Weird Al: Musician or Novelty Act?

[Lumenskir]

I got into this weird discussion with my friend about Weird Al after he found out that I had been to a concert of his.

He basically claims that to call Weird Al a musician and what he makes music would be wrong, since his work is just simple parodies. I countered that I'd consider movies like Blazing Saddles and Airplane! to be both movies and parodies, but he made the claim that those movies were humorous deconstructions of genres, while Weird Al is comparable to Epic Movie and it's ilk, a piece of something presented as something funny solely because it triggers remembrance.

The conversation trailed off from there, but I thought it was interesting enough to present before NPF. Should Weird Al be thought of as a 'musician', or are his offerings merely intended to be the aural equivalent of a simple pleasure?

[Krylo]

Weird Al has done music of his own that isn't parodying anything. Like "The Good Old Days".

It's also some of his best stuff.

So yeah, he's a musician.

[POS Industries]

A musician is, by definition, a person who plays music.

Also, all musicians are novelty acts.

[R|Я]

Weird Al has done music of his own that isn't parodying anything. Like "The Good Old Days".

It's also some of his best stuff.
I like "Everything you know is wrong."

And hey, what's with the negative connotation for novelty act? Even if he is, there are still "real musicians" way less talented than him.

EDIT: Also like to point out the ad up top, now changed by google's spiders into a way more kickass one (at least mine was).

[Fifthfiend]

Yankovich decontextualizes the overwrought emotionalism of modern pop music to throw back its curtain of pretense and stand it revealed as nothing more than socially constructed artifice while at the same time lyrically deconstructing the absurdism of the modernist facade of musical consumerism itself.

Not an artist? He is the only artist!

[R|Я]

I bet you ripped that off like allmusic.com or something.

[Fifthfiend]

Suck it! (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=ymc&q=Yankovich+decontextualizes+the+overwrought+emoti onalism+of+modern+pop+music+to+throw+back+its+curt ain+of+pretense+and+reveal+it+as+a+socially+constr ucted+artifice+while+at+the+same+time+lyrically+de constructing+the+absurdism+of+the+modernist+facade +of+musical+consumerism+itself+site%3Aallmusic.com&btnG=Search)

[The SSB Intern]

Weird Al is an artist. Well kinda. I mean he's good at what he does.

I bet you ripped that off like allmusic.com or something.
What are blathering about? Fifthfiend always talks like that.

[Satan's Onion]

Not only is he a musician, he and his band are damned good musicians, and (I suspect) rather underrated. The parodies, particularly nowadays, are almost note-perfect recreations of the original songs with new lyrics; the original songs (about half of his musical catalogue, by the way, is made up of original compositions) cover an astonishingly wide range of musical styles, and usually cover them very well.

Also, Fifth (and anyone else): It's "Yankovic", no h. You don't pronounce it with an h, you don't spell it with an h. There is no h in "Yankovic".

[Fifthfiend]

I actually misspelled The Only Artist's name.

My shame knows no bounds.

[Krylo]

You, sir, fail at the internet.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

A little of column A & a little of column B. He has talent & abilities of his own, but if you've ever been to one of his concerts, you'd have to admit that his shows are a bit different than most musicians.

Showing up in Jedi robes when singing the Yoda song, fer example.

Kevin

[shiney]

That's just showmanship though. Doesn't make him a novelty act, something to be chuckled at lightly and dismissed...it's just him kind of going a little further for his fans than most artists do.

More aptly if you ask me, I'd consider him a musician first and a comedian second. His parodies are usually quite humorous, he's a generally funny individual and he works lines and displays into his songs and shows to make people laugh. It works, too.

[CelesJessa]

That's just showmanship though. Doesn't make him a novelty act, something to be chuckled at lightly and dismissed...it's just him kind of going a little further for his fans than most artists do.
And it's insanely entertaining too. It's not like other musicians don't do extreme stuff when they're on stage. (the backstreet boys started their concert by riding "hover-boards" into the auditorium to the stage in the middle of the room. *cough* not that I've ever been to a Backstreet Boy's concert) and the Thunder Drums of Japan were fantastic musicians, but almost 70% of their show was just showmanship, because it gets boring just watching people playing instruments. Doesn't make them lesser musicians.


Mostly I'd just echo what everyone else has said, but in my opinion, Weird Al is definitely a musician. Many popular artists do cover albums where they are singing the exact same song that someone else already sang, Weird Al just changes the words (and more often then not, makes them better)

And he does have a lot of original stuff, despite his main focus on parodies. (and a lot of it is some of his best stuff)

He's just a little eccentric, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Aerozord]

Personally I dont see how novelty act and musician are mutually exclusive. He writes songs, sings, ect. Just because they are based on someone elses work doesn't disqualify him from the status of musician. There are alot of tribute bands that outright rip off an existing group and they would still be musicians.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

Yankovich decontextualizes the overwrought emotionalism of modern pop music to throw back its curtain of pretense and stand it revealed as nothing more than socially constructed artifice while at the same time lyrically deconstructing the absurdism of the modernist facade of musical consumerism itself.

Not an artist? He is the only artist!

This makes no sense as a modernist facade could not be deconstructed because it is so inherentely rooted to the author that using the tools of deconstruction would create nonsense. I mean that was part of the point of modernism.
And I would like to know how we can create music that isn't social artifice.

And if I accept Wierd Al I probably also have to accept Vanilla Ice and I'm not willing to plumb those depths.

[Frostatine]

I'm learning about music in arts and humanities class right now and as I've been taught there are three types of music: Music to remind you of something, music to commemorate something, or background music.

Just because music reminds you of other music doesn't mean it isn't music.

[Mesden]

Well some would say that his parodies only differ in lyrics, so he doesn't actually make music -- he'd just be a lyricist that ganks other people's musical compositions.

This isn't in any way true as he has quite frequently made his own music and his own lyrics and he expands former compositions in his parodies to make things flow better.

So yeah he's a musician moving on.

[Lady Cygnet]

That's just showmanship though. Doesn't make him a novelty act, something to be chuckled at lightly and dismissed...it's just him kind of going a little further for his fans than most artists do.

No kidding. David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, and Erasure are just a few examples of musicians who have gone above and beyond to give the fans a good show at their concerts.

As for the rest, Weird Al can play several musical instruments (even the commodophone), and he can emulate multiple vocal styles, from rap to rock to doo-wop to country and western. He's also got a nice range, as anyone who has ever heard "Beverly Hillbillies" AND "Truck Drivin' Song" can attest.

It's one thing to be able to parody a song--it is quite another to be able to parody a song as well as Weird Al has over the past 28 years. In addition, if you've never listened to his original songs, you're really missing out. "Pac-Man" is still one of my favorite songs of all time.

[Mesden]

Another one rides the bus, quack quack.

[Telephalsion]

Showing up in Jedi robes when singing the Yoda song, fer example.

He's not the only Musician to have dressed up for a song.
Bruce Dickinson came out waving a British flag and wearing a red uniform during "The Trooper" for one.

On another note, Wierd Al is a musician, hands down. Plus, the fact that his remixed are, more often than not, at least slightly better than the original, makes Wierd Eye just plain awesome.

[Mondt]

The band "The Locust (http://youtube.com/watch?v=5m9kySb_M58&feature=related)" shows up in Locust customes.

But I mean that might be a bad example.

[Aerozord]

I have respect for any group that plays multiple genres, one of the reasons I like They Might Be Giants and The Seatbelts, says something about their focus on music as opposed to catering to a particular group of people. Atleast thats my opinion

[Satan's Onion]

...In addition, if you've never listened to his original songs, you're really missing out. "Pac-Man" is still one of my favorite songs of all time.

Are you sure "Pac-Man" is his? I don't mean to cast aspersions on you (maybe it's a concert standard of his--I've only seen him in concert once); it's just a lot of things get attributed to Al that aren't actually his work, especially on the internet, so I've been told that if it's not on his discography page here (http://www.weirdal.com/catalog.htm), it's not his.

[Lord of Joshelplex]

Hes definitely an artist. If he had no parodies, hes still have great songs like "Party it the Leper Colony" or "Why Does this Always Happen to me?"

[Melfice]

Are you sure "Pac-Man" is his? I don't mean to cast aspersions on you (maybe it's a concert standard of his--I've only seen him in concert once); it's just a lot of things get attributed to Al that aren't actually his work, especially on the internet, so I've been told that if it's not on his discography page here (http://www.weirdal.com/catalog.htm), it's not his.

An even better page is over here (http://free.house.cx/~eil/etc/notal.html).
It even tries to list who DID sing that song.

[POS Industries]

The internet tried to credit Weird Al with Uncle Fucker? Really? Really?

[shiney]

Let's not forget the awesome of the Hardware Store!

[PraetorZorak]

Let's not forget the awesome of the Hardware Store!


Indeed. (http://stansellseverything.ytmnd.com/)