"Weird Al" Yankovic

I knew about Weird Al when I was in elementary school, but I didn't know much about him. I remember one kid in my third (I think) grade class talking about "Fat" at one point. I don't remember how, when, or why I started listening to Weird Al, though. I know the first few albums I heard by him (not necessarily in any particular order that I can recall) were Straight Outta Lynwood, Bad Hair Day, and Dare to Be Stupid, with the UHF soundtrack not being too long after.

By the way (segue!!), a 25th anniversary Blu-ray of UHF is being released soon by Rhino, along with the first ever DVD release of The Compleat Al (which, if you haven't seen it, is a pretty silly mockumentary about Weird Al's success made in the late '80s; I know the title is a riff on the documentary The Compleat Beatles, but I don't believe they share many similarities in style).

I find it funny seeing the "In 3-D" come up and realizing how it's managed to go from being a title that's relevant to showing its age and now it's come back full circle where "In 3-D" could actually be a valid album title even if this were the year it was first released.

Not sure what to think of this...

(Don't worry, SFW.)

I just did a combination of laughing, choking, and "what the heck"-ing.

I've been a Weird Al fan since 4th grade roughly a hojillion years ago. A friend told me about him and I was able to get my parents to buy me a copy of Even Worse. Weird Al gets better with age, when you realize that it's not just the parodies but the style-parodies.

Some piracy numbers for the new album.

I love how the obvious sarcasm in his comment in 2000 about piracy is lost on whoever wrote that article.

Satirizing a point of view does not always mean full disagreement. That Ask Al quote is legitimate, and I was going to copy and paste it here if it hadn't been in the actual article.

He's also gone on the record as saying that he didn't mind people downloading episodes of The Weird Al Show, but that he hoped they would purchase them once the official DVD was released, which it was afterward.

So no, the fact that he sang "Don't Download This Song" doesn't mean he's giving you his full blessing to rip his albums and never pay for them.

Edit: I think I misread the previous post and thought it was about DDTS. I've heard that argument a few too many times.

edited 31st Jul '14 9:22:50 AM by FalconPain

Oh hey— I just got Mandatory Fun and have listened to it for 3 days straight.

He just announced a world tour, and he's coming to the Netherlands. That's amazing.

I saw the Mandatory World Tour last night at the Sands Event Center in Bethlehem, PA. So great. So loud. Seriously, I don't see how he could expect anyone to follow along who doesn't already know all the lyrics.

Among the highlights were "Dare to be Stupid", the purple tentacle monster costume from "Perform This Way", a slow jam version of "Like a Surgeon", and Al strolling through the actual theater, live, for his intro with "Tacky".

I saw him in Traverse City, Michigan on Sunday. Wasn't quite as loud as yours, but a great concert. He did a medley of songs in the middle of the set, including slow jam versions of "I Lost on Jeopardy" and "Eat It". He walked through the open fair next to the stage for the "Tacky" opening. Final set was "The Saga Begins" combined with "Yoda".

Surprisingly, "Amish Paradise" got the most reaction from the crowd.

Meeting him is just what this fan needed.

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edited 13th Jan '16 2:50:28 PM by awdur

How so?

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edited 13th Jan '16 2:50:19 PM by awdur

I'm surprised no one has posted this here yet. (Since he is voicing the main character and all...)

Attended his concert in Wolf Trap last night; was a very fun time.

I saw him back in August in Bay City, Michigan. Show was hardly any different from the Traverse City one last year, but I was much closer to the stage. Also, the display messed up during "Word Crimes" because apparently he skips the line "you look like a spastic" in the UK due to English differences, and he forgot to change the display back.

Also, seems like there was one song he cut, but I can't for the life of me remember which.

In addition, there were two opening acts: both God-awful local bands doing covers of songs you just don't do covers of ("Only Wanna Be with You", "Mambo #5", "Don't Stop Believin'", "Ice Ice Baby" — the last one was met with stunned silence.)

Huh, when I saw him, he didn't have any opening act.

Ever notice how some of the songs Al was parodying were already satirical in nature? For example, "Misery" (which Weird Al turned into "Syndicated Inc.") was a darkly satirical song about the "marketing" of angst ("We will always be busy, making misery"), while "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" (turned into Pretty Fly for a Rabbi) was a parody of suburban kids wanting to try (and failing) to be "street" ("They didnt have Ice Cube so he bought Vanlla Ice").

Weird Al vs. Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. In Bb minor.

Apparently Weird Al will be performing at this year's BlizzCon, so if you can catch the event's livestreams, then you'll probably get to see him.

When Running With Scissors first came out, I remember some fans criticizing it for containing parodies of things that were already "novelty songs", which kind of went against the perceived point of his music, i.e. deflating pop music that takes itself too seriously: "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" and "Jerry Springer" were particularly singled out ^note granted "One Week" wasn't satirizing anything, but it did clearly have a humorous tone to it.

Honestly, Running With Scissors is one of my favorite albums of his, but "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" might be one of my least favorite parodies of his.

He recently announced the Medium Rarities collection album, featuring non-album songs (including his Isaac Newton rap from Epic Rap Battles of History) or alternate versions of his songs (including a full Japanese version of "Jurassic Park", of all things). Also, copies will be limited.