"Weird Al" Yankovic

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. Only Nashville Star still remains as a returning series and is the most popular. He currently plays a role in the "Haunted Lighthouse 4-D" Show at the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park. This series has been imitated by many other shows, among them Cupid, Superstar USA and Nashville Star (hosted by LeAnn Rimes). Al has also made a number of cameo film appearances, including all three Naked Gun films. One or two more cities may also be added later as there are usually late additions to the list. He and his wife, Suzanne, recently had a daughter, Nina. As of now, the current list of cities (tentative) are Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Memphis and San Diego.

However, since the taping, Al has married. The fifth season of American Idol will be held starting in January 2006 with auditions expected to be in the summer and early autumn of 2005. (Also, the commercial failures of UHF and Polka Party). The winner of the competition was Carrie Underwood. 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. It featured appearances by former auditioners of questionable talent, and celebrity cameos by Kenny G, Rascal Flatts, David Hasselhoff, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, George Benson, Billy Preston, Babyface and Lynyrd Skynyrd. VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Al. The fourth season finale featuring Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood aired May 24-May 25.

The most popular part of AL-TV is Al manipulating interviews especially commissioned for AL-TV by the network for comic effect. Vonzell Solomon was the 10th contestant voted off the Top 12 on Wednesday May 18th. For Poodle Hat, however, AL-TV appeared on VH1. For the third and final song of the night, one of the standard judges (Jackson, Abdul or Cowell) chose each contestant's selection. Al has hosted AL-TV on MTV many years, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. In an unprecented move, Bo Bice performed his choice completely a cappella. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for adult fans of Al. The second song the performers chose any song from any era.

Weird Al had a short-lived TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to January 1998 on CBS. He chose the first song each performer would sing, many of which he produced in his career. Originals such as "Melanie" and "Albuquerque" are favorites of many of his fans.
For the May 18 final three show, a guest judge, legendary record producer Clive Davis was added. 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. The winner was Carrie Underwood, the first winner since Kelly Clarkson to not only win but avoid being in the bottom two or three for the entire competition. The following is a comprehensive list of his albums to 2003:. Mario Vazquez, who was originally one of the top 12, dropped out of the competition on March 11, just days before the top 12's first performance, citing "personal issues," opening a spot in the final 12 for Nikko Smith, who had been voted off in the semi-finals the previous week.

Since Al got a record contract in 1983, he has released many albums and parodies. Instead of competing in semifinal heats in which the top vote-getters are promoted to the final round, 24 semifinalists were named -- 12 men and 12 women, who competed separately, with 2 of each gender being voted off each week until 12 finalists were left. 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. This season also implemented new rules for the final portion of the contest. 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. He acquired mild fame by repeatedly yelling, "Can you dig it?" to the judges and for the inability of the judges to fully understand him. 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. Also noted was Leroy Wells from Grand Bay, Alabama who auditioned in New Orleans singing Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money".

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 most notable contestant in the early episodes was Mary Roach, who auditioned in Washington D.C. Her rendition of Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move", as well as her comments to the judges that followed her audition, brought considerable negative attention (including false rumors of mental illness) and comparisons to William Hung. 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". Among the music featured in the program: on January 19, 2005, "Look At Me" written by Sara Hickman and performed by her 8-year-old daughter Lily (from the album Big Kid). 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.". The music celebrities featured were:. He also directed the title sequence to Spy Hard, in which he sang the title song. While in the past seasons celebrity guest judges have been invited to participate during the competition, this was the first season where guest judges were invited to participate in the auditions.

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. Auditions were held from August to October 2004. He also contributed the song "Dare to Be Stupid" to Transformers: The Movie. Louis, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana, Las Vegas, Nevada, Cleveland, Ohio, Orlando, Florida and San Francisco, California. 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. Auditions were held in Washington, DC, St. Examples include "Alternative Polka", "Angry White Boy Polka" and "Polka Power.". The fourth season of American Idol premiered on January 18, 2005.

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. Paul Anka made an appearance in the Season Finale. 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"). The third season was also shown in Australia on Network Ten about half a week after episodes were shown in the US. 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. During the season, controversy over the legitimacy of the contest increased as geeky rocker Jon Peter Lewis and young crooner John Stevens stayed afloat while others were unexpectedly eliminated. 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. After a nationwide vote of more than 65 million votes in total, Fantasia Barrino won the "American Idol" title and Diana DeGarmo was runner up.

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. The third season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2004. Yankovic's work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television, movies, food, popular music, and sometimes issues in contemporary news. Paul Anka made an appearance during the Season finale. 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". Clark also alleged that Abdul gave him preferential treatment on the show because of their alleged romance. 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. The rumor mills were buzzing once again in 2005 when Season Two contestant Corey Clark, who was himself kicked off the show because of a police record he had not disclosed to the show, alleged that he had had an affair with judge Paul Abdul.

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. Controversy arose when semi-finalist Frenchie Davis was booted from the show, after topless pictures she had taken four years before the show aired surfaced. In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery and shaved off his mustache, radically changing his trademark look. Despite Studdard's win, Aiken has enjoyed more widespread popularity. Since the mid-1990s, Al has performed annually at the Minnesota State Fair. Out of 24 million votes cast, Studdard finished just 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken, although there remains controversy over the validity of the reported results. 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. In season two with Seacrest as the lone host, Ruben Studdard was the winner with Clay Aiken as runner up.

The movie was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF (see below) three years later. Guarini's self titled album was a flop, selling just 130,000 copies to date. 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. Since then it has sold nearly 2 million copies, and includes such hits as "Since U Been Gone" (#2 on Billboard) and "Breakaway" (#6 on Billboard). The live version of "School Cafeteria" is also to be found on Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes. Her first album Thankful debuted at #1, went double-platinum, and spawned the grammy-nominated hit "Miss Independent." Her sophomore album Breakaway debuted in November 2004 at #3 on the Billboard Charts. Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", or the demos for "I Love Rocky Road". Since winning, Clarkson has gone on to a successful musical career.

Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes among these unreleased tracks from Mr. Numerous television specials starring the ten finalists followed, as well as the box office bomb entitled From Justin to Kelly. The Dr. Kelly Clarkson won, with Justin Guarini coming in second. With Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums, the band was complete. In the first season the show was co-hosted by Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman. Steve Jay became Al's bass player, and Jim West the lead guitarist. The number next to a contestant's name denotes the number of times he or she was in the "Bottom Three".

Jay insisted that the act would sound better if Al had a full band, so he held auditions. Kelly Clarkson came in second after Norway's Kurt Nilsen. His stage act caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who loved it and became Al's manager. In December 2003, winners of eleven different national Idol competitions were collected for a World Idol competition in London. His performances were particularly interesting as few, if any, people at the time were doing parodies of rock and roll songs on accordion. A spin-off series called American Juniors premiered on June 3, 2003. Demento's act. This process is repeated each week until the one remaining contestant is declared the winner.

1981 brought Al on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Over the course of the episode, two are revealed as being "safe" for the week, and the loser is sent home after performing one final song to end the episode. The rare 1981 Placebo EP release of this song has as its B-Side the subtle track "Happy Birthday.". The bottom three vote-getters are separated from the remaining contestants. The resulting performance of "Another One Rides the Bus" was a parody of a Queen hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". In any case, each week on the following night's live "results" episode, the contestant with the fewest votes is sent home. Jon Schwartz was also there, and he was a percussionist, so he was recruited to bang on Al's accordion case. However in Season Two, in the final three, one song was chosen randomly from a bowl, with one chosen by the performer and one by the judges.

Demento's radio network at the time, when he announced he had another parody. Instead, each contestant sings three songs: one of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by record executive Clive Davis. In 1980, Al was working the mail room at Westwood One, Dr. When there are three finalists remaining, themes are no longer used. Demento's listeners put this track atop his "Funny Five" list. Artists around whom themes have been based include Barry Manilow, Gloria Estefan, and Elton John. Dr. Some themes are based on music recorded by a particular artist, and the finalists have a chance to work with that artist in preparing their performances.

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. Themes have included Motown, disco, big band music, and Billboard #1 hits. 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). In the finals, which last eleven weeks, each finalist performs a song live in primetime from a weekly theme (two songs in later rounds). Al was a senior at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, California at the time, but that tape was the start of his eventual career. They can however watch movies, since they have no known distracting effect on the contestants. 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. The only time when a contestant can be free from this rule as if he or she gets voted out.

After hearing Dr. This is to keep the contestants safe from terrorists, epidemics, paparazzi, and to distance contestants from distractions that might be detrimental to their singing ability. 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. This stops contestants from using cell phones (unless between family members or during an emergency), the Internet (especially chatting and message boards), leaving the Hollywood jurisdiction, leaving their apartments without consent, watching TV (especially News and Sports), listening to radio stations, and reading newspapers during their duration in the competition. His works include four gold and four platinum records. Also contestants are contracted to be "conclaved" from the outside world. He is known in particular for humorous songs which satirize popular culture and/or parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Contestants who failed the test have not been allowed to proceed in the competion.

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, parodist and accordion player. Semifinalists are also subjected to drug tests, in order to avoid scandals involving drug usage. 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. Several finalists have been disqualified for revelations that surfaced late in the competition. Because of his polka-medleys, Wierd Al can wind up performing works by dozens of artists on a single album. Semifinalists (and in some cases, other contestants as well) must submit to background checks and may be summarily disqualified for past behavior deemed undesirable, such as an arrest record. Licensing issues for Weird Al's works are some of the most complicated in the music industry. This was changed to the procedure (see above) in the 4th season due to the abundace of females (and no males left in the final 4) in the third season.

He only asks for permission to maintain good relationships and avoid nuissance law suits. In season 1, 5 contestants were chosen, and judges chose one to advance to the finals. 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. Each judge chose one semifinalist to advance to the final round, and a studio audience vote determined the final wildcard spot, rounding out the field of twelve finalists. Interestingly, Weird Al has only backed down from artists like Prince and Eminem out of courtesy and convenience. When all the semifinal shows had been completed, there was a wildcard phase. 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 ...". Each week for four (three for season one) weeks, one group would perform with the top two (three for season one) vote-getters from each group advancing to the finals.

Al was also requested to change the video for his remake of Eminem's "Lose yourself". In the first season, they were 30 contestants, divided into three groups of ten. 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. During the middle seasons, the semifinal round consisted of 32 semifinalists who were divided into four groups of eight. Al apologized for the misunderstanding. At the end of the semifinal rounds, the six men and six women who remain advance to the finals. Coolio was very displeased since his management told Weird Al to go ahead with the parody without consulting him. On the following night's episode the results of the nationwide vote are announced, and the bottom two vote-getters are eliminated each week.

While artists are generally pleased with Weird Al, there are three notable exceptions. Callers are allowed to vote as many times as they like for any number of contestants. On November 10, 2004, The Onion published an editorial titled "I Must Take Issue With The Wikipedia Entry For Weird Al Yankovic.". Viewers have two hours following the broadcast of the show in their time zone to phone in votes for their favorite contestant by calling a toll-free number (viewers may also send text messages to vote). 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. Each contestant performs live (in the eastern and central time zones), in primetime, a song of his or her choice, and receives critiques from the judges, who, from this point on, serve almost entirely in an advisory capacity, with little direct influence on the results. Al often hides the number 27 somewhere in his songs, album art, and memorabilia. On three consecutive weeks, the male semifinalists perform only against the other men, and the women only against the other women.

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). Once in Hollywood, the three judges narrow the initial field of several hundred down to a group of 24 semifinalists, divided equally between men and women, who are invited to perform in the live portions of the show. 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. His case was not taken up by the EEOC. Don Ameche! What? He can't make it?", while the music features various innovations by Wendy Carlos over the original by Sergei Prokofiev. In early 2003, a 50-year-old college professor named Drew Cummings filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging the show with age discrimination because producers denied him an audition due to his age. Weird Al's text modifies the original story considerably: "The Grandfather will be played by.. For the fourth season, the upper age limit was raised to 28 to attract more mature and diverse contestants.

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/). citizens and, for the first three seasons, had to be 16 to 24 years of age. Babalu Music - 1991: A collection of I Love Lucy music. Contestants must be U.S. UHF- 1989: A commercially unsuccessful movie satirizing the television industry, starring Yankovic, Michael Richards, Fran Drescher and Victoria Jackson. Some poor performances have attained notoriety on their own; these have included season two's performance of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" by Keith Beukelaer and season three's rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" by William Hung. "It's All About the Pentiums" (Parody of Puff Daddy's "It's All About The Benjamins"). Typically the judges express disgust or dismay or suppressed laughter.

"Amish Paradise" (Parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise"). Poor singers often face intense and humbling criticism from the judges, and especially from Cowell, who can be harsh and blunt in his rejections. "Living with a Hernia" (Parody of James Brown's "Living In America"). These "contestants" have been selected by the preliminary panels in a negative sense, a typical combination is lack of singing ability combined with vanity regarding their "talent." Others are selected for human interest potential, the 2005 auditions featured a "cannibal" who had sampled human flesh in an anthropology class and an aspiring female prize fighter. "Fat" (Parody of the title track from Michael Jackson's Bad album). These early episodes focus mainly on the poorest performances from contestants who often appear oblivious to their lack of star talent. "Grapefruit Diet" (Parody of Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot"). One of the most popular portions of each season are initial episodes showcasing American Idol hopefuls auditioning before the panel of judges.

"Like A Surgeon" (Parody of Madonna's "Like a Virgin"). The contestants selected despite lack of singing talent for appearance before the panel provide a major attraction to the viewing audience as they simultaneously proclaim their talent while turning out gut-wrenching performances which are ridiculed by the judges. "Phony Calls" (Parody of TLC's "Waterfalls"). Those who impress a majority of the judges move on to the second round auditions which take place in Hollywood (typically only several dozen out of the thousands in each city move on). "Bedrock Anthem" (Parodies of Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge" and "Give It Away"). Contestants are required to sing a cappella. "Gump" (Parody of the Presidents of the United States of America's "Lump"). In order to be eligible, the contestants are not permitted to have any current recording or talent management agreements (but may have had one at some point in the past). Based on turnout and availability, producers select a certain number from the crowd to audition before the three judges (this may take several rounds).

"Theme from Rocky XIII" (Parody of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger"). These are generally held at large convention centers where thousands of people wait in line for auditions. "Jerry Springer" (Parody of Barenaked Ladies' "One Week"). In the show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, hopeful contestants, after being screened by preliminary panels which select for singing talent or humorous potential and human interest, audition before three judges (Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson) in cities across the United States (sometimes a celebrity fourth judge is added). "Cavity Search" (Parody of U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"). Each contestant gets a contract by one Bertelsmann's many music labels because Bertelsmann owns a 50/50 stake in Sony BMG. "Smells Like Nirvana" (Parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). American Idol is produced by Fremantle North America which is owned by German Bertelsmann AG.

"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" (Parody of The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)"). The show is a competition in which viewers can call in and vote on contestants to determine the best "undiscovered" young singer in the United States, with the winner receiving a major record deal, although some runners-up have achieved enough fame to ink record deals of their own. "I Love Rocky Road" (Parody of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock N' Roll"). American Idol is a television show featured on the Fox Network in the United States, based on the popular British show Pop Idol. "Eat It" (Parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"). American Idol Season 4: The Showstoppers (2005). "The Saga Begins" (Parody of Don McLean's "American Pie"; tells the story of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace). American Idol Season 3: Greatest Soul Classics (2004).

"Couch Potato" (Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from the movie 8 Mile). "What the World Needs Now" (single) (2003). "Ricky" (a parody of "Mickey" by Toni Basil, humorous lyrics themed from I Love Lucy; a parody of and tribute to the series). "God Bless The U.S.A." (single) (2003). "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!. American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics (2003). "Headline News" (Parody of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies) - 1994. American Idol Season 2: All Time Classic American Love Songs (2003).

Theme from "Spy Hard" (Spy Hard soundtrack - 1996). American Idol Greatest Moments (2002). "Polkamon" (Pokémon The Movie 2000 (soundtrack) - 2000). February 2, Brandy. The Saga Begins - 1999. February 1, LL Cool J. The TV Album - 1995. January 26, Kenny Loggins.

Greatest Hits - Volume II - 1994. January 25, Gene Simmons of KISS. Permanent Record - Al in the Box - 1994. January 18, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. 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.