Eminem Bars 'Weird Al' Parody Video

WashingtonPost.Com ^ | Saturday, May 10, 2003; 7:53 AM | By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY The Associated Press

[Bobby777]

NEW YORK - Eminem may poke fun at himself in videos, but he doesn't want "Weird Al" Yankovic doing it. Eminem won't give Yankovic permission to shoot a video for his new song, "Couch Potato," a parody of Eminem's Oscar-winning tune "Lose Yourself," Yankovic said.

"The only reason I could glean was that making a Weird Al music video would detract from his legacy as a serious hip-hop artist," Yankovic said Thursday. "It's very disappointing. This could have been my best video ever."

[Bobby777]

I believe we have a right to Weird Al videos ... stop the insanity ... Free Weird Al ... 8)

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Free Weird Al

....In every box of Fruit Loops.

[ChadGore]

Free Weird Al with any purchase of $10.00 or more.

[ChadGore]

bump

[101st-Eagle]

"Serious," "hip-hop" and "artist" should NEVER be used in the same sentence. Exception: As an artist I realize what S**T hip-hop is to serious music.

[Mike Darancette]

Ya ain't nobody till "Wierd" Al does you.

[Wondervixen]

A legacy as a serious hip-hop artist???

Is this like a legacy as a serious X Games skateboarder? Lemme put the two in context for you all...

It's like the legacies of Swept Away, Four Rooms, Who's That Girl, The Next Best Thing, Body of Evidence, and Bloodhounds of Broadway to film.

For those not familier with the above titles, my point is made, but there is one common denominator to all...They are Madonna movies! (No wonder the gap-toothed whore goes around speaking with a british accent when everyone knows she's from Michigan)

[Bobby777]

don't change that channel,
don't touch that dial,
we got it all on UHF,
so, forget about your laundry,
forget about your job,
just crank up the volume,
and yank off the knob,
we got it all, we got it all,
on UHF ...

[martin_fierro]

Now watch Weird Al pose nude in protest.

[Bobby777]

you forgot "Shanghai Surprise" ... 8)

[Scothia]

This is because Eminen is a much more serious artiste than, say, Madonna or Cyndi Lauper. /sarcasm

[Psycho_Bunny]

"Serious," "hip-hop" and "artist" should NEVER be used in the same sentence. Exception: As an artist I realize what S**T hip-hop is to serious music.

I have yet to find any style of music that doesn't have at least one brilliant example of true artistry.  I, personally, find Eminem to be lazy and uninspired however, in terms of Hip Hop, Name of the Game by The Crystal Method is nothing short of true genius.  Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim is also quit compelling.

All things being equal, I'd pit Name of the Game against anything Mozart ever wrote.......

....I wouldn't pit it against Bach's work or Beethoven's, though.

[Wondervixen]

No, Shanghai Surprise ranks right down there with Ishtar in the FAMOUS Flop Bin...They are frequently seen riding around Hollyweird together in an EDSEL.

[billorites]

Ya ain't nobody till "Wierd" Al does you.

Like Tipper says.

[thatsnotnice]

Eminem won't give Yankovic permission to shoot a video for his new song, "Couch Potato," a parody of Eminem's Oscar-winning tune "Lose Yourself," Yankovic said.

That's interesting because I never knew they had to get permission to do a song parody. I've heard a lot of them and I can't believe they got permission for some of them.

[Bobby777]

Kofi Annan threatened Weird Al with U.N. sanctions if he did an unauthorized Eminem parody ... LOL

[tet68]

Not the song parody but the video.

[Roscoe]

Rolling Stone:

On the track, Yankovic raps, "Oh! Ozzy's family/Sho' loves profanity/Whoa, the insanity/Oh, dogs that crap and pee/Home of depravity?/No, they live happily."

Eminem signed off on the parody but would not grant permission for a video, a first in Yankovic's eleven-album career.

[GSWarrior]

My grandfather loathed the big band music my father always played. You call that music he would ask? My father swore up and down the Beatles had no talent and nobody would even know who they were in 10 years. I can't see any musical merit to the stuff my kids listen to. My kids absolutely can't stand my alternative country CD collection.

On and on it goes. Talent is in the eye of the beholder.

[SamAdams76]

Why would "Weird Al" even need his permission? I thought that if you were doing a parody, it wasn't copyright infringement. After all, I can't believe that the original artists gave permission to Yankovich to records songs like "Eat It" (parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It") or the very clever "Amish Paradise" (parody of Coolio's "Gangsta Paradise").