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Printer-Friendly ModeWeird Al Yankovic returns with (not-so) funny Lynwood
October 2, 2006 —
There was a time when Weird Al Yankovic was funny - back when I was 12. The polka king of parody was all we had for comedy back then. Unfortunately, these days Weird Al doesn't even come close to funny.
Straight Outta Lynwood, with its mock gangsta album art, is the perfect example for why Weird Al is no longer relevent today. Lynwood uses the same formula as all the rest of his albums from the past two decades, mixing silly parodies and equally silly original compositions.
This time around, the curly-haired one rewrites the songs of Chamillionaire, Green Day, Usher, and more. And if you thought "Ridin'" was annoying in its original form, wait'll you hear Weird Al's take on the overplayed radio hit.
Of course, his version is called "White and Nerdy." Laughing yet? I didn't think so. What if I said that he drops references to MySpace and Wikipedia in this song in an attempt to show that he's hip to today's Internet culture?
The problem is that it is obvious that Al is not that hip. Most of the songs on Lynwood tackle issues that haven't been issues for several years now. "I'll Sue Ya" is a perfect example as it covers the topic of suing fast food restaurants for making customers fat and ridiculous lawsuits in general.
And "I'll Sue Ya" is a Weird Al original, which leaves little hope for the rest of the Yankovic-penned songs. "Pancreas," an ode to his, that's right folks, pancreas, is just plain stupid. I couldn't even listen to the song in its entirety. "Virus Alert" is a litle better, for being a song about computer viruses attached to e-mail messages under the subject "Stinky Cheese."
The highlight of the original songs, though, is "Don't Download This Song." Once again, the topic itself might not be that relevent these days, but at least the lyrics are a bit more clever in this one. It's hard not to smile when Al sings, "Don't take away money from artists just like me / How else can I afford another solid gold Hum-Vee."
The other noteworthy track on the album is "Polkarama!" (He went 20-plus years without a song titled this?) Every Weird Al disc has the required polka song with lyrics from popular songs currently on the radio. "Polkarama!" features clips of songs by Modest Mouse, 50 Cent, the Pussycat Dolls, Franz Ferdinand, among others. It could be the most entertaining four minutes on the entire Lynwood album.
And really, that is the problem with this disc. When the best song is the one that Weird Al had no hand in writing lyrically, then it should be obvious that his best days are behind him.
And don't even get me started on his painful rendition of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet," here titled "Trapped in the Drive Thru" about a couple who really want some onions on their hamburgers or something.
Maybe it's because he is no longer on the cutting edge (if he ever was); or maybe it's because he's just not funny anymore (if he ever was). Whatever the reason, Straight Outta Lynwood is about as entertaining as listening to your friend ad-lib words to a song playing on the radio. Except there's a good chance that whatever your friend comes up with will be smarter than what you'll find on this disc.
So while die-hard fans might rejoice at the first Weird Al CD since 2003's Poodle Hat, casual listeners of Yankovic likely won't find anything appealing in this 12-song set.