Happy Weird Al Yankovic week to you, dear readers. Not only is the #1 musical satirist (well, it should be said that there isn’t a lot of competition in this niche) turning 63 this week (and his hair is still as amazing as ever), so is the muco-biographical film about the man and his work “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”, starring none other than than Daniel Radcliffe is finally going to come out (on the American streaming service Roku, but if you’re very determined to see the film, we’re sure you’ll find a way) and tell his life story in the dumbest and most twisted way possible (more parody of the musical biographies genre is expected here, Style Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and a less reliable biographical story about the man and the accordion). Which means that those who really want to know Weird Al’s biography will need another source – for example, this article – so As his parody essay on Robin Thicke’s poem, “Blurred Lines”, I will try to educate you.
Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born in 1959 in suburban California, the only son of parents of Yugoslav-Italian origin (despite all circumstantial evidence, here I have to tell you that Yankovic is not Jewish, not even a little bit. But he can certainly be counted as an honorary Jew). Although he started learning to play the accordion at a young age, Yankovic had always planned to become an architect. Luckily for us, he decided to send some comedic songs that he recorded amateurishly to the radio show Dr. Demento, a cult figure on American radio, who has been broadcasting parodies, comedy songs and other oddities on his radio show since 1970 until today. For Dr. Demento (in the movie, by the way, he is played by Rain Wilson – Dwight from “The Office”), Yankovic was a gift from heaven. The first song he released Professionally and officially was “My Bologna”, a musical parody of The Knack’s catchy hit “My Sharona”, with new lyrics about the speaker’s love of bologna-type sausage. Ok, not exactly a genius joke, but everyone has to start somewhere. It’s not like your May Corona parody from 2020 was any better.
Similar to artists like Madonna or Billy Idol, Jankovic’s career was greatly boosted by the fact that he started his way near the rise of MTV. For MTV, as for Dr. Demento, Wired Al was a perfect connection – if there is a musician-comedian around, it is clear that his connection to a visual medium will be stronger, Vinkovic at the same time Was able to mock (well, he doesn’t exactly mock. He stings with affection) both the artist’s music and his aesthetic at the same time, with elaborate music videos that were a kind of musical version of the Zucker Brothers films. With hits like “Eat It” and “Fat” based on the songs of Michael Jackson, and “Like a Surgeon” and “I Like Rocky Road” based on the songs of Madonna and Joan Jett, Yankovic – Not exactly a mainstream figure from the beginning – he became a familiar face on the new channel and even collaborated with them on a series of specials called Al-TV, in which he took over the broadcasts and presented his clips, skits and laugh-out-loud interviews with celebs, consisting of real interviews that Shinkovic distorts and edits for comic effect (yes, Exactly how the “Refreshment Channel” started).
At this point there is something I must clarify about “Weird El”. Although his fame came from musical parodies that replace the lyrics of existing songs with funny words, and although he is primarily associated with direct parodies, throughout his career Jankovic also recorded comedic songs with original melodies. In fact, elitist Weird fans—yes, me too—would say that these songs are—are—his greatest works: The Stalker Love Song “Melanie“Through Shir Hallel to building material stores”Hardware Store“And the tragic story of an acting student who dreamed of fame and became an operator in an amusement park”Skipper Dan“. Many of these original songs are musical tributes to an artist’s entire body of work, in which Jankovic essentially creates a new band song like he did with REM, Elvis Costello or DEVO. In fact DEVO (basically a satirical punk band) lead singer Mark Mathersbaugh said of Jankovic’s song “Dare To Be Stupid,” which mimics the band’s bouncy-neurotic style, “I was shocked. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. He’s kind of a sculpture our songs and did something completely different. And I hate him for itWhen Weird Al heard this, he cried with excitement.
After huge success in the 1980s and a few small guest appearances in films, Jankovic got the chance to star in his own film, which he would also write. The result was UHF, an Eighties comedy about a dreamy loser who gets a chance to run his own TV station. The film gave a platform to Weird Al’s no-nonsense humor, with parodies of Conan the Barbarian and Rambo, and featured early appearances by future stars such as Fran Drescher and Michael Richards (Kramer!). Orion Studios was so pleased with the film’s test screenings that they decided to release it on the screens in the same summer as films like “Batman” and “Demon Slayers 2”, which probably sealed its bitter fate. Although “UHF” received negative reviews and failed at the box office, over the years it has become a cult film and it is still a sweet and nostalgic piece of nonsense that includes many crazy gags and poodles that are thrown out the window.
The late eighties were not a particularly good time for Jankovic. Besides the failure of the film, he also had two albums that were not very successful, and a tour that was canceled. But in the nineties he came back in a big way with the song that dared to mock the hottest band of the moment: Nirvana. Every “Weird El” fan knows the following about “Smells Like Nirvana“: When Yankovic approached Kurt Cobain to ask permission to do the song (Yankovic always asks for permission, resulting in refusals from self-deprecating artists like Prince) Cobain asked him: “It’s not going to be about food, is it?”, and Cobain later said that it was was the moment he knew Nirvana had made it. Jankovic was also one of the first artists outside of rap to embrace the genre and even be quite good at it, with memorable parodies of Pop daddy, The late Coolio and the forgotten rapper Cmillionaire (note the guest appearance in Keegan’s music video Michael Key and future Oscar winner Jordan Peele).
In the 2000s, Wired Al Yankovic had already become a national treasure in America. Other musicians who incorporate comedy into their work, from Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton”) to Andy Samberg (“Lonely Island”), praise him and see him as an influence. Everyone wants to work with him, and he seems to want to work with everyone: from independent producers on YouTube, to respected musicians, often with a certain geeky touch, Like Ben Folds and Weezer – which led to the creation of the original parody trailer for a Weird El biopic on the “Funny Or Day” website in 2010. Breaking Bad’s Aron Paul played Jankovic in the original video, and now, more than a decade later, that joke is going to be stretched into a feature film starring Harry Potter himself. will it work Well, at least it won’t fail like “broadcasting station for novice announcers”. And what is certain is that his same message that so excited the band DEVO – “dare to be stupid” – is exactly what we all need, right now and always.