I've been wanting to do this for a while now.
1983 was the year I turned eleven. I don't know what it is about that specific age in a boy's life, but I've heard it asserted that it is the oldest a boy can be while still believing in magic.
Somehow that feels true. At the age of eleven I was in fifth grade defending the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, accepting that my personal value was dictated by each nine week progress report card, and sensing that 'growing up' was simply not agreeing with me. And, I suppose like most eleven year old boys, I was subconsciously looking for that 'hero' figure to influence me, connect me with other like-minded people, and give some sense of identity in a world that was getting too big too fast.
That's when I heard about a song called Another One Rides the Bus.
It would be a few more years before I would actually hear the whole song, but knowing that such a song existed somehow resonated with my developing eleven year old brain. My parents had raised me on that very influential and experimental period of rock music that seemed to start in the mid-seventies and continue into the early eighties, and Queen was in the forefront of that track list. Their hit Another One Bites the Dust was EVERYWHERE and permanently ingrained in the public's mind. You could walk into a library (which was a quiet place back then) and vocally provide the musical setup of "Ba-da-DUM-DUM-DUM-(pause)" and get the whole room to respond in unison with the correct song title.
But I was never a mainstream kid. For whatever reason, God decided to grant me the fascination with the side entrance. If there's a front door and everyone is filing through it, and I spot an open window in the alley leading into the same building, that's where I'm going. It's not to bypass the line or get anywhere faster. It's just to have a different way of arriving at the destination. And just having the alternate yet equally acceptable response to "Ba-da-DUM-DUM-DUM-(pause)" magnetized me.
Throughout the next year I'd become aware of the existence of My Bologna, and catch the videos for Ricky and I Love Rocky Road, and still not make the connection that this was all the work of the same guy. It wasn't until Eat It that I was able to put a name and a face and a discography together in my head to understand who "Weird Al" Yankovic was.
He was my hero.
And you know what? Three decades later he still is.
I really feel privileged to have grown up along side the timelines of videogame history and Weird Al's career. It's the perfect foundation for a nerd. I'm still committed to fighting off the infestation of 'growing up', although I've been willing to embrace certain aspects of maturity. (Hey kids, your music today sucks. My generation is WAY cooler, so nyah nyah.) It's always comforting to see that every few years I can rely on Al to place his funhouse mirror in front of the Top 40 list and reimagine all too serious compositions with an accordion and a few gunshot sound effects.
Except I've noticed something with the past few albums. I'm having a certain amount of trouble connecting with them, mainly because I think a lot of todays music really does suck on a level of monotony and interchangeability.
And that got me wondering about the past albums I grew up loving. Did I love them more because I was a teenager and thus more relatable?
Well, Weird Al has announced his fourteenth album due on July 15th, and curiously I'm not excited. Back in the day I'd be drooling, but his past few albums have been a bit underwhelming to me. As such, I think this is the perfect occasion for me to revisit the albums of the past with a critical eye to determine what I feel is the overall quality of each one. So over the next however-long I'm going to blog my subjectively objective reviews to the timelessness/less of my hero's music.
Why would I do this to someone who has had such a wonderful impact on me? Because he's my hero and he can take it. I know there's nothing I can dish out that's going to make "Weird Al" Yankovic any less awesome than he's always been.
So put down that chainsaw and grab your twinkie wiener sandwiches because this is Al TV!
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