140-792: Alfred Matthew " Weird Al " Yankovic ( / ˈ j æ ŋ k ə v ɪ k / YANG -kə-vik ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing comedy songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians. He also performs original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, as well as polka medleys of several popular songs, most of which feature his trademark accordion . Since having one of his comedy songs aired on The Dr. Demento Radio Show in 1976 at age 16, Yankovic has sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2015), recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs, and performed more than 1,000 live shows. His work has earned him five Grammy Awards and
280-472: A mockumentary of his own life titled The Compleat Al (the title being a parody of the 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles ), which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The film also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around
420-639: A polka medley of about a dozen contemporary songs at the time of the album, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. In Yankovic's early career, before recording his first album, he had performed such polka medleys in live shows in California, though then using songs from lesser-known bands like Bad Brains and the Plasmatics . He had been inspired to do so from Spike Jones, who had transitioned from classical music into polka. Yankovic said that converting these songs to polka
560-462: A 2011 interview with OnMilwaukee , he clarified his stance on his diet, "I am still a vegetarian, and I try to be a vegan , but I occasionally cheat. If there's a cheese pizza on the band bus, I might sneak a piece." In 1998, Yankovic underwent LASIK (Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis) eye surgery to correct his near-sightedness. As his glasses were part of his signature look prior to
700-634: A bunch of money". In 1988, Yankovic was the narrator on the Wendy Carlos recording of Sergei Prokofiev 's Peter and the Wolf . The album also included a sequel to Camille Saint-Saëns 's composition The Carnival of the Animals , titled "The Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash , who had written humorous poems for
840-626: A collection of songs that were not included in Permanent Record , and The TV Album , featuring songs loosely based on television shows. On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia . Yankovic had the surgery for free when he agreed to let KTLA Morning News broadcast it live on television. When Running with Scissors debuted in 1999, he unveiled a radically changed look. In addition to shedding his glasses, he had shaved off his moustache and grown out his hair. He had previously shaved his moustache in 1983 for
980-537: A completely different version of "White & Nerdy" based on the alternative choices of lyrics he had come up with and had discarded for the final song. He has also done significant research for other song parodies to get facts and keywords for certain areas of knowledge, such as for "I Think I'm a Clone Now" or hospitals for "Like a Surgeon". Yankovic has documented all these past lyrical attempts, first through binders and then computerized in case he needs to go back for future songs. Most of Yankovic's studio albums include
1120-414: A concerto for motor horn and orchestra by Antony Hopkins , Overture: The Masterdrinkers by Spike Hughes and a concertino for piano tuner and orchestra by Lambert Williamson . The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of numerous comedy music artists whose careers went on for decades. These artists include: Allan Sherman , Shel Silverstein , Frank Zappa , Tiny Tim , and Randy Newman . Particularly in 1970,
1260-449: A decade before Yankovic was born. Yankovic's first accordion lesson, which sparked his interest in music, took place on the day before his seventh birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered his parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims that his parents chose the accordion over the guitar because "they figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in
1400-448: A disc jockey at KCPR , the university's radio station. Yankovic had been called "Weird Al" originally as a more derogatory nickname from others within the dormitory he shared, as he was seen as the strange outcast compared to other residents. Though he initially took it as an insult, Yankovic eventually "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on
1540-404: A few lessons from Zelodec. By the late 1920s, in his early teenage years, he was a working musician, playing for community events. In the 1930s, he formed a business relationship with Joe Trolli and began making radio appearances on stations such as WJAY and WGAR. As his reputation spread, he sought opportunities to make records, but the major labels turned him down. His first records were made for
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#17328812005701680-643: A full album since Mandatory Fun , opting instead for timely releases of singles. In addition to his music career, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and the television series The Weird Al Show (1997). He has produced two satirical films about his own life, The Compleat Al (1985) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022). He has acted in several television shows and web series, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV . He has also written two children's books, When I Grow Up (2011) and My New Teacher and Me! (2013). Alfred Matthew Yankovic
1820-473: A further 11 nominations, four gold records and six platinum records in the U.S. His first top ten Billboard album ( Straight Outta Lynwood ) and single (" White & Nerdy ") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. His fourteenth studio album, Mandatory Fun (2014), became his first number-one album during its debut week. Yankovic's success has been attributed to his effective use of music videos to further parody pop culture,
1960-413: A guest appearance on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver , performing a new song "The North Korea Polka", as part of an episode about the political state of North Korea . One of Yankovic's recurring jokes involves the number 27 . It is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, and seen on the covers for Running with Scissors , Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood . He had originally just pulled
2100-415: A house fire destroyed the gold records for "Just Because" and "Blue Skirt Waltz". Yankovic also hosted the television series Polka Time for Buffalo, New York -based WKBW-TV for 26 weeks in 1962. He commuted from Cleveland to host each episode, which aired live. He also hosted a similar show at WGN-TV Chicago at about the same time. He won a Grammy Award in 1986 for his album 70 Years of Hits . He
2240-587: A house previously owned by writer Jack S. Margolis and rapper Heavy D . In contrast to his stage persona, Yankovic is known by friends and associates to be polite, shy, and introverted, even among family. He is a Christian, and a married couple from the church he attends can be seen in the background on the cover of his album Poodle Hat . His religious upbringing is reflected in his abstinence from profanity, alcohol, and drugs. On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead at their home in Fallbrook, California ,
2380-484: A medley of songs from the musical Hamilton , "The Hamilton Polka". Yankovic has recorded numerous original humorous songs, such as " You Don't Love Me Anymore " and " One More Minute ". Many of these songs are style pastiches of specific bands with allusions to specific songs. For example, "First World Problems" from Mandatory Fun is a style take on Pixies , with the opening stanza reminiscent of Pixies' " Debaser ". Other style parodies includes those of Rage Against
2520-476: A nerd early on." He attended Lynwood High School , where his unusual schooling experience meant he was two years younger than most of his classmates. He was not interested in sports or social events but was active in other extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League -sanctioned public speaking events; a play based on Rebel Without a Cause ; the yearbook, for which he wrote most of
2660-487: A new context, and this is played with the assumption that the audience is familiar with the referenced style and technique. An example of this is the referencing of 18th century forms and instrumentation by Neoclassic composers Stravinsky and Hindemith in the 20th century. Musical quotations are blended together in vertical and horizontal orders to form a medley . In the Renaissance era, this type of musical composition
2800-432: A parody of " Born This Way " titled " Perform This Way " to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially. As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's " You're Beautiful ", which was titled " You're Pitiful "), Yankovic then released
2940-464: A parody of the Michael Jackson song " Beat It ", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic sarcastically described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Yankovic said he felt he had become an overnight success once the video for "Eat It" aired on MTV , as both the song and video, as well as Jackson's approval for
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#17328812005703080-509: A polka in ten years, he considered this the opportunity to include his "white whales", though limited the songs to those that reach #1 on the Billboard charts. The single included the release of video created by several animators that Yankovic had worked with in past videos, such as Bill Plympton , Augenblick Studios , Liam Lynch , and Jarrett Heather as well as new collaborations with artists like Cyriak and Vivienne Medrano . Yankovic became
3220-719: A series of SNL Digital Shorts featuring songs like Motherlover , Dick in a Box , I'm on a Boat , I Just Had Sex and more. Through the rest of the 2000s, a movement of comedy rock acts started to take place in Australia with bands such as The Axis of Awesome , The Beards , The Kransky Sisters and Tripod . When musician Matt Farley discovered the only songs from his band Moes Haven that were getting any plays had more-comedic titles, he switched his focus to novelty songs in 2008. Since then, Farley has written over 22,000 songs about potty humor, celebrities, food and more under band names like The Toilet Bowl Cleaners, Papa Razzi and
3360-531: A serious message that would be undermined by the parody. Again, Yankovic fell into a mood and delayed release of Off the Deep End without a lead parody. Around this time, Nirvana and the grunge music scene began to take off. Yankovic wrote a parody of Nirvana's hit " Smells Like Teen Spirit ", " Smells Like Nirvana ", and was able to secure the band's permission for the parody; Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain reportedly said that getting Yankovic to parody their work
3500-536: A special reception was organized in his honor in Rakov Škocjan . He was presented with a commemorative certificate in recognition of his significant contributions to promoting Slovene culture worldwide. Additionally, he received an oil painting by the academic painter Tomaž Perko to remember his time in Cerknica. In Bob Dolgan's 2006 biography of Yankovic, Frankie's longtime drummer Dave Wolnik observed that "Yankovic didn't have
3640-565: A street named for him in his own hometown". This launched a campaign by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum and City Councilman Michael Polensek , and in a ceremony on August 21, 2007, the square at the intersection of Waterloo Rd. and East 152nd St. in Cleveland ( 41°34′08″N 81°34′31″W / 41.569°N 81.5752°W / 41.569; -81.5752 ), not far from where Yankovic grew up,
3780-466: A student's learning by attracting and holding their attention for a longer duration of the class, also ensuring their continued motivation and engagement. Music improves a student's vocabulary and comprehensive skills, simultaneously encouraging them to think creatively . An example of the implementation of comedy music in education is the incorporation of parody songs to learn the English language. In
3920-418: A style parody in general of Devo videos. Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as " I Love Rocky Road " and " Ricky ". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey , Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About
4060-490: A vegetarian in 1992 when his girlfriend gave him a copy of the 1987 John Robbins book Diet for a New America , which he said "made a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet". When asked how he can rationalize performing shows at events such as the Great American Rib Cook-Off as a vegetarian, he replied, "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I'm not a student anymore." In
4200-586: A video version of "The Hamilton Polka" that synched his song to video clips from the show. Also in March, Yankovic released two remixes of songs by Portugal. The Man : " Feel It Still " and " Live in the Moment ". In 2020, he collaborated with the band again on their single "Who's Gonna Stop Me", which was released for Indigenous Peoples' Day . Following the release of Mandatory Fun , Yankovic has not recorded many new songs, instead focusing on projects such as his tours, and
4340-476: A voice said: / 'Eh .. this place look all right / We'll tell the government it's a sacred site / Dead fuckin' easy' / 'Good day Mr Alan Bond, how you goin' bloke? / Hey, I'm your brand-new neighbour ... hey, mate you got a smoke? / And I think I'm gonna like it here / Livin' next door to Alan'. Comedy and music have both been found to improve the effectiveness of learning inside and outside the classroom. Comedy improves short-term issue recognition , and can improve
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4480-564: A way to offer critique on society and authority, working in public squares or officially hired as licensed fools to work directly under the king or queen. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy, leading to the emergence of opera buffa as an alternative to opera seria . It quickly made its way to France, where it became opéra comique, and eventually, in the following century, French operetta, with Jacques Offenbach as its most accomplished practitioner. Many countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating
4620-533: Is called the quodlibet . In the Romantic era, they are often medleys performed in Operas. Examples of this are C. Hopfner's operetta for men's voices – Das Gastspiel der Lucca – composed in 1875 and Charles Ives 's Holiday Symphony composed in 1913. Composers like Haydn and Beethoven often use specific movement titles to identify their work as humorous, labeling them as ' scherzo ', which means 'joke'. An example of this
4760-412: Is cleaning the bathroom, so I can't take a shower / When I do, the water starts getting cold after an hour / I couldn't order off the breakfast menu, cause I slept in till two / Then I filled up on bread, didn't leave any room for tiramisu / Oh no, there's a pixel out in the corner of my laptop screen / I don't have any bills in my wallet small enough for the vending machine / Some idiot just called me up on
4900-578: Is coming out. Inspiration could strike tomorrow and I might have something out next month. There's no plan. It's just going to be whenever it winds up being." After several years of fan-driven campaigns, Yankovic received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. In March 2018, Yankovic released a new song, "The Hamilton Polka", a polka medley consisting of several songs from the musical Hamilton , which were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda . Yankovic and Miranda had met and became friends prior to
5040-460: Is his attraction to female nostrils or nostrils in general. This also appears in numerous Al TV interviews as well as in several of his songs (such as " Albuquerque " and " Wanna B Ur Lovr "). Yankovic also asks his celebrity guests if they could "shave his back for a nickel". This also appears in the song "Albuquerque". Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz ";
5180-470: Is the scherzo from Tchaikovsky 's Symphony No. 4 composed in 1878. Frankie Yankovic Frank John Yankovic (July 28, 1915 – October 14, 1998) was an American accordion player and polka musician. Known as "America's Polka King", Yankovic was considered the premier artist to play in the Slovenian style during his long career. He was not related to fellow accordionist "Weird Al" Yankovic , although
5320-437: Is the sole writer for all his songs and, for "legal and personal reasons", does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans. There exists, however, one exception to this rule: Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and rhetorically asked when Yankovic was going to turn her " Like a Virgin " into " Like a Surgeon ". Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard
5460-586: The Blue Skirt Waltz were the Tunemixers and Guy Lombardo both in 1949, Lawrence Welk ( Myron Floren ) in 1958, Jim Ed Brown and the Browns in 1960, Hank Thompson in 1962, and Bobby Vinton in 1976. Yankovic found a Bohemian Waltz called "Cervenou Sukynku," (written by Vaclav Blaha) or loosely translated, "Red Skirt Waltz." Yankovic asked Mitchell Parrish (" Stardust ", " Sleighride ") to write new lyrics to
5600-711: The Royal Festival Hall . The 1956 " Hoffnung Music Festival " played to a sell-out audience in the hall and to BBC viewers throughout Britain. Two more Hoffnung Festivals followed, the second in 1958 and the third in 1961, presented as a tribute after his death. Contributions included Donald Swann 's revised version of Haydn's Surprise Symphony to make it considerably more surprising, and Malcolm Arnold 's A Grand, Grand Overture , scored for orchestra and three vacuum cleaners , (dedicated to US President Hoover ). After Hoffnung's death, similar concerts were promoted by his widow Annetta. Malcolm Arnold's Toy Symphony
5740-486: The Shimmy in his Suite 1922 for Piano. The use of incongruency creates contrasts between music styles and techniques, and this is done with parodistic intent. An example of this is Haydn's Symphony No. 60 – nicknamed Il Distratto – composed in 1774. The use of unusual orchestral devices creates the element of surprise. Examples of this are the tuning of violins in the last movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 60 composed in 1774,
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Misplaced Pages Continue
5880-467: The echo chamber acoustics and recorded a parody titled " My Bologna ". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met the Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger , said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna"
6020-519: The 16-year-old Yankovic gave him a homemade cassette tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song, "Belvedere Cruisin ' " (about his family's Plymouth Belvedere ) was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said, " 'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put
6160-654: The 1920s and 1930s, musical theatre is a form of entertainment that often incorporates comedy. In a musical setting, rhetorico-musical techniques contribute in creating comedic effect, and an example of this is aposiopesis , which is the device of suddenly breaking off in musical speech for dramatic or emotional effect. Another contributing aspect to it is dance – particularly tap dance . Musical comedies differ from book musicals as they focus more on comedy and dance rather than on drama and character development. This era's musical comedies include works created by brothers George and Ira Gershwin , and these musicals are: ' Strike Up
6300-519: The 1940s, Spike Jones created songs with a comedy technique of replacing several musical notes with humorous sound effects. Followed in 1951, Stan Freberg released a series of cover songs that addressed the issue of commercialism in that age. In the 1950s Fritz Spiegl organised a popular series of "April Fools" concerts in Liverpool . The idea was subsequently taken up by Gerard Hoffnung in London at
6440-547: The 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and cites John's 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as one of the reasons he "learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion". As for his influences in comedy and parody music, he has listed artists including Stan Freberg , Spike Jones , Tom Lehrer , Allan Sherman , Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa as well as "all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists" he found through The Dr. Demento Radio Show . Other sources of inspiration for his comedy came from Mad magazine,
6580-572: The 2010s saw Nerf Herder front man Parry Gripp starting to release a long series of successful tween pop songs such as "It's Raining Tacos", "Space Unicorn" and "Do You Like Waffles?" dealing with themes of animals and food, gaining him the nickname "the "Weird Al" Yankovic of YouTube ". Counterculture is associated with comedy music due to the individual natures of comedy and music. Comedy often contains progressive and subversive messages that intend to provide listeners with information about issues, Injustices , and other topics that are important to
6720-582: The 2022 parody biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story . That same year, Yankovic told the Los Angeles Times that he was not writing many new parodies because it had become harder to tell which new songs would be big hits, due to what the newspaper described as popular music trending more towards "micro-niche[s]" than a "monoculture". Yankovic released a new polka medley, "Polkamania!", on July 19, 2024, featuring his take on " Flowers ", " Bad Guy ", and " Old Town Road ", among others. Because he had not released
6860-612: The 21st century include Tenacious D , Flight of the Conchords , The Lonely Island , Ninja Sex Party and The Axis of Awesome . Comedy music is often associated with counterculture , due to the subversive messages it displays. This informative nature of comedy music also contributes to the improvement of learning inside and outside the classroom. Forms of entertainment like musical theatre often incorporate comedy music as well. To create comic effects in music, Composers have developed several principal compositional techniques, including
7000-636: The 6th century BCE and Archilocus in the 7th century BCE. The third origin are the phallic songs sung during Dionysiac festivals, as mentioned by Aristotle . Playwrights of comedic theatre include Aristophanes and Menander whose works mocked politicians, philosophers, and fellow artists. In the Medieval Period, minstrels , troubadours and court jesters would continue performing comedic music, some satirical, accompanied by musical instruments. Court jesters in particular would display their wit and humor through songs, jokes, and physical comedy as
7140-450: The Band ', ' Lady, Be Good ', ' Oh, Kay! ', ' Girl Crazy ', ' Crazy for You ', and ' Of Thee I Sing '. To create comic effects in music, composers have developed the following principal compositional techniques. The use of comic text or funny words immediately conveys humor. This can be traced back to 13th century Motets , but it is the 18th century opera buffa that first explored deeply all
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#17328812005707280-560: The Billboard 200, and eventually was certified Double Platinum in sales by RIAA, making it one of Yankovic's more successful works. In addition, Yankovic released a number of compilation works during this period, including Permanent Record: Al in the Box , a four-CD collection which included most of Yankovic's previous works as well as an informational booklet with contributions from Dr. Demento. Other compilations included Greatest Hits Volume II ,
7420-497: The British comedy troupe Monty Python , and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films. He had also enjoyed George Carlin 's stand-up comedy album FM & AM so much that he transcribed it by typewriter. Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children and skipped second grade , later saying, "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist, so I was labeled
7560-530: The Bus ", a parody of Queen 's hit " Another One Bites the Dust ". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz , who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance
7700-620: The Covers , NSP has been backed by the band TWRP . For three albums, they collaborated with animator and internet personality Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson to create the video game themed side project Starbomb . In 2010, rappers Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "Epic Lloyd" Ahlquist created the web-series Epic Rap Battles of History , a show that pinned famous figures both real and fictional in rap battles against each other. It has run for seven seasons, featuring stars like "Weird Al" Yankovic , Snoop Dogg , T-Pain and more. The beginning of
7840-449: The Deep End were complete, but Yankovic still did not have a strong parody and was waiting for the next big hit to work from, as he was still in a slump post- UHF . When Jackson released his next album, Dangerous , and its hit single " Black or White ", Yankovic had quickly written a parody, "Snack All Night", from it, and hoped Jackson would allow him to use the parody. Jackson denied Yankovic this, as Jackson felt "Black or White" carried
7980-526: The Italian and French models along with their own musical traditions. Examples include German singspiel , Viennese operetta , Spanish zarzuela , Russian comic opera, English ballad and Savoy opera , North American operetta and musical comedy . In the Classical and Romantic eras, composers like Haydn , Beethoven , and Schumann would place comic passages side by side with the more serious sections to bring out
8120-603: The LP Slo Grown , as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County . The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as Bubblegum Alley and the waterfall toilets at the Madonna Inn . In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, " My Sharona " by the Knack was on the charts, and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station to take advantage of
8260-798: The Machine with " I'll Sue Ya " (which features many aspects of the hit song " Killing in the Name "), Devo with " Dare to Be Stupid ", The B-52's with "Mr. Popeil", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", and Queen with "Ringtone". Some songs are pastiches of an overall genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now", charity records with " Don't Download This Song " and college fight songs with "Sports Song"). Yankovic stated that he does not have any unreleased original songs, instead coming up and committing to
8400-522: The Musical Comedy Awards. Comedy is a form of art that addresses comic or humorous situations, or even serious ones with a light or satirical approach. Music is also a form of art, and it is concerned with the rhythm , melody , and harmony of vocal , instrumental , or mechanical sounds. One similarity between comedy and music is the way they both evoke psychological and emotional effects in their listeners, without them fully understanding
8540-818: The Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key , Jordan Peele , Donny Osmond , Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for " I Lost on Jeopardy " includes an appearance by Greg Kihn , the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming , Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays an Amish seductress in "Amish Paradise". While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1 , Yankovic worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of Straight Outta Lynwood features six videos set to songs from
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#17328812005708680-449: The Photogs, The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man and The Hungry Food Band. Taking rock and synth-pop influence in the more comedic direction, the duo Ninja Sex Party formed in 2009 with members Dan "Danny Sexbang" Avidan and Brian "Ninja Brian" Wecht who went on to record five albums of original material, three cover albums and one re-recording album . Ever since their album Under
8820-567: The Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza . Other recurring jokes include Yankovic borrowing or being owed $ 5. In a number of Al TV interviews, he often asks if he can borrow $ 5, being turned down every time. This motif also occurs in "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", in which his deceased friend owes him $ 5. Another recurring joke
8960-558: The Yankee and Joliet labels operated by Fred Wolf, and the expenses were paid for by Yankovic himself. In 1940, he married his first wife June, and they began to raise a family. However, the expenses of family life quickly overcame the incoming money from his music career, so he opened a tavern, calling it the Yankovic Bar. It became a popular hangout for local musicians, and he continued to run it until he sold it in 1948, dedicating himself to
9100-538: The accordion. Yankovic enlisted in the armed forces in 1943 and cut numerous records while on leave, prior to his departure for Europe. Yankovic was assigned duty in 1943 in the infantry as a flame-thrower operator. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge where a severe case of frostbite nearly required the amputation of his hands and feet. Fortunately, he was able to beat the resulting gangrene before that became necessary, and
9240-412: The age of 83. He is buried in Cleveland's Calvary Cemetery . Hundreds of friends, family, his loyal fans and fellow musicians attended his memorial service. At his peak, Yankovic traveled extensively and performed 325 shows a year. He sold 30 million records during his lifetime. Frankie Yankovich visited Cerknica , the hometown of his parents, in 1952 or 1953 and again in 1995. On the second occasion,
9380-478: The artist. Music has the ability to explain political issues in a way that is easily acceptable for a wide range of listeners. Both comedy and music have the power to create movements and spread ideas, allowing them to effectively advocate counterculture through the ages, one of them being the challenge of authority . 'Weird Al' Yankovic spread his message about the privilege of the upper class through his comedy music song, titled ' First World Problems ': My maid
9520-559: The aspects of verbal comedy. An example of this is Mozart 's Le nozze di Figaro composed in 1786. Musical parodies satirize certain styles or particular works of music. An example of this is Mozart's Ein musikalischer Spass composed in 1787, which parodies the style of incompetent composers and Siegfried Ochs 's variations on ' Kommt ein Vogel geflogen ' that models the style of particular composers for each variation. The use of unexpected juxtapositions of syntactical elements include changing
9660-531: The backing music in his parodies the same as the original, transcribing the original song by ear and re-recording the song for the parody. In some cases, after Yankovic has requested that the original band allow his parody, the band will offer to help out with the recreation: Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher perform on " Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies* ", Yankovic's parody of Dire Straits ' " Money for Nothing ", while Imagine Dragons provided Yankovic with advice on how to recreate some of
9800-609: The basis of the self-titled BBC radio series (2004) and then the HBO American television series (2007–2009) . At the turn of the millennium, the band Steel Panther formed in Los Angeles with songs, live shows and videos parodying the stereotypical glam metal genre and lifestyle of the 1980s. In 2001, The Lonely Island formed in Berkeley, California with members Akiva Schaffer , Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone , who starred in
9940-507: The benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: " Craigslist " on June 16, " Skipper Dan " on July 14, " CNR " on August 4, and " Ringtone " on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled Internet Leaks , with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in
10080-667: The bird calls in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony composed in 1808, the bleating of sheep in Strauss 's Don Quixote composed in 1897, and sound effects that illustrate hunting or market scenes in Medieval Italian caccie . Inclusion of folk or popular music techniques in certain passages creates humorous effect. Examples of this are the clumsy folk-like dance technique incorporated in the last movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 82 – nicknamed The Bear – composed in 1786 and Hindemith 's use of
10220-534: The captions; and the Volcano Worshippers club, which he later said did "absolutely nothing" and was started "just to get an extra picture of [themselves] in the yearbook". He graduated in 1976, and was valedictorian of his senior class. He attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo , earning a bachelor's degree in architecture. After graduation he worked at Westwood One , first in
10360-600: The contrast between them. This technique is called juxtaposition , which is a basic element of comedy. Haydn's Symphony No 45 of 1772 (the Farewell Symphony ) and his Symphony No 94 of 1792 (the Surprise Symphony ), are the most famous examples. A tradition of toy symphonies - featuring toy musical instruments - began in the classical era and continued into the 19th century and beyond. Progress in comedy music continued over years, until vaudeville entertainers of
10500-490: The deaths of his parents as the worst thing that had ever happened to him, adding, "I knew intellectually, that at some point, probably, I'd have to, you know, live through the death of my parents, but I never thought it would be at the same time, and so abruptly." Yankovic is well known for creating parodies of contemporary radio hits, which typically make up about half of his studio releases. Unlike other parody artists such as Allan Sherman , Yankovic and his band strive to keep
10640-401: The deluxe edition of Alpocalypse . These live-action and animated videos were produced by both previous collaborators such as Plympton for "TMZ", video content providers like Jib-Jab and SuperNews! , and other directors and animators. Comedy music Comedy music or musical comedy is a genre of music that is comical, comedic or humorous in nature. Its history can be traced back to
10780-593: The early 20th century added lyrics to musical numbers. In 1923, one of the first comedy music hits ' Yes! We Have No Bananas ' sung by Eddie Cantor was released. In 1924 Billy Rose asked, "Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" . In 1958 the song was rereleased as, " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?) " by Lonnie Donegan , the King of Skiffle . In
10920-547: The electronic sounds they used for "Radioactive" in Yankovic's parody "Inactive". Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil , MC Hammer , and Men Without Hats . Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the one-hit wonder stigma often associated with novelty music. Yankovic considers his body of work to primarily feature parodies, rather than satires of
11060-567: The first 10,000 records. Yankovic obtained the title of America's Polka King after beating Louis Bashell , Romy Gosz , Harold Loeffelmacher and the Six Fat Dutchmen , Whoopee John Wilfahrt , and Lawrence Duchow in a battle of the bands in Milwaukee at the Milwaukee Arena on June 9, 1948. In 1950, he made his Hollywood debut and collaborated with Doris Day as a singer. In 1970,
11200-589: The first century in ancient Greece and Rome , moving forward in time to the Medieval Period , Classical and Romantic eras, and the 20th century. Various forms of comedic musical theatre, including "musical play", "musical comedy", "operetta" and "light opera", evolved from the comic operas first developed in late 17th-century Italy. Popular music artists in the 20th century interested in comedy include Allan Sherman , Frank Zappa , Tiny Tim , Barenaked Ladies , Randy Newman , and "Weird Al" Yankovic . Artists in
11340-413: The first century in ancient Greece and Rome, where poets and playwrights entertained with puns and wordplay . The origins of comedy play in ancient Greece are first recorded on pottery in the 6th century BCE, on which illustrations of actors dressed as horses, satyrs , and dancers in exaggerated costumes are painted on. Another early origin are the explicit sexually humorous poems of Hipponax in
11480-466: The first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona , nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band
11620-407: The genre of comedy music and the counterculture associated with it. In 1994, The Actors' Gang members Jack Black and Kyle Gass formed the iconic comedy rock duo Tenacious D and went on to release their debut album in 2001. A popular 21st century musical comedy act is Flight of the Conchords , a New Zealand duo composed of musicians Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement , which became
11760-526: The latter's work on Hamilton and had discussed a possible music project together. After the success of Hamilton , Miranda provided Yankovic the score from the musical, hoping that Yankovic would create a few singles from it, but Yankovic ultimately created a full polka medley from it. The song holds the distinction of being the first polka song to chart on Billboard's Digital Songs Sales Chart. After Hamilton had premiered on Disney+ in July 2020, Yankovic released
11900-418: The lengths of phrases , startling turns of melody and dynamics , and contrasting textures. An example of this is a minuet from Haydn's Symphony No. 104 composed in 1796, where rests and a crescendo of the timpani interrupt the regular flow of music. Musical description includes animal or even nonsensical sound effects that illustrate certain events or situations within the music piece. Examples of this are
12040-525: The mail room and then calling stations confirming that paid advertisements had indeed run on air. Yankovic received his first exposure via syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento 's Southern California–based radio show, later saying, "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." Despite his mother having caught him listening to Dr. Demento's program and banning him from listening to it again, he found ways to hear it discreetly. In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school, where
12180-518: The melody. Parrish changed "red" to "blue". Yankovic sold over 2.5 million records and with the Tunemixers version and Guy Lombardo's version, it sold over 4 million records total in 1949. It was the second Cleveland-style song to sell over one million recordings. Columbia Records initially refused to record "Just Because", because other versions of the song had been around for years without much success; only allowing it when Yankovic said that he would buy
12320-604: The music piece. Examples of this are the exaggerated large intervals of the bass voice in 18th century opera buffa and the two Sopranos showing off their high register singing in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor composed in 1785. The use of strange keys and distant modulations respectively create dissonance and distant harmonic movements. These musical devices create a subtle humorous effect. Examples of this are Renaissance Madrigals and Motets and Baroque Cantatas . References to past styles and techniques are presented in
12460-461: The name, David Bowe 's character in UHF is named Bob, and a song called " Bob ", done in the style of Bob Dylan , is featured on Poodle Hat ), Frank (e.g. "Frank's 2000" TV"), and the surname "Finkelstein" (e.g. the music video for " I Lost on Jeopardy ", or Fran Drescher 's character, Pamela Finkelstein, in UHF ). A number of songs use the phrase "internal organs". In addition, a hamster called Harvey
12600-433: The number 27 as a random figure to use in filling out lyrics, but as his fans started to notice the reuse of the number after the first few times, he began to purposely drop references to 27 within his lyrics, videos, and album covers. He explains that "It's just a number I started using that people started attaching a lot of importance to." Other recurring jokes revolve around the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention
12740-900: The original song or artist, as he found that satire of songs or artists has already been done before. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Yankovic's humor normally 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 (such as the songs "Amish Paradise", "White & Nerdy", and "You're Pitiful"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as " eBay " and " Don't Download This Song "). Yankovic's parodies are often satirical of popular culture, including television ( see The TV Album ), films (" The Saga Begins "), and food ( see The Food Album ). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave
12880-485: The original song. Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. Yankovic stated in September 2013 that he was working on a new album, and in 2014, he used social media websites to hint at a July 15 release of the new album. The album artwork and title, Mandatory Fun , were confirmed by his publisher. Mandatory Fun was released to strong critical praise and
13020-539: The original. Yankovic's success led to a deal to make his film UHF , which premiered in July 1989. While the film has since become a cult title, its initial release was against mediocre reviews, and it was up against several other summer blockbusters, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , Ghostbusters II , Batman , and Licence to Kill . While Yankovic released an associated soundtrack album, UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff , it
13160-685: The parody, drew attention to him from other musicians and made it easier for him to obtain permissions to use others' songs. "Eat It" was also aided by the first of Yankovic's Al TV specials that aired on MTV on April 1, 1984, the network looking to Yankovic's rising popularity to help fill its programming time. Peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until " White & Nerdy " placed at No. 9 in October 2006. In Canada, "Eat It" reached No. 5. In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in
13300-527: The phone, what!? Don't they know how to text? OMG! / I got first world, first world problems. Kevin Bloody Wilson 's song – ' Living Next Door to Alan ' – is about an indigenous family claiming land neighboring the millionaire Alan Bond : They came down from Meekatharra / In a burned-out blue FJ / That farted and just shit itself in Jutland Parade / Right next door to Bondy's / When the smoke had cleared
13440-402: The radio host Barret Hansen – better known as Dr. Demento – appeared. He played tracks sent in by amateur artists, one of which was a 16-year-old 'Weird Al' Yankovic. Yankovic released his first album in 1983, which eventually led to a 14-album contract that he did not complete until 2014. For over four decades, he released multiple hit parodies and originals, which made him a major player in
13580-466: The release of Poodle Hat , which was Yankovic's lowest-selling album in 20 years. He considered the Appleton show and subsequent tour dates therapeutic: "If I didn't have anything to distract me, I probably would have spiraled into an even deeper depression. For a couple of hours each night, I could go onstage and put on a big fake smile and pretend like everything was just okay." In a 2014 interview, he cited
13720-520: The release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi ; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show Robot Chicken , and aired as a segment of that program. For the 2010 Alpocalypse , Yankovic produced videos for every song; four of those were previously released for each of the songs on the EP Internet Leaks , with the videos for the remaining songs released via social media sites and included in
13860-461: The same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include " Eat It ", " Fat ", " Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies* ", " Bedrock Anthem ", " Headline News ", " It's All About the Pentiums ", "Amish Paradise", " Like a Surgeon ", and "White & Nerdy". The video for " Dare to Be Stupid " is, as stated by Yankovic,
14000-475: The same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al , a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents. Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for the Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with the Monkees, even though "the promoter gypped us out of
14140-404: The same week; this is Yankovic's fourth Top 40 single (following "Eat It", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "White & Nerdy") and made him the third musical artist, after Michael Jackson and Madonna, to have a Top 40 single in each decade since the 1980s. Yankovic said in an interview promoting Mandatory Fun that, with the end of his recording contract, it was likely his last traditional album, in
14280-470: The second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands." While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of
14420-476: The sense of recording and releasing that many songs at a time; he said he will likely switch to releasing singles and EPs over the Internet, a method which offers more immediate release opportunities, as Yankovic considers his parodies in particular as something that can become dated by the time of release. Since Mandatory Fun , Yankovic has not released any additional albums. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone , Yankovic said, "I can't tell you when any material
14560-682: The serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline ." Yankovic considered that his first true satirical song was "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in Nirvana's " Smells Like Teen Spirit ". Other satirical songs include " Achy Breaky Song ", which refers to the song " Achy Breaky Heart ", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in " Got My Mind Set on You ", and "Perform This Way", set to Lady Gaga 's " Born This Way ", that drew inspiration from Lady Gaga's outlandish but confident attitude. Yankovic
14700-499: The set. In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album, titled Alpocalypse , which was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous Internet Leaks digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ", for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs. Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga 's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded
14840-477: The short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music". Running with Scissors was followed by his next studio album Poodle Hat in 2003. Poodle Hat was met with average reviews without any standout singles, though the album did peak at number 17 on the Billboard 200 . Yankovic's following album
14980-468: The song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody. Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign , to support the human rights themes of
15120-706: The song ideas he arrives at for his albums and other releases. Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously ; " Polkamon " from the film Pokémon: The Movie 2000 ; and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard ), in addition to his own film, UHF . Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as " Dare to Be Stupid " in The Transformers: The Movie . In 2017, Yankovic made
15260-641: The song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves. He has directed some of his own music videos and has also directed music videos for other artists including Ben Folds , Hanson , the Black Crowes , and the Presidents of the United States of America . With the decline of music television and the onset of social media, he used YouTube and other video sites to publish his videos; this strategy helped boost sales of his later albums. He has not released
15400-518: The specific reason for their emotions of hilarity. Comedy in entertainment is also established as musical codes set up and confirm the audience's understanding of the symbolic meaning of a scene, before subverting that understanding to play with the audience's response. Thus, a multi-faceted musical experience has the ability to elicit emotions such as humor and comedy in its listeners. This type of musical experience can be identified as comedy music. The first uses of comedy in music can be traced back to
15540-409: The stage space during concerts. Further, Yankovic took over production from Rick Derringer in 1992. While Derringer had produced six of Yankovic's previous albums, for which he won two Grammy Awards , Derringer's drug-related issues had become a problem, along with Yankovic's increasingly more complex musical vision (involving horns and other instruments). By 1992, most of the original songs for Off
15680-458: The story from Levey. In writing his parodies as well as his original songs, Yankovic spends a great deal of time in deciding the right words that not only match the beat of the original song but that fit the theme of the parody. He says that the lyrics of some songs have taken him weeks to write as he permutes the various choices, sometimes entering a "zombie phase" as he mulls these over in his home. For example, Yankovic believes he could have written
15820-438: The streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley." More current polka medleys feature songs that Yankovic had wanted to parody but which had proved difficult, such as Daft Punk 's " Get Lucky ", which lacked sufficient lyrics to parody. The polkas are recorded in studio, including the sound effects which are performed live during recording, which Yankovic considered one of his favorite parts of recording. In 2018, Yankovic created
15960-485: The surgery, Yankovic considered wearing fake glasses but decided against it. Around this time, he had also decided to shave off his trademark mustache. Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski, a marketing executive with 20th Century Fox , after they met in 2001. They were introduced to each other on a blind date by their mutual friend Bill Mumy . Their daughter, Nina, was born in 2003. They live in Los Angeles, where they own
16100-633: The tape on the air immediately." Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, accompanied by fellow dorm resident Joel Miller on bongos. He recalled in 2007: It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs . They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads. And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from 2001 . And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest. During Yankovic's second year as an architecture student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, he became
16240-521: The two collaborated. Yankovic was born in Davis (West Virginia) to Slovene immigrant parents: Andrew Yankovic ( Andrej Jankovič , 1879–1949) from Kal and Rose T. Yankovic (née Terezija Mele , 1886–1968) from Cerknica , who married in 1910. Yankovic was raised in the Collinwood neighborhood on Cleveland 's East Side. He recorded over 200 songs and sold over 30 million records in his career. In 1986, he
16380-532: The use of col legno in the last movement of Berlioz 's Symphonie fantastique composed in 1830, and the use of toy instruments in various classical pieces from the 1760s to the 21st century. The descriptive use of music can be used to allude to famous comic characters. Examples of this are Elgar 's symphonic poem on Falstaff composed in 1913 and Strauss's depiction of Till Eulenspiegel composed in 1895. The use of unusual effects of texture, dynamics, rhythm, and melodic design creates comic features within
16520-515: The use of comic text, musical parody, and unexpected juxtapositions of syntactical elements among others. Comedy music can be further categorized into several types, such as parody music , novelty song , comedy rock , and comedy hip hop . Awards dedicated to comedy music include the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album , the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy , and
16660-453: The victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace. Hours after his wife notified him of this, he made the decision to go on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin . He later said, "Since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well ... it would at least give me a break from sobbing all the time." Their deaths occurred following
16800-439: The video of " Ricky " to resemble Desi Arnaz , in 1989 for segments of the " UHF " music video and in 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video. Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna 's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in
16940-410: The world"; this was in reference to Frankie Yankovic , to whom he is not related. He has also said that they chose the accordion because "they were convinced it would revolutionize rock". Since his mother did not let him outside the house often, he had plenty of time to practice the instrument at home. He continued lessons at the school for three years before deciding to continue learning on his own. In
17080-596: The world." Al performed accordion and the backing vocal part on " Who Stole the Kishka? " on one of Frankie's final records, Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1 . A portion of Frankie's "The Tick Tock Polka" is included in the song "Polka Face" on Weird Al's Alpocalypse ; it was used as a lead-in for Weird Al's take on " Tik Tok " by Ke$ ha . Yankovic died on October 14, 1998, in New Port Richey, Florida , from heart failure, at
17220-459: Was Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006, which featured the single "White & Nerdy", a parody of " Ridin ' " by Chamillionaire . "White & Nerdy" became Yankovic's first Billboard Top Ten single, debuting at No. 29 and peaking at No. 9. " Canadian Idiot ", a parody of " American Idiot " by Green Day , also charted in the Hot 100. The album as a whole reached No. 10 in the Billboard 200, and by 2008
17360-442: Was "...the way God intended". Yankovic did not include a medley on his first album, but considered this for his second, In 3-D , recognizing that it would only work if he used well-known songs. The resulting "Polkas on 45", which featured songs from Devo , Deep Purple , Berlin , and The Beatles , was popular, and the polka medley became a staple of all but one of Yankovic's future albums. Yankovic said that "fans would be rioting in
17500-400: Was Yankovic's first certified platinum album, having reached over one million sales. Following Straight Out of Lynwood , Yankovic started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store " Whatever You Like ", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title , which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that
17640-416: Was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder on April 21, 1981. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects. Yankovic's record label, TK Records , went bankrupt about two weeks after the single was released, so Yankovic received no royalties from its initial release. 1981 brought Yankovic on tour for
17780-419: Was a sign their band had "made it". "Smells Like Nirvana" became the lead song on Off the Deep End , landing at No. 35 on the Billboard charts, his second top 40 hit in the United States. Off the Deep End reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200, and helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after the failure of UHF . Yankovic's next two studio albums were modest successes in light of Off the Deep End . Alapalooza
17920-486: Was awarded a Purple Heart . The doctors urged him to have his fingers amputated, but he refused, as that would have ended his music career. After getting out of the hospital, he and four other musicians were assigned to special services to entertain the troops, including General George Patton and his Third United States Army . Yankovic hit the national scene when he earned two platinum singles for " Just Because " (1947) and " Blue Skirt Waltz " (1949). Others who recorded
18060-539: Was awarded the first-ever Grammy in the Best Polka Recording category. He rarely strayed from Slovenian-style polka, but did record with country guitarist Chet Atkins and pop singer Don Everly . He also recorded a version of the " Too Fat Polka " with comedian Drew Carey . Yankovic's father, a blacksmith, and his mother, a cook, met in a lumber camp in West Virginia where they both worked. When Yankovic
18200-585: Was born in Bedenj , Slovenia , and Mary Yankovich (née Braj, 1890–1968), born in Croatia. Nick Yankovic began living in California after earning two Purple Hearts for his service as a medic during World War II . He believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy. Yankovic's mother, a stenographer from Kentucky of English and Italian descent, married his father in 1949. She moved to California
18340-517: Was born in Downey, California , on October 23, 1959, the only child of Mary Elizabeth (née Vivalda, 1923–2004) and Nick Yankovic (1917–2004). He was raised in nearby Lynwood, California . His father, who was born in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas , was of Slovene and Croatian descent: Nick Yankovic was the son of Matthew Yankovich (baptized Matija Jankovič , 1887–1969), who
18480-478: Was first performed at a Savoy Hotel fund raising dinner in London on 28 November 1957, with toy instruments played by a group of eminent composers, musicians and personalities, including Thomas Armstrong , Edric Cundell , Gerard Hoffnung, Eileen Joyce , Steuart Wilson and Leslie Woodgate . On 17 July 1958 the 'Mammoth Concert of Comic Music' was held at the Royal Albert Hall . Pieces performed included
18620-405: Was not as successful as his previous albums. Yankovic fell into a slump over the next three years as a result of the poor performance of the film. Yankovic had returned to the studio to prepare songs for his next album Off the Deep End around 1990. During production, Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of
18760-418: Was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons . Yankovic recorded " I Love Rocky Road " (a parody of " I Love Rock 'n' Roll " originally recorded by The Arrows ), which was produced by Rick Derringer , in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records . In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album
18900-461: Was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music. On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show , where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called " Another One Rides
19040-410: Was released in 1993, and led with " Jurassic Park ", a spoof of " MacArthur Park " by Richard Harris while mocking the 1993 film of the same name . Alapalooza peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard 200. Bad Hair Day in 1996 headlined with " Amish Paradise ", a parody of Coolio 's " Gangsta's Paradise ". "Amish Paradise" reached No. 53 on the top Billboard 100 singles, while the album reached No. 14 on
19180-503: Was released on Scotti Bros. The song " Ricky " (a parody of Toni Basil 's hit " Mickey ") was released as a single and the music video received exposure on the still-young MTV . "Ricky" broke the top 100 videos on MTV at the time, which Yankovic took as a sign that his career was in music, quitting his job as a mailroom clerk at the local offices of Westwood One to pursue the music career. Yankovic released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single " Eat It ",
19320-549: Was the No. 1 debut album on the Billboard charts the week of its release, buoyed by Yankovic's approach for releasing eight music videos over eight continuous days that drew viral attention to the album as described below. It became Yankovic's first No. 1 album in his career. Additionally, the song " Word Crimes " (a parody of Robin Thicke 's " Blurred Lines ") reached No. 39 on the Top 100 singles for
19460-503: Was the first winner in the Polka category. The NARAS (Grammy) organization dropped the category in 2008. He performed with musical comedian and fellow accordionist "Weird Al" Yankovic , although the two are not related. Al, who also performs polka music among many other styles, has jokingly hypothesized that he was given accordion lessons as a child because his parents thought that "there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in
19600-463: Was young, his father moved to Cleveland to escape authorities who learned of his bootlegging , and the rest of the family followed shortly thereafter. While living in Cleveland, he became enthralled by the brass bands that played at Slovenian social functions. His mother took on boarders to help with the family finances, including a man named Max Zelodec who performed Slovenian tunes on a button box . Yankovic acquired an accordion at age 9, and received
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