Posted on 04/13/2020 11:24:24 AM PDT by billorites
Last summer, in the middle of what struck me as an otherwise very full life, I went to my first Weird Al Yankovic concert. Weird Al, for anyone reading this through a golden monocle, is the most renowned comedy musician in the history of the multiverse — a force of irrepressible wackiness who, back in the 1980s, built a preposterous career out of song parodies and then, somehow, never went away. After 40 years, Yankovic is now no longer a novelty, but an institution — a garish bright patch in the middle of America’s pop-cultural wallpaper, a completely ridiculous national treasure, an absurd living legend.
I have spent much of my life chortling, alone in tiny rooms, to Weird Al’s music. (“I churned butter once or twice living in an Amish paradise” — LOL.) And yet somehow it had never occurred to me to go out and see him live. I think this is for roughly the same reason that it has never occurred to me to make my morning commute in a hot-air balloon or to brush my teeth in Niagara Falls. Parody is not the kind of music you go out to see in person — it’s the joke version of that music. A parody concert felt like a category error, like confusing a mirror for a window. To me, Weird Al had always been a fundamentally private pleasure; I was perfectly content to have him living in my headphones and on YouTube and — very occasionally, when I wanted to aggravate my family — out loud on my home speakers.
< SNIP >
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The MAD magazine of rock and roll!
Several reasons.
- He’s funny!
- He’s really a damned good musician.
- He is smart enough to keep politics the hell out of his act.
- He’s 60 and gives us all hope we can keep having fun as we age.
If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it!
One of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.
my understanding is that some - perhaps many - mainstream music artists actually have asked Weird Al to parody them.
When that happens, they know they’ve made it......
I know that the composer of Hamilton (Lin Manual Miranda) was extremely honored.
He’s just always been likeable to me.
I love his fake interviews, especially the Eminem one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QOya9-lwQk
Weird Al does what most dads do, change the lyrics of popular songs. Only, Weird Al is good at it.
We need a song parody addressing the coronavirus from Weird Al. I know he could do it appropriately.
I have watched more of his videos than the ones he is lampooning.
.He is much better than Michael Jackson or Madonna anyway.
Oh my my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
https://youtu.be/hEcjgJSqSRU
Not everything he does is a parody.
I love his “Christmas at Ground Zero” video
He ripped off Alan Sherman, so did Lynrd Skinrd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=4yFTOvO0utY&feature=emb_logo
:)
> He ripped off Alan Sherman <
Not ripped off, but inspired by.
:)
Although I’m not related to Weird Al, I feel a connection with him. We’re both from the same town, San Luis Obispo, CA, and we’re the same age. And the article makes it sound like he got started in the 1980s, but that’s only when he hit the big time with his parodies. I also remember hearing him in the 1970s, when his instrument of choice was the accordion and only Dr. Demento would play his songs.
I loved that stuff as a kid.
Mindbogglng.
Thanks for posting this. Love his stuff.
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