As a kid growing up I would hear a lot of parodies before the original songs, and 99% of the time they came from Weird Al.
From Eat It (off of Michael Jackson’s Beat It) to Amish Paradise (Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio) and White & Nerdy (Ridin’ by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone) to Like A Surgeon (Madonna’s Like A Virgin) Weird Al Yankovic always had great lyrics and turned great songs (or in most cases, really annoying ones) into awesome remakes.
Well after a three year break, Weird Al is back with Mandatory Fun(iTunes/Amazon), featuring twelve new songs (full list <and their reciprocating “real songs” below>), with twists on today’s hottest hits.
Now on one hand I’ve finally been able to get “Happy” out of my head…but it has now been replaced with “Tacky”…but if that’s my biggest issue with this album (and I haven’t heard them all yet), then I would say Weird Al is back, and maybe better than ever.
Weird Al has announced that each day (I believe for the first eight days after the album came out (July 15)) he will release a new music video from this album. (Some of which will be posted on the bottom of this post (if they are deemed worthy) and as such this post may be updated in the next few days.)
Song List (Original):
- Handy (Fancy by Iggy Azalea <feat. Charli XCX>)
- Lame Claim to Fame
- Foil (Royals by Lorde)
- Sports Song
- Word Crimes (Blurred Line by Robin Thicke <feat. T.I. and Pharell Williams>)
- My Own Eyes (Foo Fighters parody)
- NOW That’s What I Call Polka (Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus/Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People/Best Song Ever by One Direction/Gangnam Style by Psy/Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen/Scream & Shout by will.i.am <feat. Britney Spears>/Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotya/Timber by Pitbull <feat. Ke$ha>/Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO/Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/Get Lucky by Daft Punk <feat. Pharell Williams>)
- Mission Statement (Crosby, Stills & Nash parody)
- Inactive (Radioactive by Imagine Dragons)
- First World Problems
- Tacky (Happy by Pharell Williams)
- Jackson Park Express (Cat Stevens parody)
Aviously 