In 1982 , a immature and still mostly obscure “ Weird Al ” Yankovic goton stageat the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to belt out some of his song parodies in a 45 - second stage set . Instead of being welcomed and applaud , the audience — which was there to see the very serious New Wave headline band Missing person — hated Al ’s music . Hated his mockery . Hated Al . They stream him with object , and when they run out of those , they threw loose change at him .
later , when a dejected Al was in the parking lot , a 12 - year - old come up to him and asked if he was “ Weird Al . ” When Al say he was , the child cry “ you suck ” and walk away .
Of course , we know now that “ Weird Al ” does not suck and that dark ’s consultation was an outlier . For the next four decades , Yankovic ’s off-the-wall brilliance in reimagining reach songs into parodies would be one of the best parts of pop cultivation . Here ’s how he did it .
The Squeezebox
Alfred Matthew Yankovic wasborn onOctober 23 , 1959 and raised in Lynwood , a Los Angeles suburbia . His parent , Nick and Mary Yankovic , were highly loving but exceedingly protective of their only child . Young Alfred was often discouraged from playing with other kids and later warned about fraternize with girls , with his father telling him they had “ diseases and stuff . ” And because he take up Kindergarten a year early and skipped a grade , he was usually two class younger than his peers .
It was all maximally awkward — and then fate arrived on Al ’s doorstep in 1966 , when he was just 6 years old . A doorway - to - door salesman vendition music example had two option : guitar and piano accordion . Mary picked the accordion , partly because she was amuse by the fact that a famous polka player , Frankie Yankovic , share the crime syndicate ’s last name . afterward , Alwould say , “ My parent made the life vary decision . I think they realized that the accordion was the instrument that would take over the rock ‘ n curl world in the 1980s . ”
Peculiar but not yet uncanny , Al practice the squeeze box relentlessly . He immersed himself in polka music . As he make older and the normal teen distractions of dating and socialize eluded him , Al began to make some important musical connections . He learn Elton John ’s album , Goodbye Yellow Brick Road , playing runway on his squeezebox , and developed obsessions with comic George Carlin andMadmagazine . Comedy and euphony began to blend . He started make original report , including “ Belvedere Cruising , ” about his family ’s automobile .
as luck would have it for Al , there was a market for his brand of humor . In the 1970s , a radio set personality named Barret Hansen disseminate a radio receiver program under the pseudonymDr . Demento . Every Sunday Nox , Dr. Demento would curate a play list of eccentric sounds like “ Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer . ” It was saucy programing , and it was everlasting for Al . He drop year memorialize music andtrying toget Dr. Demento to play it , even calling in to quest his own clobber . While this mould for “ Belvedere Cruising , ” well-nigh all of his other submissions were rejected .
Then , in 1979 , when Al was inscribe at California Polytechnic State University to study architecture , he decided to take a crowing jive , setting his satiric sights on the biggest hit individual on the radio—“My Sharona ” by The Knack . Al reimagined it as “ My Bologna , ” recording it in one of the bath at the university because the acoustic were good . The school day is also where his dormmates had dubbed him “ Weird Al ” for being socially ill-chosen . Al used the moniker while he was a campus DJ and manifestly , it caught on .
Dr. Demento ’s listeners loved “ My Bologna , ” and it became so pop that an executive director at Capitol Records released it as a single at the goading of The Knack ’s lead singer , Doug Fieger . That led to Al getting his own transcription declaration , but there were a few more steps along the way to becoming a eldritch household name .
Getting Weird
After graduate college , Al proceed stool parodies , include a Riffian on Queen ’s “ Another Bites the Dust ” call “ Another One devolve on the Bus ” that was one of Demento ’s most requested songs — it actually jump becoming a hit on more - mainstream radio . finally , Al signed with Scotti Bros. Records andreleased his first album,“Weird Al ” Yankovic , in 1983 . Naturally , it admit the hit “ My Bologna ” as well as “ Another One Rides the Bus . ” And who could leave “ I Love Rocky Road , ” after the birdcall Joan Jett made famous , “ I make love Rock ‘ n Roll ” ?
Well , a lot of people , apparently . Al ’s first record album really did n’t make much of an opinion . For the most part , novelty Song , as Al ’s medicine was considered to be , were ordinarily a one - off . If someone was lucky enough to have a strike , it was typically their only one before they evanesce into abstruseness . There was n’t much reason to conceive someone could make a career out of it .
But just like Al had the good fortune to have Dr. Demento as an retail store for his euphony , he also had the benefit of breaking into the industriousness right around the time it was being transformed by a disruptor — MTV . The music television networklaunchedin 1981 and turned dad medicine from a radio and cassette industry to a visual medium . Al took vantage of this work shift , with well - received video for “ Rocky Road ” and another song—“Ricky , ” which was aboutI Love Lucy .
If Al recognized MTV was perfect for his brand of humor , MTV saw that Al was an ideal on - gentle wind personality . For one matter , the connection was still growing and did n’t have an endless library of video recording to spiel . They needed message . So they sour to Al , giving him four hour of airtime on April Fools ’ sidereal day in 1984 . It was effectively a four - 60 minutes informercial for Al ’s brand of zaniness .
TV audience got a concentrated dose of that with “ Eat It”—Al ’s takeoff of Michael Jackson ’s smash hit “ Beat It”—which was a individual from his new record album “ Weird Al ” Yankovic in 3 - D. Both the call and the video were utterly ridiculous , but they were also obsessively watchable . In riffing on Jackson , at the prison term perhaps the most notable artist in the Earth , Al was capable to have an immediate stenography with his audience . Everyone know “ flap It , ” and therefore everyone get the absurdness of turning it into a lyric jocularity about cosset in dust solid food . Al would regress to the hoarding chart again and again — the only Song dynasty hewouldn’t parodywere those by a recently - exit creative person or one record for charity .
“ run through It ” became Al ’s first real smash hit , hitting number 12 on theBillboardchart , with the3 - Dalbum eventually going platinum . Al won a Grammy for the call . Thanks to the power of MTV , Al ’s talent — which had long been dismissed as quirky or a novelty ac — were being select earnestly . With his Hawaiian shirt , chicken feed , and frizzy mop of hair , he was also becoming immediately recognizable . But not everyone want to be in on the jocularity .
Permission Slips
While Al is a very talented instrumentalist , his Sung dynasty mockery do require one key element — a culturally resonant song to spoof . Most sources talk over Al ’s workplace correctly head out that you could parody copyrighted works in the United States — that ’s howSaturday Night Livecan satirize the latest blockbuster , for example . But whether Al ’s employment by all odds qualifies as parody , and not ( the legally unprotected ) “ satiric copying , ” is potentially a matter of debate .
Since there ’s always the chance of an artist baffle legally agitated , and since Al is a polite guy , he’smade it a policyto ask instrumentalist for their permission before show a song . And for the most part , they ’re felicitous to grant it . excellently , Al credited Madonna with suggesting a spoof of “ Like a Virgin , ” wonder out loud to a reciprocal friend of hers and Al ’s director when he would read “ Like a Surgeon . ” Michael Jackson was also genial to Al , lending him permission for a series of parodies of his medicine , include “ Fat , ” which was a parody of “ Bad . ” Yankovic latersaidthat the Jackson approving was huge . If a megastar said yes , then it would be heavy for others to say no .
But everyone has limits . Jackson did n’t want Al to spoof “ Black or White , ” his hit 1991 single , which Al wanted to retread as “ Snack All Night . ” ( And yes , Al ’s song often revolve around food . ) Jackson thought “ Black or White ” had too serious a message to satirise .
Paul McCartney feel that fashion , too . When Al asked him for permit to parody “ survive or Let Die ” as “ Chicken Pot Pie , ” McCartney told him no because he was a vegetarian .
Sometimes , it ’s the label and not the artist . James Blunt was fine with Al recording “ You ’re Pitiful ” to the air of “ You ’re Beautiful , ” but the record troupe was n’t . In those MySpace day , with the blessing of the real artist behind the melody , Al just released it as a free download to avoid any hassles .
Al also had worry with the late music legend Prince , who repeatedly turn down Al ’s requests . At one point in time , Prince ’s management team post Al — along with other people , plainly — a missive warn him not to look Prince in the optic when both were scheduled to appear at the American Music Awards . In response , Al transport Prince a letter of the alphabet back warning him not to lookAlin the eye . In 2016 , about a yr after the Purple One had authorize , Al toldPeoplethat “ I had this fantasy that he ’d come out with a new vocal , I ’d have a great idea , he ’d finally say yes and it would score out decades of weirdness between us . But that ’s plain not choke to be the case . ”
Al ’s other big rejection came from Coolio , who take a firm stand that Al ’s Amish - flavored mockery of “ Gangsta ’s Paradise ” in 1996 was done without his permission . Apparently , Al had erroneously think he had gotten favourable reception before recording his song . Coolio deem a grievance about it for a few years before eventually let in that the mockery was “ shady as sh*t . ”
Al had another mistaking with Lady Gaga , whose team turned down Al ’s request to record “ Perform This Way ” as a spoof of “ assume This Way . ” When Gaga heard the song , she love it and granted her approving .
Al may also attempt permission because he wants to check that he has a clear call to partial ownership of the newfangled and copyrighted song for royal family purposes , which aretypically sharedwith the original artist .
Weird Cinema
Al had a somewhat whole decade in the 1980s . Hereleaseda sum of six albums , stay a fixture on theBillboardcharts and on MTV , and was the topic of not one but two movies .
The first you may not have heard much about . It ’s calledThe Compleat Al , and it ’s a mockumentaryreleasedpretty much directly to nursing home telecasting back in 1985 ( an hour retentive version of the pic air on Showtime , but the 97 - mo feature film certainly never made it to theaters ) . In the movie , Al offer a for the most part fictional take on his life , from his upbringing to his breakout successes . The tale is interwoven with eight of his music videos , including “ I Lost on Jeopardy ” and “ Dare to Be dazed . ”
This was really just a warm - up for Al ’s actual feature find , 1989’sUHF . Al worked on the projection for years with his manager , Jay Levey , who also directed it . If Al the instrumentalist was a song satirist , Al the actor was parody the movies . He come out in a very oily muscle suit to lampoon Sylvester Stallone ’s Rambo and a fedora to thumb onRaiders of the Lost Ark. One section features a dawdler forGandhi II , where Gandhi has traded in pacifism for a machine gun .
Al also saw the picture show as a fortune to tip his lid to his influence . Dr. Demento name a cameo as an audience member , and Al ’s character name , George Newman , is a nod to Alfred E. Neuman ofMadmagazine fame .
In the film , Al ’s unclewins a UHF telly stationduring a poker game game and appoint his nephew to ply it . Al manage to improve its dismal ratings with his creativity . He tries a salmagundi of alternative programming choices , from sadistic game show to children ’s programs , all of it pepper with parodies that take post in his character ’s vision . Think of it as Walter Mitty meets theGarbage Pail Kids . There were high hopes for the film , which had gotten Orion Pictures ’ well audience trial scores sinceRobocop . slaked it would be a hit and that Al would be the next comic filmmaking genius , Orion premieredUHFin the summer of 1989 .
The problem ? The summertime of 1989 was also house toIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade , Batman , Ghostbusters II , Lethal Weapon 2,Honey , I cringe the Kids , and about two 12 other film that all worked to much obliterateUHFfrom the head of moviegoers . It incur a sundry critical reception , with Siskel and Ebert giving it two thumbs down . Al and producers also believed everything from its PG-13 evaluation to its claim could have hurt it at the box office .
WhileUHFwould grow into a cult hit , at the clock time its failure was n’t great for Al ’s life history . But one good matter came out of it , and it would come in ready to hand for the next phase of Al ’s story .
All About Al
A calling as long as Al ’s is overflowing with interesting trivia — so view these facts the lining note .
Al used to have his own kid ’s television show . The Weird Al Showairedon CBS for one season commence in 1997 andfeaturedAl hosting guest stars like Patton Oswalt and Hanson and bantering with Harvey the Wonder Hamster . The show ’s yield designer was Wayne White — who also worked on a little serial calledPee - Wee ’s Playhouse — and instalment were directed by Peyton Reed , who go on to theAnt - Manfilm franchise . But it was too weird for CBS and endure just 13 episodes .
The Weird Al Showwas also among the last appearance of Al ’s distinctive look . His glassesdisappearedin 1998 , when he undergo LASIK operating theatre to correct his sight . Around the same time , Al also decide to shave his trademark moustache .
In 2011 , Alreleaseda children ’s book titledWhen I Grow Upthat feature a youngster suppose on what he might need to be as an adult . Firefighter ? Movie director ? Gorilla massage therapist ? It ’s a renowned Al project because his byline is just Al Yankovic — no eldritch qualifier .
In 2003 , Al pen andrecordeda parody of Eminem ’s “ Lose Yourself ” titled “ Couch Potato . ” The rapper was o.k. with Al doing the song but did n’t want him film a music TV for it , with Eminem ’s direction tell their client preferred not to have the visual sensing for the song change . Al , of course , respect Eminem ’s wishing .
“ Amish Paradise ” is one of Al ’s biggest hits thanks in part to its music video . Some of the “ Amish ” whoappearedincluded Al ’s parents as well as his uncles and aunts . Al said they were “ crummy than spear carrier . ”
You may have discover Al does n’t go for anything too risqué in his work . His strain generally do n’t hold any profanity . Andaccordingto the 2020New York Timesprofile we mentioned originally , he never verify , either . His married woman Suzanne has admitted to trying to get him to curse , just in secret , but Al refuses .
Finally , Al himself is n’t immune to being parody . On the HBO seriesMr . Show , futureBetter Call Saulstar Bob Odenkirkportrayeda case distinguish “ Daffy Mal ” Yinkleyankle . Al call the sketch “ very funny , ” add together , “ He really kind of zeroed in on everything that ’s vex about me . ”
Never Mind
When it did , Al wanted to spoof their striking “ Smells Like Teen Spirit ” as “ smell Like Nirvana , ” with the premise being that lead vocalizer Kurt Cobain was n’t that easy to understand . Al even recorded one part of the song with cookies in his mouth for maximum muffling .
But Al ’s management team was unable to reach the stria , eventually severalise Al that if he was go to make the pasquinade happen , he ’d have to find them himself . Al was finally able-bodied to come near Cobain thanks to Victoria Jackson , who had appeared inUHFand became favorable with Al . Jackson was a cast member onSaturday Night Live . When Nirvana was booked to appear on the show , she was capable to get Al and Kurt Cobain on the telephone set together . Cobain thought Al ’s idea of spoofing his semi - intelligible telling was screaming and grant him permission . Al ’s record album , Off the Deep End , even spoof Nirvana ’s album cover , with Al bare and furrow a sinker on a fishhook while underwater .
Thanks to that , “ Amish Paradise , ” and a passel of other hits , Al stay very relevant — and very funny — through the nineties and beyond . In 2006 , Al ’s “ White and Nerdy , ” a take on Chamillionaire ’s “ Ridin ’ Dirty , ” became Al ’s first top 10Billboardsingles hit . In 2014,Mandatory Funbecame his first - ever phone number one record album and thefirst clowning albumto debut in the top fleck . And in 2015 , Al ’s vocation came full roach when he wasinvitedto be guest editor of his belovedMadmagazine andrevealedsuch secrets as his abandoned idea for a riff on Celine Dion ’s theme forTitanic—“My Fart Will Go On . ”
Al is still going warm . In addition to 2022’sWeird : The Al Yankovic Storystarring Daniel Radcliffe , Al istouringand producing new music he distributes himself . Now in his 5th decade of performing , Al has defy predictions that novelty songs and artist are usually just one - hit wonders .
So what ’s the secret ? It ’s belike that , for all his silliness , Al takes the art of euphony very seriously , swarm over lyrics and bring actual talent to his parodies . If he was a dreaded musician , the pasquinade probably would n’t shoot down . That he ’s profoundly committed to all of it makes something like “ Amish Paradise”—as lightheaded as it is — a sort of genius . Al probably inspired budding comedians the same wayMadinspired him . And not just comedian . Lin - Manuel Miranda toldThe New York Timesin 2020 that Al was an influence onHamiltonand that he often prefers Al ’s spoofs to the original songs .
So , sure , an accordion - manage kid growing up to write song about nutrient is eldritch . But for legion of Weird Al fans , weird is wonderful . And while we ’ll never get it on for certain , it seems likely that rude niggling kid at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium finally came around .
