The "Weird Al" Saga Begins (Weird Al Yankovic in general)

Name: jamie56

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Product:	Weird Al Yankovic in general
Date:	21/03/01 (297 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Range Of Styles

Disadvantages: Hard To Get In The UK

For all of those who have never heard of "Weird Al" Yankovic I hope this enlightens you a bit.

"Weird Al" Yankovic is a very talented singer/songwriter/musician but he has not always been...

It all started at 1:56 PM on Friday 23rd October, 1959, but it was not till many years later that Alfred Matthew Yankovic became known as "Weird Al" a radio name that he had at college that just seems to stick.

So it started...
Since that eventful afternoon "Weird Al" has learnt how to play the accordion and teamed up with Steve Jay, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz and Jim West. They have done no less than 130 unique songs over 10 albums not to mention the compilation albums and Al's work on TV, Films and on Radio.
The whole band cover many styles of music with ease styles like pop, country, reggae, rock and roll, barbershop quartet, polka and more.

Here are the albums that have been released to date:
"Weird Al" Yankovic (1983)
"Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (1984)
Dare To Be Stupid (1985)
Polka Party (1986)
Even Worse (1988)
UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989)
Off The Deep End (1992)
Alapalooza (1993)
Bad Hair Day (1996)
Running With Scissors (1999)

Compilations albums:
Greatest Hits (1988)
The Food Album (1993)
Permanent Record - Al In The Box (1994)
Greatest Hits - Volume II (1994)
The TV Album (1995)

Special tracks.
Spy Hard (1996) - From the film of the same name Al wrote, directed and starred in the title sequence.
Polkamon (2000) - from Pokòmon The Movie 2000 it appears on the soundtrack and during the closing credits.
I also know he has done a track for the Transformers movie but I have been unable to track it down, sorry.

All of his albums have a selection of original songs and parodies of songs and most of his albums have his now trademark
Polka medleys, at the time of me writing this he had done nine Polkas. His traditional ones where he goes through many different songs to a Polka tune and his two extra ordinary ones Bohemian Polka where he had done "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen to a Polka beat and Polkamon which he names many of the Pokòmons to the trusty sound of his accordion.
Here are all his Polkas so far:
Polkas on 45
Hooked on Polkas
Polka Power!
The Hot Rocks Polka
Polka Your Eyes Out
Bohemian Polka
The Alternative Polka
Polka Party!
Polkamon

Also from the mind of "Weird Al" has come many great original songs I will not mention them all because that would take all day to find them all so I will mention a few of my personal favourites.
Franks 2000" TV
Everything You Know Is Wrong
Dare To Be Stupid
One More Minute
The Night Santa Went Crazy
Harvey The Wonder Hamster
You Don't Love Me Anymore
And there are lots more.

I can't talk about "Weird Al" without mentioning his parodies. He matches the originals so well its hard to remember what are the correct set of lyrics, as with his original songs there are lots of them so here are some of my most memorable ones.
The Saga Begins WAS "American Pie" by Don McLean
I Think I'm A Clone Now WAS "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and the Shondells
Fat WAS "Bad" by Michael Jackson
Another One Rides The Bus WAS "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen
Spam WAS "Stand" by R.E.M
Jerry Springer WAS "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies
(This Song's Just) Six Words Long WAS "I've Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison
And many many more.

"Weird Al" has even done a film UHF which after much searching on the internet I finally got hold of a copy and I have wrote a separate opinion a
bout it . Many of his songs have music videos and they are just as wacky as the songs and they are as funny if not funnier that the songs. Many of his music videos are Also parodies on existing music videos. "Weird Al" Also appears in all three Naked Gun films so watch out for him and he is also a popular character for TV award ceremonies.

Ok here are the bad points, "Weird Al" is not very easy to get in the UK. I have only ever seen 'Running With Scissors' on sale here so I only have been able to get more through internet shopping. Also the UHF video has been out of print for some time now so that is even harder to get hold of a copy but don't give up it is possible the internet is a invaluable source and it also has appeared on Sky TV so just keep your eyes open for it.

So that is a just a quick summery of what "Weird Al" Yankovic has done and I am waiting for the next chapter in the continuing story of "Weird Al" Yankovic.

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