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Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (/ ˈ j æ ŋ k ə v ɪ k / YANG-kə-vik; born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, comedian, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing comedy songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians.
- Overview
- Early life
- Career
“Weird Al” Yankovic (born October 23, 1959, Downey, California, U.S.) is a musician and songwriter best known for his parodies of songs and music videos by other musicians. He gained national fame in 1984 with the song and music video for “Eat It,” a parody of Michael Jackson’s hit song “Beat It.” Whereas most novelty song artists have achieved onl...
Yankovic grew up in Lynwood, California, the only child of Nick Yankovic, a factory worker, and Mary (née Vivalda) Yankovic, who worked as a secretary and stenographer. In the liner notes to the compilation Permanent Record: Al in a Box (1994), Yankovic recalled that, when he was six years old, “A door-to-door salesman came through our neighborhood, trying to solicit business for a local music school. Kids were offered a choice between guitar lessons and accordion lessons. Since Frankie Yankovic (no relation) was America’s Polka King, my parents opted for accordion lessons, perhaps because they figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world.”
Growing up, Yankovic was an avid fan of Dr. Demento, a disc jockey with a nationally syndicated radio show that featured novelty and comedy songs. Yankovic’s favorite artists on the show included Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, and Shel Silverstein. He was also influenced by the British sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus and pop musician Elton John. In 1973 Dr. Demento spoke at his high school, and Yankovic gave the disc jockey a cassette tape featuring some comical songs he had written. Three years later Yankovic sent him another tape, this one including the original song “Belvedere Cruising,” which Demento played on his show.
After graduating from college in 1980, Yankovic moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in a mail room at a radio network and began performing in clubs and opening for other acts. He wrote more parody songs, such as “Another One Rides the Bus,” a parody of “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen and “I Love Rocky Road,” which is based on “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, originally recorded by the Arrows. Although the recording of parody songs is generally considered fair use according to U.S. copyright law, Yankovic made it a practice to seek permission from the original artists and songwriters to parody their songs.
In 1982 he signed with the Scotti Brothers Records label and released his first album, “Weird Al” Yankovic, in 1983. He also made his first music video, for the song “Ricky,” which debuted on the music video channel MTV. “Ricky” was a parody of Toni Basil’s 1981 hit song “Mickey” and a satiric tribute to the television comedy series I Love Lucy, with voice actress Tress MacNeille singing the part of Lucy Ricardo (who was portrayed by Lucille Ball on the show) and Yankovic singing as Ricky Ricardo (who was played by Desi Arnaz on the show).
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In 1984 Yankovic released the single “Eat It,” which became a top 20 hit and earned Yankovic a Grammy Award for best comedy recording. A large part of the song’s success was its music video, a humorous shot-for-shot remake of Jackson’s video that recreated the original’s dance choreography, setting, and wardrobe, complete with Jackson’s iconic red leather jacket, glittery socks, and black penny loafers. The song appeared on Yankovic’s second album, “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (1984), which also included the parody songs “I Lost on Jeopardy” (after “Jeopardy” by the Greg Kihn Band) and “The Brady Bunch” (after “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats). The album went platinum, selling more than a million copies.
Yankovic’s third album, Dare to Be Stupid (1985), also went platinum and featured original songs, including the title track, and more parodies, such as “Like a Surgeon” (based on “Like a Virgin” by Madonna) and “Girls Just Want to Have Lunch” (after “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper). That same year, he released a mock documentary, or mockumentary, home video, The Compleat Al, as well as a book, The Authorized Al, both of which offered humorous, semi-fictional accounts of his life.
May 3, 2023 · 36. "Melanie," Even Worse (1988) (Original) Dysfunctional relationships reside at the center of a lot of "Weird Al" Yankovic songs, which makes a certain amount of sense. After all, anyone who ...
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- Stephen Thompson
- Roger Cormier
- “Weird Al” Yankovic's parents chose the accordion for him. The legend—verified by Yankovic in the liner notes of his 1994 box set Permanent Record: Al in the Box—reads that on the day before he turned 7, a door-to-door salesman came through Lynwood, California, to solicit business for a local music school, which offered its pupils a choice between guitar or accordion lessons.
- He skipped the second grade. Al attended kindergarten one year early and skipped the second grade. His scholastic promotion was not popular with his older classmates and he was bullied as a kid.
- Al Yankovic added the "Weird" to his name in college. Yankovic was referred to by his full first name "Alfred" throughout childhood. It wasn't until he attended California Polytechnic State University looking for a degree in architecture that "Weird" became attached to his moniker permanently.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic's "My Bologna" was recorded in a bathroom. In 1979, while he was still in college, Yankovic recorded his parody of The Knack's "My Sharona" in the acoustic-tiled bathroom across the hall from the college radio station, finding a microphone cord long enough to reach back to KCPR-FM's tape deck to make it possible.
- Amish Paradise. A little biased because the video — guest-starring The Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson — is so funny. But there’s also working in Gilligan’s Island into the song.
- Eat It. I think one of my favorite moments in any Weird Al song is him taking Michael Jackson singing “Oh Lord!” in Beat It and turning it into “Oh lard!”
- Smells Like Nirvana. A rarity from Yankovic: Making fun of the original songwriters instead of turning into a song about anything else. And it’s fantastic, including the fact that it is hard to bargle nawdle zouss with all these marbles in my mouth.
- White and Nerdy. Weird. Al. Rapping.
Nov 7, 2022 · Weird Al is the parody song king, but over 14 albums he also wrote great style parodies and original songs. ... “Don’t Wear Those Shoes” underlines one of Yankovic’s biggest comedy tools ...
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Jun 25, 2018 · A Very Normal Conversation with “Weird Al”. The beloved musical comedy icon talks about the mundane things that comprise his day-to-day life. DO. by Dan Ozzi. June 25, 2018, 8:00am. Snap. With ...
