14 DAY TRIAL // I remember a time, back in the day when MTV still aired music videos and not lame reality shows or scripted programming, when Weird Al Yankovic’s singles and videos were all the rage. He might not be getting the same kind of media attention these days as he did then, but he still hasn’t lost his magic touch.
Today is an excellent day to be a Weird Al fan because it marks the release of the first music video of a series of planned 8. The singer himself broke the news on Twitter, saying he has one surprise release for each day of the following 8, so yay!
The first song is a parody of “Happy,” the huge hit from Pharrell Williams, called “Tacky,” and comes accompanied by a music video worthy of that name. It’s like the ‘80s puked all over it.
Once you get past that, you will notice that Weird Al turned to his celebrity friends for some help with the video: so it includes cameos from Aisha Tyler, Eric Stonestreet, Margaret Cho, Jack Black, and Kristen Schaa and, of course, Weird Al himself.
As for the lyrics, they’re brilliant – just what you’d expect from one of Weird Al’s parodies. I couldn’t help but think that they describe behaviors we see today, both in real life and online, with painful accuracy. Yes, even that part about taking selfies with the deceased at a funeral, it’s something people do these days.
Enjoy!