Coolio and Weird Al
Chrsb
on the news that Coolio hated the parody, and wanted it off of the album.
Lex Friedman
(Whatinthe) wrote:
*There's more on this in Alt.fan.weird-al, along with a statement
*from Al himself explaining the situation.....
Two things... he had a slip of the keyboard, that should be alt.music.weird-al
Second: if the message expired on your server, here is Bermuda's posting
of Al's statement.
Subject: Re Coolio, a message from Al
From: Bermuda Schwartz <ber...@loop.com>
Date: 2 Mar 1996 22:40:50 GMT
Al is aware of Coolio's remarks at the Grammy Awards
on the 28th, and I told him there have been some questions
from his online fans. Al faxed me his thoughts to share with you:
Before it hits the media at large, I just wanted to set the record
straight about what exactly happened regarding my getting
permission for "Amish Paradise" - at least the way it appeared
from my end:
A couple months ago, I told my record company that I wanted
to do a parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise," and they said
that they would look into it. Not too long after that, two separate
people from my label told me that they had personally talked
to Coolio at a party and that he told them that he was okay with
the whole parody idea. Based on that information, I began
recording the song.
Halfway into production, my record label told me that Coolio's
management had a problem with the parody, even though Coolio
personally was okay with it. My label told me not to worry, and
that they would iron things out - so I proceeded with the recording
and finished the album.
When I did the American Music Awards with Coolio, I was
extremely nervous about doing the hair gag, but he was an
incredibly good sport about the whole thing, which further led
me to believe that things were going to work out.
Then I found out that a reporter backstage at the Grammys had
asked him about "Amish Paradise" and he said that he had never
approved it, and was in fact extremely upset by it. I was shocked.
Many times in my career a manager or agent has tried to nix a
parody of mine, when the artist himself actually thought it was a
great idea. I really thought that was what I was dealing with here.
As you all know, I pride myself on being sensitive to the original
artists' feelings, so you can imagine how horrible I felt when I heard
what Coolio said at the Grammys.
I have since sent Coolio a very sincere and humble letter of apology,
and explained the whole scenario from my perspective. I'm still not
sure who's responsible for the misinformation that went on, but there
definitely was a communication breakdown somewhere and now
I'm sort of stuck in the middle.
Aside from all that, I hope you all enjoy the new single, album and
video! We're all very happy with it, and hope you will be too. Let
Bermuda know what you think...
Yours in cheese sauce,
Al
Lex Friedman ,,, On IRC: Quam
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