"Weird Al" Yankovic "Weird Al" Yankovic. Origin Lynwood, California, USA Country United States Years active 1979–present Genres Comedy, Pop, Parody, Polka Labels Capitol Records (1979) Placebo Records (1981) TK Records (1981) Scotti Brothers (1983-1997) Volcano (1997-present) Members "Weird Al" Yankovic (1979 - present) Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz (1980 - present) Steve Jay (1982 - present) Jim West (1982 - present) Rubén Valtierra (1991 - present) Past members Joe Earley Rick Derringer Website(s) www.weirdal.com Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician best known for his parodies of contemporary radio hits. Contents 1 Biography 2 Yankovic's songs 3 Controversy 4 UHF 5 Directing career 6 Misattribution and imitators 7 Weird Al Star Fund 8 Awards and album certification 9 Discography 9.1 Compilation albums (international) 9.2 Special projects 9.3 Compilation albums (imports, other) 10 Videography 10.1 Cameos and special appearances 11 Television appearances 12 Trivia 13 See also 14 Notes and references 15 External links Biography Yankovic, the only child of Nikolas Louis Yankovic (a Serb-American) and Mary Elizabeth Vivalda (of Italian and English descent[1]), was born in Downey, California, but raised in the nearby town of Lynwood. He first started playing the accordion one day before his seventh birthday. When a door to door salesman came around offering accordion and guitar lessons, his father opted for accordion saying that there should be one more accordion playing Yankovic in the world besides polka king Frankie Yankovic (to whom he has no relation). He mastered the instrument by age ten, after which he quit lessons to pursue it on his own. He now uses a youth sized accordion, with which he is able to jump around more vigorously. After hearing Dr. Demento's radio show (a comedy radio program featuring humorous music), Yankovic sent the Doctor a tape of a song entitled "Belvedere Cruisin'", a song about his family's current vehicle, in 1976. Another song, included on the tape, which never received airtime, was entitled "Dr. D Superstar" and was a parody of "Jesus Christ Superstar"[2]. He was a senior at Lynwood High School at the time, but that tape was the start of his eventual career. Three years later, Yankovic was an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a disc jockey at the university's radio station (KCPR). His air name was "Weird Al", and he has used it since. Although he has claimed that he had been referred to as "Weird Al" during high school, there is no confirming evidence of this. Since "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and The Knack was scheduled to play at Cal Poly, he took his accordion into the bathroom across the hall from the radio station and recorded a parody entitled "My Bologna," with a B-side called "School Cafeteria." The Knack thought it was funny after meeting Yankovic after a show at his college, and arranged for the song to be released on their label, Capitol Records, which gave Yankovic a six-month contract. Dr. Demento's listeners put this track atop his "Funny Five" list. In 1980, Yankovic was working in the mail room at Westwood One, Dr. Demento's radio network at the time, when he developed another parody 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 ran into Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to keep a good steady beat to the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before going live on The Doctor Demento Show. "Another One Rides The Bus" became so popular that it got Yankovic his first television appearance, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. On the show, he played his accordion and again Jon banged on his accordion case as well as squeaking and blowing some horns and other musical gizmos. The rare 1981 Placebo EP release of this song has as its B-side the track "Happy Birthday", an unusually (for Yankovic) dark song about the world's problems and imminent destruction ("There's garbage in the water and poison in the sky, I guess it won't be long before we're all gonna die"), with the sarcastic suggestion that denial is the natural solution ("So if you think it's scary, if it's more than you can take, just blow out the candles, and have a piece of cake!") The Placebo EP recording of that song was recently remixed into stereo by Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz for inclusion on the Hurricane Katrina charity compilation[3]. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes among these unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", or the demos for "I Love Rocky Road." The live version of "School Cafeteria" is also to be found on Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes. 1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's act. His performances were particularly interesting as few, if any, people at the time were doing parodies of rock and roll songs on accordion. His stage act caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who loved it and became Yankovic's manager. Levey insisted that the act would sound better if he had a full band, so he held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jim West played guitar. With Schwartz on drums, the band was complete. In 1991, Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards, to allow Yankovic to concentrate more on singing during concerts. Rick Derringer would produce all of his albums until the 1992 release Off the Deep End. After Derringer's departure, Yankovic began to produce his own albums. So far he has released eleven albums, with a twelfth to be released on September 26th, 2006. Yankovic's first show with his entire band (excluding Rubén Valtierra, who joined in 1991) was not successful at all. The audience threw items at Yankovic and his band and they were booed off the stage. In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al that intertwined fact and fiction of his life up to that point. The movie was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF (see below) four years later. Yankovic's "classic" look before eye surgery, with glasses and moustache In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery and shaved off his mustache, radically changing his trademark look. Yankovic, who was revealed to be rather handsome in his conventional look, commented that "Millions of girls actually found me hot for the first time!" Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski on February 10, 2001. Their daughter, Nina, was born February 11, 2003. He also has a pet poodle, Bela (the one digitally placed atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album Poodle Hat), and a pet cockatiel named Bo Veaner. 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 a fire that had been burning. The night after their bodies were found, Yankovic went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota, 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."[4] A biographical booklet was released with the 1994 compilation Permanent Record: Al In The Box[5]. Yankovic's songs Main article: List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic Yankovic is best known for his song parodies ("Eat It"), though he has actually recorded a greater number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute"). 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 his songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic of lampooning is that artist (exceptions include "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Achy Breaky Song"). Yankovic's humor 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, or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés. 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 of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect ("Polka Your Eyes Out"). Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended". Some of his original songs are pastiches or "style parodies," where 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"). Sometimes, it is obvious as to which band's style Yankovic is parodying, but often it is subjective. One person may hear influences from one band, while another may hear influences from a different band. Some style parodies are in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band. Yankovic has contributed songs to several films ("This Is The Life", from Johnny Dangerously; "Dare To Be Stupid" for Transformers: The Movie, "Polkamon" from the movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000, and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), including his own UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well. Controversy One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio. (Coolio's work "Gangsta's Paradise" already samples heavily from a Stevie Wonder song, "Pastime Paradise," complicating the issue further.) Coolio's label gave Yankovic permission to parody his work and gave the impression that Coolio had as well, but he maintains that he never did. Coolio claimed he was upset, but legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. (Technically, under copyright law's "fair use" doctrine – affirmed by the United States Supreme Court — one does not need permission to record a parody, though one does need permission to record a satire.[6] However, Yankovic has always requested permission before recording parodies, as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community.) After this happened, Yankovic 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 up. 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." Yankovic had gained James Blunt's permission to parody "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, recanted this permission. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's upcoming album due to Yankovic's label not wanting to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the track as a free download on his Myspace profile, as well as his official website, since Blunt himself was not completely objecting to the parody.[7] UHF Main article: UHF (film) UHF original theatrical poster 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 was unsuccessful in theaters, but has since become a cult classic. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected). The Australian release of this film was titled The Vidiot From UHF, a title Yankovic loathes. Directing career "Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos, the first being "Bedrock Anthem" (a parody of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge") in 1993. He has directed all of his own videos since then. Additionally, he has directed several by such artists as Hanson, The Black Crowes, Ben Folds, Jeff Foxworthy and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. He also directed the title sequence to Spy Hard, in which he sang the title song. Misattribution and imitators Because Yankovic is arguably the most successful parody artist, songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to Yankovic due to their humorous subject matter. Much to the disdain of clean-lyricked Yankovic, this includes 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.[8] Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina," "Star Wars Gangsta Rap," "Yoda Smokes Weed," "Chewbacca, What a Wookie", and several more, have a Star Wars motif.[9]. There are also others such as , "Windows 95 Sucks", and "I Ran Over the Taco Bell Dog". In addition, some of these parodies are only a minute long. The large amount of Star Wars related songs attributed to him is somewhat surprising, as to date Yankovic has only sung two Star Wars related songs: a parody of The Kinks hit "Lola", called "Yoda", and of Don McLean's "American Pie" about The Phantom Menace called "The Saga Begins". A list of songs not by Yankovic can be found at The Not Al List. Alternatively, a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website's Recording Dates Page. 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." Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the $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. On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the $15,000 target -- just 5 days before the May 31, 2006 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork, but on the June 23, 2006 list of inductees for 2007, according to eonline.com, Yankovic was not included.[10] His application will automatically be reconsidered in 2007 for the possibility of receiving his star in 2008. Awards and album certification "Eat It" — Grammy Best Comedy Recording (1984) "Fat" — Grammy Best Concept Video (1988) Poodle Hat — Grammy for Best Comedy Album (2003) Six other Grammy nominations U.S. gold records "Weird Al" Yankovic The Food Album Alapalooza U.S. platinum records "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D Dare to Be Stupid Even Worse Off the Deep End Bad Hair Day Running With Scissors U.S. gold long form videos The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library Alapalooza: The Videos "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! Bad Hair Day: The Videos U.S. platinum long form videos The Ultimate Video Collection Canadian gold records "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D Even Worse Greatest Hits Greatest Hits Volume II Running With Scissors Canadian platinum records Off the Deep End Bad Hair Day Canadian double platinum records Alapalooza Gold singles "Eat It" (U.S., Canada, & Australia) Source: Weirdal.com Discography Since Yankovic secured a recording contract in 1982, he has released many albums and parodies. The following is a comprehensive list of his albums to date, with release date, and highest Billboard Chart position: Album information "Weird Al" Yankovic Released: April 26, 1983 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #139 (U.S.) Singles: "Ricky" "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D Released: February 28, 1984 (U.S.) (Gold) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #17 (U.S.) Singles: "Eat It", "I Lost On Jeopardy", "King Of Suede" Dare To Be Stupid Released: June 18, 1985 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #50 (U.S.) Singles: "Like A Surgeon", "I Want A New Duck", "One More Minute", "Dare To Be Stupid" Polka Party! Released: October 21, 1986 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #177 (U.S.) Singles: "Living With A Hernia", "Christmas At Ground Zero" Even Worse Released: April 12, 1988 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #27 (U.S.) Singles: "Fat", "Lasagna", "I Think I'm A Clone Now" UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff Released: July 18, 1989 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #146 (U.S.) Singles: "UHF", "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", "Isle Thing" Off the Deep End Released: April 14, 1992 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #17 (U.S.) Singles: "Smells Like Nirvana", "You Don't Love Me Anymore", "Taco Grande", "The White Stuff", "I Can't Watch This" Alapalooza Released: October 5, 1993 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #46 (U.S.) Singles: "Jurassic Park", "Bedrock Anthem", "Achy Breaky Song" Bad Hair Day Released: March 12, 1996 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Chart Positions: #14 (U.S.) Singles: "Amish Paradise", "Gump", "The Night Santa Went Crazy" Running With Scissors Released: June 29, 1999 (U.S.) Label: Volcano Chart Positions: #16 (U.S.) Singles: "The Saga Begins", "It's All About The Pentiums", "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" Poodle Hat Released: May 20, 2003 (U.S.) Label: Volcano Chart Positions: #17 (U.S.) Singles: "Couch Potato" Straight Outta Lynwood Released: September 26, 2006 (U.S.) Label: Volcano Chart Positions: Singles: "Don't Download This Song" Compilation albums (international) Album information "Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits Released: October 18, 1988 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers The Food Album Released: June 22, 1993 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Permanent Record: Al In The Box Released: September 27, 1994 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Greatest Hits Volume II Released: October 25, 1994 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers The TV Album Released: November 7, 1995 (U.S.) Label: Scotti Brothers Special projects Peter And The Wolf / Carnival of the Animals, Part II (With Wendy Carlos) - October 4, 1988 "This warped classical children's record featuring narration and poems written by 'Weird Al' Yankovic and music arranged, composed and performed by synthesizer whiz Wendy Carlos"[11]. Yankovic's text modifies the original story considerably: "The Grandfather will be played by... Don Ameche! What? He couldn't make it?", while the music features various innovations by Wendy Carlos over the original by Sergei Prokofiev. Side two of the album is "Carnival of the Animals, Part II" which is in part a homage to The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, with Yankovic taking the role of Ogden Nash in writing humorous poems about the snail, the shark, etc. Babalu Music! - October 22, 1991 A collection of music from and related to the television sitcom I Love Lucy. Yankovic's contribution as producer seems not to extend past the title track. Pokémon The Movie 2000 (soundtrack) - July 18, 2000; #85 (includes "Polkamon") Dog Train - 2005 - A kids book/CD by Sandra Boynton. Yankovic sings a duet with Kate Winslet on "I Need A Nap". Compilation albums (imports, other) Album cover from the Japanese compilation album, The Saga Begins (1999) Eat It - May 1, 1984 (Japanese LP) The Official Music of "Weird Al" Yankovic - June 1984 (Japanese LP) The Best Of Yankovic - 1992 (Korean LP) The Saga Begins - December 1, 1999 (Japanese CD) Videography The following is a comprehensive list of his long form videos to date, with release date. The Compleat Al - August 1985 UHF - July 21, 1989 The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library - May 1992 Alapalooza: The Videos - December 1993 "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection - 1993 Bad Hair Day: The Videos - June 1996 "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos - January 1998 "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! - November 23, 1999 "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection - November 3, 2003 The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series - August 15, 2006 Cameos and special appearances Tapeheads - 1988 The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad! - 1988 The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear - 1991 The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult - 1994 Spy Hard - 1996 Safety Patrol - 1997 Nothing Sacred - 1998 Desperation Boulevard - 2002 Haunted Lighthouse 4-D - 2003 The Simpsons:-Three Gays of the Condo - 2003 Television appearances DVD cover for The Weird Al Show 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. 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. A notable part of AL-TV is Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect, by inserting himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and asking absurd questions. VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Yankovic. He is 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 an interview with BTM), so they stretched many smaller disappointments and skirmishes during his career into major downfalls to fit the program's 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 and Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Despite the dramatic angles given to these events, the special was accurate in discussing Yankovic's life and career and received heavy playtime well after its initial airing. He has also appeared in cartoons such as EEK! The Cat, The Simpsons, The Brak Show, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Johnny Bravo, Lilo and Stitch: The Series and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, lending his voice to that of the Squid Hat, a parody of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series. He made a celebrity cameo appearance on an episode of The Simpsons that originally aired on April 13, 2003, singing "Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires "Weird Al" to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic appeared on Solid Gold in 1985 performing "Like A Surgeon", where television viewers first saw his now-famous parody of Madonna's "virgin dance". In the mid to late 1980s, he appeared as the guest host for Nickelodeon's music video show Nick Rocks, wherein his video for Livin' With A Hernia was featured. Around 1990, he appeared as the guest host on NBC's late night music video program Friday Night Videos (along with comedian and friend Emo Philips). Al's typical humor was evident (as was Philips); during the course of the show Al performed the "Harvey The Wonder Hamster" theme song, gave us a couple of humorous sight gags and closed with the following line: "Keep your feet on the ground, keep your head in the stars, and keep a couple donuts in your glove compartment in case you get hungry while you're driving." He played a green, "cabbage-headed" talent agent for the Earth's solar system in "Miss Stardust", an episode of Amazing Stories. He made it to the final round on Win Ben Stein's Money. In the early 90's Yankovic appeared in a "training video" segment for the Virtual World Entertainment corporation's Red Planet racing game. He played the part of Freeman Jack, a subversive purveyor of vectored thrust vehicle (VTV) death races on Mars in an alternate universe. In 1991, Yankovic appeared on a segment of PBS children's math program Square One in which he performed in a music video for a song titled "Polka Patterns". As this song was not written by Yankovic it has not been officially released and it is very unlikely to appear on any of his albums. In 1993, Yankovic played a part in another PBS series, "Living and Working in Outer Space" where he played a rock star name Giles Standish leaving a video voicemail for a lunar governor, petitioning him to hold a concert in space. He also appeared on the 1998 FX series, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, performing "The Night Santa Went Crazy" on an episode that aired in March 1999. On the show, he performed the "Extra Gory Version"[12] of the song, in which Santa dies rather than going to jail. Yankovic appeared as himself in an episode of Sabrina: The Animated Series. In the episode, Yankovic performs a parody of a song performed by the "Flavor Babes" (a parody of the Spice Girls). Yankovic wrote the parody version for the episode. During the episode, it is stated that "You know you've made it when "Weird Al" does a parody of one of your songs," which is a sentiment felt by many. Yankovic has appeared on numerous talk shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, (performing "Yoda" and "Hooked On Polkas"). In August 2005 he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, backing Ben Folds on the tambourine. In 2005, Yankovic made his appearance in the segment "Movies that Should've Been Made in 3D" on VH1's I Love the 80s 3-D. Also in 2005, Weird Al appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. On the show, he sang a song about "polka" when the girl on the show requested "Polka Dots," in a scene where Ty Pennington mishears her. Trivia Don't Download This Song marks only the second time Yankovic has used profanity in a song, saying "you cheap bastard" during the fade out of the song. He previously used this same trick in "Phony Calls", hiding the phrase "you're just a pain in the ass." Krist Novoselic of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana" (parodying "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). Kurt Cobain called Yankovic an American pop rock genius in his private journals. Yankovic has put two backwards 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."[13] Yankovic's signature food is a Twinkie-wiener sandwich which consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a bun, hot dog, and Easy Cheese. Recently in several interviews, he has stated that he has switched to using vegan hot dogs due to becoming a vegan, but still enjoys them as his favorite snack. (He also likes to dip them in coffee.) This can be seen in UHF. Yankovic often includes the number 27 somewhere in his songs, videos, album art, and memorabilia. For example, he wears a 27 on the cover of the Running with Scissors album, and 27 photos are included in the photo gallery on the "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! DVD. This trademark began as several coincidental appearances of the number, but Yankovic began intentionally using it after the original incidents were pointed out to him. One recent occurrence appears in the song "Hardware Store": 'And they're doing a promotional stunt // There's a great big purple sign out front that says // Every 27th customer will get a ball-peen hammer free". Most recently on the album art for Straight Outta Lynwood the licence plate on the car reads 027 NLY. On November 10, 2004, The Onion published Larry Groznic's editorial "I Must Take Issue With The Wikipedia Entry For 'Weird Al' Yankovic".[14] While artists are generally pleased with Yankovic, there are three notable exceptions. In addition to Coolio (they have since buried the hatchet), Prince has refused to allow parodies, though Yankovic has stated in interviews that he continues to "check back with him to see if he has developed a sense of humor". Yankovic was also requested to change the video for 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..." In some cases, parodies for which the artist did not give permission are performed in concert while remaining unreleased in any recorded form. Yankovic also often performs a medley of song segments at some point during a concert. The content of the medley varies, and has sometimes contained partial parodies that, for whatever reason, did not reach the length of a full song and were never released on any recorded work. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a Led Zeppelin polka he refused. Michael Jackson is also a big fan of Yankovic. Jackson has allowed him to parody his songs. When he learned that Yankovic was going to do a parody of "Bad" ("Fat"), Jackson allowed him to use the same set he built for his own "Bad" parody from the Moonwalker video. Paul McCartney refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian. It has been performed numerous times in concert, however. Licensing issues for Yankovic's works are some of the most complicated in the music industry. Largely because of his polka-medleys, he sometimes performs works by dozens of artists on a single album. Because of the potentially crippling amount of royalties required for this, his record labels are required to engage in much negotiation and diplomacy. Yankovic is of no relation to the famous accordionist Frankie Yankovic, but Weird Al did play accordion for "Who Stole the Kishka" on one of Frankie's final records, Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1. Frankie Yankovic also made a cameo appearance in a special by "Weird Al" for the 1986 Grammys. Weird Al jokes that his parents made him take up accordion because, "apparently, my parents felt the world needed TWO accordion-playing Yankovics." When the elder accordionist died in 1998, a woman Weird Al knew on the east coast called him and errantly told him, "I'm sorry your dad died," which was understandably jarring to Yankovic at the time. Yankovic is considered to be one of the top accordionists in the world, having played at a virtuoso level since childhood. Yankovic's song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") is notable because it nearly accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film was released. Yankovic got everything he needed from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a $500 screening to make sure[15]. Additionally, rumors persist that Don McLean performs in the video. George Lucas also loved the song and reportedly fell out of his chair from laughing so hard when he heard it for the first time. Although Yankovic has never had a #1 single in the United States, "Eat It" reached the #1 position in Australia in 1984. Yankovic says that his favorite car is the Nash Metropolitan, and he tends to feature a brown and white Metropolitan in his films and music videos. There is a hidden video on the first pressing of Yankovic's Running With Scissors CD which depicts part of Yankovic's Disney Channel special. It is not included on subsequent releases. In the Season 2 finale of the television series Drawn Together (The Drawn Together Clip Show), Wooldoor Sockbat dresses like Yankovic at one point in order to disguise himself. Yankovic's song "Bob" (Poodle Hat) is composed completely of palindromes. Each line can therefore be read the same forward and backwards. The song parodies the style of Bob Dylan ("Bob" also being a palindrome), hence the title. In 2005 Yankovic appeared live as a surprise guest at a Presidents of the United States of America concert to perform "Gump" with them during the encore. The song is a parody of their song "Lump". Yankovic directed the video to Ben Folds single "Rockin' The Suburbs" and briefly appears in the video as a producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks". Mr. Yankovic designed a greeting card for Angelwear, a website through which celebrities create their own artwork for notepads, cards, and clothing. The proceeds are then donated to a charity of the celeb's choice.[16] In an episode of Futurama, Yankovic is shown in the year 3000 to have been cryogenically frozen. In the chamber he is wearing a shirt that says "Eat It" and with a guitar in his hands, however, Al does not actually play the guitar. For some reason, Al is shown with an afro, mustache and glasses -- he had already changed his look prior to the production of this episode. See also List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic Notes and references ^ Sing 365 Weird Al Biography. sing365.com (2006). Retrieved on July 21, 2006. ^ "Weird Al" Yankovic: Rare Items: UNLABELED TAPE. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Laughter is a Powerful Weapon Volume 2: Funny Musicians for a Serious Cause. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ A Message From Al. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Permanent Record: Al In The Box. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994). Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Free 'Weird Al' Yankovic!. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ "Ask Al" Q&As for October 2, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ The Not Al Page: The most popular songs he didn't even write (or perform)!. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Gina Serpe. Damon, Diddy, Ponch Got Star Power. E! Online News. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Yankovic! - Published Lyrics - Bad Hair Day. Retrieved on 2006-08-27. ^ "Weird Al" Yankovic Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Larry Groznic. I Must Take Issue With The Wikipedia Entry For 'Weird Al' Yankovic. The Onion. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Chris Knight. TheForce.Net - Jedi Council - Interviews - Weird Al Yankovic. TheForce.Net. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. ^ Angelwear: Celebrities Making a Difference: Weird Al Yankovic. Retrieved on 2006-08-24. External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: "Weird Al" Yankovic Official site "Weird Al" Yankovic at MySpace Weird Al Videos "Weird Al" Yankovic at the Internet Movie Database "Weird Al" Yankovic at MusicBrainz Weird Al Wiki, a fan-created MediaWiki-powered wiki knowledge base dedicated to everything Weird Al I Must Take Issue With The Wikipedia Entry For 'Weird Al' Yankovic The Onion's biting commentary on this article (10 Nov. 2004) The Not Al Page attempts to list tracks which are often wrongly attributed to Yankovic and discover their true origins. Al-oholics Anonymous The largest fan-based site for Yankovic, including photos, sounds, and video clips. Yankovic! The first parody web page devoted to the parody king. Also home to Yank Blog Weird Al Star Fund Help get "Weird Al" Yankovic his star on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame Make the Rock Hall "Weird" The grassroots campaign for Yankovic to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  v·d·e  "Weird Al" Yankovic Band Members "Weird Al" Yankovic • Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz • Steve Jay • Jim West • Rubén Valtierra Studio albums "Weird Al" Yankovic • "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D • Dare to Be Stupid • Polka Party! • Even Worse • UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff • Off the Deep End • Alapalooza • Bad Hair Day • Running with Scissors • Poodle Hat • Straight Outta Lynwood Compilation Albums "Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits • The Food Album • Permanent Record: Al in the Box • Greatest Hits Volume II • The TV Album Long Form Videos The Compleat Al • UHF • The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library • Alapalooza: The Videos • "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection • Bad Hair Day: The Videos • "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos • "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! • "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection• The Weird Al Show Additional Information Singles • Songs • Al TV • The Weird Al Show • Songs Parodied Search Term: "%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic" Categories: "Weird Al" Yankovic | 1959 births | American accordionists | American male singers | American satirists | American singer-songwriters | American vegans | American teetotalers | American voice actors | Comedy musicians | Grammy Award winners | Living people | Parody musicians | Serbian-Americans