“Weird Al” Yankovic: A Gift To Humanity

Russell Michaels

Russell is inside his own mind, a comfortable yet silly place. He is also on Twitter.

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15 Responses

  1. Juliusagusta says:

    He always seems to outdo himself, I thought surely Amish Paradise would be his pinnacle, he turned around and hit me with Word Crimes.Report

  2. fillyjonk says:

    I’ve always had a soft spot for Weird Al, even going back to the days of “My Bologna.” I remember when it was deeply uncool to like his music. I remember the people who were saying he’d be a flash in the pan….and he’s outlasted some of the bands he parodied. I wonder if the intentionally self-deprecating tour titles he chooses are partly key to his longevity: he doesn’t take himself too seriously and genuinely enjoys what he’s doing.

    The other secret is it takes REAL SMARTS to be able to parody as well, and as consistently, as he has. Man’s brilliant.Report

    • InMD in reply to fillyjonk says:

      He definitely has a level of wit beyond what he’s typically credited. Aside from the parody songs I can’t help but die laughing every time I come across the artwork for ‘Mandatory Fun.’Report

  3. Michael Cain says:

    I recall reading a piece by one of his fans who spent time backstage at some of the shows and interviewed Al at home. At Al’s house the writer saw some of his notebooks, that included things like a really great parody line for a song, followed by two or three pages of crossed out attempts at the rhyming line to set it up. His backstage observation was that it’s easy for someone to dismiss the material as lightweight and not worth the effort, but Al and the musicians work their butts off to get every note right.

    Apparently an enormous amount of work from beginning to end. That’s a big step towards long-term success.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Michael Cain says:

      And even though he doesn’t ‘need’ it, legally, he always tries to get the original artists permission before releasing a parody.Report

      • InMD in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

        Wasn’t Coolio unhappy about Amish Paradise?Report

        • Michael Cain in reply to InMD says:

          IIRC, some years later Coolio said the parody was funny, that he had been wrong, it was stupid of him to fuss about it, and he wished someone had stopped him. In the meantime, once Yankovic found out that the management company that controlled the rights had approved it but not Coolio, he sent Coolio the royalties that would have been owed for a straight-up cover.Report

  4. North says:

    Weird Al is a treasure. His fans adore him and even people who aren’t fans can’t really find anything bad about him. The industry, of course, loves him.Report

  5. Jaybird says:

    His polka compilations of rock songs are where I’ve heard a number of songs for the first time.

    Like, the first time I heard “Hey Joe”? Wasn’t Jimi Hendrix. It was Weird Al.

    I will be forever grateful.Report

  6. I put Weird Al in the same category as Allan Sherman until I saw the video for The Saga Begins. The man’s a genius.Report

  7. Oscar Gordon says:

    Dare to be Stupid was my entry into his brilliance.Report

  8. Rufus F. says:

    I guess my first real listen was some kid playing the “In 3-D” cassette at Boy Scout camp. ‘Nature Trail to Hell’ made me laugh unroariously and I barely realized what an accomplished piece of music it is. He’s quite a skilled performer and composer with a very talented band. He’s also very deeply silly.Report

  9. Michael Cain says:

    Everyone’s had enough time for Al. When our children were small, one of the sing-along songs on the long drive to grandmas (across the Great Plains in a single day, which is its own sort of miracle) was Tom Chapin’s “Don’t Make Me,” set to the theme from Swan Lake.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plTGVM-wN38

    From time to time on long solo drives, I worked (mentally) on songs for a parody stage musical, with the lead a first-level software development manager. I borrowed the Chapin idea for a longer “Don’t Make Me Go to Work Today” opening. Also borrowed from Willy Nelson with “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Coders.”Report