"Weird Al" Yankovic: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life."''|'''Homer Simpson''', ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]'', "That 90s Show"}}

He sent three songs to the Dr. Demento Show, "Belvedere Cruisin'", "Dr. D Superstar" (never aired), and "My Bologna", a parody of "My Sharona" by ''[[The Knack]]''. ''[[The Knack]]'''s lead singer heard "My Bologna", contacted Al, and got "My Bologna" released as a single. Despite a slow start, including a disastrous opening for ''[[Missing Persons (Music)|Missing Persons]]'', Weird Al released his first album on Scotti Bros. Records in 1983.

In 1989, Weird Al starred in the film ''[[UHF (Film)|UHF]]'', and he had a short-lived [[CBS]] "kids' show" in the 1990s, ''[[The Weird Al Show]]''. He provided the voice of the Squid Hat on ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]''. He has been involved with the ''[[Transformers]]'' franchise twice: his song "Dare To Be Stupid" was played in the [[Transformers the Movie|1986 movie]], and he provided the voice of Wreck-Gar in ''[[Transformers Animated]]''. He had a recent cameo (as himself) in the ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' crossover episode of ''[[Batman the Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', where he [[Improbable Weapon User|defeated the Joker with his accordion]].

Unlike other parodic artists, Al and his band [[Long Runner Lineup|(who have been together since the 80s)]] from the second album on (the first album used accordion on every track in keeping with Al's trademark talent) have kept extremely close to the original melodies and instrumentation of the parodied song. The most extreme example is in "Trapped in the Drive-Thru", based off "Trapped in the Closet" by ''R. Kelly''. To those not in the know, [[Detournement|it sounds exactly like the original.]] Al is [[One of Us|very sympathetic to geek communities]] and frequently gives them [[Proud to Be A Geek|recognition in his songs]].

Responsible for the [[Weird Al Effect]], where a parody remains popular long after the original, and his habit of using pop cultural metaphors (AKA [[Person As Verb|"Pulling a Weird Al"]]) led to his being the former trope namer for that.

* ''[[UHF (Film)|UHF]] – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff'' (1989)

* ''[[UHF (Film)|UHF]]'' (1989)

* [[I Pulled a Weird Al]], since renamed [[Person As Verb]]

** And then he ended up having the exact opposite problem he did with Coolio, this time with [[Lady Gaga (Music)|Lady Gaga]]. He announced that his 2011 album was delayed after he was given a flat "no" by her manager when he sent her a recording of "Perform This Way", a parody of "Born This Way" which was intended as the leadoff single. After several hours of [[Internet Backlash]] it was revealed that [[What an Idiot!|the manager never gave her the song to listen to out of the assumption she would hate it]]. This of course, turned out to be completely untrue and that upon actually hearing it Gaga said she loved it.

** "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" uses [[Yiddish As a Second Language]] to make puns such as "The parents pay the mohel and he gets to keep the tip."

** May also be a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Peter Gabriel (Music)|Peter Gabriel]] and his seminal "Sledgehammer" video.

*** All three ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]]'' movies. The first and last were [[As Himself]]. In the second movie, he's {{spoiler|the criminal who Frank opens the door on.}}

*** [[Rob Zombie (Music)|Rob Zombie]]'s ''[[Halloween (Film)|Halloween]] II''.

*** He is Banana Man in one episode of ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]].''

*** Al has played the tambourine with [[Hanson (Music)|Hanson]] quite a few times.

* [[Careful With That Axe]]:

* [[Cut His Heart Out With a Spoon]]: To himself in "One More Minute".

* [[A Date With Rosie Palms]]: From "One More Minute:"

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Watching Al in candid interviews where he drops the act reveals a subdued, deadpan humor and very dry, very, ''very'' sharp wit. A good example of this is the [[VH 1]] ''Behind the Music'' special.

* [[Digital Head Swap]]: Most notably in the video for "Perform This Way", a parody of [[Lady Gaga (Music)|Lady Gaga]].

* [[Fun With Palindromes]]: The lyrics of "Bob" (a style parody of [[Bob Dylan (Music)|Bob Dylan]]) are all palindromes.

* [[Green Eggs and Ham]]: Sung to the tune of [[U 2 (Music)|U 2]]'s "Numb", but refused by the [[Dr. Seuss|Seuss]] estate.

* [[Here We Go Again]]: From the last verse of "I Lost on [[Jeopardy (TV)|Jeopardy]]":

* [[Hoist By His Own Petard]]: "I Remember Larry" which has Larry being murdered by the target of many of his malicious gags, with the target making it sound like it was only another malicious gag.

* [[Hollywood Silencer]]: A sound effect in "Party In The CIA"<ref>A lyrical parody of "Party In The USA" by [[Miley Cyrus (Music)|Miley Cyrus]]</ref>. [[Lampshaded]] by the lyric "And my silencer was on".

* [[I Am Not Shazam]]: "Perform This Way"<ref>A lyrical parody of "Born This Way" by [[Lady Gaga (Music)|Lady Gaga]]</ref> has the line "I'm [[Frankenstein]], I'm [[Avatar (Film)|Avatar]]". [[Not an Example]] of [[Cowboy Bebop At His Computer]] though, as it was [[Invoked Trope|deliberately invoked.]]

* [[Ink Suit Actor]]: His roles on ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' and ''[[Lilo and Stitch The Series]]''. Also appeared as himself on ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]''. ''Of course''.

* [[In the Style Of]]: At least half of Al's non-parodies mimic the style of another significant musician, perhaps the most famous being "Dare To Be Stupid", his take on [[Devo (Music)|Devo]]. In addition, every album but the first and fifth contains a medley of recent hit songs performed as a polka.

** "Trigger Happy" is a take on the style of of ''every [[The Beach Boys (Music)|Beach Boys]] song ever.'' Except for the ones he later homaged with "Pancreas".

** "Bob" is a bunch of palindromes sung like [[Bob Dylan (Music)|Bob Dylan]]. The video even parodies "Subterranean Homesick Blues".

** "CNR" is a style parody of [[The White Stripes (Music)|The White Stripes]].

** In a lot of cases, his "style parodies" are a result of not getting permission to do a parody of an actual song by the band. For example, after Trent Reznor refused to let him do any [[Nine Inch Nails (Music)|Nine Inch Nails]] songs, Weird Al came out with "Germs," which clearly borrows from several NIN songs.

** "If That Isn't Love" is mostly a style parody of his close friends, the boys of [[Hanson (Music)|Hanson]], but there's definitely a few jabs at [[Justin Bieber (Music)|Justin Bieber]] in there too.

* [[MC Escher]]: In "White and Nerdy", Al explains he is Al's favorite [[Punny Name|MC]].

* [[Michael Jackson (Music)|Michael Jackson]]: The only artist to have more than one song parodied on a studio album, and one of very few whose songs have been so high that Al had to change the key for the parody.

** A perfect example is on the album "Straight Outta Lynwood," after his [[Rage Against the Machine (Music)|Rage Against the Machine]] parody "I'll Sue Ya." After an angry song like that one, there's an abrupt guitar chord, which is directly followed by a one-second pause going into "Polkarama," which has the [[Dance Craze]] "Chicken Dance" as an intro. Of course, THAT goes into a polka cover of "Let's Get it Started" by The Black-Eyed Peas.

*** A similar example is on the album "Running With Scissors", where the [[Nine Inch Nails (Music)|Nine Inch Nails]] style parody "Germs" is followed by an intensely happy polka (the first track in the medley being the ''[[Spice Girls (Music)|Spice Girls]]'', for crying out loud). [[Mood Whiplash]] at it's finest, folks.

* [[Mondegreen]]: Done [[In Universe]] in the song "Trapped In The Drive-thru"

* [[Parody Assistance]]: Sometimes Al gets more than just permission to parody an artist's songs. [[Michael Jackson (Music)|Michael Jackson]] donated the subway set used for "Badder" (the kid version of "Bad" filmed for ''[[Moonwalker]]'') to Yankovic for his parody "Fat", Ray Manzarek of [[The Doors (Music)|The Doors]] played keyboards and bass on "Craigslist", and [[Dire Straits (Music)|Mark Knopfler]] would only allow Al to parody "Money for Nothing" if he was permitted to do the guitar work himself.

** Ben Folds played piano on "Why Does This Always Happen To Me"... which is a parody of Ben Folds songs. "Genius in France", a style parody of [[Frank Zappa (Music)|Frank Zappa]] features Frank's son Dweezil on guitar.

** Though more of a stretch, singer and voice coach Lisa Popeil has done female backup vocals for Al since 1983. The first song to feature her? "Mr. Popeil", a song that makes fun of her father's products and brother's infomercials in the style of [[The B 52s (Music)|The B 52s]].

** On Al's 2011 album Alpocalypse, he did a style parody of [[Hanson (Music)|Hanson]] called "If That Isn't Love." Al and the Hanson brothers are friends, and Taylor Hanson plays keyboards on the song.

** And new verses (from the 2007 tour) about Paris Hilton's DUI and [[Britney Spears (Music)|Britney Spears]]' going commando and head shave.

* [[Runs With Scissors]]: The title and image art of his album [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|"Running With Scissors."]]

* [[Shave and A Haircut]]: Often appears near the end of the polka medleys.

* [[Shoulders of Doom]]: When performing "Dog Eat Dog", a style parody of [[Talking Heads (Music)|Talking Heads]], Al wears a suit with ''massive'' shoulderpads as a spoof of David Byrne's [[Memetic Outfit]]. He also wears it briefly in the "UHF" video.

{{quote| ''[[Gilligan's Island (TV)|There's no phone, no lights, no motorcar,]]''<br />

''[[Gilligan's Island (TV)|Not a single luxury!]]''<br />

''[[Gilligan's Island (TV)|Like]] [[Robinson Crusoe (Literature)|Robinson Ca-rusoe,]]''<br />

''[[Gilligan's Island (TV)|It's as primitive as can be!]]'' }}

** According to [http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0400 Word of] [[Word of God|Al]], "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" includes a line from an [[SCTV]] sketch, and the vinyl of ''Dare to Be Stupid'' had "[[Talking Heads (Music)|More Songs About TV and Food]]" etched into the inner groove.

** "Trigger Happy" and "Pancreas", his [[The Beach Boys (Music)|Beach Boys]] homages; the former song has elements of "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Catch A Wave", "No-Go Showboat", "Surfin USA", and "Little Deuce Coupe" in it; the latter has elements of "Our Prayer", "Do You Like Worms", "God Only Knows", "I Know There's An Answer", "Wind Chimes", "Heroes and Villains", and "Good Vibrations", all in one song.

* [[Signed Up for The Dental]]: According to "Party In the CIA", they have a better dental plan than the FBI.

* [[Spell My Name With an "S"]]: He doesn't like it when people pronounce his last name "Yank-o-VITCH" (or spell it with an 'H'). His band elaborates in "Al's Band".

* [[Stalker With a Crush]]: "Melanie". Complete with peeping into her bathroom with a telescope and willing to jump out a 16 story window for her love.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: "Polka Face" uses a section of [[Name's the Same|Frankie Yankovic's]] "Tick Tock Polka" as a bridge. The next song in the medley? [[Kesha (Music)|Tik Tok]].

** Not to mention the lengthy one against Atlantic Records over his James Blunt parody "You're Pitiful," which eventually led to [[Wikipedia (Wiki)|Wikipedia]] being forced to lock Atlantic's entry due to excessive vandalism.

** There's also the unreleased "It's Still [[Billy Joel (Music)|Billy Joel]] to Me" (parody of "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"), which is no more than one long attack on Billy Joel.

Was do I like [[Star Trek the Original Series|Kirk]] or do I like [[Star Trek the Next Generation|Picard]] }}

* [[What Could Have Been]]: Bassist Steve Jay almost got a chance to audition for [[Frank Zappa (Music)|Frank Zappa]], but didn't quite make it. So then he answered a newspaper ad from some guy named Al...

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: We never do find out if Al got his snorkel back or not in "Albuquerque".

* [[Yiddish As a Second Language]]: "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi," among others.

* [[Your Head Asplode]]: Al's head explodes while holding out the last note to the opening theme of ''[[Spy Hard]]'', a [[Shout-Out]] to the rumor that [[Music/Tom Jones|Tom Jones]] passed out while holding the last note of the opening theme of ''[[Thunderball (Film)|Thunderball]]''.