Posts Tagged ‘weird al’

Weird Al continues his onslaught of song releases with "Ringtone," and a video made in collaboration with Current TV's "SuperNews":

Next Tuesday he'll be releasing "Internet Leaks," a downloadable mini-album of the five songs he's produced since his last album: his T.I. parody “Whatever You Like,” his Doors pastiche “Craigslist,” his Jungle Cruise homage “Skipper Dan,” his Charles Nelson Reilly tribute “CNR” and "Ringtone." Look for it at iTunes, Amazon, and the usual places. And they'll be on a physical CD when his next album comes out:

The songs on “Internet Leaks” will all show up again on my next full album release, whenever that is (I’m assuming next year sometime, but there’s no way to  be sure). Some people may say, “Why should I buy the ‘Internet Leaks’ tracks now when they’re going to be on your next album anyway?” Well, if all you’re interested in is the physical CD, and you don’t mind waiting a year or so… you probably SHOULDN’T buy the tracks now. Nobody’s forcing you to buy the songs twice – I just wanted to make the tracks available so everybody could enjoy them as early as possible.

By the way, if you DO purchase “Internet Leaks” now, you’ll be able to take advantage of iTunes’ “Complete My Album” function when the full album becomes available. You’ll be able to painlessly add the missing tracks, and the full purchase price of “Internet Leaks” will be deducted from the cost of the album.

Available on iTunes, Amazon and other fine MP3 retailers. Video is also at iTunes.

The latest in his "Internet Leaks" collection, it's an original this time. Available for download from iTunes and Amazon (DRM-free).

It's about time for a new Weird Al song, and he doesn't disappoint. Already available at various online outlets like  iTunes and Rhapsody, but I favor Amazon since there's no DRM on it. You can also buy the video you just saw.

This drove me nuts trying to identify the specific Doors song he's doing, but it's actually one of the style parodies he does sometimes, aided by original Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Nicely done, sir. Just how much hootch did you have to suck down to get the mannerisms right?

Just announced at weirdal.com (and on Al's Twitter feed):

INTERNET LEAKS
…is NOT the name of the next Weird Al album (we have no idea yet when that’s coming out)… but Al will be “leaking” new tracks to the Internet over the summer, and for bookkeeping reasons we had to call them SOMETHING, so “Internet Leaks” it is! Al’s T.I. parody “Whatever You Like” retroactively becomes the first song in the collection, and there will be 4 new original songs released digitally over the next few months. The first new song (and video!) will be out on June 16, and will be available wherever mp3s are sold or stolen.

Usually his albums come out every 2 years or so, but these days amateur parodists are whipping out new joke songs on YouTube before the echos of the original event have faded, so he's speeding things up. His last song, "Whatever You Like," was released directly to iTunes last year (get it at iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, Zune, and Walmart).

According to an article in this week's Rolling Stone, "First Hype, Then Kill: How the geeks who control the music blogosphere destroy the bands they love," my constant bloglove for Weird Al Yankovic will surely result in a record deal for him, which is, apparently, creative death. I'm not sure how that works, but I'm eager to get on with it, so…

His latest CD, "Straight Outta Lynwood," entered the Billboard charts at #10, making that his highest charting yet. Good reviews, although everyone seems to have their own favorite and most-hated songs. And starting sometime today you can submit your own fan-created "White and nerdy" video for Yahoo Music's "Get Your Freak On":

"Beginning October 11th, users will have the opportunity to submit video clips of themselves showing off the special characteristics that have gotten them shoved in lockers or dunked in toilets…from D&D and Star Trek to pocket protectors and calculator watches. The best performances will be selected and featured in the special fans-only video for the new track, premiering on Yahoo! Music October 30."

Right now the page features Beyonce, so unless this Weird Al video is weirder than usual, I'm guessing it's not up yet. But, to help you kill time till then, check out his interviews at Yahoo Music and IGN, his iTunes picks at The Onion, and, pretty much for the heck of it here's an interview I did with the Weird One a few years back for his "Poodle Hat" tour.

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It's also the day to pick up "Weird Al" Yankovic's new CD, "Straight Outta Lynwood." You'll want to hurry.

It's been three years since his last CD, and he hasn't slowed down any. 12 songs, including parodies of Chamillioniare, Green Day, The Beach Boys, Usher, Cake, Taylor Hicks, R. Kelly, and more. After this you'll wonder why 50 Cent doesn't record all of his work with polka-style accordion. My favorites were "White and Nerdy" (a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"), "Virus Alert," which has a sort of 80's rock opera feel (Queenish, Styxish), "I'll Sue Ya" (a Rage Against the Machine style parody) (Why the Affleck hate, Al? You ripped on him twice this album…), "Confessions Part III" (a parody of Usher's "Confessions Part II" that will make it impossible to ever take the original seriously again, assuming you could) and "Don't Download This Song," a We-Are-The-World type parody that slams music pirates, the RIAA, and the artists more or less equally. That one, interestingly enough, is available for free download from his MySpace page or from www.dontdownloadthissong.com .

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With a new CD ("Staright Outta Lynwood") coming out next week, Weird Al Yankovic is starting the buzz. Two weeks ago he released "Don't Download This Song" — with links where you could download it — and this week he released his Chamillion parody "White and Nerdy." Head to his MySpace page or YouTube to check it out and see how many of the lyrics apply to you. Let's see… yep… oh, yeah… once… I don't want to talk about it… every Tuesday…

Weird Al has a new album coming out September 26th, and he's released a song from it for free download. It's titled, appropriately, "Don't Download This Song."

www.myspace.com/weirdal – The song, and the place it'll be premiered tonight at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern.
DontDownloadThisSong.com – Send the song as an e-card
ddts.mp3 – direct download.

Weird Al just released "You're Pitiful," a parody of James Blunt, on his site as a free download.

As someone who only vaguely liked the original song the first 300 times I heard it, I am now doing a happy dance.

Al's site is getting hit pretty hard so downloading may be slow. There's a mirror link at the WeirdAlForum.

Ten songs have been recorded for his new album so far (not counting this one, which may or may not be on it depending on which rumors you like). C'mon, Al, it's been too long.