Weird Al Yankovic

I was just thinking about how brilliant he is and and how I tend to find that I have a very special bond with other people that share a deep appreciation for the man, the myth, the accordion.

Btw, I'm shocked that there isn't a Weird Al thread already.

That part in "Dare To Be Stupid" where he says "I can't hear you... I still can't hear you... OK, I can hear you now", may be one of the finest moments ever recorded.

Saw him at the Godspeed ATP in the UK, I hadn't really given him much time before then but massively fell in love. A fantastic show and very very funny. He's not particularly big over here which is a shame, or at least he was probably a bit before my time in the 80s/early 90s

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ive been absolutely fascinated with the dude ever since i was child. ive seen UHF like a billion times, own every single song of his, know a bit of trivia, i own "The Weird Al Show- the complete series" on DVD, watched Al tv back when it was on MTV, saw it when he brought it back for a special episode a couple years ago when he released Lynwood, own his music video collection thing on DVD and on and on and on.

oh, and i know every lyric to just about every song. you play any song of his and i instantly start singing with it.

but alas, i kinda started pulling away from him. i still havent bought Alpocalypse and really haven't been keeping up with him.

Never got into him. I feel like he represents a type of humor that my generation as a whole, and probably the ones before and after it, appreciates, but that I never got into for whatever reason. One that has blossomed and become basically the norm at this point.

  On 11/1/2012 at 11:45 PM, sweepstakes said:

Never got into him. I feel like he represents a type of humor that my generation as a whole, and probably the ones before and after it, appreciates, but that I never got into for whatever reason. One that has blossomed and become basically the norm at this point.

Thy this out, young whippersnapper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

Yeah, I remember that one. It was sorta clever.

EDIT: Definitely of the rule and not an exception.

He's clearly influential. There's dozens of Youtube heroes now doing stuff in that vein. I could probably think of a few but that sounds about as fun as trying to remember the names of beanie babies.

no one could ever do what Weird Al does. he really is quite a genius. most think its so easy to make parodies, but anyone who got the Bonus dvd that came with Straight Outta Lynwood has seen how intense the dude gets about this stuff.

  On 11/1/2012 at 11:58 PM, sweepstakes said:

He's clearly influential. There's dozens of Youtube heroes now doing stuff in that vein. I could probably think of a few but that sounds about as fun as trying to remember the names of beanie babies.

Troll on.

  On 11/2/2012 at 12:06 AM, Frankie5fingers said:

no one could ever do what Weird Al does.

Some try. Many die.

i remember his mtv takeover

weird al was my favorite thing from ages 8-14, and while I don't really listen to him anymore, UHF is still definitely one of my top 5 movies, and I always enjoy hearing a song of his when it comes up

  On 11/2/2012 at 12:20 AM, Redruth said:

i remember his mtv takeover

ALtv!

I still like him because my inner 12-year-old never really grew up.

http://youtu.be/SHnTocdD7sk

love him.

gump is one of his finest imo

melanie is also great

  On 11/2/2012 at 2:02 AM, dr lopez said:

gump is one of his finest imo

I mean, come on.

The guy is a friggin genius.

This one isn't one of my favorites, by any stretch, but it illuminates the full scope of his powers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsgeTNnYywg

  On 11/2/2012 at 12:10 AM, jefferoo said:

  On 11/1/2012 at 11:58 PM, sweepstakes said:

He's clearly influential. There's dozens of Youtube heroes now doing stuff in that vein. I could probably think of a few but that sounds about as fun as trying to remember the names of beanie babies.

 

Troll on.

lol, you call that trolling? here I thought I was being pretty respectful. Oh well, with some folks it's either with em or against em.

  On 11/2/2012 at 3:29 AM, sweepstakes said:

  On 11/2/2012 at 12:10 AM, jefferoo said:

  On 11/1/2012 at 11:58 PM, sweepstakes said:

He's clearly influential. There's dozens of Youtube heroes now doing stuff in that vein. I could probably think of a few but that sounds about as fun as trying to remember the names of beanie babies.

 

Troll on.

lol, you call that trolling? here I thought I was being pretty respectful. Oh well, with some folks it's either with em or against em.

you're on WATMM dude

anyways, yeah weird al is funny, but i dont worship him or anything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mU6USTBRE

ham on, ham on, ham on whole wheat... ALRIGHT.

UHF pretty much defined my life from the age of 10-12.

So many memories:

[youtubehd]8n1hKQULa9Y[/youtubehd]

One of my favorite Al moments was when he was recruited to sing the title theme for 'Spy Hard'. Quality stuff. Curiously, the only video of the film's opening titles I could find is without the film credits, which leaves Al to react to title cards that aren't there. Hmm....

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i used to be huge into him. i had many of his albums on tapes, saw him live, still love UHF obviously. actually i got into other music by listening to his parodies...

  On 11/2/2012 at 6:49 PM, yek said:

i used to be huge into him. i had many of his albums on tapes, saw him live, still love UHF obviously. actually i got into other music by listening to his parodies...

I thank him for exposing me to The Kinks. That is HUGE.

Dude, I swear I actually started a topic for Weird Al about a month ago but got sidetracked and forgot about it. Thank's for starting one, I agree it's long overdue.

  On 11/2/2012 at 12:38 AM, scones to die for said:

http://youtu.be/SHnTocdD7sk

See that right there is a perfect example of his brilliance - as if "trapped in the closet" was absurd and hilarious by itself, weird al made a parody as enjoyable as the original. I think others would of tried to hard or stuck too closely to the original song subject. He nails every little detail - the phrasing, R. Kelly's redundant writing style, the plot turn timing... I'm actually impressed, not let down, that's yet another food song.

  On 11/2/2012 at 6:49 PM, yek said:

i used to be huge into him. i had many of his albums on tapes, saw him live, still love UHF obviously. actually i got into other music by listening to his parodies...

My parents had all the tapes from the 80s/early 90s as well. Basically my introduction to most 80s pop music hits. There are dozens of Top 40 "classics" I still find inferior to the Weird Al covers. The guitar solo in "Eat It" is fucking epic compared to the Van Halen solo in "Beat It" and I still feel like listening to "Smells like Nirvana" after I hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Tony Hawk is an extra in that video btw...

Saw him do a Q&A at a screening of UHF in Austin. It was a lot of fun, he answered some good questions (funny enough the better questions came from kids), including a tidbit about how the worst song he did was probably "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch" which he says resulted from his label begging him to do a Cyndi Lauper parody. I'll admit too he's not the most hilarious, edgy, or absurd other comedians but he's sincere and a real class act. He has cleared every single parody, or now just released them for free, and he's done and even wrote a letter of apology to Coolio, who is pretty much the only artist he ran into issues with after releasing a song.

I wish he did more straight originals, some of my favorite songs of his are neither style parodies or specific song parodies, like this one:

Love me some Weird Al originals.

Spy Hard theme? Great.

Since You've Been Gone?: Awesome

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Albuequerque? Ohhhhhh yeaaaahhh:

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