• @[email protected]
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    994 months ago

    I continue to contend that Weird Al would put on the greatest Superbowl halftime show of all time.

    • @[email protected]
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      234 months ago

      But instead of hours of football, a break for music and commercials, then more hours of football, it should be hours of Weird Al concert, a break to let some jocks throw a ball around for a few mins while he takes a break to grab a drink, pee, etc, and then return for a couple more hours of Weird Al concert.

      • @[email protected]
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        114 months ago

        Eh, you can have both.

        Have the Weird Al Concert be in the middle while the football match is happening, have balls and players swarm around the podium while Weird al is singing some parody of a sports song.

        I’m sure he can pull that off.

    • @[email protected]
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      154 months ago

      I contend that you’re correct, except that he would put it on for the Puppy Bowl instead (and incorporating the usual kittens into the act, of course).

    • @jballs
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      44 months ago

      There’s gotta be a way to make this happen

  • @[email protected]
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    624 months ago

    Hey I love this meme everytime I see it, but I want to point out that that point about growing up in "similar circumstances that nurture their skill’ is contingent upon working musicians being able to afford to raise children. Children that will also need to work.

    Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think there is a comparable proportion of the population that are working musicians, that earn enough money to support children, but not so much that the children don’t have to learn a trade, as there were in “Enlightenment” Europe where if a person wanted to hear music they had to make it themselves, or pay someone to make it, and every rich asshole had a chamber orchestra following him around.

    Also parents don’t teach children their trades the way they used to, and they aren’t expected to support their parent’s businesses the way they used to. (I’m not lamenting this). There used to be a lot of pressure on children to contribute economically. Mozart, and his siblings probably faced what we’d consider child abuse if he didn’t practice. He was certainly exploited.

    Michael Jackson is a Mozart of the 20th century. He was put to work at a young age to support his parents and siblings, that were also working musicians.

    As much as I love Weird Al (and I do) I don’t think he was groomed and exploited the same way MJ/WM were. Kudos to his parents for that I guess.

    • @[email protected]
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      234 months ago

      Yeah, F1 driver Max Verstappen is in a similar situation. Clearly insanely talented, but probably got there by having a childhood which was pretty fucked up (left at gas station by father in Italy if he lost a karting race, etc.).

      Maybe we miss out on a couple of savants without this kind of treatement, but it is a pretty good tradeoff, especially if you think about all the kids that did not make it to the top, and just had a abusive childhood without anything to show for it.

      • @AlligatorBlizzard
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        174 months ago

        all the kids that did not make it to the top, and just had a abusive childhood without anything to show for it.

        … fuck.

      • @[email protected]
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        44 months ago

        Besides, I think we lose far more amazingly talented people to the grind of poverty more than overt child exploitation. They are one and the same problem, and everyone here speaks as if this stuff only happened in the past or in extreme examples…

      • @[email protected]
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        44 months ago

        think about all the kids that did not make it to the top, and just had a abusive childhood without anything to show for it.

        (…Except trauma to teach to their kids)

        Exactly!

    • @Chef
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      74 months ago

      Now I’m thinking about Weird Al’s parents and I’m sad.

    • @mindbleach
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      14 months ago

      Simultaneously, that XKCD calling him “dad music” is damningly accurate, because half his hits were up-to-the-second pop-culture references. Even moreso than Weird Al. You still hear a lot of the hits that Al parodied - he swung high at musical royalty and they laughed with him. But nowadays “The Real Slim Shady” has more dated name-drops and callbacks than Mystery Science Theater. The annotations on Genius must be six Wikipedia articles.

  • Annoyed_🦀 🏅
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    74 months ago

    I think if you’re from Asia and particular liking mando/canto pop, you might think someone like Eason Chan is up there.

    • @[email protected]
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      24 months ago

      What? Sketching out a melody then managing your minions so that they orchestrate it before a deadline. Not comparable.

      I’d vote for Bret Mckenzie

  • @xx3rawr
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    24 months ago

    Ok but will he catboy though?

    • @mindbleach
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      14 months ago

      God bless that dork who got him to sign MLP merch with “I stole your waifu!”