"Weird Al" Yankovic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||
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 "Weird Al" Yankovic
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Alfred Matthew Yankovic | |
| Also known as | "Weird Al" Yankovic | |
| Born | October 23, 1959 (age 47) | |
| Origin | Lynwood, California, USA  |
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| Genre(s) | Comedy Pop Parody |
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| Occupation(s) | Satirist Parodist Accordionist Television producer Television actor |
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| Instrument(s) | Vocalization Accordion Keyboards |
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| Years active | 1979–present | |
| Label(s) | Capitol Records (1979) Placebo Records (1981) TK Records (1981) Scotti Brothers (1983–1997) Volcano (1997–present) |
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| Associated acts |
Dr. Demento | |
| Website | www.weirdal.com | |
| Members | ||
| "Weird Al" Yankovic (As of 1979) Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz (As of 1980) Steve Jay (As of 1982) Jim West (As of 1982) Rubén Valtierra (As of 1991) |
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| Former members | ||
| Joe Earley Rick Derringer |
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Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: [ˈjæŋ.kəˌvɪk]; 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 sold more than 12 million albums and recorded more than 150 parody and original songs.[1][2][3] His works have earned him three Grammy Awards amongst nine nominations, three gold records, 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 has made guest appearances in television shows such as The Simpsons, Behind the Music, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Robot Chicken.
Contents |
Biography
Early life
The only child of Nick Yankovic (June 4, 1917–April 9, 2004; an American of Serb descent) and Mary Elizabeth Vivalda (February 7, 1923–April 9, 2004; an American of Italian and English descent), Alfred was born in Downey, California, and raised in the neighboring town of Lynwood.[4] Nick was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and began living in California after World War II, during which he was awarded the Silver Star.[5][6] He believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy.[5] Nick married Mary Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who had come to California from Kentucky, gave birth to Alfred ten years later.[5]
Alfred's first accordion lesson was on October 22, 1966, a day before his seventh birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims the reason his parents chose accordion over guitar was "they figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world," referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he has no relation.[5] He continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own.[4] Yankovic's early accordion role models include Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren (the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show). In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album "was partly how I learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion."[5] He would repeatedly play the album and try to play along on his accordion. As for his influences in comedic and parody music, Yankovic lists artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa "and all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists that he was exposed to through the Dr. Demento Radio Show."[7][4] Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from Mad magazine,[5] Monty Python,[8] the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker parody movies,[9] amongst others.
Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on," he recalls.[5] As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in large social events at school. He claims to have been a "straight A" student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class.[5] Yankovic was fairly active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League (in which he "usually brought home some kind of trophy"), a play based upon Rebel Without a Cause, the yearbook program (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshipper's Club, "which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook."[5]
Dr. Demento, "My Bologna," and early fame
In 1976, Yankovic, then a high school senior, sent a homemade tape to Dr. Demento, the host of a comedy radio program.[5] The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin", about his family's Belvedere; another song included on the tape (which never received airtime) was "Dr. D Superstar", a parody of the title song from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.[10] Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' [sic] might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately."[5]
During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed "Weird Al" by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station.[5] In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous local landmarks such as the fountain toilets at Madonna Inn.
In summer 1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody entitled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college, and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release the song as a single.[5] "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract.[11] Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.[5]
On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began.[5] "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects.
The band and fame
1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away."[5] Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982.[12] Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons. The show was not successful at all. The unimpressed audience threw items at the group, and they were booed off the stage.[11]
In 1982, Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts). Due to the influence of his new producer, Rick Derringer, it managed to become a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Bros. Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros.
In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al, which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.
In 1988, Yankovic appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator; the album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original.
In 1991, Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts.
A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation Permanent Record: Al In The Box.[5] The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria".
New look, personal life and career to present
In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to repair his cornea, and also shaved off his mustache, radically changing his trademark look. (He had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of Ricky in order to resemble Desi Arnaz more closely.) Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every couple of decades."[13] He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for The Saga Begins, claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about," that being "the music."[14]
Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski on February 10, 2001. Their daughter, Nina, was born February 11, 2003. They also have a pet poodle, Bela (pictured atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album, Poodle Hat), and a pet cockatiel named Bo.[4] Despite songs such as "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi", his frequent use of "Oy vey" and other Yiddish phrases, Yankovic identifies as a Christian.[15]
Yankovic changed his diet to become a vegetarian in 1992, after an ex-girlfriend of his gave him the book Diet for a New America and he felt "it made [...] a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet."[16] He eats no meat, and tries to avoid egg and dairy products.[4] When asked why he can continue to sing songs like "My Bologna" when he's a vegetarian, he says, "For the same reason I can play at colleges even though I'm not in college anymore."
On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents, Nick, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home, apparently the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. An hour after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin,[17] saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time."[18]
Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, Men Without Hats, and Crash Test Dummies.[19][20] Furthermore, most novelty artists are often one hit wonders, but Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the stigma often associated with novelty music.[21]
Yankovic's work
Music
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").[4] 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 lampoons the original artist as a person, or the song itself. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Exceptions include "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set On You", and "Confessions Part III", which references "Confessions" and "Confessions Part II" in the first few lines, and mentions the first two parts several times.
Yankovic's humor normally 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 songs "Amish Paradise" and "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 orchestrally, 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.[22]
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."[23]
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", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", or most recently, charity songs with "Don't Download This Song").[24] 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 Straight Outta Lynwood) and the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention the name[25]), 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, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza. 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."[26]
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. Prior to 2007, these "epic" songs were not performed live because of their length and complexity (apart from a one-off performance of Albuquerque in Albuquerque, New Mexico).[27] During Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood tour, Albuquerque is being performed in its entirety during the encore, marking the first time the song has ever been performed regularly. Yankovic stated in the past that, because of the screaming involved in the song, he was afraid that performing the song frequently would leave his vocals "trashed," as a single performance did in 1999.[28] Furthermore, one "chapter" of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" is being performed as part of the concert's parody medley.
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.[29] 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.[4] Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies, with some considering his parodies as something of a badge of honor, as they felt that Yankovic wouldn't choose to parody them unless they were successful. There are, however, a few notable exceptions, where people have not allowed parodies or otherwise withdrawn permission.
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".[4] 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".[11] According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain reportedly referred to Yankovic as "a musical genius" in his personal diary.
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", respectively). 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.[30] 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.[27] 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, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances.[31] Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a LucasFilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."[32]
Chamillionaire was also very 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."[33]
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."[34]
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.[35] | ” |
For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a false interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions such that it unmasked Eminem as a hypocrite on the matter of an artist's right to free speech.[36]
Refused parodies
On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up."[37]
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.[38] Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive Thru".[39]
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 and didn't wish to condone the eating of animal flesh.[40] Yankovic has stated that he respects McCartney's decision to refuse the parody, and is hesitant to "put Paul on the list" of artists who have refused permission for a parody.[1] However, like "Snack All Night", "Chicken Pot Pie" has been performed numerous times in concert.[27] His concerts often feature parodies for which the artist did not give permission or could not be released for various reasons.
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.[41] In the "White & Nerdy" video, Yankovic's character is seen vandalizing the record label's Wikipedia entry with the exclamation "YOU SUCK!" After the video was released online, Wikipedia'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.[42] During various performances of "You're Pitiful" in Australia, Yankovic took off layers of shirts (similar to the music video for "You're Beautiful") revealing a series of humorous t-shirts. Among these was a bright yellow shirt with the words "Atlantic Records sucks!"[43]
Live performances
Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza."[44] 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.[44] 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.[2] Titled "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California on October 2, 1999.[45] 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.[46]
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.[12] Following the success of Poodle Hat in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year.[47] Yankovic began the tour for Straight Outta Lynwood in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, with ten concerts in Australia following. The United States leg of the tour is scheduled to begin in May.[48]
UHF
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 brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop.[49] 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[50]). To apparently make it more accessible to overseas audiences where UHF TV stations were less prominent, the film was titled The Vidiot From UHF in Australia and parts of Europe.[51]
UHF shows the creation of Yankovic's signature food—the Twinkie-Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift 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 the occasional Twinkie-Wiener Sandwich.[52]
Notable television appearances
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.[11]
Yankovic was also featured in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, singing "The Ballad of 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 Yankovic 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. [1]
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 & 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! album and the title sequence to Spy Hard, for which he sang the title song.[53]
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").[53] 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. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", amongst other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include 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.[54] Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca" and several more have a Star Wars motif.[55] Some songs misattributed to him aren't even songs, but as spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler.
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."[56] | ” |
A list of songs not by Yankovic can be found at The Not Al List,[57] and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.[58]
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."[59] 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.[60][61] On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork.[59] However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007.[62] On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000.[59] It is uncertain whether Yankovic's application will be considered in the 2007 nomination round due to this increased price, and as such the Fund is accepting donations again.
Discography
- "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983)
- "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D (1984)
- Dare to Be Stupid (1985)
- Polka Party! (1986)
- Even Worse (1988)
- "Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits (1988)
- UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989)
- Off the Deep End (1992)
- The Food Album (1993)
- Alapalooza (1993)
- Permanent Record: Al In The Box (1994)
- Greatest Hits Volume II (1994)
- The TV Album (1995)
- Bad Hair Day (1996)
- Running With Scissors (1999)
- Poodle Hat (2003)
- Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)
Awards and nominations
Categories: Semi-protected | 1959 births | American accordionists | American comedy musicians | American male singers | American satirists | American singer-songwriters | American vegans | American voice actors | Falsettos | Grammy Award winners | Living people | Parody musicians | People from California | Polka musicians | "Weird Al" Yankovic
