History Music / WeirdAlYankovic

* [[OnceASeason Once an Album]]: Almost every album[[hottip:*:"Weird Al Yankovic" and "Even Worse" are the odd ones out here]] contains one polka medley of songs popular at the time [[hottip:*:The exceptions being "The Hot Rocks Polka", which is a medley of Rolling Stones' songs from a wider span of time, and "Bohemian Polka" is a double-speed full cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody"]], and one song in any style ripping on TV shows popular at the time.

->''He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life.''

*** Though more of a stretch, singer and voice coach Lisa Popeil has done female backup vocals for Al since 1983. The first song to feature her? "Mr. Popeil", a song that makes fun of her father's products and brother's infomercials in the style of the Music/{{B52s}}.

-->--'''Homer Simpson''', ''TheSimpsons'', "That 90s Show"

He sent three songs to the Dr. Demento Show, "Belvedere Cruisin'", "Dr. D Superstar" (never aired), and "My Bologna", a parody of "My Sharona" by ''TheKnack''. ''TheKnack'''s lead singer heard "My Bologna", contacted Al, and got "My Bologna" released as a single. Despite a slow start, including a disastrous opening for ''MissingPersons'', Weird Al released his first album on Scotti Bros. Records in 1983.

* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Greatest Hits]]'' (1988)

** It helps that he always asks permission from the source artist to do a parody of one of his/her/their songs (even though legally he's not required to do so). Sometimes this gets him more than just permission. MichaelJackson donated the subway set used for "Badder" (the kid version of "Bad" filmed for ''{{Moonwalker}}'') to Yankovic for his parody "Fat", Ray Manzarek of TheDoors played keyboards and bass on "Craigslist", and [[DireStraits Mark Knopfler]] would only allow Al to parody "Money for Nothing" if he was permitted to do the guitar work himself.
*** Ben Folds played piano on "Why Does This Always Happen To Me"... which is a parody of Ben Folds songs. "Genius in France", a style parody of FrankZappa features Frank's son Dweezil on guitar.
*** Though more of a stretch, singer and voice coach Lisa Popeil has done female backup vocals for Al since 1983. The first song to feature her? "Mr. Popeil", a song that makes fun of her father's products and brother's infomercials in the style of Music/{{B52s}}.

** And then he ended up having the exact opposite problem he did with Coolio, this time with LadyGaga. He announced that his 2011 album was delayed after he was given a flat "no" by her manager when he sent her a recording of "Perform This Way", a parody of "Born This Way" which was intended as the leadoff single. After several hours of InternetBacklash it was revealed that [[WhatAnIdiot the manager never gave her the song to listen to out of the assumption she would hate it]]. This of course, turned out to be completely untrue and that upon actually hearing it Gaga said she loved it.

** Al has also said that "Achey Breaky Song" is pretty harsh, and apologized to BillyRayCyrus for it.

** "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" uses [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Yiddish]] to make puns such as "The parents pay the mohel and he gets to keep the tip."

** May also be a ShoutOut to Peter Gabriel and his seminal "Sledgehammer" video.

* CrossDresser: Just listen to "Truck Driving Song".

* DigitalHeadSwap: Most notably in the video for "Perform This Way", a parody of LadyGaga.

* DIYDisaster: "The Plumbing Song"

** The last verse of "I Remember Larry". [[spoiler: The singer ends up brutally murdering Larry and burying his body.]]

* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: "Smells Like Nirvana," in one hilarious moment:

* ExecutiveMeddling:
** Essentially the cause of Coolio's beef with Weird Al. Al usually got permission directly from celebrities for his parodies (even though he does not legally have to) but occasionally relied on the studio heads to do that for him. His producer got permission from Coolio's producer but not Coolio. After that incident, Al goes directly to the artist for permission.
** Used in the more traditional sense with the song "You're Pitiful" which was supposed to be a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful". James said yes, but the higher-ups said no, and the song was only released on Al's website for free.
** Happened with his parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." Al thought Gaga had not given him permission to put his parody on his new record, when what actually happened was her manager hadn't given Gaga the song to listen to in the first place, just assuming she would hate it. Once Gaga finally heard the song, she loved it.
** Al's record label insisted that he include a Cyndi Lauper parody on ''Dare To Be Stupid'', resulting in "Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch", a parody which he later admitted was "forced". Another instance on this album is his cover of the theme to "George of the Jungle"; apparently the label suggested that he do a cover song.
** One album later, they wanted a Christmas song. The result, naturally, was "Christmas At Ground Zero".

* FunWithPalindromes: The lyrics of "Bob" (a parody of BobDylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues") are all palindromes.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Although he's a mostly family-friendly singer, lyrics in several of Weird Al's songs go into grey territory. Notable examples include "You Don't Love Me Anymore", which talks about a woman having sex with an entire hockey team, and "Headline News" which mentions the Lorenna Bobbit incident.

* GreenEggsAndHam: Sung to the tune of {{U2}}'s "Numb", but refused by the [[DrSeuss Seuss]] estate.

* HollywoodSilencer: A sound effect in "Party In The CIA"[[hottip:*:A lyrical parody of "Party In The USA" by MileyCyrus]]. {{Lampshaded}} by the lyric "And my silencer was on".

* IAmNotShazam: "Perform This Way"[[hottip:*:A lyrical parody of "Born This Way" by LadyGaga]] has the line "I'm {{Frankenstein}}, I'm Film/{{Avatar}}". NotAnExample of CowboyBebopAtHisComputer though, as it was [[InvokedTrope deliberately invoked.]]

* InkSuitActor: His roles on ''TransformersAnimated'' and ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries''. Also appeared as himself on ''TheSimpsons''. ''Of course''.
* InTheStyleOf: At least half of Al's non-parodies mimic the style of another significant musician, perhaps the most famous being "Dare To Be Stupid", his take on {{Devo}}. In addition, every album but the first and fifth contains a medley of recent hit songs performed as a polka.

** "Trigger Happy" is a take on the style of of ''every BeachBoys song ever.'' Except for the ones he later homaged with "Pancreas".
** "Bob" is a bunch of palindromes sung like BobDylan. The video even parodies "Subterranean Homesick Blues".
** "CNR" is a style parody of the White Stripes.

** In a lot of cases, his "style parodies" are a result of not getting permission to do a parody of an actual song by the band. For example, after Trent Reznor refused to let him do any Nine Inch Nails songs, Weird Al came out with "Germs," which clearly borrows from several NIN songs.

** "If That Isn't Love" is mostly a style parody of his close friends, the boys of {{Hanson}}, but there's definitely a few jabs at Music/JustinBieber in there too.

* [[MCEscher M. C. Escher]]: In "White and Nerdy", Al explains he is Al's favorite [[PunnyName MC]].

* MisplacedSorrow: "Why Does This Always Happen to Me" is all about this.

** A perfect example is on the album "Straight Outta Lynwood," after his RageAgainstTheMachine parody "I'll Sue Ya." After an angry song like that one, there's an abrupt guitar chord, which is directly followed by a one-second pause going into "Polkarama," which has the DanceCraze "Chicken Dance" as an intro. Of course, THAT goes into a polka cover of "Let's Get it Started" by The Black-Eyed Peas.

* NaughtyBirdWatching: "Melanie"

* [[OnceASeason Once An Album]]: Almost every album[[hottip:*:"Weird Al Yankovic" and "Even Worse" are the odd ones out here]] contains one polka medley of songs popular at the time [[hottip:*:The exceptions being "The Hot Rocks Polka", which is a medley of Rolling Stones' songs from a wider span of time, and "Bohemian Polka" is a double-speed full cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody"]], and one song in any style ripping on TV shows popular at the time.
* OneOfUs: The ''White And Nerdy'' music video alone proves this as only a real nerd would have known some of these things. Knowing about the StarWarsHolidaySpecial and why you would need to bootleg it is some serious nerd cred.
** Actually zig-zagged in White & Nerdy. While he does reference the StarWarsHolidaySpecial, he also claims in the song that he's a "champion at [[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]." While [[{{Munchkin}} some may disagree]], Dungeons & Dragons isn't supposed to be a competitive sport.
** His bandmates, too. "Bermuda" Schwartz, for example, helped maintain Al's original web page and participated in Al's Usenet fan group.
** And then there's "All About The Pentiums", which came out earlier and is labeled as one of the earliest nerdcore songs ever.
** He's a [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Bro]][[PeripheryDemographic ny]], if rumours are true.

* PacManFever: The unreleased early demo "Pac-Man" (a parody of TheBeatles' "Taxman"). The guy ''sells his house'' just to keep playing the damn game!

* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: "Theme from Rocky XIII"

** And new verses (from the 2007 tour) about Paris Hilton's DUI and BritneySpears' going commando and head shave.

* ShaggyDogStory: Albuquerque is a long rambling rant all sorts of stuff but ultimately about how [[spoiler: he hates sauerkraut.]]

* ShouldersOfDoom: When performing "Dog Eat Dog", a style parody of TalkingHeads, Al wears a suit with ''massive'' shoulderpads as a spoof of David Byrne's MemeticOutfit. He also wears it briefly in the "UHF" video.

** According to [[http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0400 Word of]] [[WordOfGod Al]], "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" includes a line from an {{SCTV}} sketch, and the vinyl of ''Dare to Be Stupid'' had "[[TalkingHeads More Songs About TV and Food]]" etched into the inner groove.

** "Trigger Happy" and "Pancreas", his [[TheBeachBoys Beach Boys]] homages; the former song has elements of "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Catch A Wave", "No-Go Showboat", "Surfin USA", and "Little Deuce Coupe" in it; the latter has elements of "Our Prayer", "Do You Like Worms", "God Only Knows", "I Know There's An Answer", "Wind Chimes", "Heroes and Villains", and "Good Vibrations", all in one song.

* StealthPun: "Polka Face" uses a section of [[NamesTheSame Frankie Yankovic's]] "Tick Tock Polka" as a bridge. The next song in the medley? [[{{Kesha}} Tik Tok]].

** There's also the unreleased "It's Still BillyJoel to Me" (parody of "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"), which is no more than one long attack on Billy Joel.

* ToiletSeatDivorce - Apparently the Columbia Record Club is too big of a commitment for Al.
* TurnYourHeadAndCough - In the song "Living With A Hernia," the narrator goes to see his physician, Dr. Jones, who we are told takes off the narrator's pants and tells him to cough.

* TheEighties: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMhwddNQSWQ&ob=av3e "Dare to be Stupid" video]]. 'Nuff said.

* BrickJoke: After 11 minutes of insanity, the song ''Albuquerque'' finally winds its way back to the original point: [[spoiler: [[ThisIsSparta AL...HATES...SAUERKRAUT!]]]].

*** RobZombie's ''Film/{{Halloween}} II''.

*** Al has played the tambourine with {{Hanson}} quite a few times.

* CloudCuckoolander

''Excusez-moi, Qui a pété?'' (Translation: Who cut the cheese?)

* ListSong: Lots. Hardware Store, eBay, Bob ([[CrowningMomentofAwesome a list of palindromes done in the style of Bob Dylan]]), Virus Alert, I'll Sue Ya...

* {{Mondegreen}} - Done InUniverse in the song "Trapped In The Drive-thru"

* TheEighties: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMhwddNQSWQ&ob=av3e "Dare to be Stupid" video]]. 'Nuff said.
* [=~This! Is! SPARTA!~=]: "I! HATE! '''SAUERKRAUT!'''"

** Al himself has relayed a story of a television appearance he had soon after the surgery and shaving off his moustache. The people at the TV studio wanted him in his "classic" look, and got him prop eyeglasses and a fake moustache. Al described the experience as surreal, "like I was wearing a Weird Al costume".

** There is even a ShoutOut '''TO''' Al out there. Chamillionaire's remix of "Ridin'" called "Ridin' Overseas" mentions "White And Nerdy" in the second verse.

*** Though more of a stretch, singer and voice coach Lisa Popeil has done female backup vocals for Al since 1983. The first song to feature her? "Mr. Popeil", a song that makes fun of her father's products and brother's infomercials in the style of {{the B-52s}}.

** "TMZ" is one long attack not only on the harassing and public humiliation celebrities often face due to gossip magazines and websites like the one in the title as well as the people who keep them in business.

*** RobZombie's ''{{Halloween}} II''.

* BlatantLies: "This Song Is Just Six Words Long". That's seven words, in case you didn't get the joke.

In 1989, Weird Al starred in the film ''{{UHF}}'', and he had a short-lived {{CBS}} "kids' show" in the 1990s, ''TheWeirdAlShow''. He provided the voice of the Squid Hat on ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''. He has been involved with the ''{{Transformers}}'' franchise twice: his song "Dare To Be Stupid" was played in the [[TransformersTheMovie 1986 movie]], and he provided the voice of Wreck-Gar in ''TransformersAnimated''. He had a recent cameo (as himself) in the ''ScoobyDoo'' crossover episode of ''BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', where he [[BeyondTheImpossible defeated the Joker with his accordion]].[[hottip:*: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvQYfM-M2fU&t=6m36s No, really.]]]]

** In fact, Al became a Vegan in the 90s, severely lessening his chances of becoming a BigEater in the future.

* ManipulativeEditing: His fake interviews, where Al adds weird questions to a famous person's answers ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqab4t_beMc original]]/[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPwBdnknGIs edited]]). And sometimes, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepM8VCGN7c the interviewee acts weird enough to help!]].

** "If That Isn't Love" is mostly a style parody of his close friends, the boys of {{Hanson}}, but there's definitely a few jabs at JustinBieber in there too.

Responsible for the WeirdAlEffect, where a parody remains popular long after the original, and his habit of using pop cultural metaphors (AKA [[IPulledAWeirdAl "Pulling a Weird Al"]]) led to his name being attached to that trope too.