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This article is about the musician. For his self-titled album, see "Weird Al" Yankovic (album).
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Musical artist

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: ) (born October 23 1959) is an American musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, and television producer. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts.

Since receiving his first accordion lesson a day before his seventh birthday, he has recorded more than 150 parody and original songs and sold more comedy albums than any other artist. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards amongst nine nominations, three gold and five platinum records in the U.S. Yankovic's first Top 10 Billboard album and single were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic has written and starred in his own movie and television show, directed music videos for himself and other artists including Ben Folds and Hanson, and had guest appearances in television shows such as The Simpsons and Behind the Music.


Yankovic's work

Music

Main article: List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic

While Yankovic's song parodies (such as "Eat It") have resulted in success on the Billboard charts (see List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic), he has actually recorded a greater number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute"). His work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television (see The TV Album), movies ("The Saga Begins"), food (see The Food Album), popular music (the polkas), and sometimes issues in contemporary news ("Headline News").

Although many of Yankovic's songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic concerns lampooning the original artist as a person. Yankovic's humour lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the rap song "White & Nerdy"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song").

Unlike other parody artists such as Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, Yankovic strives to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original. While Lehrer reproduced the songs on piano and Sherman reproduced them on guitar, Yankovic and his band essentially play the original song with new lyrics. Instead of using instrumental versions of the original songs, Yankovic and his band transcribe the original song by ear and re-record the song for Yankovic's parody version.

In addition to his parodies, Yankovic also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Because the polkas have become a staple of Yankovic's albums, he has said he tries to include one on each album because "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."

Some of Yankovic's original songs are pastiches or "style parodies," for which he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody, rather than any single hit by that band (for example, Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", They Might Be Giants with "Everything You Know is Wrong", or Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog"). Some style parodies are in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now").

Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously; "Polkamon" from the movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000, and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), in addition to his own film, UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in Transformers: The Movie.

Yankovic's recurring jokes include the number 27 (as seen on the covers for Running With Scissors, Poodle Hat, and recently, Straight Outta Lynwood) and the names Bob, (the Al TV interviews often mention the name) Frank ("Frank's 2000" TV") and Leroy Finkelstein (music video for "I Lost On Jeopardy"). Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials. The Harvey the Wonder Hamster theme song was first officially released on the Alapalooza album. Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."

His latest three album releases feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from Running with Scissors is 11 minutes and 23 seconds; "Genius in France" from Poodle Hat runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive Thru" from Straight Outta Lynwood is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. To date, these "epic" songs have never been played live because of their length and complexity, except one performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Reactions from original artists

Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law—affirmed by the United States Supreme Court—one does not need permission to record a parody. However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies. Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies, with a few notable exceptions.

Positive

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana," a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um...it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics". According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically.

Michael Jackson is also a big fan of Yankovic. Jackson has twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat"). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat," Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Bad" video from the Moonwalker video. Though Jackson was a good sport about "Eat It" and "Fat," he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White," because he felt the message was too important. However, Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows. Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl".

The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a $500 screening to confirm. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a LucasFilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."

Chamillionaire was also pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy I didn't know he could rap like that." Chamillionaire also said "It's really an honor when he does that. Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big."

Negative

One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise," based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don’t remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I’ll be invited to Coolio’s next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."

In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato," his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself":

Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.

For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a false interview with Eminem. As usual, Yankovic edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions such that it made Eminem sound like a hypocrite on the matter of an artist's right to free speech.

Refused parodies

On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. However, Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years see if he's lightened up."

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused. Yankovic was, however, allowed to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive Thru."

Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die," entitled "Chicken Pot Pie" because McCartney is a vegetarian. However, like "Snack All Night," "Chicken Pot Pie" has been performed numerous times in concert. His concerts often feature parodies for which the artist did not give permission or which for other reasons could not be released.

Weird Al expresses his opinion about Atlantic Records on Misplaced Pages

In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful." However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful," Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody. In the "White & Nerdy" video, Yankovic's character is seen vandalizing the record label's Misplaced Pages entry with the exclamation "YOU SUCK!" After the video was released online, Misplaced Pages's Atlantic Records article mirrored the video with numerous "vandals" editing it. Yankovic has said that he does not approve of the vandalism, though he admits being amused by it. The page has since been semi-protected by Misplaced Pages.

Live performances

Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as a "rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza". Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes. A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour for the Running With Scissors album (Touring With Scissors) was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000. Titled "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California on October 2 1999. For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.

2003 saw Yankovic on tour overseas for the first time. Prior to 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada. Following the success of Poodle Hat in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major and capital cities in October of that year. In 2006, Yankovic expressed interest in beginning the tour for Straight Outta Lynwood in March 2007. Yankovic plans to start the tour in New Zealand with Australia to follow, before touring the United States in the summer. While he claims he would like to tour Europe, Yankovic is awaiting the sales performance of Straight Outta Lynwood on the continent.

UHF

Main article: UHF (film)
UHF original theatrical poster

In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma called UHF. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher and Victoria Jackson, it scored floundering studio Orion their highest test-scores since the movie RoboCop. However, it was unsuccessful in theaters, likely due to a release in the summer of 1989, going up against Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, and others.

The film has since become a cult classic, with out-of-print copies of the VHS getting as high as $100 on eBay until the release of the DVD in 2002. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter). To apparently make it more accessible, the film was titled The Vidiot From UHF in Australia and parts of Europe.

UHF shows the creation of Yankovic's signature food—the Twinkie-wiener sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys them as his favorite snack.

Notable television appearances

File:WeirdAlShow Complete.jpg
DVD cover for The Weird Al Show

Yankovic had a TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to September 1998 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for his adult fans (as such, it is often compared to Pee-wee's Playhouse). The entire series was released on DVD by Shout! Factory on August 15, 2006.

Yankovic has hosted Al TV on MTV and Al Music on MuchMusic many times, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For Poodle Hat, AL-TV appeared on VH1 for the first time. A recurring segment of AL-TV involves Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect. He inserts himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and then manipulates his questions, resulting in bizarre and comic responses from the celebrity.

VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Yankovic; however, he was so clean-cut that the producers could not find any of the typical angst-laced problems that make many rock stars' stories compelling (as Yankovic noted in the episode), so they stretched many smaller disappointments and skirmishes during his career into major downfalls to fit the program's classic formula. His two commercial failures (his film UHF and his 1986 album Polka Party!) were presented as having a larger impact on the direction of his career than they really had. Also, Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Much was also made over his apparent lack of a love life, though he got married shortly after the program aired.

Yankovic was also featured in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, singing "Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo," in which Marge hires "Weird Al" to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)."

An exhaustive list of television shows on which Yankovic has appeared is available on his official website.

Directing career

"Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993’s "Bedrock Anthem" to his latest, 2006’s "White and Nerdy." He also directed the end sequence of 1986’s "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his “Polka Party” LP and the title sequence to Spy Hard, for which he sang the title song.

In addition to his own, he has directed several videos for Hanson (The Titanic sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ("Wail"). He has cameo appearances in his videos for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer) and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks").

Misattribution and imitators

Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, this includes songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics. Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina," "Star Wars Gangsta Rap," "Yoda Smokes Weed," "Chewbacca" and several more have a Star Wars motif. The large number of Star Wars-related songs attributed to him is somewhat surprising, as to date Yankovic has only sung two Star Wars-related songs: a parody of The Kinks hit "Lola" called "Yoda," and of Don McLean's "American Pie" about The Phantom Menace called "The Saga Begins." There are also others such as "Windows 95 Sucks" and "I Ran Over the Taco Bell Dog". In addition, some of these parodies are only a minute long.

Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his real beef with P2P sites":

"If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly image—and some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just, well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet."

A list of songs not by Yankovic can be found at The Not Al List, and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.

Weird Al Star Fund

The Weird Al Star Fund is a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission is to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate 'Weird Al' Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame." Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$15,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks. On May 26 2006, the campaign hit the $15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork. However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007. His application will automatically be reconsidered in 2007 for the possibility of receiving his star in 2008.

Selected discography

Main articles: "Weird Al" Yankovic discography and List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic

Since Yankovic secured a recording contract in 1982, he has released many albums and parodies. The following is a list of his full length albums to date, with United States release date, highest Billboard Chart position and RIAA certification:

Album information
"Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D
Dare to Be Stupid
Polka Party!
Even Worse
UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff
Off the Deep End
Alapalooza
Bad Hair Day
Running With Scissors
Poodle Hat
Straight Outta Lynwood

Notes

While "Canadian Idiot" was not released as a single and (currently) has no music video, the song received enough digital purchases to warrant being placed on the Billboard charts.

Poodle Hat did not have any physical singles, but a low-budget music video was made for "Bob" to show on 2003's Al TV special. Additionally, the video for "Couch Potato" (which received some radio play) was cancelled in pre-production, due to Eminem's objecting to the release of a video for the parody.

Awards and nominations

U.S. gold long form videos
U.S. platinum long form videos
Canadian gold records
Canadian platinum records
  • Off the Deep End
  • Bad Hair Day
Canadian double platinum records
  • Alapalooza
Gold singles
  • "Eat It" (U.S., Canada, & Australia)


Sources: Weirdal.com and RIAA.

Videography

File:Weird Al Yankovic The Ultimate Video Collection.jpg
DVD cover for The Ultimate Video Collection

The following is a comprehensive list of his long form videos to date, with the United States release date.

Cameos and special appearances in film

Notes and references

  1. ^ ""Weird Al" Yankovic: Catalog". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  2. ""Weird Al" Yankovic: Biographies". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference faq was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. "World of Weird Al Yankovic Forums - Ask Jim". Retrieved 2006-10-30.
  5. "'Weird Al' talks new album, 2007 tour". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
  6. ""Ask Al" Q&As for January, 2000". Retrieved 2006-10-30.
  7. "Weird Al Interviews Avril Lavigne". Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  8. "Al-oholics Anonymous' Frequently Asked Questions". Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  9. ^ ""Weird Al" Yankovic: Concert Set Lists". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  10. "Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994)". Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference btm was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. "Weird Al Yankovic - Biography - AOL Music". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  13. ""Ask Al" Q&As for September, 1999". Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  14. Chris Knight. "TheForce.Net - Jedi Council - Interviews - Weird Al Yankovic". TheForce.Net. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  15. "MTVNews.com - Mixtape Monday: Lil Wayne, Juelz To Drop Real Album; Ness Drops Da Band". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  16. ""Ask Al" Q&As for April 27, 2006". Retrieved 2006-09-02.
  17. ""Unofficial Eminem Fan Site: Biography". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
  18. "Weird Al Interviews Eminem". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  19. ""Weird Al" Yankovic Interview by Michael Small of Hotwired.com". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  20. ""Ask Al" Q&As for June, 1999". Retrieved 2006-10-27.
  21. "Weird Al Yankovic Dishes On James Blunt, Discusses His Role As the Whitest, Nerdiest Rock Star Ever". Retrieved 2006-10-27.
  22. ""Weird Al" Yankovic: The Icon Profile". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  23. "Free 'Weird Al' Yankovic!". Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  24. Adams, Cameron. “Weird Al Yankovic.” Herald Sun, October 5 2006.
  25. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic Interviews on Yahoo! Music (Google Cache)". Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  26. "Weird Al Photo Gallery - Backstage "Pep Talk"". Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  27. ""Ask Al" Q&As for March, 2000". Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  28. ""Weird Al" Yankovic: Live Performances". Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  29. ""Weird Al" Yankovic: Poodle Hat '03 & '04 Tourdates". Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  30. ""Weird Al" Yankovic Blog". Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  31. ""Ask Al" Q&As for May, 1999". Retrieved 2006-10-28.
  32. ""Ask Al" Q&As for May, 2000". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
  33. "UHF (1989)". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
  34. "Midnight Star "Ask Al" Q&As for October/November, 1995". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
  35. ^ ""Weird Al" Yankovic: Video Facts". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
  36. ""Ask Al" Q&As for October 2, 2005". Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  37. "The Not Al Page: The most popular songs he didn't even write (or perform)!". Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  38. ""Don't not download this song"". Retrieved 2006-09-23.
  39. The Not Al List. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  40. Recording Dates Page Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  41. ^ "The Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Campaign for "Weird Al" Yankovic". Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  42. "The Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Campaign for "Weird Al" Yankovic". Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  43. "The Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Campaign for "Weird Al" Yankovic". Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  44. Gina Serpe. "Damon, Diddy, Ponch Got Star Power". E! Online News. Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  45. "The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site". Retrieved 2006-11-12.
  46. Grammy Award Winners. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  47. Weirdal.com Retrieved 3 December 2006
  48. RIAA Retrieved 3 December 2006.

External links

"Weird Al" Yankovic
Studio albums
Soundtrack albums
EPs
Compilations
Songs
Videography
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