I made this video so you can see the attention to detail that went into creating a shot-for-shot parody. I'm not interested in which one you think is better. I'm also aware that you can only hear the parody and not the original; playing both songs at the same time would ruin them both.
At first you would think the lines were less out of synchronization then would be for a weird Al parody and so it would be unlike his usual standard. but then you realize that the reason the fat lines are slower is because of how obese the actors are and you have to account for their heavy breathing which is just an added detail you can't overlook.
If the setting for the dancing looks virtually identical between Bad and Fat, its because it is actually the same place, the same real-world subway station. When Weird Al asked Michael Jackson if he would give approval for Weird Al's parody, Michael didn't just say yes, he gave Weird Al the address to the station he recorded Bad at, so Weird Al could make the parody as close and good as possible to Bad as possible. Michael had an appreciation for parody that sadly way too many rappers that Weird Al has parodied don't have.
*cough* *cough* James Blunt (His recording company rejected Wierd Al's parody because they didn't want James Blunt to be a one hit wonder, James later regretted not being parodied
@@sarahsterly2198 actually, both were friends. And MJ would allow every song being parodied by Al, except for Black and White because for MJ this song got such a strong and serious topic that he didn't want it to be made fun of
@@milesprower2944 close; Al borrowed the set they used for the moonwalker version. if you look carefully there's a few small differences between the sets, like at 3:05 the red circles on the barriers are smaller on the Weird Al video. But in all fairness they are pretty identical sets.
2:00 It would've been funny if you put Fat on the left and Bad on the right so that Michael Jackson and Weird Al looked at each other before they started. xD
It's cool that he was so cool about it. It's always good when someone has a good sense of humor and can laugh at themselves. Besides, who doesn't love Weird Al?
It was cool he was cool with it but like, he doesnt own the subway. They have access to it either way. Some1 could easily leak the address who appreciates the joke. Michael didnt have to do it but Weird Al for sure didnt need him to do it.
Nah, he actually gained weight in real-time by absorbing the microorganisms in the air similar to how sea sponges filter feed. Weird Al has powers us mortals canned comprehend
@@jacebagley3025 No... It can be proven via the music video itself, him talking about it in interviews, and him performing it in numerous concerts. It is a fat suit and prosthetics.
I like the subtle composition joke at the end; in the original bad shot the field of view was set so that Michael was the focus but you could still see past him, whilst with Weird Al it's really zoomed in, almost like they're suggesting he's so fat that he has to take up the whole frame.
Fun fact about this, MJ not only thought the idea was hilarious, but he also let Al use his production company's sets from the original video. Most of those are the same locations on a studio lot. (Though a few locations were actual infrastructure, like the street where the black guy keeps yelling "Yo!" at MJ.)
The funniest part is that at the 3:30 mark, when Al breaks the guy's back by jumping on him, Michael looks down for just a second, as if reacting to what happened.
The nice thing is Weird Al acknowledged his career is thanks to Michael. He said, well if the king of pop has no complaints about his music being parodied, it's hard for other people to complain. Although, Prince never let Al do a parody of him.
I'll bet the reason being that Al had connections with MJ. Prince and Michael had fierce rivalries at the time. Either that or Prince had an ego the size of durian fruit and didn't see the humor in any of Al's parodies.
@@barbarmeow4076 That's probably because Dave communicated his ideas with Prince and was given the green light. There's no denying MJ and Prince had rivalry and egos to match during all that.
Al's parodies actually helped the record sales of the artist's he parodied. Legally, Weird Al didn't need permission to do a parody, but he always asked anyway as a sign of respect and good faith. If the artist said "No", Al wouldn't do it. But, it was a SMART buisness move to allow Weird Al Yankovic to parody your song. Michael knew this first hand, and it really did create more revenue for the artist's he selected, as well as himself. Definitely a win/win for those who had a sense of humor about themselves. If you look at Weird Al's work, you can see that he was never really mean about anything, he was mostly just over the top silly, and so the artist's who allowed him to parody their work knew that he had only the best of intentions, and that he was actually a very bright, funny and talented artist in his own right. Because there is Music, there is Weird Al.
This parody didn't help Michael's sales, Michael's sales did what they did on their own. If it were some other artist then I'd say sure why not but this is Michael Jackson we're talking about. The guy who previously sold 60 million copies of a single album. I say 60 million beause that's how much he'd already sold at the time. Right now it's somewhere past 70-80 million certified, or over 100 million (verified but not certified). "AI's parodies actually helped th record sales of the artist's he parodied" that may be so for other artists, but not THE Michael Jackson.
@@aaronvector4750 Wrong. There are people who actually went out and bought "Bad" because of Weird Al's parody, and that fact alone helped sales. You probably weren't even around back then.
@@skelter1153 of course there were people who went and bought the "Bad" album because of "fat" however those people are a very, very small number compared to the amount of "Bad" albums were sold. I'd say the most would be around 25 thousand.
@@aaronvector4750 It doesn't matter if it was 25,000 or 1. Al contributed to Jackson's record sales. You were wrong. I'm not responding anymore, you're dismissed.
I bought "Bad" and "Even Worse" at the same time from the same store back in the day - on vinyl. I was shocked then at how similar Al's parody was to the real thing. But I've never seen the two videos side by side before. From the choreography to the blocking to the cinematography to the editing, and of course the writing and performance, Al has proven himself and his team to be the OG parodists. Amazing.
You know, it just occurred to me, that Weird Al studied his choreography under Michael Jackson, to add some authenticity to his performance! Makes him even more impressive.
I love just how many jokes about the backup dancers there are. Jumping on the dancer; MJ makes an elegant badass landing and Al breaks him in half. Rollerskater; one does some nifty dance moves and the other can barely stand up. Staircase; one does a series of back handsprings and the other celebrates nailing a cartwheel.
At 0:17, the guy in the middle was Louie B. Washington. He later was featured as the U62 studio cameraman in Al's movie "UHF". He's the one eating a sandwich while Emo Philips' character Joel Earley gets his thumb cut off on a table saw.
Weird Al certainly takes his time in making his parody videos... Yes, some of the artists he has done parodies of in the past, and more recently have disapproved of his renditions of their songs. And many others felt they were in the "big time" if Weird Al was making a parody of one or more of their songs. You are right though Cleveland, he had crazy attention to detail. Even in Eat It; another Jackson classic, he did his best to match the wardrobe and overall run of the original music video. He does the parodies for fun, he has never been trying to offend the original artists with his versions of their song; hell, I recently learned Madonna was the one who gave him the idea for "Like a Surgeon".
man, not even Socrates had to deal with questions this tough. Be bad and turn into the kind of person who steals from the innocent just to get into a gangs good books, or be fat and risk dying of a heart attack by the time I'm 40. technically less people would get physically hurt by me being fat (unless they get between me and a burger stand) but at the same time, heart attacks kind of suck (or so I imagine).
Whoever's idea this was is a genius. This is amazing. I love how far Al went into copying as much detail as he could. Must have taken a lot of work. I also read where Michael liked Weird Al's idea so much he helped him with the location. I like both vids except for all the time before the song actually started in Michael's version. But everything you see here on both versions I really like. Great job.
Imagine being drunk and/or stoned watching late night MTV and seeing any of Weird Al’s music videos that are nearly shot for shot and telling your friends the next day.
some guy: "I was so drunk last night that when Michael Jackson's Bad video came on I thought it was Weird Al." some other guy: "Dude it WAS Weird Al" some guy: "Oh man, you were wasted last night too?"
That would take some doing, but he probably would've liked it since Weird Al never makes a music video parody unless he has permission from the artist to do so. In other words Michael was cool with this video being made.
funfact Michael Jackson didn’t only approve this parody, he even gave Weird al Yankovic the actual address of the subway station where he filmed “bad” so it could look as real as possible, it proved Michael’s humor was ahead of what they called humor back in the 80’s
My 4 year old loves both these songs and videos, but after watching this combined version of both with her for the first time just now, I found myself having to explain to her numerous times why I was laughing so much at this mash-up. I think she liked this one too but was perplexed at why I thought it was funnier than Weird Al's version on its own.
Your butt is wide, well mine is too Just watch your mouth or I'll sit on you The word is out, better treat me right 'Cause I'm the king of cellulite Ham on, ham on, ham on whole wheat, all right My zippers bust, my buckles break I'm too much man for you to take The pavement cracks when I fall down I've got more chins than Chinatown Well, I've never used a phone booth And I've never seen my toes When I'm goin' to the movies I take up seven rows Because I'm fat, I'm fat, sha mone (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, come on you know (Fat, fat, really really fat) Don't you call me pudgy, portly or stout Just now tell me once again who's fat When I walk out to get my mail It measures on the Richter scale Down at the beach I'm a lucky man I'm the only one who gets a tan If I have one more pie a la mode I'm gonna need my own zip code When you're only having seconds I'm a' having twenty-thirds When I go to get my shoes shined I gotta take their word Because I'm fat, I'm fat, sha mone (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it you know (Fat, fat, really really fat) And my shadow weighs a' forty-two pounds Lemme tell you once again who's fat If you see me comin' your way Better give me plenty space If I tell you that I'm hungry Then won't you feed my face Because I'm fat, I'm fat, sha mone (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it, you know (Fat, fat, really really fat.) When I sit around the house I really sit around the house You know I'm fat, I'm fat, sha mone (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it, you know it (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know, you know, you know, come on (Fat, fat, really really fat) And you know all by myself I'm a crowd Lemme tell you once again You know I'm huge, I'm fat, you know it (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, you know, woo (Fat, fat, really really fat) You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it, you know (Fat, fat, really really fat) And the whole world knows I'm fat and I'm proud Just tell me once again who's fat
The pillar Al is leaning against at the beginning is the same pillar he knocks over. The both have the same number of tiles wide. One less row than all other pillars subway. Custom pillar.
I think it's so cool that MJ was such a good sport and liked Al's parodies so much that he let him use the same location as in the Bad video. I believe the only time he said no to Al parodying one of his songs was for Black or White, MJ felt that song was too important and meaningful to be made fun of, and Al, being the absolute class act that he is, respectfully agreed not to parody the song. I think he also said MJ did him a favor because he didn't want to known as just the guy who does MJ parodies.
These are such a treat! Although I’ve been a lifelong fan of Weord Al, I never watched many of his videos nor the original videos, so I had no idea he was “largely” doing a shot by shot parody of the originals!
Damn that was friggn hilarious! thanks and great job, made my day. Love the mouse trap, so random. Weird Al is one smart, funny and talented guy. Valedictorian.. no lie.
