People who dismiss Weird Al are idiots.

Overly harsh, but to the many people who roll their eyes at Al, listen-up: he’s an actual genius who can do, and HAS DONE, equally what generations of our greatest musicians accomplish in the studio all while simultaneously covering a palette of topics from Lasagna to Charles Nelson Riley. The man is a comedy genius, a musical genius, AND an Architect. AND AN ARCHITECT. The fact is that Al is the only person who can do pop parodies like this. It isn’t easy, or there’d be others. Beyond that, he has parodied artists unmaliciously, and even turned it into an honor.

Oh, the drama surrounding his parody of Lady Gaga, her initial refusal, then in the face of looking like an egomaniac (please, no!), she allowed the parody and BLAMED HER PUBLICIST. Again: getting parodied by Al is one of music’s high honors, reserved for pop music’s elite. The only valid concern I can imagine is that Al’s version of your song is going to be better than yours, and that’s a fair concern, because they often, often are better. “Amish Paradise” comes to mind, which blew Coolio’s “Gangstas Paradise” away, making it virtually unlistenable without saying to yourself “Even Ezekiel thinks that my mind is gone.”

I won’t spoil his new album, Alpocalypse (out today on Volcano Records), but I will say that his long-overdue parody of The White Stripes (RIP) alone is worth it. It is one of his “style parodies”, which are my personal favorites. He uses Jack and Meg’s rowdy guitar/drum sound to tell a story about Charles Nelson Riley. Not doing it for you? How about a style parody of The Doors, but about Craigslist? Hannah Mon…My….Billy Ray’s daughter, singing about the C.I.A? Well, all those things are in there. And much more.

The album also features a new version of his legendary pop-set-to-polka medleys. In fact, Al has been making almost the exact same album for 30 years. But as long as there is music, and as long as Al chooses, these albums will happen and they will always be great. I hope there is never a generation that doesn’t get to hear it’s favorite radio hits turned into polkas. I will do my part by sharing this album with my 8 year old sister immediately. And she’ll love it. Because she ISN’T AN IDIOT.