
How ‘Weird Al’ eclipsed most stars he parodied - ohjeez
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/02/16/how-weird-al-eclipsed-almost-every-star-he-ever-parodied/
======
M_Grey
I think it's a rare combination of genuine talent, being genuinely likeable
(and being able to easily communicate that through a short song or video),
having the qualities needed to promote himself and struggle for a long time,
and good luck to be there at a time when he could enter the consciousness of
so many young people.

Generations of kids (and the rest of us) have enjoyed this man's work, and
that of course gives him some staying power too. How often does something we
feel nostalgia for continue to reinforce those good memories? Here's a case of
someone who still does.

There have been others with greater or lesser success... Mr. Rogers for
example (I think) had a similar kind of impact, but obviously not the
financial success.

~~~
RHSeeger
Mr Rogers defines the pinnacle of "good human being" to me. There are so many
stories of him doing really nice things (wearing the sweaters his mother made
for him on his show, describing what he was doing on the show because a blind
child wrote in, speaking to the funding of PBS; the list goes on and on). Add
to that the impact he had on my life (and the impact the newer Danial Tiger
show based off his work has on my daughter's)... I just can't say enough good
things.

~~~
joshontheweb
I was pondering to myself recently that if Jesus had returned in secret, my
best guess would be that he was Mr. Rogers. A bit of a joke but I sure wish
people could say the same about me!

~~~
6502nerdface
IANAL, but the thought once occurred to me that if Jesus lived today, he would
be a public defender. The public defender tells his client: it doesn't matter
who you are, where you come from, what you've done, or whether you're guilty
or innocent; I'm here to help you.

~~~
mintplant
It's too bad public defender programs are so often understaffed and
underfunded, to the point where some have only minutes to spare per client
[0]. This contributes to statistics like 90-95% of federal and state court
cases being resolved through plea bargain in the US [1].

[0]
[https://www.nacdl.org/reports/misdemeanor/](https://www.nacdl.org/reports/misdemeanor/)
page 21

[1]
[https://www.bja.gov/Publications/PleaBargainingResearchSumma...](https://www.bja.gov/Publications/PleaBargainingResearchSummary.pdf)
page 1

~~~
gydfi
Well, most people arrested are guilty anyway, statistically. People get too
many ideas about the legal system from TV shows, and then when reality doesn't
match their TV shows they assume it's reality that's fucked.

~~~
MegaButts
> Well, most people arrested are guilty anyway, statistically.

But aren't those statistics based on a system that's incentivized for them to
be guilty? That's like trusting an environmental study funded by an oil
company.

~~~
gydfi
A shitload of crimes are committed, and most criminals are pretty stupid.

~~~
MegaButts
I think it's only most criminals that get caught that are stupid.

That aside, you're assuming that because most criminals (that get caught) are
stupid, that most people accused of crimes must be guilty. What if we consider
an alternative theory - the police are stupid? Is that any less likely than
criminals being stupid? Another possibility - the police don't care and just
want to meet their numbers. And another possibility - people have underlying
prejudices which they use to justify their actions.

In order to reach your conclusion you need to make a lot of assumptions, for
which you provide no evidence.

------
ilamont
Old enough to remember when "My Bologna", "Eat It" and some of the other early
80s videos came out. But it was his polka medleys (1) (which do not have
accompanying videos) that showed another side to his talents ...

One of them is referenced in the article. Another one is "Hooked on Polkas"
featuring Twisted Sister's "We're not gonna take it" and Frankie Goes to
Hollywood's "Relax" (2), and then he did an even earlier medley with classic
rock (3). The heaviest riffs and lyrics from the likes of Iron Butterfly and
Hendrix turned into a goofball accordion medley ... pure brilliance.

One other thing to mention about Weird Al ... he is the only pop musician I
like that my kids also appreciate. The videos for Eat It and Amish Paradise
really hooked them ... still working on them with the medleys, though.

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic_polka_medleys)

2\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8OtFR24ZR0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8OtFR24ZR0)

3\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS5Dc6u1j8o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS5Dc6u1j8o)

~~~
herbstein
I'm a younger Al-fan but I've always loved the Angry White Boy Polka.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-
oili63QQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-oili63QQ)

------
ravenstine
Most of his parodies are more clever than the originals, IMO. I say this in an
objective sense because there have been multiple instances in my life where a
song came on in some circumstance, and someone started singing the Weird Al
version. I don't know about his more recent albums, but half of his songs were
original and I liked many of those even better. "Good Old Days" is absolutely
hilarious.

~~~
acemarke
Yeah - "The Saga Begins" and "Tacky" have completely replaced the originals
for me :)

~~~
hkmurakami
I remember seeing the "The Saga Begins" video and realizing what an underrated
and great singer he is. Very flexible in style too - like the best voice
actors.

~~~
dmuso
It uses auto-tune quite heavily, so who really knows how good he can really
sing.

------
leoc
The original authors of /The Onion/ had a dislike of Yankovic which was
strangely intense [http://www.theonion.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-nears-
comp...](http://www.theonion.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-nears-completion-
of-livin-la-vid-697) , even using _his parents ' tragic death_
[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-a...](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-
al-parents_x.htm) as an opportunity to take a shot at his song parodies
[http://www.theonion.com/article/weird-al-honors-parents-
memo...](http://www.theonion.com/article/weird-al-honors-parents-memory-with-
tears-in-heave-4654) .

~~~
petethomas
The usatoday link lead to a page that would not render on my mobile device but
this latimes link worked [http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/11/local/me-
weirdal11](http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/11/local/me-weirdal11)

------
edmccard
In other Weird Al news, there's a Beatles parody ("Pac-Man", based on
"Taxman") that he wrote in 1982 that he has just this year received permission
to release.

[http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/18/14658500/weird-al-
unreleas...](http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/18/14658500/weird-al-unreleased-
beatles-parody-pac-man)

~~~
jobu
It always amazes me to hear stories about artists that won't give him
permission to do parodies (Prince, Weezer, Eminem, and the Coolio debacle).

One of my favorite stories about a Weird Al song was that Madonna actually
floated the idea for "Like a Surgeon" through a mutual friend.

~~~
mortenjorck
When I was a kid, I remember hearing about Weird Al's practice of always
seeking permission from the artists he parodied and assuming it was just to
avoid any legal unpleasantness later (even if any such case would be thrown
out). It wasn't until later that I understood the motivation to truly have
everyone in on the joke together, which this profile describes wonderfully.

~~~
wubbfindel
Yeah this is great.

The fact he asks shows that he respects other artists and respects their
feelings. Not everyone is happy about being parodied, especially if their work
holds very personal sentimental meaning for them.

------
chx
White And Nerdy shows a very impressive amount of genuine nerdiness. I mean,
rapping in front of Schroedinger's equation for the hydrogen atom?

~~~
masklinn
His entire discography has blatant gems of nerdiness peppered through it (also
fun fact about the MV: when he vandalises a wikipedia page, it's the one for
Atlantic Records, and is a reference to Atlantic refusing to bless the
commercial release of "You're Pitiful", the parody of James Blunt's "You're
Beautiful")

------
josephorjoe
Weird Al is a national treasure.

He has a great touch with lyrics and generally manages to stay on the right
side of the line between goofy/funny and uncomfortable/cringeworthy.

------
dyoo1979
His "Word Crimes" is one of the more entertaining videos I've seen, because
not only is it a "ha ha just serious" kind of song, but the animations in the
video are just spot on.

~~~
vanderZwan
That indirectly reminds me of "Bob", another favourite:
[https://vimeo.com/44024588](https://vimeo.com/44024588)

------
autarch
Weird Al is really brilliant. One of the things I think he does so well is
capture the _spirit_ of the artist when he writes an original "in the style
of" song. If I didn't know better I'd swear that Dare To Be Stupid was a song
by Devo. He matches their musical style so well!

~~~
eumoria
Yea his style parodies are my favorite. Frank's 2000 Inch TV[1] is a song in
the style of REM and Waffle King[2] is like a Peter Gabriel song? I think
that's what it is either way great talent.

Also about the Dare to be Stupid song this is a fun tidbit from the wikipedia
article[3] of the song:

Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh stated in reaction to the song that: "I was in shock.
It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. He sort of re-sculpted that
song into something else and... I hate him for it, basically."

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glFVXpz_abQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glFVXpz_abQ)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8t4Smunp1U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8t4Smunp1U)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_to_Be_Stupid_(song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_to_Be_Stupid_\(song\))

------
autarch
I also have to mention UHF. If you haven't seen this film, run and go watch it
now. It's hilarious.

~~~
eumoria
man this comments thread is making me realize I'm a closet weird al fanboy.
UHF is getting a rewatch this weekend.

------
claystu
For those who haven't seen it, Weird Al's song "It's All About The Pentiums"
should be required Hacker News watching:
[https://youtu.be/qpMvS1Q1sos](https://youtu.be/qpMvS1Q1sos)

------
amptorn
Weird Al goes in the same bucket as The Muppets and Homestar Runner - danged
good clean fun.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
I think this is an underappreciated aspect of his work. He occasionally strays
from the path (see e.g. "The Night Santa Went Crazy"), and some of the polka
medleys do incorporate some pretty dark songs about sex and violence (e.g.
Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing" or Foster The People's "Pumped Up
Kicks") but it's a good rule of thumb that if a parody/comedy song is
particularly profane/offensive/mean-spirited, it's not his work.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
"Rice rice baby", a notable parody from the 90s that can be seen as racist, is
very often missattributed to him but isn't his work.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
If Napster taught me one thing, it's that _every_ song parody has been
attributed to Weird Al at some point.

------
cocktailpeanuts
this guy doesn't age. i remember him from when i was a kid. a while ago i saw
some elementary school kid talk about weird al, and was like "that guy still
alive?"

and checked out his latest, he looks exactly the same!

~~~
zitterbewegung
I remember when he was much larger . He actually went on a diet and lost a
bunch of weight and now has to wear a fat suit for his parody of Michael
Jackson.

~~~
masklinn
Er… he always had to wear a fat suit (and a mask) for Fat!, there's no way you
can dance that choreography and be basically round. Hell the second scene of
the MV is him literally ballooning up.

Not to mention, "eat it" is from the same album and he's not exactly heavy in
there:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI)

~~~
mgkimsal
not from same album unless it's a greatest hits collection...

------
devb
> At Sketchfest, Yankovic sits on a panel about the late, great IFC show
> “Comedy Bang! Bang!” He served one season as Aukerman’s musical sidekick,
> against his management’s advice. They thought he was too big for a low-rated
> cable show.

Something makes me respect famous artists a lot more when they're willing to
take jobs that are destined to be ridiculous and obscure. It shows that they
don't take themselves too seriously. Take Weird Al as "Uncle Muscles", for
example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lM3k_pBSjE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lM3k_pBSjE)

------
GoofballJones
My sister-in-law got us tickets to go see him about 10 years ago. I went,
thinking that the "concert" was just going to be him dancing around and
goofing off to pre-recorded music and things like that. WOW, was I blown out
of the water.

He has one of the tightest bands I've ever heard. I mean, they played live and
hit everything almost perfectly. I later find out he's been touring with the
same people for decades, and they are at the top of their game musically. I
went in being a fan of his music, but came out with so much respect for him as
just a shear musician.

~~~
Rudism
Decades ago I was one of a handful of regulars in a Weird Al IRC channel. His
drummer John "Bermuda" Schwartz (who is still a member of his band to this
day) was also a regular and would set up occasional Q and A sessions with Al
himself. Those were amazing times to be a Weird Al fan.

------
Broken_Hippo
The man is genuinely entertaining.

I got the pleasure of seeing him last year. Being in Norway, it was a small
crowd compared to what it might be in the US - and absolutely wonderful.
Serious talent, and the costume changes are quick.

Some songs are nearly cult-like: Tin foil, for example, and folks brought
their own. His older songs are now parodies of classics to a younger
generation (My first memory of Weird Al was his song, "I'm fat").

~~~
maxerickson
I'm not sure what you mean by small, but years ago he played the smaller state
fair here, a couple thousand people tops.

(but I think of a "big" show as an arena or stadium)

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Well, I think there were maybe a few hundred folks. It was held in a large
room at a hotel instead of an arena or stadium. No seating and the room was at
least 1/3 empty space and no matter where I stood, I had a grand view. Plenty
of Indiana high school gymnasiums have more visitors. Of course, if he were
playing there, it would most likely be at an arena or stadium.

------
pjmorris
I love Stevie Wonder, but it is only in the last year, courtesy of binge
listening on Spotify, that I realized where Yankovic got the base melody for
'Amish Paradise' (See 'Pastime Paradise' on 'Songs in the Key of Life'). When
Weird Al is where I get my introduction, I know I have some cultural depth to
grow in :)

~~~
saikat
Awesome song! Though I think it's more likely that Coolio got the base melody
for Gangsta's Paradise from Stevie Wonder, and Amish Paradise grabbed it from
Coolio since Amish Paradise is a parody of Gangsta's Paradise.

~~~
vanderZwan
Yeah, but Weird Al must have been aware of both songs, given the lyrical
shout-out (not to mention his general nerdiness).

------
Sniffnoy
What is up with the scrollbar on this page...?

~~~
socialist_coder
yeah, i cant even read it. all i see is a full screen slideshow of weird al
pics. no way to scroll down. nice job wapo!

~~~
Sniffnoy
I found I could scroll with the keyboard, at least.

------
mcv
Some of the songs he parodied were utterly unknown to me. I remember how White
and Nerdy was a massive hit before I finally heard the original: Riding Dirty.
Of course the really big hits he parodied (Michael Jackson, Coolio) he never
eclipsed, but he parodied a lot of songs that weren't really all that famous
as far as I can tell.

~~~
91bananas
Just looked back, Wikipedia shows that "Ridin'" was at the top (#1) of the
Billboard top 100 chart for 2 weeks. That speaks to it being fairly well
known.

~~~
mcv
Well, I hadn't heard it before White And Nerdy. Though it is of course
possible that it was successful in the US but didn't manage to cross the
Atlantic until after Al parodied it.

------
DrScump
BTW, it was rumored (or often just _assumed_ ) early in his career that he was
the son of "The Polka King" Frankie Yankovic[0], but they are not related at
all.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Yankovic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Yankovic)

------
donatj
I still have several episodes of his ill fated children's show recorded on
Betamax.

~~~
prefect42
+1 for just admitting that you owned Betamax (vastly superior of course to
those VHS ninnies).

------
SeanLuke
A good article. But the article doesn't seem to discuss "how Weird Al eclipsed
most stars he parodied." I think I know the answer to that, but it'd be nice
if the headline matched the story.

------
adultSwim
WaPo should have removed the word "How" from the headline

------
detay
For a second I thought this was an article about a Weird AI.

------
camperman
He's genuinely funny, very competent musically, respects the artists he
parodies and has always worked hard. But his real genius that shines above all
is his lyrics. He's an outstanding lyricist, perhaps the finest of the last
fifty years along with Sir Tim Rice. Al's lyrics are so good that more often
than not, they supplant the original material in people's memories.

~~~
david-given
I think my favourite of his is _The Hardware Store_ --- which I think is
completely original? --- which demonstrates lyrics, musical ability, and the
fact that he's also a damn good singer...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYzo6NJBKco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYzo6NJBKco)

I mean, the chorus alone is a thing of beauty... and then you get to the
breakdown in the middle!

~~~
UncleSlacky
Listen out for the automatic circumcisers!

------
skookumchuck
Al is one of those rare celebrities who everybody likes. He deserves his
success.

------
myowncrapulence
So.. similar to Jesus

~~~
dang
We've asked you repeatedly not to do this here.

We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13677427](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13677427)
and marked it off-topic.

