Alpocalypse Soon

"Weird Al" Yankovic isn't one for resting on his laurels. Despite the fact that it's been five years since his last studio release--the longest he's ever gone between albums--the leading man in music parody has been keeping himself plenty busy working on new material, and for the first time, the fans have been along with him for the ride.

Yes, Weird Al's new album, Alpocalypse, is set to be released--or perhaps "unleashed"--on June 21st. Like the earth-shattering future event the album's title is poking fun at, we've received bits and pieces, harbingers of the upcoming epic, for the past few years.

With the popularity of digital distribution booming after the release of Al's 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood, he decided to explore alternative methods to releasing his music. That, and he could release a song parody while the original song was still heating up the Billboard charts. Thus, a mere two weeks after he came up with the idea, wrote it, got the original artist's blessing, and recorded it, his parody of TI's "Whatever You Like"--also titled "Whatever You Like"--hit iTunes on October 7th, 2008.

Several months passed. New songs--originals, this time--were recorded, and Al was just as eager to share them with the world. Throughout the summer of 2009, Al released on iTunes four more new tracks: Craigslist, Skipper Dan, CNR, and Ringtone. He also began performing his newest polka medley, Polka Face, at concerts starting in 2010. Throughout that year, he wrote and mixed five other songs, including TMZ, Party In the CIA, Another Tattoo, If That Isn't Love, and Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me. Still, one song was missing, the most important one of all: his lead parody.
Enter Lady Gaga. Her hit new single, Born This Way, was tearing up the Billboard charts, and Al knew he had just the strong, timely lead parody he needed to top off his new album. Thus, Perform This Way, a parody poking fun at all of Gaga's strange performance behaviors, was born.

Before he would begin writing the song, however, he wanted to have Lady Gaga's blessing. Unfortunately, it was going to be more complicated than he would have imagined.

First, the Gaga camp told Al that she would have to "hear" the song before giving approval. Then, after working feverishly to write the lyrics and send them her way, he was told that "hear" was meant in the literal sense; he would have to go through the time and expense to actually record the song for her to listen to, something Al never did. "But because I was really excited about this parody," Al stated in his blog post detailing the situation, "I decided I would faithfully jump through as many hoops as Gaga deemed necessary." Thus, the song was recorded and sent to Gaga's people.

And the response Al got back was a firm "no."

"My parodies have always fallen under what the courts call 'fair use,'" a horribly disappointed Al continued in his aforementioned blog post, "and this one was no different, legally allowing me to record and release it without permission. But it has always been my personal policy to get the consent of the original artist before including my parodies on any album, so of course I will respect Gaga's wishes. However, given the circumstances, I have no problem with allowing people to hear it online, because I also have a personal policy not to completely waste my stinking time."
That being the case, Al put Born This Way up on YouTube for the fans' listening pleasure, with plans to allow them to download the song themselves on his official website shortly.

That wouldn't be necessary, however. Later that very day, Al got a new, apologetic message from Gaga's people admitting that her manager had never even forwarded the song to her, instead making the decision to deny it on his own! Not only that, but she actually loved the song and wholeheartedly approved of it!

Thus, with the final song secured, Al immediately set a release date of June 21st for his new album, a mere two months almost to the day that the debacle took place. So, get out of your bunkers and plan a trip to wherever albums are sold (or to your computer, if digital music is your preference). The Alpocalypse is almost here, and I for one intend to greet it with open arms. It's been a long time coming.

SOURCES

THE GAGA SAGA < AL'S BLOG, AL'S BLOG
GAGA UPDATE! < AL'S BLOG, AL'S BLOG
"Weird Al" Yankovic: Recording dates, The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Website