Weird Al and parodies- a question of copyright

xpost haha

2 Live Crew's Pretty Woman vs. Roy Orbison's

http://www.benedict.com/Audio/crew/crew.aspx

Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. is probably the seminal case for the modern application of the fair use doctrine. After years of neglect languishing in the back waters of intellectual property, the fair use doctrine received the spotlight from the Supreme Court in 1994. The lightning rod was 2 Live Crew (no stranger to Constitutional controversy) and their allegedly parodic use of the "Pretty Woman" song.

One of the critical factors that the court looked at was whether or not the 2 Live Crew version was likely to dilute the market for the original Orbison version. The court seemed to think that the buying audiences for each version were substantively different. Do you think the following songs are targeted at different audiences?

In 1964, Roy Orbison and William Dees wrote a rock ballad called "Oh, Pretty Woman", about the same time that the Chiffons were swinging with "He's So Fine". In July of 1989, the rap group 2 Live Crew released the album "As Clean As They Wanna Be", containing a collection of their songs that don't contain the amount of profanity and obscenity normally associated with a 2 Live Crew album. One of these clean songs is "Pretty Woman". With this song, 2 Live Crew basically took the distinctive bass riff from the original Orbison song and changed the lyrics in true Crew style. Orbison and Dees are credited on the Crew album. Although the music is certainly identifiable as the original Orbison song, it is not unchanged. Also in true Crew style, the music contains interposed scraper noises, overlays of solos in different keys, and an altered drum beat.

Coincidentally, shortly after the 2 Live Crew version came out, the motion picture "Pretty Woman" was released. Interestingly, the soundtrack featured the Roy Orbison version of the song, but the movie took the 2 Live Crew version of the title. Consequently, the movie producers were required to license the Orbison version of the song, but since titles cannot be copyrighted, the producers would not be liable to either Orbison or 2 Live Crew for the use of the title "Pretty Woman" for the title of the movie.

Also of interest is the fact that the movie poster for the film itself became a source of sampling controversy. As may or may not be obvious from the picture in the header above, the face belongs to the star Julia Roberts, but the body belongs to a nameless body double. With the widespread use of Photoshop and other digital manipulators, photographs can longer be considered integrated unique works. In the above case, getting a release from Richard Gere and Julia Roberts may not be sufficient protection for commercial republication without the additional release from the body double.

In looking at 2 Live Crew's use of the "Pretty Woman" song, the Supreme Court successfully looked past the previous fair use decisions which basically stated that any commercial use was presumptively infringement.

"in truth, in literature, in science and in art, there are, and can be, few, if any, things, which in an abstract sense, are strictly new and original throughout. Every book in literature, science and art, borrows, and must necessarily borrow, and use much which was well known and used before."
Emerson v. Davies,8 F.Cas. 615, 619 (No. 4,436) (CCD Mass. 1845)

As notable for its appearance in fair use cases as for its use of commas, the opinion set forth in Emerson was used as an anchor by the court to the return to the original precepts of the framers of the Constitution.

"look to the nature and objects of the selections made, the quantity and value of the materials used, and the degree in which the use may prejudice the sale, or diminish the profits, or supercede the objects, of the original work."
Folsom v. Marsh, 9 F.Cas. 342, 348 (No. 4,901) (CCD Mass. 1841)

Most importantly, the court went back and gave full weight to each of the individual factors of the fair use test as promulgated in the Copyright Act of 1976. Instead of dismissing the Crew's claim on the basis that they had used the appropriated material for commercial gain, the court looked at the other factors of permissible fair use and determined that parody was indeed protected fair use, even though the perpetrators gained financially .

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/04/weird_al_lady_gaga_perform_this_way.php

I had my manager contact Lady Gaga's manager to see if she would okay the parody. Here was the exact pitch:

I'd like to do a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" called "I Perform This Way." The basic concept is that I, as a Lady Gaga doppelganger of sorts, describe the incredibly extravagant ways in which I perform on stage. Meat dresses and giant eggs would most likely be referenced, but also much more ridiculous made-up examples of bizarre wardrobe and stage production. As with all my parodies, it would be respectful of the artist, while having a bit of fun with her larger-than-life image.

I hadn't written a single line of the song at this point, but that was the concept I had in my head. Because of my 30-year track record, most artists know that my songs are all in good fun and they're more than happy to approve a parody just based on the concept alone.

We eventually got a response from the Gaga camp: she would need to "hear it" before she would approve it.

Okay, I thought, she wants to know exactly what the lyrics are going to be before she signs off on the parody. Some artists just are a bit more protective of their material and don't want to take any chances. Fair enough.

I was right in the middle of my Australian tour and I didn't have a whole lot of free time, but I cranked day and night until I had a set of finished lyrics.

We send the lyrics to Lady Gaga and wait on figurative pins and needles for her to give us the go-ahead. After a few days, we get our answer: "She actually needs to hear it. Otherwise the answer is no."

Hmm. Well, this was mystifying to me. At this point she has the lyrics... and hopefully she is familiar with her own song... and the parody is basically her music... with my lyrics. It really shouldn't be that hard to decide - based on having the lyrics right in front of you - whether or not you'd be "okay" with a parody. But, alas, we'd been given an ultimatum. If she didn't hear it, she wouldn't approve it.

Okay then. I decided - based on my belief that people are basically good - to go through the trouble and considerable expense of actually recording the song. Now, I never do that - never. But because I was really excited about this parody, I decided I would faithfully jump through as many hoops as Gaga deemed necessary.

After the Australian tour, I was supposed to go on a long-awaited family vacation over my daughter's spring break - but because I now had to record what ostensibly was going to be my "hit single" as quickly as humanly possible, I cut our vacation short and came back to L.A. to spend long days and nights in the studio. The band and I worked around the clock. On April 11, I put the finishing touches on the mix and mastered the track. Done.

Or so I thought.

A couple days later we got the final word: Lady Gaga says "no."

*silent scream*

And that's it. As of this posting, I still don't know specifically what kind of problem she has with the song (obviously I take a few jabs at her, but y'know, it's satire - that's how it's supposed to work). And I'm especially confused as to why she waited until I actually recorded the song (at her insistence!) before saying no. It's not like there were any surprises in the finished song that she couldn't have foreseen by, you know, READING THE LYRICS.

A conventional release for the song and video would have also raised a nice chunk of change for the HRC - an organization which I have to assume Gaga supports. Hopefully, if fans enjoy hearing the song online, they'll make a donation anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUxXKfQkswE

good for gaga!

No, Bad for Gaga! Weird Al is harmless and loveable and his heart is always in the right place.

lol

good for Gaga for making herself look like a humorless ass

A conventional release for the song and video would have also raised a nice chunk of change for the HRC - an organization which I have to assume Gaga supports

what is this referring to? didn't see any other mention of it

i am pro humourlessness and anti comedians who mock people and have the temerity to demand they laugh along

also why is he even asking for permission? it's totally unnecessary, right?

I'm turning on her with amazing quickness, where I loved her like crazy as little as six months ago.

hahahahaha okay I think she nixed this because of the little "express yourself!" in the background before the second chorus

xp: yes we all know you don't understand humor lex, there's no need to remind us

what is this referring to? didn't see any other mention of it

It's at the tail-end of the youtube clip. All the song's proceeds would've gone to HRC, but now that's an impossibility since he can't sell it. Now he's just directing viewers/listeners to donate.

weird al is way more pop than lady gaga

hahahahaha okay I think she nixed this because of the little "express yourself!" in the background before the second chorus

― fat fat fat fat Usher (DJP), Wednesday, April 20, 2011 2:04 PM (58 seconds ago) Bookmark

otm

honestly i'd be more or less fine with Gaga taking the Coolio route and saying "this song is about a topic that's really important to me and i'd rather this not be the song with a high profile parody," it's more the jerking the guy around and making him send a recording AFTER already submitting a lyric sheet that's some bullshit.

OTM

I'm turning on her with amazing quickness, where I loved her like crazy as little as six months ago.

'Judas' + this = rapidly decreasing interest

There's 'Imperial Phase' and then there's just being a stuck-up arse.

i mean anybody CAN parody anything now and if it's funny/good have it be heard by millions with or without the original artist's blessing. Weird Al is virtually the only person doing that that asks permission, which is cool but that means he always runs the risk of this happening.

Exactly. I remember Al saying he felt absolutely terrible when he found out Coolio felt really strongly about Gangsta's Paradise and, had he known, he would never have released it. Gaga and her people, on the other hand, were jerkwads.

so wait what happened -- coolio approved the parody and then was bummed out when it was subsequently a hit?

the label/rights owners approved the parody and weird al thought that meant coolio was also cool with it

oh ok.

Even still, I feel Coolio's reaction is unwarranted, because maybe Stevie Wonder isn't keen on getting sampled by Coolio in the first place, but apparently it's cool for Coolio to write words over Wonder's stuff, but not Weird Al.

haha so true

>also why is he even asking for permission? it's totally unnecessary, right?

if you change the lyrics to a song you're covering, you don't qualify for a compulsory license; you need the copyright owner's permission to approve your version. this is how the similarly humorless led zeppelin killed the cover version of 'stairway to heaven' with the lyrics to gilligan's island sung atop.

wtf man to me having weird al parody your song is perhaps the highest praise you could ever receive, it's like you're official a part of culture you know?

^^^OTM. Gaga just keeps getting lamer imho

humorless self-righteousness, never a good look

and in the same way - it's okay for Gaga to parody Express Yourself (I still hear it almost every time) without permission or acknowledgement.. but not okay for Al to ask permission AND acknowledge it.

good for gaga!

― lex pretend, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 1:59 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lex, I have made a concerted effort to not sban you for the last several months in accordance with my newfound outlook on just putting it all out in the open. however, this post just inspired me to do both.

I'm sure HRC is a little perturbed over kissing those proceeds goodbye now that they know. xps

Express Yourself (I still hear it almost every time)

you DID fix that for me, I was being generous :)

my wife hates that I sing "Express Yourself" over it every time it comes on the radio, but that may be because I've forgotten half the words to "Express Yourself" and just sing "la la la la la"

such a funny parody too. fuck u gaga

Al's addressed it on his site: http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga/

Man, I wish you all could have had a chance to see the video we were going to do for this thing. It was going to be BEYOND AWESOME, and disturbing on many levels. Oh well.

Al should parody Lex imo

the "W-H-I-M" part is so genius

why would anyone who hates humor post on ILX, which is basically a garden where zings are harvested

i like how passionate al is about his craft. he should drop the "weird" and become classy al

Oh man, have you guys read this? http://www.theprophetblog.net/lady-gaga-flips-out-over-madonna-plagiarism-claims

A bit of it does sound quite a lot like ‘Express Yourself’, though, doesn’t it?

“I don’t think… I swear to you. I am not stupid enough to put out a record and be that moronic.”

The reference seemed so obvious that it had to be intentional because, as you say, you’re not stupid…

“No. Listen to me. Why the fuck…? I’m a songwriter. I’ve written loads of music. Why would I try to put out a song and think I’m getting one over on everybody? That’s retarded. What a completely ridiculous thing to even question me about. I will look you in your eyes and tell you that I am not dumb enough or moronic enough to think that you are dumb enough or moronic enough not to see that I would have stolen a melody. If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression. It’s the same one that’s been in disco music for the last 50 years. Just because I’m the first fucking artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn’t mean I’m a plagiarist, it means that I’m fucking smart. Sorry.”

The criticism did seem to take the wind out of the song’s sails.

“There’s a lot of people who want to see me fail. The minute they see something to shoot at, they shoot, and the bigger I become the bigger target I am. Nobody in this room at any point looked around and said ‘Oh my God, it’s ‘Express Yourself’. ‘ Not once. Listen. I swear to you. I can only be honest with you about it.”

What will people say about ‘Judas’?

“I dunno… I think they will really love it. (Starting to well up) I just don’t want my fans… I don’t know. This is exhausting. I just don’t wanna perpetuate that shit. I’m sure you want to address it but it’s just so ridiculous. I was just fucking shellshocked by it. It’s so funny to hear you say, ‘It must have been a homage’, I’m like, NO. When I homage, I fucking homage with a big sign saying I’ve done it. Why would I not do that now? (Sighs) I just like… I just have to say… (Starts crying) I feel like honestly that God sent me those lyrics and that melody. When you feel a message to give to the world and people are shooting arrows at it… there’s no way for something that pure to be wrong. (Reaches for Marilyn Monroe lighter) I need a cigarette.”

Nice work throwing around the "R" word there, Gaga.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

It’s the same one that’s been in disco music for the last 50 years.

what a thoroughly ridiculous person

1961 was one my favorite years for disco.

lololololol @ gaga

i won't deny that, this wholw weird al thing notwithstanding, things do not seem to be proceeding to plan with her

"judas" is a big yawn. why do lapsed catholics rebel in the tritest ways?

Nobody in this room at any point looked around and said ‘Oh my God, it’s ‘Express Yourself’. ‘ Not once.

This is often the case when you surround yourself with yes-men.

okay I would like to punch "Judas" directly in the taint

i wanna hear some outre songwriter take on the quakers. or the unitarians.

weird al's next single: "i'm in love with buddhists baby"

also why is he even asking for permission?

because he's a decent dude with an understanding of & respect for the familial dialogue that defines musical conversation instead of a recently-popular artist who imagines she's way special

I seriously haven't had this level of out and out antipathy to a Gaga single since "Poker Face"

(I mean really, when you do stompy polyrhythms and I still end up hating it, you must be really fucking irritating because I am normally all over that shit)

I lol'd

(I mean really, when you do stompy polyrhythms and I still end up hating it, you must be really fucking irritating because I am normally all over that shit)

^^^this

i hope weird al just quietly donates the money to the HRC anyway.

Al probably lives a comfortable life, but likely can't match the money "Perform This Way" would've made out of pocket. Proceeds is proceeds.

posting the parody on Youtube and asking ppl to donate to HRC is pretty canny IMO

hell yeah. i'm going to donate something.

A triumph for Weird Al is a triumph for us all. Long may he run.

proud to say i shook the man's hand once and told him how great UHF was.

lol this remind me of an old mad magazine article

(Starts crying) I feel like honestly that God sent me those lyrics and that melody. When you feel a message to give to the world and people are shooting arrows at it… there’s no way for something that pure to be wrong. (Reaches for Marilyn Monroe lighter) I need a cigarette.”

the marilyn lighter is the best part. did she get it at spencer's gifts?

ok the mad mag article was Anyone for Wrist Slashing? by Stan Freberg I'm trying to find that shit now but uh came across this?

During his teen years, Yankovic
discovered the Dr. Demento radio show, and listened every weekend as the host would play
novelty songs and comedy music - parodists like Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Stan Freberg and
Tom Lehrer; bawdy singers like Ruth Wallis and Rusty Warren; conceptual artists like Dickie
Goodman and Wild Man Fischer. Yankovic fell in love with the show, and listened to it as often
as possible.

also I just found a mad magazine forum

where the avatar of the user canknuclehead is weird al

Pretty sure Al always asks permission out of respect for the artist, not the law. My understanding is that the only one that has ever said no to Al before Gaga was Prince. Of course.

Wouldn't be surprised if, opposite the Coolie deal, that Gaga never heard Al's track. She's got people.

oh now that is an unfortunate typo

Whoops!

http://www.tmz.com/2011/04/20/weird-al-yankovic-lady-gaga-rejected-born-this-way-parody-perform-this-way/

Lady Gaga -- I Didn't Reject Weird Al Yankovic

4/20/2011 12:45 PM PDT by TMZ Staff

Lady Gaga is adamant ... she did NOT ban Weird Al Yankovic from parodying her hit song "Born This Way" -- despite Al's accusation that the pop star shut him down hard recently.

Weird Al ripped into Gaga on his blog this morning -- claiming the egg-encased pop star strung him along for weeks while he tried to get her approval for his parody "Perform This Way" ... and ultimately rejected the proposal.

But sources extremely close to the singer tell us, "There must have been a misunderstanding because [Gaga] is in no way trying to block the release of the parody."

According to sources, "She's busy touring and hasn't heard the song yet. Her manager hasn't had a chance to play it for her yet" -- adding, "She's a huge Weird Al fan."

A bizarre situation -- because Al claims Gaga's manager is the one who denied him in the first place ... forcing him to release "Perform This Way" unofficially on YouTube.

oh this gets lolsier and lolsier

Just waiting on the MTV Music Awards joint live performance. With Madonna, smooching Al as he's dressed as a bride.

good for Gaga for making herself look like a humorless ass

― fat fat fat fat Usher (DJP), Wednesday, April 20, 2011 2:01 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

She's always resembled an ass, as far as I'm concerned. This is not a good looking person.

My instincts appear correct. Don't blame Gaga, blame her bulletproof human shield of People and Handlers.

or maybe it's been a put-on...the kind of thing Al can revel in.

Josh pretty much OTM. I'd be shocked if she knew a single thing about this before it hit the fan this morning.

the kind of thing Al can revel in

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but are you implying Al is up to some funny business? That guy's the straightest arrow in popular culture.

I'm just thinking of the kind of thing he pulls in his parody interviews; this could be that done in real time...kinda hoping b/c I like that kind of prank.

it would be way too mean-spirited for weird al, i think

Not if she's in on it!

Also, Al did 9/11.

It reads to me like Gaga trying to cover her ass and make her management take the heat for her.

Not if she's in on it!

Don't buy it. There's absolutely NO upside for her.

Al: Hey, would you look like a complete bitch for a few hours so I can boost sales?
Gaga: Yeah, no problem.

xp "She's a huge Weird Al fan." sounds a lot like backpedalling.

I don't care about Gaga very much, but from what I can tell she's been very good at capturing the spotlight. If she isn't in on this, she's missing a good pr opportunity, b/c she doesn't look *that* bad & it gets people talking...which is what's she's been very good at, as I said.

I don't think SHE is backpedalling, I'm betting one of her "handlers" took care of this whole thing and she hadn't heard a word about it until now.

I think that's entirely likely. She simply doesn't have the time or ability to be completely hands-on with all aspects of her own existence anymore.

(Still think she's blindly heading into a total career death spiral, though.)

You should think that but things work opposite in the world of pop.

Oh yeah, I know pop fans are forgiving (Chris Brown, Britney Spears, etc.), but she's definitely going to be down and out for a brief while sometime soon.

Pop fans are super-forgiving when pop stars seem human at their core. Gaga has invested so much in seeming post/superhuman that when she stumbles, no one's gonna be rooting for her to get back up. Her failure will become the spectacle in itself.

This is actually unusually nasty for a Yankovic song, no? I mean, usually he will turn most huge pop hits into some trivial song about food or TV, but instead he is doing some rather nasty satire on Lady Gaga's image here.

Once again, I start liking an artist at the precise moment everyone I know starts hating him/her.

As for Gaga's continued career, I would think that depends on her ability to renew herself, musically and image-wise. I am sure people expected Madonna to crash around 1985 or so, but then she renewed her career, wrote a song about unwanted pregnancy, turned down the dance element in her music for a while and got more "pop" and also briefly became a bit less sex oriented in her image. Then, she has renewed herself continually both image-wise and musically, and that is basically why Madonna is still around and didn't become the short-lasting fad that some expected her to become in the mid-80s.

I like Lady Gaga (partly because I love the 80s music she is influenced by), but she still hasn't shown her ability to be anything else than a plastic fantastic drag queen performing 80s influenced dance songs. What would be interesting would be if, say, she wrote a real classic ballad (i.e. "Crazy For You" and "Live To Tell") and had a huge hit with that one, and maybe changed her image into something human.

Only time will show if she appears to share Madonna's ability to change.

Yeah, not seeing Gaga dropping the dance music angle anytime soon.

And good on her for that.

What would be interesting would be if, say, she wrote a real classic ballad (i.e. "Crazy For You" and "Live To Tell") and had a huge hit with that one, and maybe changed her image into something human.

i actually thought she was gonna do this - use "speechless" off the fame monster as a jump-off point to come back with a big, elton john style ballad (the first new song she debuted live post-fame monster was in this vein).

This is actually unusually nasty for a Yankovic song, no? I mean, usually he will turn most huge pop hits into some trivial song about food or TV, but instead he is doing some rather nasty satire on Lady Gaga's image here.

No more of a satire than his George Harrison "This Song Is Just Six Words Long" parody.

XX-Post Of course she could always return to dance later on. Like Madonna did.

Only a matter of time before Gaga takes off for exhaustion, for real, because she really has been touring for, like, two years, at least, with time squeezed in there to write and record a new album. Plus all her wardrobe shit and photo shoots and modeling and BS. It's like she's afraid to stop.

No more of a satire than his George Harrison "This Song Is Just Six Words Long" parody.

Except that parody didn't really hurt (well, for Rudy Clark, as he was the song author). Because the verses were anything but six words long and a song consists of more than just a chorus.

rather nasty satire

Gaga wears a meat dress, which is equal parts funny/stupid. Extending that to putting a porcupine on her head, or whatever, is also just funny/stupid, and as completely harmless as Gaga is completely humorless (which you wouldn't expect from the, you know, meat dress.)

What would be interesting would be if, say, she wrote a real classic ballad (i.e. "Crazy For You" and "Live To Tell") and had a huge hit with that one, and maybe changed her image into something human.

"You And I" fulfills this, but I still wonder what the final version is going to sound like.

Only a matter of time before Gaga takes off for exhaustion, for real, because she really has been touring for, like, two years, at least, with time squeezed in there to write and record a new album. Plus all her wardrobe shit and photo shoots and modeling and BS. It's like she's afraid to stop.

During the first two and a half years of their career, The Beatles released five albums, a handful of non-album singles, and toured continuously besides.

"You And I" fulfills this, but I still wonder what the final version is going to sound like.

"you and i", that's the one i was referring to

We'll see. I still think the fact that she (or her record label? Whatever?) didn't dare to release "Speechless" as a single sort of suggests she is not ready to make that move yet. And, of course, it's always a risk. "Crazy For You" might as well have killed Madonna's career too, if her audience hadn't wanted her to do anything but dance numbers.

"Eh, eh" is still my favorite Gaga song. Anything that keeps her from putting out more regurgitations like "Judas" seems like a great idea to me.

apparently weird al got word at some point that lady gaga is approving the song after all

I suppose Youtube may make it harder for artists to disapprove of parodies they don't like.

Pretty sure Al always asks permission out of respect for the artist, not the law. My understanding is that the only one that has ever said no to Al before Gaga was Prince. Of course.

Eminem said "no" a few years back - I forget which song

what a thoroughly ridiculous person

― I just like… I just have to say… (Starts crying) (DJP), Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:36 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Eminem said no to Al making a video for his "Lose Yourself" parody, "Couch Potato".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJuqE9KuwGc

he wouldn't have said no if he'd seen that video

Yes, she's now approved the parody and no, she never heard it before she allegedly nixed it:

Looks like our hours-long national nightmare is over: According to a tweet from Thompson, who spoke to Weird Al, Lady Gaga has personally approved the release of "I Perform This Way." As for how this whole thing got started, according to an upcoming blog post that Weird Al forwarded to us (which we'll link to when the final version is posted), "Gaga’s manager, Troy Carter, has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga – she had no idea at all. Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that’s what her manager TOLD us), he is now owning up to the fact that he made the decision completely on his own, without any input from Gaga."

http://www.avclub.com/articles/update-update-lady-gaga-will-let-weird-al-yankovic,54870/

Is Gaga's manager's name Scooty Libby?

uh Scotter

i am dumb

During the first two and a half years of their career, The Beatles released five albums, a handful of non-album singles, and toured continuously besides.

Yeah, but Lady Gaga is clearly more talented and a harder worker, too.

Plus, her songs are vastly more harmonically and melodically complex than anything the Beatles ever attempted.

My understanding is that the only one that has ever said no to Al before Gaga was Prince.

The publishing company initially said no to him recording "Yoda", his parody of "Lola". Then he bumped into Ray Davies a few years later and ask why he said no and it appeared Ray Davies himself had never even heard or seen it. After which Weird Al has always gone straight to the artist instead of via publishing companies.

Another incident of being unable to parody something was when he had to remove Weezer's "Buddy Holly" from "The Alternative Polka" because they wouldn't allow it.

http://media.avclub.com/images/articles/article/54870/BTW_jpg_627x1000_q85.jpg

another example of a manager thinking he knows best for a celeb and causing her unneeded negative publicity

albeit for a short period of time

the marilyn lighter is the best part. did she get it at spencer's gifts?

― pan loco y salsa loca (get bent), Thursday, April 21, 2011 4:08 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

zing

the dumbest part about this is it literally wouldn't taken 5 minutes for someone to play her the song -- nobody's that busy, even Gaga.

Admittedly it would've been kinda funny for her manager to keep asking Al to do increasingly outlandish things like one of those dudes who strings along Nigerian scammers.

"Before Gaga will approve, you have to drive to the nearest Farmer's Market wearing a Gaga t-shirt and cause a commotion that is large enough that it gets on the local news. You must prove your loyalty to the Gaga before we'll green light you."

haha!

The funny thing is, the parody sounds BETTER than the original because it's not so FUCKING BUSY and overdone. With different lyrics (the original's really are just ugh and ick and gross) Gaga singing over the music of the parody might even have raised the song above "trite".

Judas sucks too.

Lawd, that motorcycle thing keeps making me think there's a track titled "Potato-potato-potato" on the CD.

"She's a huge Weird Al fan." sounds a lot like backpedalling.

― grill 'em bake 'em fry 'em burn 'em (snoball), Wednesday, April 20, 2011 5:51 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

for some reason i have a hard time imagining Gaga NOT being a huge Weird Al fan

for some reason i have a hard time imagining Gaga NOT being a huge Weird Al fan

This is actually unusually nasty for a Yankovic song, no? I mean, usually he will turn most huge pop hits into some trivial song about food or TV, but instead he is doing some rather nasty satire on Lady Gaga's image here.

Don't forget "Smells Like Nirvana", which Nirvana famously loved. Al says that he was told they probably sold another million copies of Nevermind just because of the Weird Al rip. That whole song is just as nasty. With Nirvana it's just easier to see the humor in it:

What is this song all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out
How do the words to it go?
I wish you'd tell me, I don't know
Don't know, don't know, don't know, ooh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin'
And I don't know what I'm singin'
Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'
I still don't know what I'm singin'
We're so loud and incoherent
Boy, this oughta bug your parents
Yeah!

for me Off The Deep End is where Weird Al started to drop off tbh

Maybe that works more because he's specifically poking fun at the marketing aspect in certain parts. I bet 'Boy this oughta bug your parents' was Kurt's favorite line.

i love Off The Deep End, but then Weird Al is probably the ultimate "whatever album they released when you were 10 is your favorite" artist.

Don't think he ever surpassed "Dare To Be Stupid" imo

^^^^ Polka Party came close, though.

(lol look at us proving some dude's thesis)

some dude's totally original thesis

i always think of that fight scene from the animated tranformers movie when i hear dare to be stupid.

best fight music ever.

i thought Nirvana said they were disappointed with Weird Al's parody because they were expecting something more cutting?

nah i took someone else's thesis and re-did it in a nasal voice and added food jokes (xpost)

some food

To secure permission for the parody, Yankovic desired to approve it with Kurt Cobain.[11] After learning that Nirvana was to perform on Saturday Night Live, he called up his UHF co-star, Victoria Jackson, at the time a regular cast member of the show.[11] Jackson got Cobain on the phone so that Yankovic could make his request. Cobain agreed, although asking if the new parody was "going to be a song about food?"[11] Yankovic responded, "No, it's going to be a song about how no one can understand your lyrics."[11]

sorry to keep c&p'ing the wiki for Off The Deep End but these are 2 hilariously different examples of people saying no to Weird Al:

Yankovic waited for about two and half years for the next big hit to come out. "I don't have any really good reason why it took so long other than the fact that I was waiting for Michael Jackson's new album to come out," Yankovic opined.[9] Unfortunately for Yankovic, the new album hit several snags. On November 26, 1991, Michael Jackson's new album, Dangerous was released. After hearing the hit single "Black or White," Yankovic approached Jackson about a potential parody entitled "Snack All Night." Although Jackson was a big supporter of Yankovic's work, he felt that a parody might damage the song's true message.[9] Jackson told Yankovic that he could, if he wanted to, parody another song off his then recently released album, but just not "Black or White".[9]

Yankovic soon turned his attention in another direction. Guns N' Roses had just released a version of Wings's 70's hit "Live and Let Die". Yankovic approached Paul McCartney, leader of Wings, about a parody idea entitled "Chicken Pot Pie."[10] Paul McCartney, another supporter of Yankovic's work, earnestly wanted Yankovic to do a parody of one of his songs, but when asked about a parody of "Live and Let Die", he begrudgingly refused, due to the fact that, as a vegetarian, he couldn't condone the eating of animal flesh.[10] Yankovic, a fellow vegetarian, has stated that he respects McCartney's decision.[10]

hahahaha

i always think of that fight scene from the animated tranformers movie when i hear dare to be stupid.

Yeah, I can't think of the song without Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar reciting TV commercials.

"oh man, I'd love for you to do a parody, but think of all of the chickens that would be harmed by your song"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABGOXvERUiA

I love how Macca is known as "leader of Wings."

'begrudgingly refused'?

"I wrote this song about killing people for a violent action movie, why would you want to twist it into some kind of horrible message about eating meat?"

xpost well "Live And Let Die" is a Wings song

"Dare to Be Stupid" is an original song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a musical pastiche (or "style parody") of the band Devo.[1]

Shortly after the song was released, Yankovic received a letter from Mark Mothersbaugh congratulating him on writing "the perfect Devo song"[citation needed]. In an interview on VH1's Behind The Music, Mothersbaugh stated in reaction to the song that: "I was in shock. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. He sort of re-sculpted that song into something else and, umm ... I hate him for it, basically."[2][3]

The song was featured in The Transformers: The Movie.[4] It was later released as a double a-side along with "The Touch" by Stan Bush.

OMG I need to track down that single!!

okay now I am even angrier that I never saw the Transformers movie

It's actually pretty good!

Kinda blew my mind when Spike said, "OH SHIT whatta we gonna do?!"

^^^^^

Oh god:

On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents, Nick, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California, home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. An hour after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota,[38] saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time." Although Yankovic played the concert as planned, a scheduled meet and greet following the concert was canceled.[39]

All this Paul McCartney talk just makes me think of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqP1FEpoBG8

McCartney didn't want one of his songs to be turned into a parody about eating meat, yet he named his band after the best side order to have with a pizza. Crispy fried beetles.

god i will watch Al TV youtubes all fucking day if you get me started now

Mothersbaugh is right; I've listened to a few Devo records on the basis of loving "Dare To Be Stupid" & aside from a few songs, I really just want to listen to "Dare To Be Stupid" again. irl about 10% of my utterances come directly from that song, no lie.

I think UHF marks the real drop off in quality (the album, not the movie, though I think I was already too old for the movie & don't love it the way e.g. my younger brother does). Even Worse is pretty spotty too---side 2 is mostly terrible---though "I Think I'm A Clone Now" is terrific & outshines the songs it's a parody of.

"Good Old Days" is one of his best songs!

btw speaking of that era of Weird Al can I just give a shout-out to one of his most overlooked tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfIs3Uz7xBo

really? man, I don't hear it. (re. "Good Old Days"). I like "Alimony" though.

Dare To Be Stupid is the obvious pinnacle of Weird Al's career. Mothersbaugh's high praise is warranted.

basically whenever I consider listening to James Taylor or something similar, I realize I really just want to hear "Good Old Days"

oh hahaha I had forgotten about "Mr. Popeil"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSnaL_UgW9s

So what would the food-themed Lady Gaga parody be?

Yeah Weird Al in 3D is the best album but Dare to Be Stupid is the best song. I'm having "Gonna Buy Me a Condo" thread flashbacks...

So what would the food-themed Lady Gaga parody be?

"Just Fast"?

"Mr. Popeil" is fabulous; I think another 10% of my daily utterances come from that song. "You could even cut a tin can with it, but you wouldn't want to!".

I saw Weird Al live about 10 years & I was pretty surprised at how tight his band was; "It's All About The Pentiums" was pretty rocking, actually.

his live band is one of the best bands in the country; they kind of have to be in order to nail all of those pastiches/parodies

So what would the food-themed Lady Gaga parody be?

"Potatoface"

'Stuff Her Face'?

'Pepperoni'?

"Jalapeño" (I'm thinking "Alejandro" in case it's not obvious)

Haha. I was just about to say "Pepperoni"

Still have never seen him live but friends where I live are pretty heavy fans -- we're talking a mom and dad who were 80s fans and kids who love him now -- and saw him last year; they couldn't stop talking about 1) how long the show was and 2) how the energy never stopped, they had the audience from start to stop going every step of the way. Per Dan's comment it makes me think about how one of the best orchestras of its time was Spike Jones's in the forties -- relentless touring and they had to be able to do everything at the drop of a hat, and did.

i thought Nirvana said they were disappointed with Weird Al's parody because they were expecting something more cutting?

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, April 21, 2011 9:38 AM Bookmark

This was RHCP I think, and they were right. <3 Al though and <3 you all for this surge in the thread. Lotsa love here too: Classic or Dud: Weird Al Yankovic

Pa-Pa-Parsley

Cobain's thoughts on the video/song

In an interview performed by MTV in mid 1992, Cobain had the following to say:
MTV: What about Weird Al's "Smells Like Nirvana"?
Cobain: Oh, I laughed my butt off. I thought it was one of the funniest things I ever saw. He has some good people working for him. Those people really know how to... I mean, I'm sure he has a lot to do with it, but they really know how to reproduce things to the T. He had the exact same setup. It's the same video with him in it. It's great.
MTV: Do you go along with the idea that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
Cobain: Sure. Yeah.

In an interview performed by MTV

Performance interview, the latest craze.

Pizza Face obv

xpost They just perform that way, hey.

His Al TV interview with Avril Lavigne is fucking priceless.
"Can you just sit there and say 'um' for a minute?"

Pizza Face vs Jalapeno for the win, I think Jalapeno, he hasn't done anything about spicy food specifically, although "Taco Suave" might allude to seasoning in a general way.

Alejandro could make a song about frozen pizza-- just plug in DiGiorno's and Emilio's

alright here's a first draft for the chorus of "Jalapeño":

Don't make a flame, don't make a flame, jalapeño
My mouth's in pain, my mouth's in pain, habanero
Don't wanna eat, don't wanna chew
Just want to drink something that soothes
Don't make a flame, don't make a flame, serrano

I think Jalapeno wins with Pizza Face a close second.

not food, but he totally could have done "Rad Bromance"

oh Rad Bromance would be so good

haha i said on twitter the other day that Weird Al missed his chance to capture the zeitgeist with "Rad Bromance"

Album drop off, sure, but "All About the Pentiums" is one of my fave Al tracks.

imo "White & Nerdy" was a much better execution of a similar concept

I was all about Pepperoni but Rad Bromance is just too good to pass up

obv Al's execution would've been 100x better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_P1OhKUw6I

How about a song about him not wanting multiple salad dressings? "Just Ranch"

McCartney didn't want one of his songs to be turned into a parody about eating meat, yet he named his band after the best side order to have with a pizza. Crispy fried beetles.

McCartney also refused a request from Norwegian comedy act Prima Vera to turn "Coming Up" into a song about facial plastic surgery.

he hasn't done anything about spicy food specifically, although "Taco Suave" might allude to seasoning in a general way.

i laffed

gotta say i love when Geir comes correct with the Norwegian pop trivia

"Taco Grande" is one of my all-time fav Weird Al jams, seriously

All through the lunch shift at work I was like "Dammit, it's called 'Taco Grande,' I gotta get back to ILX and fix that!"

basically whenever I consider listening to James Taylor or something similar, I realize I really just want to hear "Good Old Days"

I reckon "You Don't Love Me Anymore" is just about equally good.

(and with a great Extreme parody video even)

Do you remember sweet Michelle?
She was my high school romance
She was...fun to talk to and nice to smell
So I took her to the homecoming dance

Then I tied to her to a chair and I shaved off all her hair
And I left her in the desert all alone
And sometimes in my dreams I can still hear her screams
Sometimes I wonder if she ever made it hoooooooome....