Alfred
Matthew Yankovic was born October 23, 1959, in Lynwood, CA. An only child,
he began playing the accordion at age seven, following in the tradition of
polka star Frank Yankovic (no relation); in his early teens he became an
avid fan of the Dr. Demento show, drawing inspiration from the parodies of
Allan Sherman as well as the musical comedy of Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer,
and Stan Freberg. In 1973 Demento spoke at Weird
Al Yankovic's school, where the 13
year old passed the radio host a demo tape of home recordings; three years
later, Demento played Weird Al Yankovic's "Belvedere Cruising" -- an
accordion-driven pop song written about the family's Plymouth -- on the
air, and his career was launched.
Weird Al
Yankovic quickly emerged as a staple of the
Demento play list, recording a prodigious amount of tongue-in-cheek
material throughout his high-school career. After graduation, he studied
architecture; while attending California Polytechnic State University, he
also joined the staff of the campus radio station, first adopting the
nickname "Weird Al" and spinning a mixture of novelty and new
wave hits. In 1979, the success of the Knack's monster hit "My
Sharona" inspired Weird Al Yankovic to record a parody dubbed "My
Bologna"; not only was the song a smash with Demento fans, but it
even found favor with the Knack themselves, who convinced their label,
Capitol, to issue the satire as a single.
After graduating in 1980, Yankovic cut
"Another One Rides the Bus," a parody of Queen's chart-topping
"Another One Bites the Dust" recorded live in Dr. Demento's
studios; the song became an underground hit, and Yankovic followed it up
with "I Love Rocky Road," a satire of Joan Jett & the
Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n
Roll." After hooking up with noted
session guitarist and producer
Rick Derringer, he signed to Scotti Bros.,
which issued his debut LP, "Weird Al" Yankovic, in 1983. The
album featured the song "Ricky," a tune inspired equally by Toni
Basil's hit "Mickey" and the I Love Lucy television series;
issued as a single, it hit the Top 100 charts, and its accompanying video
became a staple of the fledgling MTV network.
Ultimately, much of Weird Al Yankovic's success
resulted from his skilled use of music video, a medium not available in
the era of Spike Jones or Allan Sherman; suddenly, not only could records
themselves serve as parody fodder, but their video clips were ripe for
satire as well. Additionally, MTV firmly established Weird
Al Yankovic's public
persona; sporting garish Hawaiian shirts, frizzy hair, and an arsenal of
goofy mannerisms, he cut a distinctly bizarre figure which he consistently
exploited to maximum comic effect. After Michael
Jackson's "Beat
It" became the most acclaimed video in the medium's brief history, Weird
Al Yankovic recorded "Eat It" for his sophomore effort, 1984's
"Weird" Al Yankovic in 3-D; the "Eat It" video, which
mocked the "Beat It" clip scene-for-scene, became an MTV smash,
and the Grammy-winning single reached the Top 15.
In addition to "Eat It," In 3-D
also launched the minor hits "King of Suede" (a rewrite of the
Police's "King of Pain") and "I Lost on Jeopardy" (a
send-up of the Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy"), as well as
"Polkas on 45," the first in a series of medleys of pop hits
recast as polka numbers. Dare to Be Stupid, the first comedy record ever
released in the new compact disc format, followed in 1985, and featured
"Like a Surgeon," a takeoff of the Madonna hit "Like a
Virgin." Like its predecessor, Dare to Be Stupid went gold, but
1986's Polka Party! fared poorly and charted only briefly, prompting many
to write off Weird Al Yankovic's career.
However, in 1988, Weird
Al Yankovic returned with
the platinum-selling Even Worse, its title and album cover a reference to
Michael Jackson's recent Bad LP. "I'm Fat," the first single and
video, also parodied the lavish Martin Scorsese-directed clip for
Jackson's hit "Bad"; shot on the same subway set used by
Jackson, the video -- which portrayed Weird Al Yankovic as a grotesquely obese
tough guy -- won him his second Grammy. The next year, he starred in the
feature film UHF, which he also co-wrote; a soundtrack appeared as well.
After an extended period of silence, he
returned in 1992 with Off the Deep End, which featured the Top 40 hit
"Smells Like Nirvana," a send-up of
Nirvana's landmark single
"Smells Like Teen Spirit." After 1993's Alapalooza, he
resurfaced in 1996 with Bad Hair Day, his highest-charting record to date
thanks to the success of the single "Amish Paradise," a takeoff
of the Coolio hit "Gangsta's Paradise." The follow-up, Running
With Scissors, appeared in 1999. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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