Riding high on satire…Weird Al Yankovic seemed unstoppable in the mid 80s after Eat It! and Like A Surgeon. but when his fourth record, Polka Party essentially flopped, he almost called it quits. But instead, he started writing for his life. And out of this trepidation, he created a supersized song patterned after the King of Pop Michael Jackson’s latest hit Bad called Fat. It not only won over listeners, but captivated MTV audiences across the world with a hilarious video in 1988. If you lived through the 80s, I don’t think there’s any way you could have missed this one. It was huge! How Weird Al went platinum with Even Worse and rocked 88.
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So, it’s time for another edition of #1 in Our Hearts. This show honors songs that were so unbelievably great, they absolutely should've been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. But for whatever reason, the song came up short. Today we are covering an artist who almost never got his due on the US charts. A master of his craft, and the undisputed king of comedy, I’m talking about none other than Weird Al. And today we’re giving you the story behind his 1988 Michael Jackson parody, ‘Fat.’ I always thought it would’ve been so cool of if Weird Al had achieved a #1 hit with #1 song he parodied. It hasn’t happened yet…
Weird Al Yankovic’s early 80s years were filled with a surprising amount of success. Both to him and the rest of us. I mean, the world at the time had no idea what it was in for. After grabbing record ex attention with the Knack parody My Bologna, Al spent his time poking fun at the likes of Queen, Joan Jett, Michael Jackson, and Madonna These surprise hits helped launch the underdog comedian to the pinnacle of parody. And by the beginning of 1986, Al had released charting three albums, Weird Al Yankovic in 1983, Weird Al Yankovic In 3-D in 1984, and Dare to be Stupid in 1985.
So, with a Grammy in the bag for Eat It and Like a Surgeon a popular hit, the future was looking bright for Weird Al. Wanting to keep the momentum rolling, Al’s label Scotti Brothers Records pushed for a fast 1986 follow-up to Dare to Be Stupid. But the Scotti Brothers also had some strong opinions about who Al should be parodying. And in order to maximize the label profits, they pressured Yankovic to parody in-house artist James Brown, who had a recent hit with Living in America.
However, that put some of the era’s most popular music on the back burner. At the time Top Gun was huge, Peter Gabriel had a #1 MTV smash with Sledghammer, and Pet Shop Boys topped the charts as well with their rereleased version of West End Girls. Although Sledgehammer, did make it onto a fan favorite polka medley track, how much more fun would it have been if Al had turned it into a full-on parody punching-bag... bad grammar, door-slammer, hedge-trimmer? I’m sure Al could have come up with something hilarious.
23 авг 2022
