"First World Problems" is a song by the American parody artist and satirist

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

from his 2014 studio album ''

Mandatory Fun ''Mandatory Fun'' is the fourteenth and possible final studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. The self-produced album was released by RCA Records in the United States on July 15, 2014. Yankovic had previously released '' ...

''. The song is a

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

of the music of the

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

, particularly the songs "

Debaser "Debaser" is a song by American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 as the opening track on their album '' Doolittle'' and later as a promotional single following the dissolution of the band. Releases The band's 1991 " Head On ...

" and "No. 13 Baby".

Background

In 2014, when the song released, Yankovic stated in an interview with ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', "I've been a fan of Pixies for a very long time. In fact I got to play with Pixies a couple years ago at a benefit concert. That was a huge moment in my life. That got me thinking, I should do a Pixies pastiche."

Reception

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' described the song as being "a list of

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

rants", with many of the topics in the song being topical at the time of the song's release.

Music video

The music video, directed by Liam Lynch, shows Yankovic dressed up, mad at various things mentioned in the lyrics. In an interview with

PopCrush Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

around the time of the song's release, Yankovic said, "So we thought, 'OK, we'll find you a douchey blonde wig … hich was made ofreal human hair … and I tried it on, and it fit, and we had fun with it!". In an interview with

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

, he said, "I told irector Liam Lynchthat I didn’t want to be myself; I wasn't Weird Al in this video — I was kind of like this douchey character."

Personnel

Personnel taken from the liner notes of ''Mandatory Fun''. *

– lead and backing vocals * Jim "Kimo" West – guitar *

Steve Jay Eugene Stephen Jay (born January 26, 1951) is an American bassist, best known for working with "Weird Al" Yankovic. Early life Jay was born Eugene Stephen Jay in Detroit, Michigan on January 26, 1951. He auditioned for "Weird Al" Yankovic in 1 ...

– bass * Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums Additional personnel * Benny Grotto and

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a memb ...

– female backing vocals

References

{{Authority control "Weird Al" Yankovic songs 2014 songs Songs written by "Weird Al" Yankovic Pixies (band)