Am I Right
 | |
Type of site | Popular music/Internet humor |
|---|---|
| Owner | Charles R. Grovsenor, Jr. |
| Created by | Charles R. Grovsenor, Jr. |
| Website | http://www.amiright.com |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Not required |
| Launched | 2000 |
| Current status | Active |
AmIRight is a popular music Web site created by Charles R. Grosvenor Jr.[1] (born July 7, 1972, known as Chucky G). Visitors can view sections based on such topics as song parodies,[2] misheard lyrics (mondegreens),[3][4][5] and album cover parodies, and can submit their own without registering. The site was first launched March 23, 2000 [6] and has since grown considerably.
AmIRight is a community based website, with all the content contained on the website created by visitors. New material is submitted online by individuals and reviewed by a group of "editors" who remove entries that don't conform to community standards regarding obscene content or spam.
Recently a sister site called Am I Wrong was opened which allows the users to create their own quiz.
Sections of the website
Misheard lyrics
Since the website's inception, the site has offered the possibility for visitors to submit misheard lyrics, aka "mondegreens", to the site; these are displayed along with the true lyrics. As of October 11, 2007, there are a total of 101,716 misheard lyrics.[7] There is a section where contributors admit their more embarrassing misheard lyric mishaps and the moment they came upon their mistakes. Another section associated with misheard lyrics includes "Misheard Lyrics in Film", where visitors recall moments where actors or actresses recall lyrics as misquoted by actors in either film or television from famous songs.
Comedy recordings
The recordings section is for recorded performances of parodies or other musical comedy pieces. AmIRight does not host the files, so the section is essentially an index of other sites that contain recordings. All entries in this section are submitted to the site by the original authors.
Album cover parodies
A recent addition to the site, the Album Cover parody section lets people humorously edit an album cover from an original artist's album, thanks to Amazon.com's Music section.
Music trivia
This section is focused on strange and funny facts about various songs and performers. Most pages consist of songs of performers that have certain commonalities in common such as songs that have been banned, performers that have criminal records, or songs that have backwards messages recorded in them.
Names
This section deals with band name origins,[8] pseudonyms, names of the offspring of famous musicians, song and band name parodies, user-created band names, inventive portmanteaux of individual band or performer names, inappropriate commercial soundtrack selections, proposed duets, inappropriate songs to play while on hold, adding, removing, or changing letters from titles to create new titles, lyrics that are literally impossible, and the use of song titles as questions and answers.
Real lyrics
The "real lyrics" section contains lyrics that fit certain categories, such as those which are "Misrhymed", "Insincere", or "Dirty".
Publications
Two books which each gather over 500 misheard lyrics submitted to the site have been published. Hold Me Closer Tony Danza (and Other Misheard Lyrics) (October 28, 2007). Charles R. Grosvenor Jr, Sasquatch Books, ISBN 1-57061-533-0 and Hit Me With Your Pet Shark (and Other Misheard Lyrics) (October 1, 2008). Charles R. Grosvenor Jr, Sasquatch Books, ISBN 1-57061-576-4
Each book has several pages with information pulled from the various sections of the site including:[9]
- Add a Letter to a Song Title
- Change a Letter in a Song Title
- Remove a Letter in a Song Title
- What if Groups Merged
- Song Mash Ups
- Songs to Respond to Other Songs
- Bad Choices For On-Hold Music
Publicity and Acclaim
Amiright has been mentioned in various articles and other publications over the years.
- In May 2005, Spin Magazine voted Amiright as one of "Four Amazing Rock Websites", noting, "This compedium of thousands of song parodies even features spoofs of "Weird Al" Yankovic. How positively meta."[10]
- On October 25, 2005, Askmen.com proclaimed Amiright one of the "Best & Coolest Sites Around." Amiright received a rating of 7/10, saying, "This site has tons of music-related information like misheard lyrics, cool band names, etc. The song parodies are hilarious -- if you like Weird Al, you'll appreciate these."[11]
- Amiright was mentioned in the Chicago Tribune as one of the 50 Best Web Sites in the Arts and Culture. The Tribune described Amiright as "really funny."[12]
- On September 24, 2006, the EZHelp radio show interviewed Chucky G about AmiRight and its sister web sites. The show claims that AmiRight has been featured in such publications as "USA Today, New York Press, Entertainment Weekly, and US News Magazine to name a few."[13][14]
Am I Wrong
Owing to the success of the website, a sister site called "Am I Wrong" was opened which allows the users to create their own quiz. The site uses the slogan "Where Pop Culture meets its match". Visitors can choose from over 16,600 quizzes and see how much they know about music and pop culture.
References
- ↑ Korbelik, Jeff. "Did I hear that right?", Lincoln Journal Star, 2007-01-16.
- ↑ Schofield, Jack. "Online: Web watch: Pie eyed", The Guardian, 2002-08-29, p. 6.
- ↑ Berman, A. S. "Hotfoot it to a matchless site", USA Today, 2002-06-04, p. D3.
- ↑ Anderson, Laurie Smith. "Mondegreens chronicled in books and Web sites", The Advocate, 2001-10-14, p. H1.
- ↑ Serpick, Evan. "Am I Right", Entertainment Weekly, 2001-07-20, p. 71.
- ↑ Wayback history page Original What's New Page
- ↑ Website statistics Retrieved October 11, 2007
- ↑ "What to browse when the boss isn't looking", Evening Standard, 2007-01-08, p. 19.
- ↑ Hold Me Closer Tony Danza Book info List of book sections and sample pages
- ↑ "Four Amazing Rock Websites," Spin Magazine, May 2005.
- ↑ "AskMen.com - Am I Right". AskMen.com. 2005. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005. Retrieved October 25, 2005.
- ↑ "50 Best Web Sites". Chicago Tribune.com. 2006. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
- ↑ "Am I Right Synopsis on EZHelp Radio Show". EZHelp.org. Retrieved September 24, 2006.
- ↑ "Chucky G Interview on EZHelp Radio Show". EZHelp Radio Show. 2006. Retrieved September 24, 2006.