't tell...I was being REALLY sarcastic!"

I doubt Al is planning to actually play Trigger Happy this early on in the tour (certainly not two days from now or anything) but on the off chance that he is, I'd think MAYBE OPENING the song by saying "I'm being REALLY sarcastic here" like he did at the ACLU benefit could be the most effective way to get across that the song is pro gun control and anti 2A fanatic while upsetting the fewest amount of people in the room.

I'm not saying that Al should definitely do this or anything, I'm just saying it's the only way I could see him doing this if (and again, this is another pretty big IF here unless Al can read the room particularly well) he wanted to play Trigger Happy at this point in the tour without bringing an entire concert to a screeching halt.

I think it's always important to consider who's the butt of the joke when regarding satire of sensitive subjects. Trigger Happy pokes fun at gun owners, not gun victims. It's not any more distasteful to play it now than it was in the 90s; if anything, its message is more relevant now than ever. Did Foster the People stop playing Pumped Up Kicks following mass shootings to be more sensitive? Of course not; Pumped Up Kicks was always intended to address the issue at face value. I'm not saying that Trigger Happy was written in the same climate or even for the same reasons, but nonetheless it conveys a timeless message inside of its humor, and I hope it's not taken out of consideration to be played in this tour.

I'd like to thank everyone for their imput in regards to my comment.
I live in CT, and a few years ago my husband and I met a man who was a teacher at Sandy Hook during the shooting. He told us in heartwrentching detail the horror of that day, yet I could still listen to Trigger Happy and enjoy it.
But now, all these years later and all these mass shootings later, I find the song makes me feel physically sick.
It's become too much for me, Las Vegas, Orlando, and so many that are too common place to make big news anymore.
This last one, in Florida broke me. We want kids, but now I don't know.
I'm living for the concerts I've bought tickets for, to cheer me up, but I honestly don't know if I could emotionally handle joking about someone being Trigger Happy.