Talk:Bad Hair Day
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I Remember Larry[edit]
Billy Joel? Are you kidding? It's pretty clearly a style parody of the Hilly Michael song "Calling All Girls", at least the verses are. And if you haven't heard that song, then I send you to the Ask All archives:
The artists that Iíve style-parodied range from the extremely popular (Bob Dylan, Nine Inch Nails, James Taylor, etc.) to the semi-obscure (Tonio K, The Rugburns, Hilly Michaels, etc.) but they're all favorites of mine, and my homages to them are always done with great affection and attention to detail.
Clearly at least one of his style parodies is of Hilly Michaels, and if it isn't this one then I'd love to know which one it is. - Kargach, 10:18 PM EDT, 23 Oct 2006
- Listen to "Good Old Days" on Even Worse. There's your answer. 24.205.96.182 (talk) 01:37, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
Addendum: For those who want to compare the two, YouTube has a video of "Calling All Girls" taken from Al TV of all places: Calling All Girls
I agree...there are no obvious Billy Joel parodies in I Remember Larry at all...lyrically or musically. The production is about as far from Billy Joel as possible. ZimZimmah 20:47, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Anyone know where i can find an MP3 of the backwards message?--Vfdtyler 22:17, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
- Hilly Michaels has confirmed the style parody on his FaceBook page, so I added the attribution in: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hilly-Michaels/50431923545 --Jere7my (talk) 07:30, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
The Night Santa Went Crazy[edit]
I've always thought this song sounded more like "Black Gold" by Soul Asylum than Ozzy. Anyone else? --JT706 19:46, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
- Only the very beginning sounds like Ozzy to me. It's clearly a style parody of "Black Gold" though. --Elvis 23:56, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
- It's such a spot-on rendering of Soul Asylum's "Black Gold" that if Al hasn't come out and said it's a parody, it sure makes it obvious. I can see where people would confuse it for "Mama I'm Comin' Home" in the first four measures, but the rest of the song clears that up. 24.205.96.182 (talk) 01:36, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
I think it is fair to say that the opening/main riff is Ozzy's "Mama, I'm Coming Home," but the rest does sound like Soul Asylum. PrinceTyke (talk) 03:06, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
Amish Paradise fact[edit]
I find the line "Al did not get permission from Coolio to make this parody, but he made it anyway." under "Amish Paradise" a little strange and a little incorrect. Al DID get permission from Coolio's label and he was under the impression that Coolio granted permission also. The current wording puts across that he went out of his way to go against Coolio's wishes. You can read Al's answer to a fan's question on this matter on his FAQ archive (second question). I suggest changing the wording to a more correct statement, such as "Al had received permission from Coolio's label to write the parody and was under the impression that Coolio had granted it also. In reality Coolio had not given permission and was upset over Al's parody but did not take legal action." Or something along those lines. :) -- Zenith 19:12, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
- How about this: "Al had received permission from Coolio's label to write the parody and was under the impression that the label was speaking for Coolio. In reality Coolio had not authorized his label to give permission and was upset over Al's parody but due to his label's actions was not able to take legal action." - EmiOfBrie 21:23, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
- Yep, that sounds good to me :) -- Zenith 00:29, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
- It's still flawed, as Coolio can take no legal action, I think due to freedom of speech since he did not take credit for anyone else's work. I'll fix it.Mr.hotkeys 20:38, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
I'm So Sick of You[edit]
It sounds like Elvis Costello, alright. In fact, it sounds very close to "Pump It Up", particularly the bassline. - Ndrly 11:28, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Style Parodies[edit]
Unless there's actually a source for specific songs... I know he lists parodies but not style parodies in the liners... there shouldn't be listings in this article uncited - it's just personal opinion - anyone can hear any song in any parody. I don't hear ANY Monkees in Larry - I suggest all songs should be wiped of this info unless citable. TheHYPO —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 05:22, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
- I agree. It's just speculation, and doesn't belong here. --Marcg106 (talk) 18:41, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
What is this on everything you know is wrong, I don't see how a comedy troop having an album by that name has any relevance. There are also several books by that name, its not that uncommon of phrase. --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 05:38, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
Genres[edit]
Do you really need to list so many on the template? 83.148.246.254 (talk) 14:45, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Merging Songs[edit]
There is no reason at all for each individual song to have it's own page, especially when they are all so short and lack useful, verifiable, information. They should all be merged back to this page. I'll let it sit for a bit, but I will eventually redirect them all back here. Spman (talk) 01:37, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
GA Review[edit]
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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- This review is transcluded from Talk:Bad Hair Day/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: LazyBastardGuy (talk · contribs) 00:37, 6 September 2013 (UTC)
I'm such a big fan of "Weird Al", I always find it a pleasure to read his articles on Wikipedia. What better way than to review it to see if it's GA? Gimme a few, I'll be right back...
First things first, the easy stuff.
- Files, images & sound:
- Album cover. I would suggest getting it from a better source. I don't think some dude's weblog counts as a viable source in this regard.
- Amish family riding a buggy. Everything looks okay here.
- Coolio. Looks fine.
- "Amish Paradise" sample. Not too long, and adequately illustrates its point.
- Article stability: Seems peaceful.
- Sourcing:
- Cite #18 has an error message.
- Uh oh... I see this article uses Exclaim!. I once tried to use a source like this only to be informed that website was blacklisted. Was this always the case, or has the ban been lifted?
- Seems mostly to rely on officially-endorsed Yankovic sources, but not by much in comparison to the rest. Website citations appear to be written like book citations, though, as the name of the site (which I think should go in the "publisher" field) is treated as "work". I could be wrong about this one, but I think that's not right.
- I took 'publisher' to mean the company that published the website. Both field are available for a web citation, so I thought it was OK. For instance Ref. 7: The Onion publishes The A.V. Club. While The A.V. Club is the source being cited, I added The Onion since it is the site's publisher.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 18:29, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
Now, for the harder stuff - the body of the article.
- Lead
- Album's actual release date should be listed here, not just 1996.
- Here's my take on the first couple paragraphs, rather than pointing them out phrase-by-phrase:
"...It was Yankovic's third studio album to be self-produced. The album produced an array of hit comedy singles; lead single "Amish Paradise" (which lampoons both Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" and the Amish lifestyle} charted at number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Gump", which parodies "Lump" by the Presidents of the United States of America and the movie Forrest Gump, charted at 102. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the mid-1990s, largely targeting alternative rock and hip-hop alike. The album also includes style parodies, imitations of specific artists like They Might Be Giants and Elvis Costello."Amish Paradise" caused a minor controversy after rapper Coolio expressed distaste at having his song spoofed by Yankovic, although the two later made amends."
- "...with many critics praising "Amish Paradise"." I think we need to say "..."Amish Paradise" in particular", because having looked at the Reception section those who said they liked it also expressed that they liked other things on the album too, this was just their favorite so far as I could tell.
- Don't need to reiterate how "Amish Paradise" charted. Any reference to "Amish Paradise" becoming one of his signature songs should probably go in the first paragraph (when amended closer to what I wrote above).
- "...sold 1,317,000 copies in the US in 1996 alone. It is the highest sales tally..." --> "...sold 1,317,000 copies in the US in 1996 alone, the highest sales tally..."
- "Bad Hair Day was Yankovic's sixth Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of over one million copies in the United States. The album also went Platinum in Canada." It went Gold where? According to which certification company? And if possible could you date these certifications?
- Production
- Comma in the first sentence after "Recorders" is unnecessary.
- "First leg" is informal. Could probably take out "leg" and not replace it with anything.
- "Yankovic produced the sessions himself" would look nicer joined to the last sentence with a comma and rewritten as, "...which he produced himself" (referring to the BHD sessions as a whole).
- "Backing Yankovic", as with the UHF article, should be "Recording with Yankovic".
- Second instance of "produced" (meaning what songs were made) would look nicer with "resulted in".
- "The fourth session "The Alternative Polka" medley," the fourth session what?
- "The song was written to be a style parody of the type of music that was produced in Seattle, most notably grunge." Seems clunky.
- Reading "brutally murdered" made me laugh. Brilliant. But "At the 3:10", sounds like you meant to say "At the 3:10 mark."
- Comma surplus after "backwards message".
- I don't care if you end a sentence with a preposition or not, but "The next song that was worked on" kinda bugs me. Maybe, "The next song produced" or something.
- "While Yankovic's record label..." --> "Although Yankovic's record label..."
- "...tour in 1999. It combines elements..." --> "...tour in 1999, combining elements..."
- Pointing-out that the "Extra Gory version" had different lyrics in concert is one thing, but pointing-out that it was later re-released on a greatest hits is a bit excessive as far as the detail goes, especially since right after that we go into, "Also recorded that day..." so my suggestion would be to take it out entirely.
- "...a scratch guitar track was recorded. When the song was being mixed, however..." --> "...a scratch guitar track was recorded; when the song was being mixed, the track was removed."
- Steve Jay proved the low voices in the song what?
- "Spoof" - I don't know the policy on this word. If it's considered too informal, I would suggest "play" instead.
- "...who brought a real drill and a human tooth. The two then took turns drilling at the object to ensure the authenticity." Really pulled-out the thesaurus for this one, eh? ;) Might I suggest:
- "...who brought a real drill and a human tooth; the two took turns drilling the tooth to create a genuine sound effect."
- "There's" - woah, way too informal.
- "Due to the fact that" - because (why say in five syllables what you can say in two?)
- "...by Presidents of the United States of America." I think it should say "the Presidents".
- Minor nitpick: Is it necessary to recount the plot to Forrest Gump here? I could go either way on this one.
- "Gump was eventually released as the second single..." "Second single" makes it clear it didn't come first. You don't need "eventually".
- "Yankovic was attracted towards Coolio..." This sounds... odd.
- "He noted:" no colon, needs a comma instead
- "Awhile" sounds informal. Try "a time" instead (just as vague, less casual).
- Again, "spoof" may be too informal as well. "Lampoon" sounds more academically-accepted.
- The hyphens need spaces before and after them. The words look crowded without those spaces.
- "The song is a loving ode..." could probably join this with the previous sentence getting rid of "The song is" and just replace that chunk with a comma.
- Anytime the album title is mentioned it must be italicized.
- "Weezer's front man" --> "Weezer frontman"
- How does one "physically" cut part of a song out of a recording? Even if this means he had to take a razor to the master tape, this is an unnecessary adverb unless the method of removal is 1) described in detail by the source and 2) is significant for how it was carried-out.
- "Thanked" --> "given credit"
- "Entitled" --> "called"
- Just to sound-off for a moment here: The word "however" is used so often on WP in cases like this it drives me crazy every time I see it. I suggest rewriting that entire bit to read: "Despite not being able to parody "Come Out and Play", Yankovic would later be granted permission to parody their 1998 hit "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" as "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" on his 1999 album Running with Scissors."
- "The Beatles's" --> The Beatles'
- I'm not sure we should say it was a 90s hit for the Beatles. Maybe say, "The Beatles' Anthology hit".
- "...if he could have permission to write and record a parody for..." It's already established what Yankovic was trying to do. I suggest, "...if he could have permission to do so...".
- "turned the decision over to" this sounds slightly informal. Just a nitpick, I could live if this wasn't fixed.
- "She denied permission, however, because..." --> "...over to Yoko Ono, who denied permission because..."
- "make it about" --> "write it about"
- "The Rembrandts, much like U2..." --> "The Rembrandts had also approved of Yankovic's parody request, but the problem lay with the producers of Friends..."
- Didn't Alapalooza get released a few years before Bad Hair Day? How could the tour for that album have happened after this one?
- Even then, I'm not sure specifying which tours the rejected parodies were performed on is all that important.
- Controversy
- "The album's lead-off parody..." --> "The album's lead single..."
- Who did Yankovic ask about the parody if he didn't ask Coolio himself? Whose record label said he could go ahead and do it?
- "surprised as anyone" --> "very surprised"
- "featured" - "feature"
- Release
- "Boosted" sounds informal.
- "helped the initial release" needs a with after "helped".
- "performed at over 130 stops" --> "performed over 130 concerts" (although this sounds rather sensational; if you can get a precise figure and remove the "over" that would be great)
- "...as a "a sophomoric attempt..."" a few too many a's in there.
- "...on the album are Yankovic's originals." Awkward switch of verb tense here - past or present would work fine in my book, but try to keep it consistent throughout this section.
- Did Mr. Considine refer to Yankovic or his music? Awkward switch of subject here.
- I don't know how we handle quoted statements, but in general I think minor fixes such as italicizing things that weren't italicized in the original publication of the quote is okay. So Bad Hair Day needs italicized in the Allmusic review.
- I think it should read like this: Rolling Stone Record Guide (even if only Rolling Stone is italicized). Also, is there anything else the publication said in regards to the album?
- "...released on March..." and also, is it still his best-selling to date or was it just at the time?
- I've never seen an album article that says which position on the chart was the last for the album to occupy.
- There's a weird story to that; Billboard used to have this thing called "The Visualizer" which allowed you to track an album/single's charting history. However, this device got removed sometime ago, so that line was just a vestigial remain. I've removed it.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 22:02, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
- "...certified gold, and then on June 11..."
- "By July 1997, the album sold 1.7 million copies." Present past tense should be avoided when discussing something that isn't all that recent.
- "...Canadian Albums chart and was later certified Platinum for sales of over..."
Whew! That was definitely much harder than the UHF review. Still rewarding all the same. I know how eager you'll be to fix this up, so I'll just put it on hold and not tell you for how long.
- Thanks for reviewing this one! I think I responded to all our your concerns. How does it look now?--Gen. Quon (Talk) 22:02, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
- I went ahead and made a few changes myself, either things I missed the first two times around (and didn't want to bother you about since it would just be easier for me to fix) or stuff I had new ideas for upon seeing them again. By the way, with regard to Rolling Stone Record Guide, I believe what I meant to say there is (even if only Rolling Stone is wikilinked), but you seemed to get what I was saying. So now, I am quite satisfied, and your hard work has paid-off. It's a definite pass.
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