Classic or Dud: Weird Al Yankovic

B)Weird Al's never been profound about anything but music. Mojo's tackled other issues well. Haven't heard El Vez.

C) I think Barnes And Barnes were before him and he shouldn't get credit for the others. THEY'RE the ones that got pretentious with it.

Also, his weird obsession with food is kinda creepy.

I would say he has had several "Headline News", with all those tabloid stories to the melody of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was classic. Same about the way he turned "MacArthur Park" into "Jurassic Park". "Amish Paradise" wasn't too bad either.

Still waiting for him to do an Eminem parody though, media phenomenons like Eminem are usually what inspire him more than anything else.

The first letter to the editor I ever wrote was to Rolling Stone re:the greatness of Weird Al.

The first mix tape anyone ever made me was of Weird Al. So he is kind of a fundamental base of music....and my taste in humor at that time. I preferred parody to the real thing most all the time.

However, he does too many songs about Santa acting mean. He had a depressing Saturday morning program that was a d-d-dud, worse than "The Mad Scientist Toon Club" if you can imagine. I hate the argument "he tries too hard" but I get that feeling from WA sometimes, esp. when he's acting. Like "Look how wacky I am!" But when you add it up at the end of the day, the man is just rad.

I stick by my controversial statement on the work of Wierd Al Yankovic. You liked the Headline News bit? All of the news stories he was parodying were stale by the time of the song's release. Mr Miccio's previous statement about Al having become a kareoke artist is pretty much exemplfied by the Flintstones, Amish Paradise, and Jurassic Park stuff, he really added nothing sonically to the songs he was parodying. Unlike Smells Like Nirvana, where the guitar solo is replicated by the sound of Al gargling water and an army of kazoos.

I still think Polka Party! is one of his best albums. Or maybe it's just the reverb.

this should say "throughout the 90's" - sorry

Classic for being like the sanest popstar ever.

i have a friend who's a huge collector, i've heard tales of al's college days at cal poly san luis obispo when al would hold 2 hour accordian/polka concerts in the men's room. pretty legendary stuff.

God, I loved UHF as a kid. Who could forget Conan the Librarian?

Did Weird Al make any other films beside UHF?

Listen to the outros to "Headline News" and "Achy Breaky Song". Definitely adding some stuff there.

Cameo on Naked Gun comes to mind.

The Survivor rip-off "Theme From Rocky XIII" is also excellent, and reconfiguring of the The Brady Bunch theme to "The Safety Dance" is shockingly easy.

he's classic though, of course, especially for the un-mean-spiritedness of his parodies. "smells like nirvana" is smarter than any frank zappa song ever.

“Virus Alert” nails glam era Sparks so perfectly.

I'm still waiting for a Primus one

Self-parody: the bane of parodists throughout history.

what makes the TMBG one so weird is I think he actually does get to the heart of what makes Linnell's songwriting so unique - but the lyrics are just a stream of goofy shit. so he gets the difficult part right, but whiffs on the easy part.

Feels like with the accordion solo Al is having fun challenging them a bit on the virtuosity.

otm re his style parodies being sublime, sometimes to a point that must frighten the artists. mothersbaugh called dare to be stupid "the most beautiful thing i had ever heard". (my fave song about reaganism, too, tho i'm sure it isn't meant to be.) similarly-- this is v dorky of me-- i think i prefer "germs" to both "closer" and "terrible lie".

Maybe this is over-thinking it but hear me out. The lyrics and the vocals are more typical of Gerald Casale songs - esp. on New Traditionalists, so maybe that's why Mothersbaugh gave that response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9_bOS5oIns

The last verse of this should bring any human with a heart to their knees. Slappin chorus too

Finally saw WEIRD, holy hell it was funny. I know a lot of people have said that but even still it was better than I expected. I was afraid the movie was gonna overstay it’s welcome which made the ending extra hilarious. Feels a bit like Black Dynamite or Kung Fury or (of course) Walk Hard, every single scene is a blast and you never quite know where anything is going. Truly the movie the man deserved.

too bad he's ineligible for a Grammy.

Ugh. I keep telling them… I AM human!!! pic.twitter.com/ZWq0gpnKqN

— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) June 17, 2023

IoI

And he wants to be loved nominated.

https://www.nathanrabin.com/happy-place/2024/5/16/dear-internet-please-stop-making-me-think-articles-about-ai-are-about-weird-al-yankovic

retvrn to serif fonts for capital I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fNWHbnIn0g

Will I be the only one ever to see the Mekons and Weird Al on back to back nights? Maybe!

LOL, I may too!

Yankovic's sold out one night at the 7k-capacity Wolf Trap Filene Center and nearly selling out a second night.

I'll be at Madison Square Garden, which is ... wild.

Ruled. First half better, maybe, but national treasure all the same.

Just randomly browsing this thread and really glad that this kind of shit would not fly on here in 2026

I'm pretty offended by Al's use of the word "Weird." Is it meant as a perjorative? Isn't he reifying received norms with its usage? Perhaps "Decentered/Problematized Al" would serve as a more useful nomiker.

― relentlessly pecking at peace (President Keyes), Friday, 18 July 2014 02:32 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

"what is normal anyway al"

― everybody loves lana del raymond (s.clover), Friday, 18 July 2014 02:35 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Spastic is simply not an offensive term in the u.s., it does not refer to a specific group of people or medical condition. I'm sorry this is difficult to understand.

― Οὖτις, Friday, 18 July 2014 02:55 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Spastic is not a medical term, it is not used to refer to a neurological condition.

― Οὖτις, Friday, 18 July 2014 02:58 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

IN AMERICA. Where Weird Al is from.

― Οὖτις, Friday, 18 July 2014 02:58 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I will not be lectured on the offensiveness of the word spastic by a nation of people who throw cunt and fag around indiscriminately.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, 18 July 2014 02:58 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I stand by it.

his recent appearance on Office Hours had some pretty interesting bits. apparently those polka medleys have to be basically broken down second by second to determine how the royalties get split, but all those little in-between parts where he's just playing 'traditional' polka instrumental bits are credited to Al himself, so he gets paid for that

TMBG were also on so they were asked what they thought of "Everything You Know is Wrong"...apparently they didn't get at first was supposed to be them...they just thought it was a great tune!

There's this whole backstory of TMBG not wanting to be associated with Al so it's nice to see they've overcome their shyness

Figures that the two main pop acts that use accordions have a beef

I think they've always had a lot of respect for him but it's probably frustrating being associated closely with a comedy act when you don't really see yourself that way. And it is the exact same fanbase

TMBG release children's music albums. if any of that is even true, that's pretty embarrassing for TMBG. i'm guessing a bunch of us were probably first introduced to TMBG when their songs were played on the Tiny Toons cartoon.

There was a period there — maybe just when I noticed because I had young kids — that many alt. rock artists were playing children's music. Dan Zanes of the Del Fuegos being the first that comes to mind.

Back on topic, coincidentally, we watched UHF last night (my 7-year-old nephew is visiting). I have seen it a bunch before, including when it was in the theaters and as an adult, and this was the first time it was sort of ... dull? All the gags still work, but there are long stretches with no gags, and the direction and editing is just kind of uninspired. I was a bit bummed. My nephew, he definitely laughed a lot, but there were long stretches where he wasn't laughing, and it wasn't because he was missing jokes, there was just nothing going on.

I'd be curious to see some quotes because I really don't think there's any real animosity there. I do remember at one point there was talk about a tour together but it didn't happen because both their careers were taking off to the point where they were both headliners. They do get asked about touring together a lot which makes sense because again, they basically have the same fanbase, but I agree a show like that would come off strange...doesn't Weird Al generally tour with other comedy acts?

the only time I saw Weird Al live (last July) Puddles Pity Party opened for him, I guess kind of a comedy act

I can see why TMBG wouldn’t want to get paired with Al, regardless of whether they like him or not. Apart from accordions and an appreciation of the absurd, they’re very different and it’s very reductive to categorize TMBG as a joke/comedy act.

I’m pretty sure there was a Ween interview and they were asked about They Might Be Giants and Ween were not fans. Their weird band of choice was the Residents.

All of the above bands: festivals I would like to see. Weird Al headlines. Encore: everybody comes out for “We Are The World”

I agree that UHF is structured in a way that is kind of janky, it feels like an SNL movie where half of it is just trying to figure out how to get from one joke to the next. I remember a lot of 80s comedies being like that, they're funny until the storyline kicks in, which is trouble for a film like UHF which doesn't really have a coherent plot anyway. There are probably entire scenes from the film I could still quote but I really don't recall what actually happens in that movie, outside of a bunch of "save our station" stuff, plus one character is from outer space??

Pretty much.

Gonna see Al with the family in May! We watched UHF and the faux documentary and everyone dug them. The 11 year old and I are working backwards through his catalog on the way to school and we’re currently on Bad Hair Day.

His albums are pretty consistent and it’s impressive that he produces them. As they get older there are more moments that are mean-spirited and cringey. Lots of trans jokes and little people jokes and a song about Santa going on a shooting spree plays different in 2026.

In between Al albums we’re going through Dr. Demento collections. Some of those songs need a lot of explaining nowadays.

UHF has the video that's a simultaneous riff on Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" video and The Beverly Hillbillies, two references that will go right over the heads of anybody under the age of, I dunno, 45?

one thing they talk about on Office Hours is how his entire shtick wouldn't work if the music didn't sound as good as it does. the secret to Weird Al's career, and the reason why he's basically the only guy known for doing this, lies in the fact that he really is obsessive about the music. he wants his tracks to sound as good as the originals without coming off like karaoke. if not for that I think he really would be just a fun novelty that people would hear once and forget about...like 99% of meme music today

when listening to his old albums I'm pretty struck by how dated the references are as well. crazy that he wrote "I Lost on Jeopardy" before Alex Trebek was even hosting the show. I do wonder if it's at least kinda fun for his younger fans to research this stuff though

Didn’t we quote Mark Mothersbaugh upthread about how Al did Devo in “Dare to be Stupid” as well or better than actual Devo

I’ve long maintained that Al’s longtime backing band is fantastic— let’s hear if for Jay “Bermuda” Schwartz, et al

let’s hear IT

Some of the songs require an Andrew Hickey level of explanation for a kid now. Al’s “Here’s Johnny” got into Johnny Carson and Ed Mcmahon with a digression into what talk shows are, the movie Short-Circuit and the theme song by DeBarge. And now my kid is running around laughing “HEY-YO!”

ok that’s hilarious—show your kid the SNL sketches with Phil Hartman as Ed!

serious question - how in the hell has Weird Al never been a musical guest on SNL?!

His polka cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is pretty great.

Boring otm re: the backing band. it takes both chops and verve to pull off all that material!

One of his dudes is iirc a Zappa acolyte.

Heh, not quite

https://forbassplayersonly.com/interview-stephen-jay/

“Genius In France” = Weird Al does Zappa

https://www.dallasobserver.com/uncategorized/jim-kimo-west-and-stephen-jay-of-weird-al-yankovics-band-will-play-their-own-show-at-poor-davids-pub-10623313/