Lady Gaga Denies Parody Permission To Weird Al

[jamrock16]

I don't get why people are mad at GaGa ???. It's her song and if she doesn't want him to parody-it then that's her prerogative. at my local news reporting it (entertainment section of course), everything she does is blown out of proportion.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Apr 20, 2011 22:24:27 GMT -5 @jback said:

Apr 20, 2011 22:16:39 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

It's funny now that people are suddenly saying "what a predictable response after the uproar on the Internet. Of course gaga heard the song but she changed her mind and made up a story about not hearing it." blah blah blah.

I think it's hilarious how some people choose to believe the best in singers they like and the worst in singers they don't like, even if it's the opposite of what's been reported. Justifying things by saying "well, I bet that's not what happened at all and people are out to make so-and-so look bad" or "of course they'd say that. This is predictable PR to save face."

I bet if it was Tori Amos in this position, the comments would be completely different from specific non-pulse people.

You calling Weird Al a liar then :o Blasphemy!

Not at all. He sent a request and got denied. The only mistake he made, which wasn't his fault at all, was assuming that GaGa personally denied it. Based on the final result, she didn't know at all. I'm calling out the random people on the internet that predictably use situations like this to call out singers they don't like and turn it around it still make them look like the bad guy by saying "of course she'd do that after the response it got."

[Ezekiel 23:20–21]

I did a search and found this article about some artists who denied permission for Weird Al to release parodies of their songs.

11 Artists Who Wouldn't Give Weird Al Permission For a Parody
Published Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 11:00:00 AM

Technically, "Weird" Al Yankovic doesn't need to get permission to make a parody of a song. Because parody's protected by fair use, he can take any song in the world and warp the lyrics to be about food or TV. But as a matter of personal principle, he gets an artist's permission before releasing a parody.

Over the course of his 30-year career, most of the artists have said yes. Dave Grohl said that Weird Al's Nirvana parody was a sign that they'd made it. Chamillionaire said Weird Al's parody was the reason he got enough noteriety to win a Grammy. The Presidents of the USA changed one of the lyrics in "Lump" to match up with a line Weird Al used in "Gump".

But, from time to time, artists haven't been as magnanimous about the prospect of a Weird Al parody. These 11 all decided that their songs were out of Weird Al's league and refused to give him permission to pizza-ize their babies.

Yoko Ono. Weird Al didn't ask for permission to parody any of her solo work, obviously; I'm not sure that turning "Walking On Thin Ice" into something like "Snacking On Thin Mints" would've moved units. No, Al wanted to turn the Beatles song "Free as a Bird" into a song called "Gee I'm a Nerd"... and Paul passive-aggressively deferred to Yoko. She said no.

Al still performs "Gee I'm a Nerd" in concert. Not sure why he didn't just take the same concept to Skynyrd and see if they were into it. After what they let Kid Rock do to "Sweet Home Alabama" it's clear they're not uber-protective of their classics.

James Blunt. Weird Al got permission from Blunt to make a parody of "You're Beautiful" called "You're Pitiful". After he finished it, Blunt's record company, Atlantic, freaked out that it might hurt the James Blunt brand.

(Normally this is where I'd make some bitchy comment like "if they thought that brand was too good for Weird Al, then clearly they're taking the same branding community college classes as LeBron's buddies." But I'm not going to, because, truth be told, I enjoy listening to James Blunt's breathless falsetto warbling.)

Al ended up leaving the song off of his album, and put the song up for free on MySpace.


U2. I know, I'm shocked too that U2 doesn't have a sense of humor about themselves.

Al made a parody of "Numb" called "Green Eggs and Ham" and even parodied the video, but couldn't get U2 to sign off. So he never released the song. U2 would descend into pure self-parody shortly thereafter.

Coolio. This became Weird Al's most famous scandal. So Al parodied Coolio's "Gangstas Paradise" with his song "Amish Paradise". He thought he had Coolio's blessing -- apparently that's what Coolio's record company told him -- but later, Coolio said he was offended by the song and never gave up permission.

Coolio's indignation wasn't strong enough, however, to keep him from collecting the royalties that came his way from Al's parody. It's like the people who call their Congressman to freak out about how Obama is socializing medicine and how the government needs to stay away from health care... and then say "And I can't believe you're cutting Medicare, I need it to live."

Eventually they met and made peace. (Al and Coolio. Not angry, confused constituents and their Congressmen.)

Eminem. Eminem gave Weird Al permission to make a parody of "Lose Yourself" called "Couch Potato"... but asked him not to release it as a single or make a video, because that could hurt Eminem's image. (This was long before Eminem got involved in his highest-profile rap feud... with Triumph the Insult Dog... and made an album where he rapped in Triumph's voice on half of the songs. If America wasn't so forgiving of its beloved white rappers his image never would've been able to bounce back from that like it did.)

Paul McCartney. Weird Al wanted to parody "Live and Let Die" with a song called "Chicken Pot Pie". Paul turned him down because a song about a chicken pot pie worked in direct opposition to his vegetarianism. Apparently Paul McCartney hasn't heard that you don't make friends with salad.

Prince. Al says that, for a while there, he'd go to Prince after almost every major hit and ask for permission to make a parody. He wanted to make a song off of "Let's Go Crazy" -- Prince said no. "When Doves Cry" -- another no. "Purple Rain" -- another no. Once upon a time, Al said he was going to keep asking Prince every few years to see if he'd change his stance.

Prince hasn't had a real hit in 15+ years, so I guess Weird Al has stopped the tradition.

From "Black Or White".

Michael Jackson. Michael gave permission on two of the parodies that ended up bringing Weird Al his first major breakthrough; "Fat" and "Eat It" remain two of Al's most famous songs.

When Al went back almost a decade later to see if he could get Michael's permission to parody "Black Or White", though, he got a "no." Michael felt the subject matter was too serious for parody. (Not too serious to have a video starring Macaulay Culkin, but that's another topic for another day.)

Al went ahead and made "Snack All Night" anyway, but never released it.

Jimmy Page. Weird Al wanted to make a polka medley out of Led Zeppelin's songs, and Jimmy Page balked. Many, many years later, though, Page did give Al permission to use a sample of "Black Dog" in the background of a parody of R. Kelly's "Trapped In the Closet". Because no matter how personally attached you are to your own music, everyone in the world wants to be a part of ripping on "Trapped In the Closet".

Daniel Powter. In a classic, classic case of someone misunderstanding his status on the music food chain, Daniel Powter wouldn't give permission to Al to parody "Bad Day". He just refused.

Until... right before Al was set to hit the studio to record his new album and Daniel Powter had a change of heart. In a rare double denial, Al said it was too late, and he rejected Powter. Powter hasn't been heard from since.

Billy Joel. Back before Weird Al decided he was going to only do gentle parodies, he recorded a roast of Billy Joel to the tune of "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me." Al called the song "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" and went after Joel's music for being lame, derivative and generic. (You can see the lyrics here.)

A huge departure from how he would've handled a Billy Joel parody in the future, when he'd want to make something like "Captain Jack Sparrow" or "She's Always A Wookie" or "I Go To Extreme Makeover: Home Editions". And now he can never make any of those, because he parodied and offended Billy Joel without prior permission.

[discoloser]

It's usually the labels not the artists, (minus a few) who deny Weird Al.

[Libra]

Apr 21, 2011 6:47:28 GMT -5 discoloser said:

It's usually the labels not the artists, (minus a few) who deny Weird Al.

It's said that after what happened with Coolio, Al makes the effort to contact the artists themselves rather than the label.

Granted, that didn't quite happen in the case of Lady GaGa, but it may not have been possible prior to her overruling her management.

[HolidayGuy]

Legends has it that Madonna asked a friend how long it would be before Al did "Like a Surgeon"; that friend also was a friend of Al's manager and word got back to Al, and he thought it was a great idea. Supposedly, the only instance that he got an idea from the act itself.

[Walking Contradiction]

Weird Al actually did release a U2 parody, turning "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" into "Cavity Search" (with the chorus "Numb me, drill me, floss me, bill me"). I believe it was actually the Dr. Seuss estate that rejected the "Green Eggs and Ham" parody of "Numb". Billy Joel also later granted Al permission to turn "Piano Man" into a song about Spider-Man - probably because that song didn't directly make fun of Billy, though it also may have helped that Al's career was much more well-established at that point.

If you couldn't tell by the last paragraph, I'm a huge Weird Al an - he's pretty much the first artist I ever got into. That said, I can't help but be a little skeptical about this situation. It does seem, well, weird that Al would put a parody on the internet after the artist supposedly rejected it. (I know he did something like this with the James Blunt parody, but that was rejected by the record label.) My theory is that since he was only able to speak with Gaga's manager, he decided to put the parody on YouTube to get Gaga's attention, and find out first-hand whether she approved or not. Remember that ever since the Coolio fallout, he always sought to speak to the artists directly.

If Gaga had backed up what her manager said, Al probably would have apologized and pulled the song from YouTube. Instead, she said she approved, and the song is getting the video and album treatment. Which makes me happy - all's well that ends well.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Apr 21, 2011 9:18:12 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Legends has it that Madonna asked a friend how long it would be before Al did "Like a Surgeon"; that friend also was a friend of Al's manager and word got back to Al, and he thought it was a great idea. Supposedly, the only instance that he got an idea from the act itself.

I hope that's true! That would make Madonna infinitely cooler in my books!

[Mega248]

Apr 20, 2011 19:43:27 GMT -5 KeepDeanWeird said:

Guess what? The parody has now received FAR more attention because of the alleged controversy. Score one for GaGa AND Weird Al.

LOL, exactly. They both ended up being the winners here, regardless of whether or not any of this was staged (which I don't think it was- it seems like a simple miscommunication error to me and nothing more). The only losers are those of us who are tired of Team Gaga vs Team Anti-Gaga.

Also, "Perform this Way" is awesome.

[WotUNeed]

Apr 20, 2011 18:25:33 GMT -5 @backintime said:

Am I the only person who thinks he comes across so much worse than she does? He seems to feel like he's so entitled to use other people's music. Maybe she just doesn't think his irrelevant unfunny ass doesn't automatically get a right to capitalize off her music while making fun of her. Plus the whole thing of writing some long letter is so attention-seeking and self-pitying. Oh I'm such a good person because I always ask for people's permission before releasing parodies, but then when I don't get permission I whine about it and release them anyway? Give me a break.

Thing is, he is entitled to use other people's music. And the letter was a blog; he was just posting about a recent experience in his life for fans who want to read it. The tone and content of the message seems appropriate given that context. Had it been, say, "an open letter to the music industry" or some crap like that, I'd be more inclined to agree with you.

[Deleted]

My theory is that since he was only able to speak with Gaga's manager, he decided to put the parody on YouTube to get Gaga's attention, and find out first-hand whether she approved or not. Remember that ever since the Coolio fallout, he always sought to speak to the artists directly.

This makes a lot of sense. While I think Gaga has been taking herself way too seriously, I don't think this one area where she would be that pressed about it. I also have gotten the feeling that her team has been cocooning her somewhat as well, and probably making what they think are "minor" decisions so she won't be bothered with them.

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2011 17:20:22 GMT -5 WotUNeed said:

Thing is, he is entitled to use other people's music. And the letter was a blog; he was just posting about a recent experience in his life for fans who want to read it. The tone and content of the message seems appropriate given that context. Had it been, say, "an open letter to the music industry" or some crap like that, I'd be more inclined to agree with you.

Okay, so he's legally entitled to use other people's music and I don't have a problem with that. It just seems to me that he's expecting artists to be jumping for joy to find that he's using something they created to make fun of them. He's allowed to do it, but it doesn't make him any less of an ass. I'm probably wrong, but the whole thing just gave me a bad vibe. And let's not pretend he wasn't expecting this to get a wider audience than whatever he normally blogs about.