The world is full of people who are willing to take the light out of anything. Happy music is substance-less, silly comedy is for the intellectually challenged and anything in the charts is instantaneously uncool according to these pessimistic snobs. It is hard to tell whether these people have the right idea, that we are turning our brains to mush by listening to mono-beat pop songs and watching gruesomely humoured films, however maybe they just need to embrace the parody side of life.
Parody is an important part of the “don’t take life too seriously” mantra, the majority of people are suckers for the run of the mill parody movies such as naked gun and even the stiffest of film elitists has been known to snigger at leslie nielsen’s dry one liners. This being true, there always seems to be a “love it-hate it” situation where parody music is concerned. “Wierd Al” Yankovich is a pioneer of parody, releasing E.P “another one rides the bus” clearly a take-off of Queen’s “another one bites the dust”. He crossed the line, poking fun at respected artists that were classed as above the above, almost ten years later, he is still turning popular songs into comedic escapades including Greenday’s “American idiot” which he translates to “Canadian idiot.” Many people tend to take the curly-haired musical satirist’s take on pop songs a little too seriously and feel that he is desecrating other singers’ well thought out and performed ditties.The same is often said for modern day satirists Lonely Island, who take a zany look at today’s borderline ridiculous popular songs, however their take is not as well thought out as Yankovich’s.
Perhaps these people’s negative view of something that is largely just good clean fun is close to social commentary on how things have gone as a result of too much exposure to the media, to seriousness. There is nothing to give any musical artist the license to be above any one or anything, once they step into the limelight they, and their art are subject to a right roasting by anybody who has the comedic abilities, and that is just a fact of artistic life. Other spoof bands and artists take a different approach to the parody genre, and yes it has become vast enough to be described as a “genre”. The likes of Tenacious D, fronted by comedy actor Jack Black, teamed with his long-time friend, Kyle Gass, tend to pay homage, while taking a jibe at, their favourite genres, by overplaying the essential elements. Our first treat of Tenacious D was “tribute”, the masses praised it, however although the songs from the debut album, such as Wonderboy, just got funnier and funnier, they received any kind of praise. Even Jack Black had already secured comic status by the 2006 album couldn’t bring the critics and the music fans to embrace them into the music elite. This is despite the fact that the pair are extremely talented, particularly Black, who’s vocals are delectable to say the least. Yet again, people are pushing them down and labelling them as nothing but a talentless parody band. The same can be said for even the lesser known band, Steel Panther, a glam rock spoof band that, truth be told, are not far off from the originals. The band were formed in 2000 and have never, not even to the extent of Tenacious D, made any kind of impact on the masses, it seems as though they are destined to belong in the underground for the band’s eternity. Perhaps the vulgarity of the lyrics within the bands songs keeps them at arm’s length from radio wave acceptance, however the question again arises, are many people just taking music snobbery to an unamusing level.
Maybe the world has become to serious and those who fell into the trap have become embittered towards those who are willing to let their funny juices flow and overwash conformity. Is there really anything wrong with unleashing a bit of creative wit on the drab and often painfully ordinary things that make up our day-to-day lives? Try not to think of parody as a shameless rip off of another artist’s work, instead look on the bright side of life and see it as an honorable adulation.
Tags: jack black, parody, steel panther, tenacious D, tribute, Wierd Al, Wonderboy
