Weird Al should be recognized for: 1.) His Musical playing skills 2.) His vocal performances 3.) His lyrical writing skills 4.) Sense of humor 5.) Skill to parody several genres 6.) Music Video ideas and creation 7.) Ability to deliver on a timely schedule as it relates to the song and topic he is covering/parodying
His band deserves massive props too, especially if you've seen them live. The way they can seamlessly leap from replicating Nirvana's sound to performing Lady Gaga before bouncing over to Queen takes an amazing amount of talent.
He is unique. Period. There’s nobody like Him. He is the only sheriff in town. I’m 35 and at least I’ve been LMAO with his parodies for the last 30 years.
"He couldn't quite explain it, it had always just been there". Best part of the whole song Weird Al is a one in a million genius. I like how the kid signed the book with spray paint lol
So true. So, for those who didn't know. A guy actually got caned in Singapore for vandalizing 18 cars with a can of spray paint. Nancy Kerrigan got assaulted at the Olympics by an accomplice of Tonya Harding's (another figure skater) ex-husband. Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband John Bobbitt's penis with a large knife.
The pinnacle of Weird Al's genius is when he's able to almost seamlessly throw in a verse from the original song into his own corrupted version. "He couldn't quite explain it, it'd always just beeeeen there" lmao
Weird Al sometimes lets part of the original lyrics intact which, in a new context, makes the song all the more hilarious... I noticed this in 'Smells like Nirvana"...
And then, there was this guy who made his wife so mad one night that she cut off his weiner and when he finally came to he found that Mr. Happy was missing.
Well-put, and the best part, these stories were actually true! The second and third in particular are talking about the infamous scandals involving Tonya Harding and Lorena Bobbitt. Oh, and before y'all feel too bad for the guy in question, turns out he was a sexist numbnuts, so while cruel and unusual...what Lorena did wasn't exactly unprovoked, at least not completely.
@Joseph Tanner That's going to be a good watch. I remember when the incident happened. It took until this year before Tonya Harding got a movie, so maybe the others will as well.
When this news story broke I first heard about it in a carpool with my husband and two coworkers of his. One of the guys was telling us about it and was laughing while the other was cringing and asking him to stop telling the story.
Can you believe that John Bobbitt actually went on to star in a couple of pornographic movies later on. You'd expect there to be severe (if not permanent) damage done from getting your member cut off. But the dude some how fully recovered and got into the movie business. That's quite an achievement I must say.
Maybe it was just a weird fabricated story for the purpose of sowing corruption and the stealing of hearts and minds and souls which is what it’s all about… because of the devil…
I remember supposedly he said it was an improvement because it was a little longer. I thought, bro what's the point if you can't feel anything except that it lilkely burns like fire 24/7??
I always loved Weird Al as a kid, but this was the only video that truly made me laugh until I cried. The lyrics, the actors and all those silly musical sounds at the end were absolutely brilliant. When it first aired on MTV, I remember recording it so that I could make sure my friends saw it.
@@incliningrug5394 That's what makes it glorious. All of the things he's singing about HAPPENED. They sound stupid, like stuff that wouldn't ever happen. BUT THEY DID.
@@jimwerther and don’t forget Eat It, I love Rocky Road, Another One Rides the Bus and others. I also like some of his non-parodies like Trigger Happy and The Night Santa Went Crazy.
I actually enjoy the original unlike most scumbags, because logically? They can’t handle thinking or explanations in music, like yourself and I respect him because it’s good? But you realize that he needs rights to do these parodies? They agree with it because it expands their careers
The original relates to facts on lives and how individuals react to them? So for those individuals who have actually been through what they sing it about? It’s personal, and say I wouldn’t know? You’re dead wrong, actually for your information? I was in a vehicle accident and sustained a severe traumatic brain injury and almost died about 5 times
and I had to have heard this song a few hundred times... we had this video jukebox in the dining center on campus - there were a lot of popular songs those years, but this was definitely one of them. So was "Because the Night" (the live version), and Mr Jones. :P
A bit more to it than this. Especially if you lived on the other side of the Pond. We had the Conservatives here mount a campaign called "Back to Basics". My mother called it "Back to Basic Instinct", because instead of instilling traditional values, the politicians kept being caught in sex scandals, with one famously getting his toes sucked.
Haha yeah Al was pretty much the second best musician after Kurt, so best for most of the decade, which says a lot about both how talented Al is, and how utterly untalented almost all other pop musicians were and are. His newer parodies are almost universally better than the original song. Even before the Autotune revolution which rolled out in the late 90s and allowed even the drunkest worst singer in the karaoke bar to become an instant pop star and record the next billboard #1 at 2:30am after knocking down tequila shots and smoking spliffs all night! (Unfortunately that hasn't worked for me yet personally but there's still time whenever there are karaoke bars again, it still works for Miley after all) So thanks a lot 90s for making us think you were great only to find out it was an illusion all along, and actually, you suck, just like Greenspan and Jack Welch, so it's fitting they ran the economy like the music industry I suppose in a way. The 80s and 00s were infinitely better in hindsight
@@greenrobot5Yeah I agree this is probably one of Al's worst parodies, because the original song was written as a kind of parody (painting the divine figure of God as someone who can create life but is awkward at a picnic and can only answer questions in metaphor from a detached perspective, when people are trying to have a conversation in the moment) but without a mocking tone, so all that weird al can do is take potshots at religion (cut off his weiner, mocking the personal sacrifices that people make in the name of religion) and make farts/burps, which just comes off as tone deaf. Like Crash Test Dummies did it first and better, and Weird Al is just being a stinker to capitalize on it.
I guess. The person has to buy that star and pay for it's upkeep. Have you ever been there? After dark, you don't wanna know what happens on your star, lol.
Chop haha same here, I've been listening to Weird al since I was 4 or 5 becuse of my older brother. I remember hearing this song when I was really young but didn't really understand what it was about until I looked it up when I was older!
Some TLDR context & interesting info about each of the three stories: 1. The kid in Singapore = Michael Peter Fay. American (St. Louis, MO) who lived in Singapore with his mom & stepdad. Was arrested for theft of road signs & vandalizing several cars with hot tar, paint remover, hatchets, eggs, & (of course) spray paint. Was initially sentenced to six strokes of a rattan cane, but (thanks to pressure from President Bill Clinton) had sentence reduced to four strokes instead. His case caused fiery international debates & discussions over cultural norms. As of the time this comment was written, he is now 47 years old, & works as a casino manager. 2. The two skaters = Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan. Both ladies had dedicated their lives to figure skating from a young age. In January of '94, Nancy was about to partake in the U.S. Figure Skating Championship; her main rival in that tournament was Tonya. Tonya, of course, was EXTREMELY jealous of Nancy, & did NOT want her to win! And, so, she got together with her ex-husband & bodyguard, & schemed with them to take Nancy out of the competition, & they hired them to break Nancy's leg, potentially ending her figure-skating career forever!!! Luckily, that did not happen; Nancy was only clubbed in the kneecap, & while she hence wasn't able to compete in the U.S. Championship (which Tonya ended up winning, as she had planned!), Nancy WAS able to compete with Tonya in the 1994 Winter Olympics -- & she won the silver medal for 2nd place! :-) Tonya only got 8th place. Then Tonya & her co-conspirators were eventually found out as the culprits behind the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, & they were all punished, with Tonya being banned from figure-skating for life. To this day, Nancy has (understandably) not forgiven Tonya for what happened...but on the bright side, the two skaters had a movie made about their scandal, plus Tonya got to show off her comedic talent in the truTV show "World's Dumbest"! 3. The wife & her husband = Lorena Bobbitt & John W. Bobbitt. In 1993, Lorena cut off John's weenis while he was asleep; John had been raping & physically/emotionally/sexually abusing Lorena for years. In fact, John was charged with rape later that year, but was acquitted, & went on to star in several adult films (& I'm NOT talking the R-rated kind!). The next year, Lorena was acquitted of assault by reason of insanity. The couple divorced in 1995. John Bobbitt has since accumulated a record of serious abuse allegations & some criminal convictions. As for Lorena, she has found happiness in a long-term relationship with a man named Dave Bellinger, their two-&-a-half-year-old (in 2008) daughter, & her own charity Lorena's Red Wagon (which helps prevent domestic violence through family-oriented activities). John & Lorena both appeared on TV together for an interview, & John has since apologized to Lorena for his mistreatment of her.
I was a kid during these and I think the Lorena Bobbitt story (along with, I'd argue, stories like Monica Lewinski and even the 'lady who sued McDonalds over hot coffee) are stories that were definitely spun in the media as 'haha, look at those crazy/dumb women' but once you look into them there is way more than meets the eye to them.
@@lisamarieligreci-newton7804 That is most definitely true! ^_^ Incidentally, I just dove into the story of the McDonald's coffee lawsuit, & there was DEFINITELY more than meets the eye in that case! How the media got that particular case SO WRONG, I don't think I could possibly imagine!
This parody is priceless, including John Bobbitt and with Tanya Harding paying to have Nancy Kerrigan injured (sad, but still apropos). But Al's facial imitations of Brad Roberts are SO funny, I keep playing it over & over so I can roll in hysterics!
Oddly enough I just watched I, Tonya last night (the Tonya Harding movie, which was way, WAY better than I thought it'd be) so this song was on my mind... Thank you, RU-vid!
I'd give so much for an extended version of the ending, where it has so many fun layers and that great accordion. It's like he teases you with this great wild expansion on the music, but quickly fades out just when it really gets going.
I'd forgotten about the Singapore kid. That was big news back in the day, but was never immortalized like Tonya and Nancy. Lorenna Bobbitt will live in infamy of course. Al picked his history pretty good.
I remember when this happened. Our teacher turned it into a "learning experience" and had us all write essays to the Prime Minister of Singapore asking him to give mercy to our countryman.
@@JeffDeWitt I'm not sure if you are being facetious or not, but I agree, some-what. There is a difference between "street art" (or graffiti) and tagging. I'm all for street art, but against tagging.
The original song was about kids being embarrassed about harmless things, the audience members have something more legitimate/dangerous to be embarrassed about (even the gay couple with the moobs at the end)
Bella Correa Good point about today’s headlines and that would be interesting to hear, although for me, both CTD and these headlines are so perfectly time-capsuled in the 90s that I don’t know if it could be done justice
I remember when I first saw this video back in 1994, I was in tears laughing when he looks at that pack of hotdogs at 2:41. It still gets me every time
lets all take a moment to give Weird Al, amazing props not just for the awesome song but keeping a straight face while saying "Mr. Happy was missing" *round of applause*
Try singing that bit 50 times. You'll laugh like a maniac until around 30, then stop, then laugh again for a bit then get it right. If you want hardmode, do it while stoned
It's pretty nice that Al gave Doctor Demento a cameo in this video, and that the doctor took it. When I was younger, I used to have an old Demento tape, but never had any idea what he looked like. To think, I had seen him and not known it... MIND MELTING.
Never saw what Dr. Demento looked like when I listened to him in the 80's, but pictured what he looked like. This is years before the internet, mind you. Finally saw him on tv years later. He looks exactly like I imagined...
I love how they just get bored with it by the end so they were like “fuck it, add a bunch of farts and belches and finish it all up with a chorus of kazoo’s”
Weird Al is a one in a million genius. I still remember when these three stories were extensively covered by the media "I used to be a figure skater like you, then I took a club to the knee"
Al, we need a new one of these every 5 years. "Ooonce there was a gooorillaaa, living in his enclosure not bothering anyone...until, some kid jumped the fence."
Oooooonce there was this guy who, came back home from China and was treated for an illness. And when it finally came out Hong Kong had several thousand infected They stuck him in quarantine And named virus pisssssssssss beeeeeeeer. Mmmm Mmmm...
If there was any part of the original artist reacting to a Weird Al parody I'd have loved to have seen it's the Crash Test Dummies reacting to "He couldn't quite explain it, it had always just been there" It appears frequently in the original song although none of the contexts are like... This...
Dainn Greywall 1. Michael Fay 2. Nancy Kerrigan was the victim and Tonya Harding the attacker 3. Mr and Mrs Bobbit (I didn't remember the names but knew that happened in the first half of 90s and found it)
Jan Sten Adámek John Wayne & Lorena Bobbitt. You've got to feel sorry for JWB; not only he had to do w/o Mr. Happy for about half a day AND worry about it's future functionality, he also permanently lent his name to castration.
That's my mom in the purple muumuu at the end walking out with Dr. Demento. She said she had such a fun time filming the video and that Weird Al was the nicest guy ever.
Here is the info on Mike, copied and pasted from weirdal.com - Mike Kieffer - hands “Musical Mike” of Dr.Demento Show fame has provided hand music for Al’s recordings from the late-seventies through Headline News. Mike has joined Al onstage many times throughout the years, and is seen in the “I Love Rocky Road” and “Headline News” videos.
Well according to Wikipedia, Al's performed this song with the Crash Test Dummies backing him. In one performance the Dummies broke out kazoos for the finale. XD
I remember getting the Weird Al box set, which was the only way you could get this song back in the day. Every song was genius and remains so to this day
Weird Al is referencing actual massive controversies from around 1994. That is, actual headline news from the time period. Michael P. Fay, a U.S. citizen with ADHD, was sentenced to six strokes of the cane in Singapore at the age of 18 for theft and vandalism. This was later reduced to four at the request of then-President Bill Clinton, who Singapore liked. Fay later developed drug addiction due to his attempts to cope with the trauma through butane and marijuana. Nancy Kerrigan, innocent & beloved ice princess of the skating world, was clubbed in her landing leg by a strange man with a collapsible police baton between practice sessions on January 6, 1994. The intention was to break her leg, but she fortunately suffered only bruising and recovered very quickly. It was soon found the assailant had been hired by the ex-husband of Kerrigan's top rival, Tonya Harding, who was subsequently exiled from the skating world. Harding later became a professional boxer (no, really. Not joking.) John Bobbitt and Lorena Gallo married in 1989. In 1993 Lorena cut off his entire penis at the base with a knife while he slept, driving off and discarding the member in a field. She then called 9-1-1, who found and reattached John's penis. Lorena was arrested but found not guilty by insanity, while John's statements were constantly at odds with established facts - the prosecution and defense agreed that John was a highly abusive husband as both sides' witnesses consistently said so. They divorced. To cover legal fees, John created a (failing) band named The Severed Parts as well as pornographic films titled _John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut_ and _Frankenpenis_ . He had later brushes with the law for battery of women.
Jessica Hill these stories were out before I was born. It will happen with the current stories today. The next generation will not know the petty stories of Brett Kavanaugh and the like.
I'd forgot this song and seeing it as an adult gotta give AL and his band props for the fact he lumped headlines at the time and a parody of a fd up song into one......perfectly!
Listening to Weird Al as an adult I appreciate things I didn't really see as a kid. He is good not only at goofing and gagging on specific pieces of music and broader styles of music (his original songs are usually stylistic parodies)---but he is really good at doing so in a way that really highlights the silliness and absurdity of the source material. This isn't ALWAYS the case, and maybe he himself isn't always aware of the extent to which he is doing it, but I definitely think this song is an instance of him being fully aware of what he's doing. This song points very starkly to how ridiculous the original song is. I should look into it to confirm, but I think the line about the guy getting his willy cut off, "he couldn't quite explain it, it'd always just been there" is actually taken more or less directly from the original song, which tells a story about a girl ashamed of birthmarks covering her body. I think another one I never realized as a kid was how the song When I Was Your Age on Off the Deep End sort of builds on the parody of grunge and sad alternative music running through that album (most notably Nirvana, of course) by poking fun at the growing boomer cultural sentiments about the unfounded whininess and ungratefulness of the younger gen-x kids who were the marketing demographic for grunge music.
"They got paid for their sound bits / and sold their movie rights" The Tonya Harding movie is in cinemas now. ... Weird Al, prophet of our times, or just a guy with a few lucky guesses?
Watching the video, I saw this comment and thought "That's a funny one, upvote..." but then I saw it was mine. How can it have been three years? Surely it's been about a thousand if we include the global pandemics... (_really_ hoping that's not a prophetic comment)
There have been a few actors, actresses and singers who got me through hard times especially this past week *BUT* I have to say that Weird Al got me through them the best way. Making me laugh with his interviews and songs/music videos. I grew up with Al’s music and no matter how old or new the songs are, he/they still crack me up. I keep telling my Aunt Colleen and my cousins Amanda and Casey that Uncle Rich (my aunts husband and my cousins father) looked like Weird Al in a lot of his older photos. Especially in this video with the long straight hair (yes, I know Al’s hair is naturally curly but he did straighten it for this video) and the glasses. My uncle passed away two years ago but when he was still with us, I used to tell him the same thing when I saw them. He used to get “mad” about it because he didn’t know what I was talking about *SOOOO* I had to show him this video and he *FINALLY* agreed with me. God, I miss him. So much. He was the joke cracking uncle. Always had a joke for everything. No matter if it was good, great, amazing, wonderful, bad, horrible or terrible news. He knew how to lighten the mood.
