I was a very large fan of Weird Al in elementary school and junior high. His music videos were an endless source of amusement and his ability to mock popular music by turning hit songs into odes to old TV shows and food tickled my funny bone. Then high school came. Sophomore year I was introduced to the blazing chops of Joe Satriani and immediately the unthinkable happened: I found something cooler than Weird Al. Though I am no longer what you would call a "fan" of Weird Al, his music has some positive traits that have held up well through time.
Weird Al is generally known as a curly-haired (and formerly mustachioed) goof ball that cranks out tunes that are fun for the whole family. While this is mostly accurate, it does not give any indication of his often dark sense of humor. His most well known songs are about benign topics such as the Amish or ice cream, but frequently scattered throughout his repertoire are some darker cuts, which I still find funny. In addition to his dark sense of humor, Weird Al has also written some pretty good style parodies of bands, genres, and eras of music. I don't think he's ever gotten enough credit for his ability to synthesize the essential characteristics of oeuvres into an original song, but then again, this is Weird Al I'm talking about.
This is all a long way for me to say that while Weird Al is not as funny to me as he once was, he is as funny once as he ever was:
I would like to see a blending of sports and cinematic/music commentary, e.g. which NBA franchise most resembles Weird Al in terms of personality, perseverance, and haplessness. Also, you have a request from Nick (who I guess is too cool to comment here himself) for a more detailed appraisal of Joe Satriani, including videos. It occurred to us both that no human being has dedicated more insight to the topic of Satriani than you.
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