fun review of the new Al

[acroyear]

NPR: Meet 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Stealth Pop Musicologist:

That goes far beyond simply knowing what instruments to use on the song. It's also about understanding dynamics and delivery, which chords to use and in what order, what melodies to sing and what words to hit. It requires that Yankovic be a diligent student of the thing he's parodying so that he can properly deconstruct his source material and rebuild it into something recognizable but still new.

He gets it right on "Craigslist." [...]

Obviously, Yankovic's not unique in this regard. There's an argument to be made that the same thing happens any time a Walk Hard, Music And Lyrics or That Thing You Do! comes out.

The difference is that Yankovic has made a career of it. And for a guy who's usually talked about as though he has nothing more to offer than wacky karaoke, it's always a pleasure to be reminded of the stealth musicologist lurking underneath, figuring out what makes pop music tick. And then singing about nuclear annihilation on top of it.

Comments

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

It is something I've noticed that he's doing more often nowadays rather than straight parodies (tho his parodies are still as sharp as ever). Because there has been more of a focus on that, I've become a lot more impressed by him and his band to really seem to "get" what makes a particular artist.