"Weird Al" Yankovic belongs to a genre all to himself. We'll call it "Yankovic". "Weird Al" has been doing comedy songs for over thirty years now. He writes parodies and style parodies of songs and artists popular at the time of his albums' releases. If you were to go to Al's first album and listen to the first song on it all the way to the last song on his most recent album, you'd have a detailed history of American music since the start of Al's career.
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| Alfred "Weird Al" Yankovic |
My "Weird Al" library is pretty big, and there's a damn good reason for that. A lot of people don't see the merit in his music, but they don't know how hard it is to write a parody with a pre-recorded tempo and a beat that you gotta replicate. So, I like "Weird Al". I'm a big fan. I think he's hilarious, I think a lot of his songs are far better than the originals. Sometimes, I'll admit, that to piss people off I'll sing Al's lyrics over the original lyrics.
In my typical fashion, I've decided to see if I can arrange my top ten favorite Al songs into a list. Yet, when I started, I realized ten wasn't enough. So now we're gonna do twelve! Starting from the twelfth best to the absolute best. Now of course, this is my opinion, so don't get sand in your vagina over it. So, let's get to it!
#12 - "Living With a Hernia"
Album: Polka Party! (1986)
A song off Al's 1986 album Polka Party! It parodies the James Brown song "Living in America" from the movie Rocky IV and its subsequent soundtrack. The reason this song makes my list is because the video was shot in an almost identical location, if not the exact same one. Al even dresses up in the same getup that James did. It's just an overall great and catchy song, especially about hernias.
#11 - "Eat It"
Album: "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D (1984)
Perhaps the oldest song on our list, "Eat It" is one of the songs if not the song to launch Al into the spotlight. It parodies Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and tells the story of a parent who's trying to get their child to eat all kinds of food. The tempo works well with the lyrics and Al starts his tradition of truly making people laugh with this song. This was the one in which his talents caught on.
#10 - "Perform This Way"
Album: Alpocalypse (2011)
A great song with an absolutely fantastic video that accompanies it, this song parodies Lady Gaga's "Born This Way". The video shows Al's face superimposed on woman's body as she dresses in all kinds of ridiculous clothes and tells us how "original" she is and how she performs. It's great because it didn't require nothing more than Al and others dancing in front of a black screen. It also holds a soft spot for me because this song came out when I graduated from high school, so every time I listen to this song or any from Alpocalypse I flash back. Cheesy and weird, but true...
#9 - "Ode to a Superhero"
Album: Poodle Hat (2003)
This one comes from the Billy Joel song "The Piano Man". The way Al sings it though retells the events of the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. It's so well done and a lot of the lyrics are well put together. He even keeps the musical breaks in there.
#8 - "Smells Like Nirvana"
Album: Off the Deep End (1992)
A parody of every emo kid's favorite song, Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Smells Like Nirvana" is another song that does a great job at capturing the music going on during the song's recording. Also, it's another Al video that perfectly replicates the original video. Almost a tee, but not without Al's trademark humor put in it. Al gurgling the guitar solo with a throat full of water, and not mention farts and belches galore!
#7 - "Jurassic Park"
Album: Alapalooza (1992)
A parody of Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park", "Jurassic Park" does what "Ode to a Superhero" did, being that it tells the events of Jurassic Park in song form. The interesting thing about this song is that Al's video for it was entire claymation, with a brief animated part at the interlude. It's a great video and a catchy song.
#6 - "White & Nerdy"
Album: Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)
This one was on everyone's MP3 players when I was in junior high school. Everybody knew the words, everyone had the videos downloaded, it was great. A parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin" (You know, that popular meme song), "White and Nerdy" painted nerd culture loud and proud for those who weren't. For that reason, I am particularly fond of this song.
#5 - "Amish Paradise"
Album: Bad Hair Day (1996)
The one all the Al fans love. This one of few parodies where Al received negative feedback from the original artist, in this case Coolio, who claimed he never gave Al permission to parody "Gangsta's Paradise". It's a shame, because I can say for sure that the "Amish Paradise" legacy overshadows the "Gangsta's Paradise" legacy by a substantial
#4 - "Skipper Dan"
Album: Alpocalypse (2011)
Believe it or not, one of my most favorite Al songs is one that doesn't even get much airplay. It's a style parody of the band Weezer, and it tells the story of an acting phenom that can't find work and is forced to work the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. Personally speaking, this is the one Al song I'll always sing along to for some reason. It's just hilarious. I mean how else can I put it? I'll always let this one play through, no matter how many times I've listened to it already.
#3 - "Tacky"
Album: Mandatory Fun (2014)
Off of Al's most recent album, "Tacky" is a parody of Pharrell Williams' song "Happy". As with typical Al tradition for me (which also just how out of the loop I am), I hadn't even heard of the song "Happy" until "Tacky " came out. Also in my tradition with "Weird Al", I immediately got hooked on this song and video when they came out. It's common on my playlist and I'll always give it a listen whenever. The video is one long take of people dressed in ridiculous clothing and telling the listener how much an asshole they are. It's great!
#2 - "eBay"
Album: Poodle Hat (2003)
A parody of the Backstreet Boys song "I Want it That Way", "eBay" tells the story of some sir-spend-a-lot with a large wallet and little intent to keep it that way. He tells how he'll buy the strangest stuff off of the online auction site and he tells of the strange things he finds as well. It one of my absolute favorite Al songs ever, and to be fair, it's pretty much my favorite Al song that didn't have corresponding video. It's a shame. This could've made one hell of a "Weird Al" music video!
...and my #1 favorite "Weird Al" Yankovic song is...
#1 - "The Saga Begins"
Album: Running With Scissors (1999)
A parody of the Don McLean classic "American Pie", "The Saga Begins" does what all Al songs do best, tell the events of a movie in song. However, this one is unique, because it covers one of the coveted Star Wars films; Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to be precise. Its also unique in the sense that Al had to get special viewing rights from George Lucas himself because the movie had yet to come out before Al's song did, so the song kinda spoiled things for fans, but it didn't change anything for me! Al sings this song from the point of view of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is also fantastic! I'll always sing along to this song whenever its on, and it ranks above the other songs I sing along to because a lot of my friends sing along to this one too. The video depicts Al in the Tatooine desert as he sings about the fortunes Anakin brought him and Qui-Gon. It brings people together!
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