This page will contain wikis about Weird Al Yankovic, as they become available."Weird Al" Yankovic(Redirected from Weird Al Yankovic)Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, parodist and accordion player. He is known in particular for humorous songs which satirize popular culture and/or parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. His works include four gold and four platinum records. Album cover from "Poodle Hat" (2003)BiographyAlfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic, the son of Nick & Mary Yankovic, first started playing the accordion one day before his seventh birthday, mastering the instrument by age ten. After hearing Dr. Demento's radio show (a comedy radio program featuring humorous music), Al sent the Doctor a tape of a song entitled "Belvedere Cruising" in 1976. Al was a senior at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, California at the time, but that tape was the start of his eventual career. Three years later, Al was an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a disc jockey at the university's radio station (KCPR). Since "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and The Knack was going to play at Cal Poly, Al took his accordion into the bathroom across from the listening booth and recorded a parody entitled "My Bologna", with a B-side called "School Cafeteria". The Knack thought it was funny, and arranged for the song to be released on their label, Capitol Records, which gave Al a six-month contract. Dr. Demento's listeners put this track atop his "Funny Five" list. In 1980, Al was working the mail room at Westwood One, Dr. Demento's radio network at the time, when he announced he had another parody. Jon Schwartz was also there, and he was a percussionist, so he was recruited to bang on Al's accordion case. The resulting performance of "Another One Rides the Bus" was a parody of a Queen hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". The rare 1981 Placebo EP release of this song has as its B-Side the subtle track "Happy Birthday." 1981 brought Al on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's act. His performances were particularly interesting as few, if any, people at the time were doing parodies of rock and roll songs on accordion. His stage act caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who loved it and became Al's manager. Jay insisted that the act would sound better if Al had a full band, so he held auditions. Steve Jay became Al's bass player, and Jim West the lead guitarist. With Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums, the band was complete. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes among these unreleased tracks from Mr. Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", or the demos for "I Love Rocky Road". The live version of "School Cafeteria" is also to be found on Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes. In 1985, Al co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al that intertwined fact and fiction of his life up to that point. The movie was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF (see below) three years later. Al claims to have been inspired by Allan Sherman, whose portrait in miniature (with name) can be found by the observant on the cover of Al's first album. Since the mid-1990s, Al has performed annually at the Minnesota State Fair. In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery and shaved off his mustache, radically changing his trademark look. On April 9, 2004, Al's parents, Nick Louis Yankovic, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home, apparently the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. The night after their bodies were found, Al went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota, saying that since his music had helped many of his fans through tough times, maybe it would work for him as well. Al's songsThough he is best known for his song parodies, Yankovic has recorded a greater number of original humorous songs, such as "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" and "Hardware Store". Yankovic's work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television, movies, food, popular music, and sometimes issues in contemporary news. Although many of his songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic of lampooning is that artist. Yankovic's humor 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, or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture cliches. Some of his original songs are pastiches or "style parodies," where he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody rather than any single hit by that band; some bands so honored have been Devo ("Dare to Be Stupid"), The B-52's ("Mr. Popeil"), Talking Heads ("Dog Eat Dog"), Nine Inch Nails ("Germs"), The Beach Boys ("Trigger Happy"), Oingo Boingo ("You Make Me"), The Police ("Velvet Elvis"), James Taylor ("The Good Old Days"), The Beastie Boys ("Twister"), and They Might Be Giants ("Everything You Know is Wrong"). In addition to his parodies, Al also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses of various songs juxtaposed for humourous effect. Examples include "Alternative Polka", "Angry White Boy Polka" and "Polka Power." He has contributed songs to several films, including the original song "This Is The Life", featured on the soundtrack for Johnny Dangerously; the title track to his own movie, UHF; and a parody of the James Bond title sequences in "Spy Hard", the title track to a 1996 Leslie Nielsen movie directed by Rick Friedberg. He also contributed the song "Dare to Be Stupid" to Transformers: The Movie. Directing careerWeird Al has directed many of his own music videos, as well as several by such artists as Hanson, The Black Crowes, Ben Folds, and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. He also directed the title sequence to Spy Hard, in which he sang the title song. RecognitionYankovic has received three Grammy Awards and became eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, although he says, "I think my chances of ever making it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are about as good as Milli Vanilli's." Yankovic has been called a "cultural barometer" by The Onion's recurring fictitious dweeb character Larry Groznic (10 November 2004), who called Weird Al's music "the consummate pastiche of popular songwriting styles for our times". The article also referred to one real-life indication of Yankovic's status: Kurt Cobain, the lead singer for Nirvana stated that he felt that he had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana" (parodying Cobain's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). The popularity of Al's music among users of Internet file sharing networks has led to many parody or comedy songs shared in this manner being identified as "Weird Al" tracks which in fact have no connection to him. One major victim of this seems to be Bob Rivers, but so many wrongly attributed tracks exist that several fans have set up websites attempting to list such tracks along with their real artists. It has been argued that this not only deprives the real artists involved of credit for their creations, but sometimes associates Al's name with types of music he would never produce and would not want to be known for. WorksAlbumsSince Al got a record contract in 1983, he has released many albums and parodies. The following is a comprehensive list of his albums to 2003:
Compilation albums
Singles
Popular album tracks
In addition to parodies such as these, most of Al's albums include a medley of popular songs played in polka style, as well as original songs with his own lyrics and words. Originals such as "Melanie" and "Albuquerque" are favorites of many of his fans. Other projects
Television appearancesWeird Al had a short-lived TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to January 1998 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for adult fans of Al. Al has hosted AL-TV on MTV many years, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For Poodle Hat, however, AL-TV appeared on VH1. The most popular part of AL-TV is Al manipulating interviews especially commissioned for AL-TV by the network for comic effect. VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Al. Al is so clean-cut that the producers couldn't find any of the typical angst-laced problems that make many rock stars' stories compelling (as Al noted in an interview with BTM), so their angle was on Al's life as a bachelor and (what they presumed was) his loneliness. (Also, the commercial failures of UHF and Polka Party). However, since the taping, Al has married. He and his wife, Suzanne, recently had a daughter, Nina. Al has also made a number of cameo film appearances, including all three Naked Gun films. He currently plays a role in the "Haunted Lighthouse 4-D" Show at the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park. He has also appeared in cartoons such as EEK! The Cat, The Simpsons, The Brak Show, Johnny Bravo and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, lending his voice to that of the Squid Hat, a parody of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series. Trivia
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He has also appeared in cartoons such as EEK! The Cat, The Simpsons, The Brak Show, Johnny Bravo and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, lending his voice to that of the Squid Hat, a parody of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series. It is a common misconception that the NIT is a "loser's tournament" related to the NCAA tournament; the NIT tournament is in fact independent and predates the formation of the NCAA tournament. He currently plays a role in the "Haunted Lighthouse 4-D" Show at the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park. If a team fails to qualify for the NCAA tournament, they sometimes participate in the National Invitation Tournament. Al has also made a number of cameo film appearances, including all three Naked Gun films. If at the end of the tournament two players have the same point total, a tie is often broken by the total number of total points scored in the Championship Game. He and his wife, Suzanne, recently had a daughter, Nina. The point total steadily increases by round in order to reward those players who correctly picked teams that would go further in the tournament. However, since the taping, Al has married. Points are assessed in different ways, and one example is give below:. (Also, the commercial failures of UHF and Polka Party). Whoever accumulates the most points by accurately predicting the outcomes of the games wins the grand prize, most often pooled from the entrance fees. Al is so clean-cut that the producers couldn't find any of the typical angst-laced problems that make many rock stars' stories compelling (as Al noted in an interview with BTM), so their angle was on Al's life as a bachelor and (what they presumed was) his loneliness. Entrance fees vary. VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Al. Many people fill out tournament brackets in office pools. The most popular part of AL-TV is Al manipulating interviews especially commissioned for AL-TV by the network for comic effect. Each player cuts a single strand off of the net for themselves, commemorating their victory. For Poodle Hat, however, AL-TV appeared on VH1. As a tournament ritual, the winning team cuts down the net at the end of the game. Al has hosted AL-TV on MTV many years, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. The four seeds play out the tournament through single eliminaton until a National Champion is crowned. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for adult fans of Al. The eventual winners of the four regions then meet at the Final Four in a predetermined location. Weird Al had a short-lived TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to January 1998 on CBS. The teams are seeded from 1 to 16 in 4 regional groupings around the country. Originals such as "Melanie" and "Albuquerque" are favorites of many of his fans. The 65 (including the 2 teams who compete in the play-in game) participating teams are announced by the selection committee on Selection Sunday, brackets. In addition to parodies such as these, most of Al's albums include a medley of popular songs played in polka style, as well as original songs with his own lyrics and words. During March Madness, many people enjoy predicting the outcome of the tournament. The following is a comprehensive list of his albums to 2003:. Today, both the IHSA and NCAA license the term for their respective tournament. Since Al got a record contract in 1983, he has released many albums and parodies. Courts later decided that "March Madness" could not be exclusively protected by either organization as it had entered into "dual-use" to describe both championship events. It has been argued that this not only deprives the real artists involved of credit for their creations, but sometimes associates Al's name with types of music he would never produce and would not want to be known for. In the 1980s the NCAA began to use the term to describe its championship tournament. One major victim of this seems to be Bob Rivers, but so many wrongly attributed tracks exist that several fans have set up websites attempting to list such tracks along with their real artists. Porter, an official with the Illinois High School Association, coined the term in 1939 when writing about his state's high school basketball championships. The popularity of Al's music among users of Internet file sharing networks has led to many parody or comedy songs shared in this manner being identified as "Weird Al" tracks which in fact have no connection to him. H.V. The article also referred to one real-life indication of Yankovic's status: Kurt Cobain, the lead singer for Nirvana stated that he felt that he had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana" (parodying Cobain's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). The term is now used in reference to both the men's and women's tournaments. Yankovic has been called a "cultural barometer" by The Onion's recurring fictitious dweeb character Larry Groznic (10 November 2004), who called Weird Al's music "the consummate pastiche of popular songwriting styles for our times". The tournament takes place during March and April, and the term refers to the frenzy it ignites among the sports fans and gamblers. Yankovic has received three Grammy Awards and became eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, although he says, "I think my chances of ever making it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are about as good as Milli Vanilli's.". March Madness is a popular colloquial term for the annual NCAA basketball tournament in the United States. He also directed the title sequence to Spy Hard, in which he sang the title song. The rest of this article covers the use of the term in reference to the NCAA basketball tournament tournements also known as the final four championship.. Weird Al has directed many of his own music videos, as well as several by such artists as Hanson, The Black Crowes, Ben Folds, and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. In England, the phrase March Madness may refer to wasteful spending at the end of a budget year. He also contributed the song "Dare to Be Stupid" to Transformers: The Movie. Disambiguation: "March Madness comes from the phrase 'Mad as a March Hare'. He has contributed songs to several films, including the original song "This Is The Life", featured on the soundtrack for Johnny Dangerously; the title track to his own movie, UHF; and a parody of the James Bond title sequences in "Spy Hard", the title track to a 1996 Leslie Nielsen movie directed by Rick Friedberg. Sixth round- 11 points for predicting National Champion. Examples include "Alternative Polka", "Angry White Boy Polka" and "Polka Power.". Fifth round- 9 points per winning team. In addition to his parodies, Al also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses of various songs juxtaposed for humourous effect. Fourth round- 7 points per winning team. Popeil"), Talking Heads ("Dog Eat Dog"), Nine Inch Nails ("Germs"), The Beach Boys ("Trigger Happy"), Oingo Boingo ("You Make Me"), The Police ("Velvet Elvis"), James Taylor ("The Good Old Days"), The Beastie Boys ("Twister"), and They Might Be Giants ("Everything You Know is Wrong"). Third round- 5 points per winning team. Some of his original songs are pastiches or "style parodies," where he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody rather than any single hit by that band; some bands so honored have been Devo ("Dare to Be Stupid"), The B-52's ("Mr. Second round- 3 points per winning team. Yankovic's humor 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, or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture cliches. First round- 1 point per winning team. Although many of his songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic of lampooning is that artist. Yankovic's work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television, movies, food, popular music, and sometimes issues in contemporary news. Though he is best known for his song parodies, Yankovic has recorded a greater number of original humorous songs, such as "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" and "Hardware Store". The night after their bodies were found, Al went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota, saying that since his music had helped many of his fans through tough times, maybe it would work for him as well. On April 9, 2004, Al's parents, Nick Louis Yankovic, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home, apparently the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery and shaved off his mustache, radically changing his trademark look. Since the mid-1990s, Al has performed annually at the Minnesota State Fair. Al claims to have been inspired by Allan Sherman, whose portrait in miniature (with name) can be found by the observant on the cover of Al's first album. The movie was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF (see below) three years later. In 1985, Al co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al that intertwined fact and fiction of his life up to that point. The live version of "School Cafeteria" is also to be found on Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes. Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", or the demos for "I Love Rocky Road". Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes among these unreleased tracks from Mr. The Dr. With Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums, the band was complete. Steve Jay became Al's bass player, and Jim West the lead guitarist. Jay insisted that the act would sound better if Al had a full band, so he held auditions. His stage act caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who loved it and became Al's manager. His performances were particularly interesting as few, if any, people at the time were doing parodies of rock and roll songs on accordion. Demento's act. 1981 brought Al on tour for the first time as part of Dr. The rare 1981 Placebo EP release of this song has as its B-Side the subtle track "Happy Birthday.". The resulting performance of "Another One Rides the Bus" was a parody of a Queen hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". Jon Schwartz was also there, and he was a percussionist, so he was recruited to bang on Al's accordion case. Demento's radio network at the time, when he announced he had another parody. In 1980, Al was working the mail room at Westwood One, Dr. Demento's listeners put this track atop his "Funny Five" list. Dr. Since "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and The Knack was going to play at Cal Poly, Al took his accordion into the bathroom across from the listening booth and recorded a parody entitled "My Bologna", with a B-side called "School Cafeteria". The Knack thought it was funny, and arranged for the song to be released on their label, Capitol Records, which gave Al a six-month contract. Three years later, Al was an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a disc jockey at the university's radio station (KCPR). Al was a senior at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, California at the time, but that tape was the start of his eventual career. Demento's radio show (a comedy radio program featuring humorous music), Al sent the Doctor a tape of a song entitled "Belvedere Cruising" in 1976. After hearing Dr. Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic, the son of Nick & Mary Yankovic, first started playing the accordion one day before his seventh birthday, mastering the instrument by age ten. His works include four gold and four platinum records. He is known in particular for humorous songs which satirize popular culture and/or parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, parodist and accordion player. Because of the potentially crippling amount of royalties requred for this, Weird Al's record labels have had to engage in endless negotiation and diplomacy. Because of his polka-medleys, Wierd Al can wind up performing works by dozens of artists on a single album. Licensing issues for Weird Al's works are some of the most complicated in the music industry. He only asks for permission to maintain good relationships and avoid nuissance law suits. Because parody is recognized as fair use by copyright laws, Wierd Al is actually free to make fun of any artist's work without permision. Interestingly, Weird Al has only backed down from artists like Prince and Eminem out of courtesy and convenience. Says Al: "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 ...". Al was also requested to change the video for his remake of Eminem's "Lose yourself". Also, Prince has refused to allow parodies, though Weird Al has stated that he continues to "check back with him to see if he has developed a sense of humor" in interviews. Al apologized for the misunderstanding. Coolio was very displeased since his management told Weird Al to go ahead with the parody without consulting him. While artists are generally pleased with Weird Al, there are three notable exceptions. On November 10, 2004, The Onion published an editorial titled "I Must Take Issue With The Wikipedia Entry For Weird Al Yankovic.". Examples are Al wearing a 27 on the cover of the Running With Scissors album and including 27 photos in the photo gallery on the "Weird Al Yankovic Live!" DVD. Al often hides the number 27 somewhere in his songs, album art, and memorabilia. Al has put two backwards 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." [1] (http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/faq/#secret). Side two of the album is "Carnival of the Animals, Part II" which is a sort of homage to The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens, with Weird Al taking the role of Edward Lear in writing humorous poems about the slug, the shark, etc. Don Ameche! What? He can't make it?", while the music features various innovations by Wendy Carlos over the original by Sergei Prokofiev. Weird Al's text modifies the original story considerably: "The Grandfather will be played by.. Peter and the Wolf - 1988: "This warped classical children's record featuring narration and poems written by "Weird Al" Yankovic and music arranged, composed and performed by synthesizer whiz Wendy Carlos" - WeirdAl.com (http://weirdal.com/). Babalu Music - 1991: A collection of I Love Lucy music. UHF- 1989: A commercially unsuccessful movie satirizing the television industry, starring Yankovic, Michael Richards, Fran Drescher and Victoria Jackson. "It's All About the Pentiums" (Parody of Puff Daddy's "It's All About The Benjamins"). "Amish Paradise" (Parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise"). "Living with a Hernia" (Parody of James Brown's "Living In America"). "Fat" (Parody of the title track from Michael Jackson's Bad album). "Grapefruit Diet" (Parody of Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot"). "Like A Surgeon" (Parody of Madonna's "Like a Virgin"). "Phony Calls" (Parody of TLC's "Waterfalls"). "Bedrock Anthem" (Parodies of Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge" and "Give It Away"). "Gump" (Parody of the Presidents of the United States of America's "Lump"). "Theme from Rocky XIII" (Parody of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger"). "Jerry Springer" (Parody of Barenaked Ladies' "One Week"). "Cavity Search" (Parody of U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"). "Smells Like Nirvana" (Parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" (Parody of The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)"). "I Love Rocky Road" (Parody of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock N' Roll"). "Eat It" (Parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"). "The Saga Begins" (Parody of Don McLean's "American Pie"; tells the story of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace). "Couch Potato" (Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from the movie 8 Mile). "Ricky" (a parody of "Mickey" by Toni Basil, humorous lyrics themed from I Love Lucy; a parody of and tribute to the series). "Albuquerque" an extremely funny, but long, song, about Al's weird ventures into the city of Albuquerque - it's 11 and a half minutes long!. "Headline News" (Parody of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies) - 1994. Theme from "Spy Hard" (Spy Hard soundtrack - 1996). "Polkamon" (Pokémon The Movie 2000 (soundtrack) - 2000). The Saga Begins - 1999. The TV Album - 1995. Greatest Hits - Volume II - 1994. Permanent Record - Al in the Box - 1994. The Food Album - 1993. The Best Of Yankovic - 1992 (Korean LP). Greatest Hits - 1988. Poodle Hat - 2003. Running With Scissors - 1999. Bad Hair Day - 1996. Alapalooza - 1994. Off the Deep End - 1992. UHF (movie soundtrack) - 1989. Even Worse - 1988. Polka Party - 1986. Dare to Be Stupid - 1985. "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D - 1984. Weird Al Yankovic - 1983. |