Not only did Michael Jackson adore Weird Al, Kurt Cobain was also a massive fan of his and considered it a rite of passage and said that's how you know you made it as a musician.
Technically, it wasn't until 1994 when the Supreme Court ruled that commercial parodies can be considered "fair use," so anything prior to that it was definitely wiser/safer to get permission first, but since that ruling, I've always thought that it just showed that Weird Al has class to want the original song artists on board with his parodies. Of course, then there was the controversy with "You're Pitiful," where, like you said, there was no legal basis to stop Al from releasing the song on an album, but Al complied with the rescinding of permission and just released the song as a free digital download instead.
@@mrh829He did that because the artist gave his permission but the record company said no. If the artist had rescinded it, we never would have heard the parody.
@@t.sniffin3031 Actually, he has done songs in concert that the artists never agreed too, but never released them. So we would have heard it, but never had it ourselves.
Amish paradise wasn't released commercially from the start because the artist of gangsta's paradise did not give permission, and Weird Al ask for permission to release the song perform this way to Lady Gaga's manager his request was refused and Weird Al still release date for free on the internet after that Gaga saw the video and said that her manager didn't show her the video and refused it on his own since she is actually a Weird Al fan
@@CommunistKangaroo for Amish Paradise, the company gave approval for the song but Coolio did not. For Lady Gaga, they asked for lyrics and then for the song, so he cut a vacation shory and paid for studio time to get them the song and it was still rejected. He then made a simple video and released it online. When people were trying to find out why Lady Gaga rejected the parody, that's when it came about that she was never even asked and was a huge fan. She then made sure it was the number one song on his new album. That album was delayed because of the runaround he was getting from the other people.
Fun fact about Smells Like Nirvana: Weird Al asked Kurt Cobain if he could make a parody. Cobain was like "Sure, but it can't be about food." Al was like "Nah man, it's about how nobody can understand your lyrics." Apparenlty, Cobain thought that it was hilarious.
Madonna actually contacted Weird Al qnd suggested the title Like a Surgeon. Also when he contacted Kurt Cobain to ask permission to parody Smells Like Teen Spirit, Kurt asked,"Is it going to be about food?," and Al said," no it is about how nobody can understand what you are singing". Kurt really like that idea and gave Al permission.
What should really blow their minds is when they find out that he has had the same band members for nearly 40 years. How many bands can say that? Legend bands, that's who. Weird Al belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is absolutely legendary.
Al transcends generations. I honestly have never met a person that doesn't love his parodies. When I first heard him it was in the late 80's and nobody has even come close to him. He is the undisputed king of parody and it's a long way to second place.
The thing I most like about Weird Al is that he's usually very respectful of the original artist. So many parodies are insulting the artist of the song they're parodying or the work they created. Meanwhile we have Al singing about Rocky Road and handymen.
2:13 he says it here. "This could be a real song", Weird Al is never lazy with his parody, pretty much all of his songs could stand on their own if no one had ever heard the original.
My oldest brother is an English teacher for grades 6-7. He said he used to play "Word Crimes" to his students until the school told him not to anymore because it wasn't "approved material" for the curriculum. The Department of Education sucks.
"Word Crimes" is both catchy and educational, dunno why the board of education had a problem with that, maybe bc it actually taught kids and ppl of all ages how to spell or use those special signs 🤦♂️ they may have not liked it, bc it actually was working compared to their own "techniques" 😅
@@joseflynge8208 This is in south Idaho. He did it early on in his career around ten-ish years ago. He has tenure now but it's still dumb that schools have to make teaching so rigid.
FUN FACTS. Weird AL was allowed to use both sets for eat it and Fat per MJ. Smells like nirvana was also the original set! The cheerleaders were the exact same ones used annnnd Tony Hawk is in the video lol! DARE TO BE STUPID is one of my all time Favorites!
Don McLean, who sings American Pie, allowed Weird Al to parody his song, which was The Saga Begins. His kids bought the album and listened to it so much, that when Don went back out on tour, he started singing The Saga Begins instead of American Pie!!!
Mark Mothersbaugh of the band Devo has the following opinion of dare to be stupid: "He has basically written the perfect Devo song, and I pretty much hate his guts for it."
I remember back when Avril Lavigne was just starting out. She got contacted by weird Al to approve a parody of one of her songs. She said in an interview a couple years later that that's when she knew she had made it... Because weird Al liked her music enough to make a parody. It does make sense though. When he has taken stars like Madonna and Michael Jackson, to have one of your songs parodied is an honor.
Because he did parodies of songs, he wasn't required to get permission from the original artist. However, because he wanted to show respect to the original artist, he would only do a song if he got their permission first. He always wanted to do a Prince song, but Prince never gave his permission.
3:32: "How do you jump to that conclusion? You hear Gangsta's Paradise and you're like, AMISH! YES!" Didn't Weird Al say that he got it by listening to the song and brainstorming a bit on the question, "what's the least gangsta culture imaginable?"
My Mom met Weird Al when she worked at a restaurant. He wanted to meet the person who made his cake, so they brought my Mom out.. and she got his autograph. 😊
After viewing "Dare To Be Stupid" Mark Mothersbaugh, lead singer and a founder of Devo, loudly exclaimed, "Weird Al did Devo better than Devo!" Not an easy feat!.
"Fat" (Michael Jacksons - Bad) is not only shot for shot, it's on also the same set as MJ's original set and as far as i know the same cameras and director of photography
He attended Cal Poly SLO (earned his degree in architecture) and recorded “My Bologna” in a bathroom of the Graphic Arts building. The university has a commemorative plaque outside the restroom now.
Fun fact: Like a Surgeon is one of the few parodies that didn’t originate conceptually with Al. Madonna herself actually was the one who suggested the idea to Al. Oh, and Kurt Cobain has gone on record saying that the request to do “Smells like Nirvana” was when Cobain realized that he’d made it as a musician
It's nice to this show to put two reminders on the table : 1 - Weird Al is so talented he's shining outside english-speaking nations (even in France we love him). 2 - Childs are smart. Never underestimate a kid :)
Imagine they bring gen z back tell them it’s “Gen z EBay “ video. The. Surprise them with Weird Al performing The EBay song. And the let them meet him after he reacts to them reacting to him.
I love to hate the fact that no reaction channels ever bring up that in Amish Paradise they filmed the farm scene, while Al walked and sang backwards then reversed the film so it looked like everything else was going backwards... he lip synced backwards...
My dad found Smells Like Nirvana in the car and got angry. He wouldn't let us listen to it because he couldn't understand the words and they might be bad. The irony is just too much.
Weird Al has a very high IQ, graduated from high school at 16, graduated college with a degree in engineering. We should all be grateful he never designed any buildings but instead did music. James Brown lent him his band and taught him the moves. He makes sure the songs are played like a serious song, that everything is exactly like the original in quality.
Joe, you are my hero for introducing Weird Al to some youngsters! Entered high school with only 2 music cassettes, TMNT movie, and a Mix tape of tons of Weird Al on both sides.
Saying Al's concerts are next level is 100000% accurate. He was my first concert, touring with scissors, and i still remember it to this day 25 years later
Small world. It was also my first. (Well, first musical concert I actually wanted to go to. There were ones as a kid that my mom drug me to that I didn't care about and a George Carlin concert, but that wasn't musical.)
I enjoy the fact that James brown loved the parody of Living in America that he loaned wierd al his band, dancers and the set from the original video and even taught wierd all his dance moves.
As a Weird Al fan since the early 80s, it's great to see younger generations getting into him and his unique talent for coherent parodies & clever satire. I probably would've already described Yankovic as "timeless", but you really get a sense of it seeing these folks enjoy his work.
Yes. BUT. They need to announce a different artist, and he comes out and does 3 of their greatest hits and never before released parodies. Artist 'guests' on 3rd song. Bonus points if it's Eminem. Lol.
You guys really dropped the ball when The Hamilton Polka wasn't included. Lin Manuel Miranda; who was a huge Weird Al fan, personally called him to ask if he would contribute something to a side project called Hamildrops; which ran through 2018; where different artists brought their own sound inspired by the musical. As usual Al knocked it out of the park. 😎
Ah, "Dare to be Stupid", the first time I ever heard it was watching the original 1986 animated Transformers movie when I was little, and Transformers Animated had an awesome shout-out to it. Ratchet: "You glitch-head! You're gonna destroy the whole city! You wouldn't dare do something THAT stupid!" Wreck-Gar (voiced by Weird Al): "I am Wreck-Gar! I DARE to be stupid!"
So Al always gets permission to do each song from the original artist. When it came to Preform this way by Lady Gaga he asked but never heard back from anyone. He then would talk about it in interviews that the idea was not approved. Lady Gaga found out he had asked, but never got the message. Her agent did not forward the request. gaga called up Al right away and told him he can use the song. She publicly said she loved his version.
i turned on American Pie for my kids and they started singing along "long long time ago" a few seconds in the singing fizzles out and they asked, "What is this? Where's the real song?"
People overlook the contribution of his band. Al is incredible, but his band are musical chameleons. And he's been performing with a lot of the same guys since WAY WAY back, when his stuff wasn't even making it to albums yet, he was recording tapes and submitting them to Dr. Demento's radio show. That is almost as impressive as the #1 songs in four different decades...you look at bands that have been together that long and there's almost always some story of a falling out, or a big shift in the lineup, or the need for a years-long break from each other...I don't know the details of the rest of the band, but Jon Schwartz has been drumming for Al since 1980, and Al has never really taken a break. Even in his post-UHF slump, he was still performing. It takes a LOT of skill to so completely adjust your style of play that you sound like whatever style you're playing is second-nature...these guys do it over and over and over when they're on tour. I will always be a Weird Al fan...loved his work from the very first time I heard "Another One Rides The Bus". As I've gotten older and learned more about music, I've learned just how much praise his band also deserves.
Since he only releases a new album every 5-7 years, and people kinda' forget he exists, in between, he once joked that every album is perpetually a "comeback" album.
The thing about Weird Al is that his parodies never feel disrespectful of the original song, and he actually puts in effort to replicate the vibe of the original song. He’s serious about trying to make a good parody of a song without taking himself too seriously.
The true test of Weird Al's influence is that moment when the actual song comes on the radio and you start singing the Weird Al version without realizing it. To this day, I can't sing American Pie without at least a couple of references to this here Anakin guy, haha.
Al is a literal genius. He graduated from high school at 16 as the Valedictorian. He then went on to earn a masters in architectural engineering by the time he was 20.
Why no The Saga Begins lol, it was so popular and good that even Don Mclean said he would have to concetrate singing American Pie or he would end up mixing up the lyrics cause his kids listened to it so much lol.
"Dare to Be Stupid" was also a song on the soundtrack of the original animated film of "Transformers," as Weird Al voiced the Wreckgar character in the film, as well.
Love the blonde kid who knew all the songs. My millennial daughter and i would blare these songs in the car. In Mobile Alabama...lol. The looks we got, but we had too much fun. Nothing like seeing him live.
The young man with blonde hair! He was already an Al fan. He knew ALL the words! He definitely has great parents & a great love for great music! Totally cracked me up.....in a good way. So glad to know that Al will live on in another generation now 💖💖💖
When Al was pitching Smells Like Nirvana Kurt's only question was if it was going to be about food and when Al told him that it was about how nobody could understand Kurt's singing, his response was "that makes sense"
I am extremely happy that these kids appreciate Weird Al. The songs that he parodied are NOT the songs that are played on the stations to which they listen. The music is a generation (or two) back from their time. But they still enjoyed the songs and, most of all, loved the musicianship of Weird Al and his team. That was, for me, the best part of a Weird Al parody. If he was only lyrically talented, that would have been fine, but he could mimic every part of the music and his songs, despite being comedy, sound great, too!
We definitely need a part 2. Tacky, Fat, Jurassic Park, Foil, Pretty Fly for a Rabbi, The Saga Begins, and Party at the CIA could be some that are included in that one.
The thing I like best about White and Nerdy is you can play it simultaneously with Ridin' Dirty and Weird Al's video matches scene for scene. It's pretty amazing.
I'm 46 and I was younger than these kids when Weird Al was first popular (I loved him). Al Yankovic really is an elder statesman of comedy who can do no wrong. He hits that hard-to-hit sweet spot of clean comedy that's actually very, very, very funny.
The kids nailed "Sounds Like Nirvana", of course. It is all about Nirvana's indecipherable lyrics. A funny thing is that when Al asked Cobain for permission to do this parody, Kurt asked what it was going to be about? food? (He had heard a lot of the food based ones.) Al told him that it was going to be about how people had trouble understanding the songs. Kurt was cool with that. 😵💫
Some of the best "Dad" moments in my life was having my near adult children hear a song (like I Love Rock-n-Roll) for the first time and go....Wait that's not how this song goes. Because they'd only ever hear the Weird Al version.
I saw Weird Al in concert for the Running With Scissors Tour in Tulsa Oklahoma (Brady Theater March 2000). To this day, whenever I hear American Pie by Don McLean, I automatically sing the lyrics to The Saga Begins. Anyway, that man is hard working. The videos don't convey his talent as well as being there at one of his concerts. His bandmates are also supremely talented.
You guys missed the quote from Kirk Cobain of Nirvana. He said that the moment they knew they had made it as a band was finding out that Weird Al had parodied their song. They even helped him recreate the music video for the song. Also, there was one song (Black and White) that Micheal Jackson asked Weird Al not to parody, because he didn't want the message of the song to be lost. Weird Al never recorded that one.
Gen Xer who just wanted to point out Weird Al has a (criminally underrated) movie he filmed in Tulsa, OK (and a high school friend of mine is in the "Wheel of Fish" segment) called "UHF" that you should check out. (And I can't believe you did not share "Tacky" or "Foil" or "Christmas at Ground Zero" with the younglings!)
Ive been to quite a few concerts in my time. The Mandatory Fun tour Weird Al did was one of the best Ive ever seen. So many set and costume changes. And his energy is so high for a guy in his 60s. Actually walked around the audience for a few songs. The guy is just so entertaining and fun.
Him learning his lyrics in reverse so that he could film the last part of Amish paradise and have the mouth still match up when they played it in reverse is honestly one of the most impressive things I’ve ever heard of
