For those of you who have been waiting for me to post again - PREPARE TO REGRET IT!
So a coupla weeks ago, one of my favorite performing artists - "Weird Al" Yankovic - put out a new album called "Straight Outta Lynwood". And that, my readers, is today's topic...
It's funny, but ever since 'nerd culture' really started becoming trendy, I've wondered - what's the test of a REAL nerd? I mean, it's pretty hard to find anyone from my generation who didn't like Star Wars, and thanks to its mainstream popularity, Star Wars paved the way for everyone to 'come out of the nerd closet'.
But how many of these people are REALLY nerds? I mean, when you've got hot actresses going on Jay Leno and saying "Oh, I'm a total nerd... I love sci-fi and video games" how nerdy can sci-fi and video games be? It's not that YOU, little miss "IT-girl" are nerdy, it's that sci-fi, fantasy and video games simply ceased to BE nerdy. So 'admitting' that you like these things is no big deal.
Don't get me wrong (oh - who am I kidding... you're probably going to get me wrong no matter how many friggin' disclaimers I write, so go ahead and get me wrong... I hope you choke on your getting-John-wrongness)... I don't begrudge beautiful and popular people for embracing nerd culture... I WANT nerd culture to thrive and grow so that I always have an abundant array of media to choose from. I LOVE the way the wind is blowing... I feel like a kid in a candy store! I used to watch 'Buck Rogers" because there simply WASN'T a source of sci-fi television when I was a kid (none of our local syndicates picked up 'Star Trek' reruns and that show was too brainy for me at the time anyway... I wanted to see space battles, dammit - not get lectured about treating everyone with equality). But NOW? Holy CRAP! There's like fifty billion sci-fi shows on, and a few of them are even GOOD! But even if that weren't the case, every DVD store has an absolute abundant array of selections to choose from including stuff from Japan and around the world!
My point is, with nerd culture becoming so trendy, even if 95% of it sucks, 5% is plenty to keep me occupied. So I have no problem with this trend growing and growing ad infinitum.
BUT, the trend DOES take away some of the 'punch' that the word 'nerd' once had... so what is the NEW litmus for whether or not you're a nerd?
My friends, the answer is Weird Al Yankovic.
I love Al. I love his music. And not just his parodies like 'Eat it' or 'Like A Surgeon'... he does TONS of original songs that are just plain funny (songs that tell stories of Santa Claus going postal and killing a bunch of people, songs about hating your ex-girlfriend, and - yes - songs about food).
On his last album - 'Poodle Hat' - he did a song called 'Bob' in the style of Bob Dylan - but the whole song was a panendrome... how brilliant is that?
Al, to me, proves that you can be silly, childlike, juvenile and dorky while still exhibiting nuggets of brilliance. ANY humorist can exhibit their intellect by being pithy and sardonic, but Al SNIPES at you with his brilliance... he says "Yeah... I like farts too... but here's a dash of academia just to throw off your balance!"
I can attest to this with firsthand experience... when I was in college I wrote for the school newspaper and got to do a phone interview with Al (and got to meet him in person after his Kalamazoo Koncert). I was expecting him to be schticky through the whole conversation and be all goofy and - well - weird... but he was very thoughtful and poingnant.
Having said all of this, I must confess that "Lynwood" is not his best album...it's still VERY good listening, and there are at least 3 songs that I can never live without, but pound for pound it doesn't have the same punch as his previous work.
Nonetheless, the first track on the album - which I think is the number 2 song in America right now - "White and Nerdy" is an absolute scream.
The funny thing is, I have absolutely NO idea what song it's parodying. I know it's a parody of SOMEthing, but it's definitely a parody of just another friggin' gangsta-hiphop thing and - as frequent readers already know - I've grown really tired of that whole sound.
But, while I'm sure the original song probably talks about all kinds of things I can't possibly relate to (the 'hood, drive-bys, etc.), "White and Nerdy" is practically a musical catalogue of my entire existence!
To quote one of my favorite lines: "...the only question I ever thought was hard, was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?"
One of the things that turns me off when it comes to music in general is when it takes itself too seriously... you'd think rock stars were curing cancer when you hear them talk about themselves.
Why SHOULDN'T music be funny? And not just "Frank Zappa" funny, but OTHER kinds of funny too?
I just think people do themselves a disservice by limiting their musical tastes to one genre. And, oftentimes, it's the fear of being nerdy that keeps them from appreciating the brilliance of someone like Al.
Call me a goofball (and I'll say "thanks!") but I still dig this kind of humor... and I hope I never outgrow it.
Anyway, that's my Weird Al rant - misspellings and all - take it for what it's worth.
(don't you just wish I had posted a painting of a Gazelle or something now?)
2 comments:
Just because you are fat, losing your hair and wear glasses, does not mean it's okay to hoarde the title of Nerd. I think you'd do better with the moniker, "Christian Loser Poser." Nerd is too classy for you.
I love Weird Al! And I love my nerd of a fiance! And I love this post!
Oh - and not that I want to start a lengthy debate here, but Heroes is proof-positive that the word 'nerd' no longer has the impact it once had. Case-in-point... there is a character on that show, (whose name escapes me at the moment), who is downright 'nerdy' - even by today's standards, but he is an audience favorite. They've embraced him. He's lovable and I would venture to guess there are plenty of broads who'd be more than happy to smack that ass.
And I think the punch that the word nerd once packed has been disintegrating over time. Screech, (from the Saved by the Bell days), was a nerd that was embraced too - the difference being that nobody wanted to take that to bed.
Anyway, lots of words lose their meaning over time. Bitch isn't that harsh anymore - and cunt is losing it's venemous bite as well. Nerd? Well, nerd isn't so much an insult anymore. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a compliment - but if someone called me a nerd, I wouldn't be all that offended. In fact, I wouldn't be offended at all. Actually, being called a hooker wouldn't offend me either, come to think of it, but I'm pretty sure I'm more nerd than hooker... and really more 'arty'chick' than nerd, and I hate categorizing myself and all, but let's call an apple an apple, shall we?
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