I have found that people are in one of two minds when it comes to Weird Al Yankovic. He is either seen as, a) a pop culture genius, or, b) a relic of the MTV age who has severely overstayed his welcome. The problem is that comedy is extremely subjective and comedy music is double so. Perhaps Mandatory Fun, his fourteenth album, will help you decided which side of the line you are on. Just like all his others, Mandatory Fun is packed full of specific song parodies and style parodies. The Pixies baiting 'First World Problems' does sound like more of a rip on The Offspring thanks to Yankovic's nasal whine, but its still a good tune. As has become tradition there's also one of Yankovic's trademark polka medleys. It's all very silly stuff and there is the danger that over time we have all become immune to Yankovic's quirky charm. Luckily all it takes is one play through of this album to remind us all how clever he is when it comes to wordplay. Robin Thicke's ubiquitous (and slutacious) 'Blurred Lines' is presented as 'Word Crimes', a tirade against poor grammar that couldn't be more apt in this day and age. When you hear the first verse of 'Foil' (being based on Lorde's 'Royals') you might well sigh over the well-worn “hit single as food song” trope. But when the second verse details a much smarter and funnier use for your aluminium wrap you will be right back on board. On the flip side of this 'Sports Song' seems like a filler – the bare sketch of a humour song mocking college football that somehow made the final cut. Perhaps if I lived in a country that acknowledges American football as a thing it might have made more of an impact on me (feel free to weight in on this, American readers). Not every song is going to be a hit but the fact that after all these years Weird Al is still skewering popular culture is endearing in itself. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, “He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life”.
Rating: B-
Recommended tracks: Word Crimes, Foil
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