For fans of perennial song parodist/national treasure/greatest human alive “Weird Al” Yankovic, the past eight days have been bliss. In honor of what will likely be his last proper album, Mandatory Fun, Yankovic has been releasing a new video every day, beginning with last week’s “Tacky” (a parody of Pharrell’s “Happy”) and wrapping up with today’s “Mission Statement” (a pastiche or “style parody” of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). Yes, not since the heady days of Al TV has there been this much Al permeating the public consciousness. It’s been a week when aging nerds can eat their Twinkie Wiener Sandwiches with pride, unafraid of getting beat up by jocks who can’t quote UHF front to back.
So about the new video: The animated whiteboard video for “Mission Statement” was created by Fitchburg, Wisconsin company TruScribe, which specializes in, well, animated whiteboard videos. It’s a perfect fit for the song’s spot-on skewering of empty corporate buzzwords and irritating marketing-speak. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy (who premiered the video this morning), the video took 10 months to create. “We hadn’t done anything like that before,” TruScribe’s Eric Oakland told Speakeasy. “We had done long-form, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, but to be lyric heavy—music creates a mood that you have to match, too.”
So yeah, it’s a good time to be a “Weird Al” fan, and an even better time to be a “Weird Al” fan from Wisconsin. Check out the video at Speakeasy, you little weasels. HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!