1.
"Weird Al" Yankovic
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Alfred Matthew Weird Al Yankovic is an American singer, songwriter, parodist, record producer, satirist, actor, voice actor, music video director, film producer, and author. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he has more than 12 million albums, recorded more than 150 parody and original songs. His works have earned him four Grammy Awards and a further 11 nominations, four gold records, Weird Als first top ten Billboard album and single were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. His latest album, Mandatory Fun, became his first number-one album during its debut week and he directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, The Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. Weird Al has stated that he may forgo traditional albums in favor of timely releases of singles, in addition to recording his albums, Weird Al wrote and starred in the film UHF and The Weird Al Show. He has also made guest appearances and voice acting roles on television shows and video web content. He has also written two books, When I Grow Up and My New Teacher and Me. Yankovic was born in Downey, California and raised in Lynwood. He is the child of Mary Elizabeth and Nick Yankovic. Mary, who was of Italian and English descent, had come to California from Kentucky, Als first accordion lesson, which sparked his career in music, was on the day before his sixth birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a music school. Yankovic said that parents chose the accordion because they were convinced it would revolutionize rock and he continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own. Yankovics early accordion role models included Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren, in the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims Johns Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album was partly how I learned to play rock n roll on the accordion. Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from Mad magazine, Monty Python, Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped second grade. My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled an early on. As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school and we started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook. Weird Al graduated in 1975 and was valedictorian of his senior class, Yankovic attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a bachelors degree in architecture. Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated radio personality Dr. Dementos radio show, saying If there hadnt been a Dr. Demento. The tapes first song, Belvedere Cruisin - about his familys Plymouth Belvedere - was played on Dementos comedy radio show, launching Yankovics career
2.
Singing
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Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist, Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists, Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised and it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice, if practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific genre, such as classical or rock. They typically take voice training provided by teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort, exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles, the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming, humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body and an individuals size, Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation, another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singers Formant and it has also been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa. The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds, Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds
3.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
4.
Rapping
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The components of rapping include content, flow, and delivery. Rap differs from spoken-word poetry in that rap is performed in time to a beat. Rapping is often associated with and an ingredient of hip-hop music. Rapping is also used in Kwaito music, a genre originated in Johannesburg, South Africa. Another form of rap that predates hip hop was boxer Muhammad Alis rhythmic poetry used to taunt his opponents in the 1960s and 1970s, rapping can be delivered over a beat, typically provided by a DJ, turntablist or Beatboxer, or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies an area between speech, prose, poetry, and singing. The word, as used to describe quick speech or repartee, the word had been used in British English since the 16th century. It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning to converse, today, the terms rap and rapping are so closely associated with hip-hop music that many writers use the terms interchangeably. The English verb rap has various meanings, such as to strike, especially with a quick, smart, or light blow, as well to utter sharply or vigorously, to rap out a command. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives a date of 1541 for the first recorded use of the word with the meaning to utter sharply, vigorously and it is these meanings from which the musical form of rapping derives, and this definition may be from a shortening of repartee. A rapper refers to a performer who raps, by the late 1960s, when Hubert G. Brown changed his name to H. Rap was used to describe talking on records as early as 1971, on Isaac Hayes album Black Moses with track names such as Ikes Rap, Ikes Rap II, Ikes Rap III, Hayes husky-voiced sexy spoken raps became key components in his signature sound. Del the Funky Homosapien similarly states that rap was used to refer to talking in a manner in the early 1970s. Back then what rapping meant, basically, was you trying to convey something—youre trying to convince somebody, thats what rapping is, its in the way you talk. Rapping can be traced back to its African roots, centuries before hip-hop music existed, the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such connections have been acknowledged by modern artists, modern day griots, spoken word artists, mainstream news sources. Grammy-winning blues musician/historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s, Wald went so far as to call hip hop the living blues. A notable recorded example of rapping in blues music was the 1950 song Gotta Let You Go by Joe Hill Louis, not just jazz music and lyrics but also jazz poetry
5.
Musician
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A musician is a person who plays a musical instrument or is musically talented. Anyone who composes, conducts, or performs music may also be referred to as a musician, Musicians can specialize in any musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles. Examples of a musicians possible skills include performing, conducting, singing, composing, arranging, in the Middle Ages, instrumental musicians performed with soft ensembles inside and loud instruments outdoors. Many European musicians of this time catered to the Roman Catholic Church, providing arrangements structured around Gregorian chant structure, vocal pieces were in Latin—the language of church texts of the time—and typically were Church-polyphonic or made up of several simultaneous melodies. Giovanni Palestrina Giovanni Gabrieli Thomas Tallis Claudio Monteverdi Leonardo da Vinci The Baroque period introduced heavy use of counterpoint, vocal and instrumental “color” became more important compared to the Renaissance style of music, and emphasized much of the volume, texture and pace of each piece. George Frideric Handel Johann Sebastian Bach Antonio Vivaldi Classical music was created by musicians who lived during a time of a middle class. Many middle-class inhabitants of France at the time lived under long-time absolute monarchies, because of this, much of the music was performed in environments that were more constrained compared to the flourishing times of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. This age included the initial transformations of the Industrial Revolution, a revolutionary energy was also at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of poetry and art, but the common perception of the world. Some major Romantic Period precepts survive, and still affect modern culture, in 20th-century music, composers and musicians rejected the emotion-dominated Romantic period, and strove to represent the world the way they perceived it. Musicians wrote to be. objective, while objects existed on their own terms, while past eras concentrated on spirituality, this new period placed emphasis on physicality and things that were concrete. The advent of recording and mass media in the 20th century caused a boom of all kinds of music—popular music, rock music, electronic music, folk music. Singer Composer Music artist Tour Manager Media related to Musicians at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Parody
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A parody is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work—its subject, author, style, or some other target—by means of satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon puts it, parody … is imitation, another critic, Simon Dentith, defines parody as any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice. Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, animation, gaming, the writer and critic John Gross observes in his Oxford Book of Parodies, that parody seems to flourish on territory somewhere between pastiche and burlesque. According to Aristotle, Hegemon of Thasos was the inventor of a kind of parody, in ancient Greek literature, a parodia was a narrative poem imitating the style and prosody of epics but treating light, satirical or mock-heroic subjects. Indeed, the components of the Greek word are παρά para beside, counter, against, Thus, the original Greek word παρῳδία parodia has sometimes been taken to mean counter-song, an imitation that is set against the original. The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, defines parody as imitation turned as to produce a ridiculous effect, because par- also has the non-antagonistic meaning of beside, there is nothing in parodia to necessitate the inclusion of a concept of ridicule. Old Comedy contained parody, even the gods could be made fun of, the Frogs portrays the hero-turned-god Heracles as a Glutton and the God of Drama Dionysus as cowardly and unintelligent. The traditional trip to the Underworld story is parodied as Dionysus dresses as Heracles to go to the Underworld, roman writers explained parody as an imitation of one poet by another for humorous effect. In French Neoclassical literature, parody was also a type of poem where one work imitates the style of another to produce a humorous effect, the Ancient Greeks created satyr plays which parodied tragic plays, often with performers dressed like satyrs. In classical music, as a term, parody refers to a reworking of one kind of composition into another. The term is sometimes applied to procedures common in the Baroque period. The musicological definition of the parody has now generally been supplanted by a more general meaning of the word. In its more contemporary usage, musical parody usually has humorous, even satirical intent, in which familiar musical ideas or lyrics are lifted into a different, often incongruous, context. Musical parodies may imitate or refer to the style of a composer or artist. For example, The Ritz Roll and Rock, a song and dance performed by Fred Astaire in the movie Silk Stockings, parodies the Rock. Conversely, while the work of Weird Al Yankovic is based on particular popular songs. The first usage of the parody in English cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is in Ben Jonson, in Every Man in His Humour in 1598, A Parodie. The next citation comes from John Dryden in 1693, who also appended an explanation, suggesting that the word was in common use, in the 20th century, parody has been heightened as the central and most representative artistic device, the catalysing agent of artistic creation and innovation
7.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
8.
Music video
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A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. There are also cases where songs are used in tie in marketing campaigns that allow them to more than just a song. Tie ins and merchandising could be used in toys or marketing campaigns for food, although the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920s, they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by terms including illustrated song, filmed insert, promotional film, promotional clip, promotional video, song video. Music videos use a range of styles of contemporary videomaking techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation, music, combining these styles and techniques has become more popular because of the variation it presents to the audience. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the songs lyrics, other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the songs live performance. Product placement is a technique in music videos, exemplified by the appearance of the Beats Pill in numerous hip hop videos. In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B, marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song The Little Lost Child. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a form of entertainment known as the illustrated song. In 1926, with the arrival of many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts featured many bands, vocalists and dancers, early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia, the Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theaters. Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a short film called St. Louis Blues featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period, soundies, produced and released from 1940 to 1947, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos
9.
Extended play
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An extended play is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single, but is usually unqualified as an album or LP. EPs generally do not contain as many tracks as albums, and are considered less expensive, an EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well. Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said, EPs—originally extended-play single releases that are shorter than traditional albums—have long been popular with punk, in the United Kingdom, the Official Chart Company defines a boundary between EP and album classification at 25 minutes of length or four tracks. EPs were released in various sizes in different eras, the earliest multi-track records, issued around 1919 by Grey Gull Records, were vertically cut 78 rpm discs known as 2-in-1 records. These had finer than usual grooves, like Edison Disc Records, by 1949, when the 45 rpm single and 33 1⁄3 rpm LP were competing formats, seven-inch 45 rpm singles had a maximum playing time of only about four minutes per side. Partly as an attempt to compete with the LP introduced in 1948 by rival Columbia, RCA Victor introduced Extended Play 45s during 1952. Their narrower grooves, achieved by lowering the levels and sound compression optionally. These were usually 10-inch LPs split onto two seven-inch EPs or 12-inch LPs split onto three seven-inch EPs, either separately or together in gatefold covers. This practice became less common with the advent of triple-speed-available phonographs. Some classical music albums released at the beginning of the LP era were distributed as EP albums—notably the seven operas that Arturo Toscanini conducted on radio between 1944 and 1954. These opera EPs, originally broadcast on the NBC Radio network and manufactured by RCA, in the 1990s, they began appearing on compact discs. During the 1950s, RCA published several EP albums of Walt Disney movies and these usually featured the original casts of actors and actresses. Each album contained two seven-inch records, plus an illustrated booklet containing the text of the recording, so that children could follow along by reading. Some of the titles included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and what was then a recent release, because of the popularity of 7 and other formats, SP records became less popular and the production of SPs in Japan was suspended in 1963. In the 1950s and 1960s, EPs were usually compilations of singles or album samplers and were played at 45 rpm on seven-inch discs. Record Retailer printed the first EP chart in 1960, the New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Disc and Music Echo and the Record Mirror continued to list EPs on their respective singles charts. The Beatles Twist and Shout outsold most singles for some weeks in 1963, when the BBC and Record Retailer commissioned the British Market Research Bureau to compile a chart it was restricted to singles and EPs disappeared from the listings. In the Philippines, seven-inch EPs marketed as mini-LPs were introduced in 1970, with tracks selected from an album and this mini-LP format also became popular in America in the early 1970s for promotional releases, and also for use in jukeboxes
10.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
11.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
12.
Music recording sales certification
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Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies. The threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory, almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials. The number of sales or shipments required for these awards depends upon the population of the territory in which the recording is released, typically, they are awarded only to international releases and are awarded individually for each country in which the album is sold. Different sales levels, some perhaps 10 times lower than others, the original gold record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achievements. The first of these was awarded by RCA Victor to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in February 1942, another example of a company award is the gold record awarded to Elvis Presley in 1956 for one million units sold of his single Dont Be Cruel. The first gold record for an LP was awarded by RCA Victor to Harry Belafonte in 1957 for the album Calypso and these sales were restricted to U. S. -based record companies and did not include exports to other countries. For albums in 1968, this would mean shipping approximately 250,000 units, the platinum certification was introduced in 1976 for the sale of one million units, album or single, with the gold certification redefined to mean sales of 500,000 units, album or single. No album was certified platinum prior to this year, for instance, the recording by Van Cliburn of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto from 1958 would eventually be awarded a platinum citation, but this would not happen until two decades after its release. In 1999, the certification was introduced for sales of ten million units. On 14 March 1958, the RIAA certified its first gold record, soundtrack was certified as the first gold album four months later. In 1976, RIAA introduced the platinum certification, first awarded to Johnnie Taylors single, Disco Lady, as music sales increased with the introduction of compact discs, the RIAA created the Multi-Platinum award in 1984. Diamond awards, honoring those artists whose sales of singles or albums reached 10,000,000 copies, were introduced in 1999 and this became much less common once the majority of retail sales became paid digital downloads and digital streaming. In most countries certifications no longer apply solely to physical media, in June 2006, the RIAA also certified the ringtone downloads of songs. Streaming from on-demand services such as Rhapsody and Spotify has been included into existing digital certification in the U. S since 2013, in the U. S. and Germany video streaming services like YouTube, VEVO, and Yahoo. Music also began to be counted towards the certification, in both cases using the formula of 100 streams being equivalent to one download, other countries, such as Denmark and Spain, maintain separate awards for digital download singles and streaming. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry was founded in 1996, and grants the IFPI Platinum Europe Award for album sales over one million within Europe, multi-platinum Europe Awards are presented for sales in subsequent multiples of one million. Eligibility is unaffected by time, and is not restricted to European-based artists, IMPALA sales awards were launched in 2005 as the first sales awards recognising that success on a pan-European basis begins well before sales reach one million. The award levels are Silver, Double Silver, Gold, Double Gold, Diamond, Platinum, below are certification thresholds for the United States and United Kingdom
13.
My Bologna
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My Bologna is a parody of The Knacks hit song My Sharona, recorded and performed by musical parody artist Weird Al Yankovic. The title refers to Bologna sausage, specifically the Oscar Mayer brand popular in the United States, Yankovic sent My Bologna to Dr. Demento, who aired the song on his nationwide radio program, The Dr. Demento Show. The song was a hit on the program, and eventually gained the one spot on Dr. Dementos Funny Five countdown. After a fortuitous encounter with Doug Fieger, and Rupert Perry, Yankovic was paid $500 for the master tape of the song, and its b-side, School Cafeteria. A month after its release, the single managed to sell 10,000 copies. The song also received positive—albeit limited—reviews from media outlets, although a music video was never produced for the song, an unofficial video was filmed, featuring a young Yankovic lip-syncing to this song at Cuesta College in December 1979. My Bologna was later re-recorded and released on Yankovics debut album, Yankovic had a penchant for comedy music, and often played it on his radio show. In the summer of 1979, My Sharona by The Knack was a popular song. Yankovics lyrics eventually coalesced into My Bologna, an ode to the Oscar Mayer brand of Bologna sausage, the duo started to play it in and around the Cal Poly campus at parties and local theaters. In September 1979, Yankovic decided to record his parody in the mens bathroom across from the KCPR offices, taped using musical equipment from the radio station, the original version of My Bologna featured only Yankovics vocals accompanied by his accordion. Yankovic then sent his recording to Barret Dr. Demento Hansen, a personality who hosted the syndicated Dr. Demento Show. According to Dr. Demento himself, The response I got when I played on the air dwarfed not only that for all earlier tapes, later, The Knack performed at Cal Poly, and Yankovic managed to approach the band and Rupert Perry backstage. He informed them of who he was, and, according to Yankovic, Doug Fieger said Oh, and then he turned to Rupert Perry and said You guys oughta put this song out on Capitol Records and Rupert said OK, lets do it. Yankovic was paid $500 for the master, as well as the master for the soon-to-be b-side track School Cafeteria. The My Bologna single was released on Christmas Day,1979, on March 14,1982, Yankovic re-recorded the song for his debut album, Weird Al Yankovic. He later joked that this was done because somehow, we thought might sound better recorded in a professional 24-track studio than did when recorded in a bathroom, the Capitol Records single version appears on Permanent Record, Al in the Box. School Cafeteria was never re-recorded or made available on any studio albums, prior to the singles commercial release, the song was a hit on the Dr. Demento Show, and landed at number one on the radio shows Funny Five countdown chart. Within a month of the single being released by Capitol, it had managed to sell 10,000 copies, however, Yankovic soon learned that Capitol Records had no interest in promoting the single
14.
Another One Rides the Bus
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Another One Rides the Bus is a 1981 parody of Queens Another One Bites the Dust by American comedy musician Weird Al Yankovic. The song describes a person riding in a public bus. It was recorded live on September 14,1980, on the Dr. Demento Show, accompanying Yankovic was Jon Bermuda Schwartz, who would go on to be the parody artists long-time drummer. The song became a hit on the Dr. Demento Show, hoping to capitalize on the success of the song, Yankovic originally released Another One Rides the Bus on an EP of the same name. Later, the song was issued as a single by TK Records. However, it fell off the chart when TK subsequently closed. In 1983, Yankovic re-released the song on his debut album, the song has been well received by critics, and Brian May—the guitarist of Queen—has expressed his amusement with Yankovics parody. Fortuitous circumstances led to the song being released by Capitol Records on December 25,1979, although the single managed to sell 10,000 copies a month after its release, Yankovic soon learned that Capitol had no interest in promoting the record, or releasing a follow-up single. The song had been written by Queen bassist John Deacon and released on their 1980 album The Game, lyrically, Another One Rides the Bus describe a person riding in a crowded public bus. In the first verse, the bus proceeds to pick up more people, the second verse discusses the various things that are touching the person, and about how several of his personal items are missing. In the third verse, the speaker is trying to get fresh air but the bus fan is broken and this causes him to exclaim that he hasnt been in a crowd like this since I went to see The Who. Finally, he laments about not getting off the bus sooner, Yankovic debuted the song live on September 14,1980, on the Dr. Demento Show, hosted by Barret Dr. Demento Hansen. While practicing the song outside the booth, Yankovic met Jon Bermuda Schwartz. Because Yankovic did not have a kit, Schwartz rhythmically struck Yankovics accordion case as a way of keeping the beat. The version of Another One Rides the Bus that was recorded in 1980, the singles b-side is Gotta Boogie, which was co-written by Joe Earley. The song is a play on words discussing a man with a boogie on his finger, the version of Gotta Boogie included on this single was recorded in April 1980, this song also appeared on Yankovics eponymous debut album, although in a re-recorded form. Thank goodness I had a tape rolling and we even got it in stereo. Over the next couple of months that tape was duplicated and re-duplicated all over the world, the Dr. Demento Show gained a couple of dozen new station affiliates just because of that song
15.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
16.
"Weird Al" Yankovic (album)
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Weird Al Yankovic is the self-titled debut album by American parodist Alfred Weird Al Yankovic. The album was the first of many produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, mostly recorded in March 1982, the album was released by Rock n Roll Records as an LP and on Compact Cassette in 1983. Nearly half of the album is made up of parodies based on the works of Toni Basil, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, The Knack, Yankovics trademark instrument, the accordion, is used on all songs featured on the album. Fueled by the success of the singles My Bologna and Another One Rides the Bus. Critically, however, the received a lukewarm reception, with many reviewers feeling that Yankovic was a throw-away act. Agreeing, Derringer used his music industry prestige and convinced Cherokee Studios to record an albums worth of Yankovics songs gratis, then, in March 1982, Weird Al Yankovic stepped into a professional recording studio for the first time and recorded nine of the songs for Weird Al Yankovic. After encountering difficulty picking up a label for the first-time album. Impressing the program director of the Top 40 station, he played it immediately, at the same time, Tad Dowd—head of the new record label, Rock n Roll Records—had been trying to convince parent company Scotti Brothers Records to sign the 22-year-old Yankovic. The positive furor over the KIQQ playtest provided Dowd with the leverage needed to convince Scotti Bros. to offer a contract for Yankovics first album, Demento Show, and the last two songs would be recorded at Scotti Brothers own studios in Santa Monica, California. To promote the album, Levey coordinated a tour in late Summer 1983 across the United States East Coast and Midwest for both Yankovic and Dr. Demento. Promoted as An Evening of Dementia with Dr. Demento in Person Plus Weird Al Yankovic, Demento opened with recorded hits and short films from his show before introducing Yankovic. During their three weeks, the played in several famous clubs, including The Bottom Line in New York City. The album cover for Weird Al Yankovic was designed by Brazilian artist Rogerio, the band chose Rogerio because of his MAD Magazine-like drawing style. The cover art specifically features individual elements that correspond with each of the twelve songs. Ricky is a parody of Mickey by Toni Basil, an ode to I Love Lucy with Yankovic performing as Ricky, gotta Boogie is a play on words discussing a man with a boogie on his finger and his quandary therein. I Love Rocky Road is a parody of Arrows I Love Rock n Roll made famous by Joan Jett, buckingham Blues is a blues song satirizing the socialite lifestyle of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Originally, the song was going to be a parody of Jack & Diane by John Mellencamp, worried about spoiling a Jack and Diane movie deal, Mellencamp shot down the parody. Yankovic considered tweaking the Jack & Diane melody to avoid the song being a true parody, answering a fan in 1998, Yankovic replied that he would not rewrite and rerecord the song in light of the death of Diana
17.
Billboard 200
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The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists, often, a recording act will be remembered by its number ones, those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart is based mostly on sales of albums in the United States, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday and ends on Thursday. A new chart is published the following Tuesday with an issue post-dated to the Saturday of the following week, the charts streaming schedule is also tracked from Friday to Thursday. Example, Friday January 1 – sales tracking week begins Thursday January 7 – sales tracking week ends Tuesday January 12 – new chart published, New product is released to the American market on Fridays. Digital downloads of albums are included in Billboard 200 tabulation. Albums that are not licensed for sale in the United States are not eligible to chart. As of the issue dated April 15,2017, the album on the Billboard 200 is More Life by Drake. Billboard began an album chart in 1945, initially only five positions long, the album chart was not published on a weekly basis, sometimes three to seven weeks passing before it was updated. A biweekly, 15-position Best-Selling Popular Albums chart appeared in 1955, the position count varied anywhere from 10 to 30 albums. The first number-one album on the new weekly list was Belafonte by Harry Belafonte, the chart was renamed to Best-Selling Pop Albums later in 1956, and then to Best-Selling Pop LPs in 1957. Beginning on May 25,1959, Billboard split the ranking into two charts Best-Selling Stereophonic LPs for stereo albums and Best-Selling Monophonic LPs for mono albums and these were renamed to Stereo Action Charts and Mono Action Charts in 1960. In January 1961, they became Action Albums—Stereophonic and Action Albums—Monophonic, three months later, they became Top LPs—Stereo and Top LPs—Monaural. On August 17,1963 the stereo and mono charts were combined into a 150-position chart called Top LPs, on April 1,1967, the chart was expanded to 175 positions, then finally to 200 positions on May 13,1967. In 1960, Billboard began concurrently publishing album charts which ranked sales of older or mid-priced titles and these Essential Inventory charts were divided by stereo and mono albums, and featured titles that had already appeared on the main stereo and mono album charts. In January 1961, the Action Charts became Action Albums—Monophonic, Albums appeared on either chart for up to nine weeks, then were moved to an Essential Inventory list of approximately 200 titles, with no numerical ranking. This list continued to be published until the consolidated Top LPs chart debuted in 1963, in 1982, Billboard began publishing a Midline Albums chart which ranked older or mid-priced titles. The chart held 50 positions and was published on a bi-weekly basis, on May 25,1991, Billboard premiered the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart
18.
Recording Industry Association of America
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The Recording Industry Association of America is a continental North and South American trade organization that represents the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA says create, the RIAA headquarters is in Washington, D. C. The RIAA was formed in 1952 and its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3 rpm,45 rpm. Since 2001, the RIAA has spent $2 to $6 million each year on lobbying in the United States, the RIAA also participates in the collective rights management of sound recordings, and it is responsible for certifying Gold and Platinum albums and singles in the United States. Cary Sherman has been the RIAAs chairman and CEO since 2011, Sherman joined the RIAA as its general counsel in 1997 and became president of the board of directors in 2001, serving in that position until being made chairman and CEO. Mitch Glazier has been the RIAAs senior executive vice president since 2011 and he served as executive vice president for public policy and industry relations from 2000 to 2011. The past RIAA chairman and CEO is Mitch Bainwol, who served from 2003 to 2011 and he left in 2011 to become president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The board of directors consists of 26 members of the board, the RIAA operates an award program for albums that sell a large number of copies. The program originally began in 1958, with a Gold Award for singles, the criterion was changed in 1975 to the number of copies sold, with albums selling 500,000 copies awarded the Gold Award. In 1976, a Platinum Award was added for one million sales, the awards are open to both RIAA members and non-members. Since 2000, the RIAA also operates a program for Latin music sales. Currently, a Disco De Oro is awarded for 30,000 units, the RIAA defines Latin music as a type of release with 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish. In 2006, digital ringtones were added to branch of certification. In the same year, the RIAA introduced the Latin Digital Award for digital recordings in Spanish and this release format includes DVD and VHS releases, and certain live albums and compilation albums. The certification criteria is different from other styles. Gold,50,000 Platinum,100,000 Multi-Platinum,200,000 copies The RIAA opposes unauthorized sharing of its music, studies conducted since the association began its campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing have concluded that losses incurred per download range from negligible to moderate. The association has commenced high-profile lawsuits against file sharing service providers and it has also commenced a series of lawsuits against individuals suspected of file sharing, notably college students and parents of file sharing children
19.
Ricky (song)
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Ricky is a 1983 song by Weird Al Yankovic. It is a parody of the 1982 song Mickey by Toni Basil, the song focuses on the show I Love Lucy, and ends with a segment of the theme from the show. A music video was created for the song, it was Yankovics first, according to the liner notes in the compilation DVD Weird Al Yankovic, The Ultimate Video Collection, it was arguably the first comedy video ever shown on MTV. Ricky –2,35 Buckingham Blues –3,11 The music video was directed by Janet Greek and it was filmed mostly in black and white and parodies the I Love Lucy television show. Yankovic plays the part of Ricky Ricardo, complete with affected Cuban accent, Yankovic appears minus his mustache and glasses, and with his hair slicked back, to more closely resemble Desi Arnaz. He is also briefly in several scenes as himself with his band, playing the accordion and sporting his normal mustache. Tress MacNeille plays the part of Lucy, giving an impression of Lucille Balls somewhat raspy voice, near the end of the video, a cheerleader can be seen dancing in the crowd. This is a reference to the music video for Mickey. The video ends with a segment of the I Love Lucy theme rounding out with Ricky on accordion, dr. Demento makes a cameo appearance at the very end. List of singles by Weird Al Yankovic List of songs by Weird Al Yankovic Ricky Official Music Video on YouTube Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
20.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
21.
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D
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Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Weird Al Yankovic, released on February 28,1984, by Rock n Roll Records. The album was one of many produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, recorded between October and December 1983, the album was Yankovics follow-up to his modestly successful debut LP, Weird Al Yankovic. The music on Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D is built around parodies and pastiches of pop, half of the album is made up of parodies, featuring jabs at Michael Jackson, Men Without Hats, The Greg Kihn Band, The Police, and Survivor. The other half of the album is original material, featuring many style parodies, or musical imitations that come close to and these style parodies include imitations of specific artists like Bob Marley and The B-52s. Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D is also notable for being the first album released by Yankovic to feature a medley of hit songs. These pastiches of hit songs, set to music, have since appeared on nearly all of Yankovics albums. Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D was met mostly positive reviews and peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard 200. The album also produced one of Yankovics most famous singles, Eat It and this song was Yankovics highest charting single until White & Nerdy from his 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood peaked at number nine in the October 21,2006 Billboard charts. Eat It also charted at number one in Australia, making it Yankovics only number one single in any country, the album also produced two minor US hits, King of Suede, which peaked at number sixty-two, and I Lost on Jeopardy, which peaked at number eighty-one. The album was Yankovics first Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of one million copies in the United States. Eat It won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Performance Single or Album, in October 1983, Yankovic began recording his second album at Santa Monica Sound Recorders, in Santa Monica, California. To produce it, he brought in former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, backing Yankovic were Jon Bermuda Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, and Jim West on guitar. During the first recording session for the album, five songs were recorded, Nature Trail To Hell, Mr. Popeil, Buy Me a Condo, Midnight Star. Every song on Yankovics debut album was played on an accordion, accompanied by bass, guitar, on In 3-D Yankovic decided to restrict the accordion to certain sections, most notably the polka medley Polkas on 45. and of course, on the polka medleys. Im not really downplaying the accordion at all - I usually feature the accordion on three or four songs every album, which is three or four more accordion-based songs than most Top 40 albums have. One of the first originals recorded for the album was Midnight Star, the liner notes to Permanent Record state that a Weekly World News article about the Incredible Frog Boy helped to inspire the song. According to Yankovic, most of the headlines were real. He spent several weeks collecting and looking through old tabloids to find inane titles, initially he thought that Midnight Star should have been the lead single for the album, but later relented and released Eat It instead
22.
Eat It
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Eat It is a 1984 song by comedy music artist Weird Al Yankovic. It is a spoof of Beat It by Michael Jackson, the track was both a commercial and critical success, earning Yankovic a Grammy Award. It reached number 1 in Australia, according to Yankovic, when he presented his lyrics to Jackson for review, he didnt know what kind of reaction hed get. Jackson allegedly thought it was amusing, and agreed to allow the parody, on October 19,1989, the RIAA certified Eat It as a gold single. The single reached number 1 in Australia, and it was his highest-charting US single on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 12 until White & Nerdy peaked at number 9 in October 2006, Eat It earned Yankovic a 1984 Grammy Award in the Best Comedy Recording category. Eat It also outranked Beat It in overall highest position on the Australian Aria Charts, with its highest rank being number 1, as stated before, the RIAA certified Eat It as a gold single on October 19,1989. The video opens with a man in the cafe drinking his coffee when another man goes up to him, the man then spits his drink out. The video then shows the Gang Members coming out of the drains, the video then shows Weird al laying on the bed with food all around him that has been opened and half eaten. Just as he sits up, the picture on the wall behind his bed falls off, the video then shows weird al in a red jacket and black jeans just like what Michael Jackson wears in the Beat it Music Video. The next part of the shows a man walking towards double doors when Weird al opens the double doors. He then becomes clumsy and knocks the Chairs over and it then shows weird al dancing around a pool table and he breathes into the camera fogging up the lens. The next part of the video shows the gang members. He the gives the two members two pieces of food and they all then join Weird al dancing. The video the shows weird al putting a tablet in a glass cup, List of singles by Weird Al Yankovic List of songs by Weird Al Yankovic Fat, another Michael Jackson parody by Weird Al Yankovic
23.
I Lost on Jeopardy
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I Lost on Jeopardy is a song by Weird Al Yankovic from his second album, Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D. The song is a parody of Jeopardy by The Greg Kihn Band, the parodys lyrics center on the then-former game show Jeopardy. Hosted by Art Fleming, a revival, with Alex Trebek. The song became the music video released by Yankovic, and featured a number of cameo appearances including Kihn, Fleming, Yankovics mentor Dr. Demento. Announcer Don Pardo, and Yankovics parents, the song has been referenced several times on the game show itself, including once as a category on the current Alex Trebek-hosted version, and later when Yankovic appeared on Rock & Roll Jeopardy. The song was played over the credits on the second episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy. The song has appeared on compilation albums, including Greatest Hits, Wacky Favorites. I Lost on Jeopardy –3,26 Ill Be Mellow When Im Dead –3,37 I Lost on Jeopardy –5,31. Mr. Popeil –4,40 The music video, shot on May 24 and 25,1984 and directed by Francis Delia, at the beginning of the video, Yankovic plays against a plumber and an architect, both with a Ph. D. The board contains a series of befuddling and nearly-impossible clues from these six categories, T. V. Themes, Nuclear Physics, World Geography, Food, Potpourri, and Famous Accordion Players. Although the other contestants manage to get their questions right, Yankovic lost every clue, finishing with a score of -$6,750, Don Pardo proceeds to tell Yankovic of what he did not win, neither consolation prizes nor a lousy copy of the home game. Pardo tells Yankovic that he not come back the next day. Art Fleming raspberries Yankovic as staff members come to him out from the studio. Kihn described his car as a sports car to approximate the one I drove in the original Jeopardy video. The bride in the car would become a major rock star in an all-girls L. A. band. List of singles by Weird Al Yankovic List of songs by Weird Al Yankovic
24.
Dare to Be Stupid
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Dare to Be Stupid is the third studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on June 18,1985. The album was one of many produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, recorded between August 1984 and March 1985, the album was Yankovics first studio album released following the success of 1984s In 3-D, which included the Top 40 single Eat It. The music on Dare to Be Stupid is built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the mid-1980s, featuring jabs at Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News, and The Kinks. The album also features many style parodies, or musical imitations that come close to and these style parodies include imitations of specific artists like Devo and Elvis, as well as imitations of various musical genres like doo-wop, sci-fi soundtracks, and music from the 1920s and 1930s. Despite the mixed reception, Dare to Be Stupid sold well, the album also produced one of Yankovics more famous singles, Like a Surgeon, a parody of Madonnas Like a Virgin, which peaked at number forty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was Yankovics second Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of one million copies in the United States. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1986, in January 1985 Yankovic entered the recording studio to begin the sessions to his In 3-D follow-up album. To produce the album, Yankovic brought in former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer who also produced Yankovics previous albums, backing Yankovic were Jon Bermuda Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, and Jim West on guitar. The first session yielded four originals, Dare to Be Stupid, Cable TV, Slime Creatures from Outer Space, the band also recorded a cover tune of the theme from George Of The Jungle. This Is The Life had already recorded and released as a single in November 1984. The song describes the narrators overly lavish lifestyle and had originally commissioned for the gangster spoof movie Johnny Dangerously. The albums title track, Dare to Be Stupid, is an ode to living life stupidly, according to the liner notes of The Ultimate Video Collection, the song represents Als motto in life. The song is a parody of the band Devo. Yankovic said, Right after I finished Dare To Be Stupid, I went over to Mark Mothersbaughs house and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. The song was released on the soundtrack to the 1986 film The Transformers. Yankovic later mused that more people were introduced to Dare to Be Stupid the song through the Transformers movie than through the actual Dare to Be Stupid album itself, One More Minute, about an ex-girlfriend, was written in the style of an Elvis Presley-like Doo-wop. According to the notes of Permanent Record, Yankovic was preparing to write songs for Dare to Be Stupid when his then-girlfriend broke up with him. In order to deal with the heartbreak, Yankovic decided to write a humorous song to express his anger
25.
Like a Surgeon ("Weird Al" Yankovic song)
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Like a Surgeon is a song recorded by Weird Al Yankovic that appears on his third studio album Dare to Be Stupid. It was released as the second single on June 4,1985. It was issued as a 7,12, and picture disc, a parody of the pop song Like a Virgin by Madonna, its lyrics describe a hospital environment, with the same melody as Madonnas original counterpart. The track was written by Yankovic and Madonna, with the coming up with the parodys title. Rick Derringer served as the executive producer, like a Surgeon was well received by music critics, who praised Yankovics take on Madonnas single. Another critic called it as good as Like a Virgin, in the United States, it peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his fifth entry in that country at the time. It also peaked in the top forty of Australia and Canada, for live performances of the recording, Yankovic further borrowed elements from Madonnas renditions, singing live in a hospital surrounding, sporting similar outfits and costumes. The idea for Like a Surgeon arose immediately following the completion of his song Yoda, although Yankovic generally did not use parody ideas from other musicians, Madonna was partly involved during the writing process of the track. An acquaintance of the singer suggested the idea while with Madonna, the acquaintance was a mutual friend of Jay Levey, Yankovics manager, and brought the idea up to him following the encounter. This is the known time that Yankovic has obtained an idea directly from the original artist. It was recorded alongside other singles in February 1985, I Want a New Duck and Hooked on Polkas, and album track Girls Just Want to Have Lunch. Yankovic parodies the pop song by speaking from the point of view of a new surgeon, singing lines, before the chorus, he also coos, Ill pull his insides out, pull his insides out / And see what he ate. The creation of the song was parodied in the show How I Met Your Mother, in one episode, lead character Ted Mosby gave Weird Al the idea to the song after sending him a fan letter when he was 8 years old. Critical reception for Like a Surgeon was generally positive, in Eugene Chadbournes AllMusic album review for Dare to Be Stupid, he congratulated Yankovic for perhaps his best parody ever, the brilliant and cutting Like a Surgeon. Chadbourne continued, Turning the tacky Madonna hit inside out and upside down, commercially, the single became one of Yankovics more well-known works. In the United States, it became his entry on the Billboard Hot 100. It climbed the charts for eight weeks in mid 1985, before reaching its peak at number 47 for the week ending July 13,1985, on list compiling Yankovics most successful releases, Billboard described Like a Surgeon as his third biggest hit single. According to RPM, the single reached its peak of 37 on August 17 of the same year, in Australia, it peaked at number 19, similarly his third highest peak in that country at the time
26.
Polka Party!
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Is the fourth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on October 21,1986. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, recorded between April and September 1986, the album was Yankovics follow-up to his successful 1985 release, Dare to Be Stupid. The albums lead single was Living With a Hernia, although it was not a hit, is built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the mid-1980s, featuring jabs at James Brown, Mick Jagger, El DeBarge, and Robert Palmer. The album also features many style parodies, or musical imitations that come close to and these style parodies include imitations of specific artists like the Talking Heads, as well as imitations of various musical genres like country music. Peaking at only number 177 on the Billboard 200, Polka Party, was met with mixed-to-negative reviews and was considered a commercial and critical failure. Despite this, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1986, is one of Yankovics few studio albums not to be certified either Gold or Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In April 1986 Yankovic entered the studio to begin the sessions to his follow-up to 1985s Dare to Be Stupid. To produce the album, Yankovic brought in former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, backing Yankovic were Jon Bermuda Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, and Jim West on guitar. The album was recorded in three sessions. The first session took place between April 22 and 23, and yielded four originals, Dont Wear Those Shoes, One of Those Days, Dog Eat Dog, and Christmas at Ground Zero. The second session, which spanned August 4–5, produced three parodies, Living with a Hernia, Addicted to Spuds, and Heres Johnny. The final session, which lasted from August 29 to September 1 produced the parody Toothless People, a song named Good Enough for Now. Thematically, Yankovic described the record as not a lot different than the other albums he had recorded. On April 22,1986, Yankovic began recording three new songs for his next album, Dont Wear Those Shoes, One of Those Days. Although Dont Wear Those Shoes is a composition, Yankovic admitted that the intro was inspired by the style of The Kinks. Lyrically, the song is a plea by the singer to his wife not to not wear certain shoes which he cannot stand, One of Those Days is a song detailing horrible things as if they were everyday annoyances. Each horrible thing escalates up to global annihilation while more mundane annoyances pop up at different times, Dog Eat Dog is a style parody of the Talking Heads. Described as a look at office life, the song was inspired by Yankovics past experience of working in the mailrooms as well as the traffic department at Westwood One radio station
27.
Even Worse
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Even Worse is the fifth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on April 12,1988. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer, recorded between November 1987 and February 1988, this album helped to revitalize Yankovics career after the critical and commercial failure of his previous album Polka Party. The music on Even Worse is built around parodies and pastiches of pop, half of the album is made up of parodies, featuring jabs at Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Tiffany, Los Lobos version of the folk song La Bamba, and Billy Idol. The other half of the album is original material, featuring many style parodies, or musical imitations that come close to and these style parodies include imitations of specific artists such as Oingo Boingo, Beastie Boys, and James Taylor. Even Worse has the distinction of being one of two albums by Yankovic lacking any polka renditions of pop songs or medleys, the other being his debut album Weird Al Yankovic and this albums title and cover art are spoofs of Michael Jacksons 1987 album Bad. Even Worse was met mostly positive reviews and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200. The album also produced one of Yankovics hit singles, Fat, a parody of Michael Jacksons Bad, which peaked at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a staple on MTV. The album was certified as a gold record, and later as a platinum record with sales of over one million copies in the United States. Fat later won a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video at the 1989 Grammy Awards, after success in the early 80s, Yankovic released Polka Party. After the disappointment with Polka Party, Yankovic went on record saying, I thought it was the end of my career. For most of 1987, Yankovic took a break from recording, in November 1987, Yankovic returned to the studio to craft his follow-up to Polka Party. Once again, former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer was brought in as producer, during the first session, two songs were recorded, Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White, and Melanie. The next month, three songs were recorded, Good Old Days, You Make Me, and Velvet Elvis, finally, in early 1988, the remaining songs were recorded. One of the first original songs recorded for the album was Stuck in a Closet With Vanna White, allmusic described the song as a real winner for Yankovic because it was the first song wrote that his target audience actually liked as much or even more than his parodies. You Make Me is a song involving a desire to engage in strange and/or violent behavior compelled by the weirdness of another person. According to the notes of The Permanent Record, Its about as close as ever come to writing a real love song. Musically, the song is a parody of Oingo Boingo. Melanie is a twisted love song to his neighbor Melanie
28.
Fat (song)
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Fat is a song by Weird Al Yankovic. It is a parody of Bad by Michael Jackson and it is Yankovics second parody of a Jackson song, the first being Eat It, a parody of Jacksons Beat It. Fat is the first song on Yankovics Even Worse album, the video won a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video in 1988. Yankovic came up with the idea for Fat while watching the Bad music video, as he watched the Bad video, he imagined an obese version of himself trying to get through the turnstiles on a subway, and resolved that he would do it. When performing in concert, Yankovic wears a fat suit and a mask that makes his face appear fat. Due to undergoing laser vision correction surgery, he no longer needs to wear glasses, here is a list depicting some parody elements, The lighting in Jacksons video is much darker. Yankovic filmed his parody video with much brighter lighting, and it appears as though it was filmed in the daytime, the video begins with a non-musical black-and-white scene, as in the original, but it is much shorter. It starts at the station with a gang of obese men criticizing Al for not eating much unhealthy food lately. They try to get Al to eat a slice of pizza, a hamburger and a Ding Dong, the original video showed Jackson coming back from high school and his old street friends bugging him about going to school and becoming soft. The lines Are you fat, or what, and You aint fat, you aint nothing. Mimic lines in the original, only using the fat instead of bad. In the beginning the dancers can be seen goofing off, two of them miss a high five, while another can be seen waving and mouthing the words Hi Mom over and over again, and is pulled away from the camera by another of the dancers by his nose. As a whole the group disorganized and fidgety, as a parody of the precise choreography in Michael Jacksons video. The original video has Jackson with at least twenty dancers, the six dancers with Yankovic in the video are obese instead of skinny. They are also dressed similarly to the dancers in Bad, in order to get the dancers Yankovic simply advertised for very fat dancers in a trade journal, and his hunch that such people might exist was soon proven right. Yankovic stated in the notes for Permanent Record, Al in the Box that one of the dancers was actually a pizza delivery man who delivered pizzas to the casting office. Instead of a troupe of dancers sliding along the ground, the beginning of Fat shows Yankovic getting fatter and fatter, Yankovics black outfit is similar to Jacksons, but the buckle and zipper ornamentation is exaggerated. Yankovic does Jacksons famous crotch-grab, but with sound effects added, such as a boing
29.
UHF (film)
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The film was directed by Jay Levey, Yankovics manager, who also co-wrote the screenplay with him. It was released by Orion Pictures and is owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He provokes the ire of a network station that dislikes the competitive upstart. The title refers to the Ultra High Frequency analog television broadcasting band on which such low-budget television stations often were placed in the United States. They struggled with finding a film company for financing the film. Principal filming took place around Tulsa, Oklahoma, with many of the extras for the film from the Tulsa, UHF earned mixed critical reviews, and was further impacted by being released in the middle of one of Hollywoods largest blockbuster summer periods. While only a modest success during its release, it became a cult film on home video. Factory released a special 25th Anniversary edition of UHF on November 11,2014 on DVD, George Newman is a Walter Mitty-esque daydreamer whose hyperactive imagination keeps him and his friend Bob from holding a steady job. Georges uncle Harvey Bilchik wins the deed to Channel 62, a UHF television station on the verge of bankruptcy and his wife Esther talks him into giving control of Channel 62 to the out-of-work George. George attempts to introduce himself to the rival VHF network station Channel 8, but its owner, George offers him a janitorial job at Channel 62. George and Bob stay late at the station brainstorming ways to keep it afloat, the next day a despondent George walks out in the middle of filming the kids show Uncle Nutzys Clubhouse so he can go to the bar and drown his woes in drink. Stanley takes over as host and his antics are an instant hit with the audience. Channel 62 finds success with a line up of original shows. Channel 62 eventually overtakes Channel 8 in the ratings, which infuriates Fletcher, concurrently, Bilchik loses big at a horse race and ends up with $75,000 of gambling debt that he cant repay. Fletcher offers Bilchik the $75,000 to buy out Channel 62, George learns of the deal and calls his aunt Esther, who forces Bilchik to give George a chance to match Fletchers offer. Led by Stanleys boundless energy, the telethon gets off to a quick start, George then leads a group to infiltrate Channel 8 and rescue Stanley. Despite Stanleys return, the ends with the station $2,000 short of its goal. As the film ends George and Teri rekindle their relationship, while the rest of the employees and fans of Channel 62 celebrate
30.
Off the Deep End
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Off the Deep End is the seventh studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released in 1992. This album was the first album self-produced by Yankovic, after six albums with Rick Derringer, recorded between June 1990 and January 1992, the album was a follow-up to the unsuccessful soundtrack to Yankovics 1989 film UHF. Off the Deep End and its lead single Smells Like Nirvana helped to revitalize Yankovics career after a lull in the late 80s. The musical styles on Off the Deep End are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the newly arisen grunge movement. Half of the album is made up of parodies of Nirvana, MC Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Gerardo, the other half of the album is original material, featuring many style parodies, or musical imitations of existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists like The Beach Boys, off the Deep End was met with mostly positive reviews and peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard 200. This song was Yankovics second-highest charting single, after Eat It, the cover also parodies the cover of Nirvanas album, Nevermind. The original had a baby in the water with a dollar bill cast by a fishing rod, Yankovics replaced the baby with himself. Off the Deep End was Yankovics fourth Gold record, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of one million copies in the United States. In addition, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1993. In 1989, Yankovic starred in a feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey. Although the movie made a little over six million domestically – out of a budget of five million – it was considered unsuccessful, the album failed to be successful, charting at only 146 on the Billboard 200 and quickly falling off. After the release of UHF, Yankovic returned to the studio to record his follow-up album, on June 6,1990, recording for Off the Deep End officially began at Santa Monica Sound Records, in Santa Monica, California. The first recording session started with Airline Amy and these recording sessions marked the first time Yankovic self-produced his songs, after six albums with Rick Derringer. By late 1990 five originals—Airline Amy, Trigger Happy, When I Was Your Age, You Dont Love Me Anymore and you Dont Love Me Anymore was one of the last original songs recorded during the 1990 sessions. The song is written as an acoustic ballad. However, the lyrics are of a—literally—destructive relationship between Yankovic and an unnamed girl, although they were formerly in love, the flames died down and they are no longer passionate - in fact the girl hates Yankovic to such an extent that she repeatedly attempts to kill him. In 1992, when the album was released, Yankovic desired to release the song as a single
31.
Smells Like Nirvana
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The song was written to poke fun at the fact that many people had a hard time understanding Nirvana singer Kurt Cobains lyrics in the original song. After being unable to contact Nirvana by conventional means, Yankovic called Cobain while the band was on the set of Saturday Night Live, recording the song was a change for Yankovic and his band. Usually, the group were forced to record several overdubs, Smells Like Nirvana, however, was relatively straightforward in its musical composition. To promote the single, Yankovic created a video for the song that parodied the Smells like Teen Spirit video. The parody video closely mirrored the original, Yankovic even went so far as to several of the same actors. Smells Like Nirvana was met with praise and helped to re-energize Yankovics career. Cobain considered the parody as a sign that they had made it as a band, the song is one of Yankovics most successful singles, reaching number 35 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the US Mainstream Rock Tracks. The songs video was nominated for a 1992 MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video, prior to writing Smells Like Nirvana, Yankovics music career had suffered from the poor financial performance of his 1989 feature film, UHF and the associated soundtrack. Yankovic called that the beginning of three years where it was kind of hard for me to recover and he started work on a new studio album around 1990. To revitalize his career, he considered creating a parody of a Michael Jackson song, Yankovic would later believe that Jacksons refusal was, in retrospect, a blessing, he felt that Snack All Night was not one of his better works. The band Nirvana started to become a name in the scene at the time, creating big. Yankovic felt that the bands 1991 album Nevermind, which featured Smells Like Teen Spirit, was really great, by early 1992, Nevermind had reached platinum certification and led the Billboard charts, which led Yankovic to start working on a parody. Yankovic decided to use this as the basis for his parody, Yankovic noted, I try not to go the obvious route all the time, but sometimes the most obvious is actually the best. Yankovic had initial difficulty getting permission for the parody, as his manager claimed he was unable to get through to the numerous times. When Yankovic learned that Nirvana would be performing on the January 11,1992 show of Saturday Night Live, he called his UHF co-star, Victoria Jackson, Jackson got Cobain on the phone so that Yankovic could make his request. Cobain agreed, though initially he inquired if the song would be about food, Yankovic explained that the song would be about Cobains incomprehensible lyrics, to which Cobain replied, according to Yankovic, Oh, sure, of course, thats funny. The song was recorded around January 27,1992 at Santa Monica Sound Records, in Santa Monica, recording took between three and four days. The band worked at trying to match the same tempos that were in the original Smells Like Teen Spirit song, Jon Schwartz, Yankovics drummer and we adjusted the tempos on our song to meet the Nirvana version
32.
Alapalooza
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Alapalooza is the eighth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released in 1993. By the completion of his previous album, Off the Deep End and this new album, which would eventually be titled Alapalooza in reference to the music festival Lollapalooza, consisted of seven original songs and five parodies. It produced three singles, Jurassic Park, Bedrock Anthem, and Achy Breaky Song. Jurassic Park was a top five hit on the Canadian magazine The Records single chart, a music video compilation, entitled Alapalooza, the Videos, was released the following year and contained four videos, only two of which were from its eponymous album. Alapalooza met with average to negative reception upon its release, with critics commenting that the album seemed hurried. The video offering received a lukewarm response. By the time production for Off the Deep End was nearing completion, nevertheless, Waffle King was released as a B-side to Off the Deep Ends Smells Like Nirvana single, just in case there wasnt going to be a next album. Yankovic eventually decided to title his new album Alapalooza, a reference to the Lollapalooza music festival, the Yankovic dinosaur in the albums booklet was designed by David Peters, who had worked previously with the singer on the Dare to Be Stupid video. Alapalooza was released on October 5,1993 in the United States, globally, some versions included a notice distinguishing it from the official Jurassic Park film soundtrack, as the two cover designs were similar. The Japanese edition contained a track of Yankovic singing Jurassic Park in Japanese. A music video compilation for the album, entitled Alapalooza, the Videos, was released in February 1994 and contained four videos, only two of which were from Alapalooza. Alapalooza contains seven original songs among its tracks, although Young, Dumb & Ugly and Franks 2000 TV were meant to be stylistic parodies of AC/DC. For the former, Yankovic wanted to parody the heavy metal genre while at the same time avoiding a repetition of what had already been done by Spinal Tap. He ended up disliking the final product because he sang it in a register that was too high for singing voice. The latter was a song about consumerism and modern electronics that described the neighborhoods envy of the characters new television. The song Talk Soup, which is about a man who desires to go on television to tell the world about his life, was originally commissioned as a new theme for the E. Entertainment Television show of the same name, although the producers approved the lyrics and enjoyed the final result, they decided against using it. Yankovic included Harvey the Wonder Hamster, a tune from one of his Al TV appearances
33.
Bad Hair Day
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Bad Hair Day is the ninth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on March 12,1996. It was the studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the mid-1990s, largely targeting alternative rock, the album also includes style parodies, imitations of specific artists like They Might Be Giants and Elvis Costello. Amish Paradise caused a controversy after rapper Coolio expressed distaste at having his song parodied by Yankovic. Bad Hair Day was met with mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising Amish Paradise in particular. The album peaked at fourteen on the Billboard 200. Bad Hair Day sold 1,317,000 copies in the U. S. in 1996 alone, the album was also certified Platinum in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. In November 1994, Yankovic entered Santa Monica Sound Recorders in Santa Monica, California to begin the first of the Bad Hair Day sessions, Recording with Yankovic were Jon Bermuda Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, and Jim West on guitar. The album was recorded in five sessions, the first session started on November 30 and yielded two originals, Callin In Sick and Everything You Know Is Wrong. The second session started the day and produced the original songs, I Remember Larry, The Night Santa Went Crazy. The third session took place on November 5,1995, and resulted in the original Im So Sick of You, the fourth session yielded The Alternative Polka medley, and the two parodies Gump and Phony Calls. The fifth and final recording session produced Amish Paradise and Syndicated Inc. both of which were parodies, Callin In Sick is a style parody of music popular in Seattle, Washington, most notably grunge. Everything You Know Is Wrong is a pastiche of They Might Be Giants. Yankovic explained that he tried to write a sort of in their style. For fans of They Might Be Giants, he put little references in here and there, Yankovic later admitted that it is a little bit harder I think to decipher exactly where the inspiration is coming from. The song title is taken from the 1974 Firesign Theatre album of the same name, I Remember Larry is a style parody of Hilly Michaels, and it tells the tale of a neighborhood bully who, after myriad pranks, is brutally murdered by the narrator. At the 3,10 mark, the contains a backmasked message. The Night Santa Went Crazy tells the story of Santa snapping, embarking on a killing spree, originally, the song had a different third verse, differing in the fact that, at the end of the song, Santa is killed by the SWAT team
34.
Amish Paradise
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Amish Paradise is a 1996 single by parodist Weird Al Yankovic. It is a parody of the hip hop song Gangstas Paradise by Coolio featuring L. V, a series of photos taken at the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show suggests that Yankovic and Coolio may have made amends. On June 27,2013 during an Ask Me Anything on Reddit, to which Yankovic replied Coolios cool with me now. We ran into each other a few years ago and its all water under the proverbial bridge. Coolio stated in a 2014 interview that the decision to refuse the parody at the time was stupid and wished that someone on his management had stopped him, the director of the music video for Amish Paradise was Weird Al himself. Weird Al has directed many of his music videos since 1986, the music video for Amish Paradise is very similar to the Gangstas Paradise music video, although several concepts have been parodied. These include, When Yankovic states that Amish shun electricity, several Amish stomp on electronic devices, such as records, CDs, floppy disks, laptops, telephones. When Yankovic says he is up at 4,30 in the milking cows. A box of corn flakes can be next to him. The Kelloggs brand name is covered, in the next scene, when Jebediah is feeding the chickens he is giving them pizza. The line Tonight were gonna party like its 1699, is a subtle jab at Prince. Prince is one of the few artists in the music industry who, during his lifetime. When Weird Al is churning butter, a woman walks by, when the man is sawing and checking his sundial watch, the man behind him is playing golf. When Weird Al sings, We sell quilts at discount price, at one point Al is seen reading a fictitious Lancaster, Pennsylvania, newspaper, The Lancaster Times, with the headline Much Butter Was Churned. This is a homage to the film Witness, which place in Lancaster County, home to perhaps the most well-known Amish communities. When the young Amish children are on Yankovics knee, they each have a beard, Weird Als face is seen, with him sweating more every time a close up is taken to mock how L. V. is sweating profusely in Coolios video. When Yankovic states hes scoring points for the afterlife, he takes off his hat to reveal a very similar to that seen on the cover of his album Bad Hair Day. These are both parodies of Coolios trademark hairstyle, on the back of the carriage just before the sign reading, Welcome to Lancaster, theres a bumper sticker stating, How am I driving
35.
Volcano Entertainment
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It is currently a part of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. Volcano Records was founded in 1990 by Jay-Shy and it is essentially the continuation of Zoo Entertainment which Shy bought from BMG in 1996. Initially, the company was meant to have two divisions Zoo/Volcano and Volcano which would be a hip-hop imprint, the first album released with the new ownership was flagship Zoo artist Tools album Ænima followed by actor Keanu Reeves band Dogstars album Our Little Visionary. However, the Zoo name was phased out and many of Zoo artists became the cornerstone of the Volcano roster. In October 1997, Volcano merged with Dallas Austins Rowdy Records to become Freeworld Entertainment, Freeworld was short lived as the label was plagued with financial trouble and the relationship with Austin faltered. Many of the employees were either cut or left. Additionally, the flagship artist Tool was attempting to leave the label which resulted in a lengthy lawsuit. In the spring of 1998, Freeworld was purchased and saved by the Zomba Label Group, though the Zoo branding was briefly reintroduced, Zomba quickly returned the Volcano moniker, abandoning Zoo altogether. A month later, Q Prime, led by top managers Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, purchased a 50% stake in Volcano and they would sell their share back to Zomba in the early 2000s. 1998 also marked the year that Volcano acquired the contracts and masters of Scotti Bros. Records which had just been purchased by Pearson PLC, continuing with that trend, Volcano also purchased Capricorn Records in December 2000. In 2002, Zomba was purchased by BMG, returning Volcano to the BMG umbrella it had previously been a part of as Zoo Entertainment in the early nineties, Volcano now controls the Scotti Bros. Records, Capricorn Records and Zoo Entertainment catalogs, with Weird Al fulfilling his Sony contract on their main label RCA, for his 2014 album Mandatory Fun, this leaves Volcano functioning as primarily a reissue label and the home of only Tool. However, depending on how long it takes the band to new music, it is likely Volcano may not even exist if. Volcano products were distributed by BMG. When Zomba purchased the label in 1998, distribution was handled through the Zomba network which, depending on the territory, may have been BMG, Virgin, when Zomba was purchased by BMG, BMG became the sole worldwide distributor again. Between 2004 and late 2008 distribution switched to Sony BMG in accordance with the merger of Sony, since early 2009, Sony Music Entertainment distributes Volcano products worldwide. List of record labels Zoo Entertainment Freeworld Entertainment
36.
Running with Scissors ("Weird Al" Yankovic album)
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Running with Scissors is the tenth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on June 29,1999. It was the studio album self-produced by Yankovic. It was the first of four albums to be released by Volcano Records, the musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1990s, largely targeting alternative rock and hip-hop. None of the singles charted domestically, although Pretty Fly for a Rabbi charted at number 67 in Australia. The other half of the album is original material, featuring many style parodies, Running with Scissors was met with mostly positive reviews, with many critics praising The Saga Begins, some, however, felt that the album was rushed. The album peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200, the Saga Begins went on to become one of Yankovics best-known singles, although it never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Running with Scissors was Yankovics seventh Gold record in the United States, the album also was certified Gold in both Australia and Canada. In June 1997, Yankovic entered the studio to begin the first of the Running with Scissors sessions, Recording with Yankovic were Jon Bermuda Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, and Jim West on guitar. The album was recorded in six sessions, the first session started on June 29,1997, in which Yankovic recorded the theme song to his television show, The Weird Al Show. The next day, the session resulted in the song Your Horoscope For Today. On April 19 of the year, Yankovic recorded four parodies during the fifth session, Pretty Fly for a Rabbi, Jerry Springer, Its All About the Pentiums. The albums sixth and final session occurred on April 20, and resulted in The Saga Begins, the album includes The Weird Al Show Theme, which is the theme song to Yankovics short-lived television series. Germs, a parody of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails that tells of the narrators germophobia. Your Horoscope for Today, is a parody of third wave ska, features Reel Big Fish members Tavis Werts on trumpet and Dan Regan on trombone. Yankovic attributes the inspiration to the satirical newspaper The Onion. After Ophiuchus was touted by some papers as the 13th zodiac sign, Yankovic originally wrote the song to annoy people for 12 minutes. He felt that it would be an odyssey for fans to sit through it. Instead, to Yankovics surprise, the song has become a fan favorite and my Babys in Love with Eddie Vedder is a style parody of zydeco about a mans frustration that his girlfriend is obsessed with Eddie Vedder, the lead singer for the grunge band Pearl Jam
37.
Pretty Fly for a Rabbi
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Pretty Fly for a Rabbi is a song by Weird Al Yankovic. It is a parody of Pretty Fly by The Offspring, the song was released as a single exclusively in Australia. Tress MacNeille performs the line How ya doin Bernie. and appears in the music video, voice Actress Mary Kay Bergman also contributes with the, For a rabbi. Line near the middle of the song, as opposed to the phrase Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen in the original song, Weird Al starts this song with the Yiddish sentence Weren soll von dir a Blintze meaning You should turn into a blintz. Australian single Pretty Fly for a Rabbi –3,02 Amish Paradise –3,20 A music video for the song was assembled but has not been seen outside of Australia. Yankovic stated that his Australian record company decided to release Pretty Fly for a Rabbi as a single and he decided against the idea, but told them that they could make one themselves by cutting together bits from Weird Al Yankovic Live
38.
Poodle Hat
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Poodle Hat is the eleventh studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on May 20,2003. It was the studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop of the early-2000s, the albums lead single, Couch Potato, is a parody of Lose Yourself by Eminem. The single failed to chart, although the albums song eBay eventually peaked at number 115 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007. Aside from the aforementioned Couch Potato and eBay, the album also spoofs Hot in Herre by Nelly, Complicated by Avril Lavigne, the album includes six original songs, featuring many style parodies, or musical imitations of existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists like Ben Folds, Beck, a polka medley of popular songs was also included on the album. A music video for the song Couch Potato was planned but was cancelled due to objections by Eminem, Poodle Hat was released as an Enhanced CD, meaning that when the disc is placed in a computer, bonus content are viewable. The album met mixed reviews from critics, some felt that the album represented an artistic misstep for Yankovic. The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200, the album also peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart, making it the first of Yankovics records to earn a position on said chart. On March 26,2002, recording for Poodle Hat officially began at Santa Monica Sound Records, in Santa Monica, by mid-2002, six originals—Hardware Store, Party At The Leper Colony, Wanna B Ur Lovr, Why Does This Always Happen To Me. Bob, and Genius In France—had been recorded, the albums first original song is Hardware Store, which, as the title suggests, is about a new neighborhood hardware store and the things that can be purchased therein. The song was supposed to be a style parody of another artist. Party At The Leper Colony describes a party at a leper colony, the song makes heavy use of wordplay, using common English idioms to describe events wherein people literally lose body parts. Wanna B Ur Lovr, a pastiche of Midnite Vultures-era Beck, consists of lines which become steadily more ridiculous. Why Does This Always Happen To Me. emulates the style of Ben Folds, Folds himself plays piano on the track. Club, Ben and I are old friends at this point, so he came in and knocked it out. I think that’s an F-Sharp, so he was kind of mad at me for that, Bob is a style parody of Bob Dylan, composed entirely of palindromes. Rabin argues that the lyrics sound cryptic enough to be genuine Dylanesque
39.
Straight Outta Lynwood
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Straight Outta Lynwood is the twelfth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on September 26,2006. It was the studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop, the albums lead single, White & Nerdy, is a parody of Chamillionaires hit single Ridin. The single peaked at nine on the Billboard Hot 100, Canadian Idiot also charted. The other half of the album is original material, featuring many style parodies and these style parodies include imitations of specific artists like Brian Wilson, Rage Against the Machine, Sparks, animated musical specials, Cake, and 1980s charity songs. The CD release was a DualDisc, one side of the played the album. Straight Outta Lynwood was met mostly positive reviews, with many critics praising White & Nerdy. Some of the parody songs, however, were met with a more mixed response. The album peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200, White & Nerdy became Yankovics highest-charting single, as well as his first Platinum-certified single. The record itself was certified Gold for shipments of over 500,000 copies, on July 5,2005, recording for Straight Outta Lynwood officially began at Santa Monica Sound Records, in Santa Monica, California. By late 2005, six originals—Pancreas, Close but No Cigar, Virus Alert, Dont Download This Song, Ill Sue Ya, Ill Sue Ya is a Rage Against the Machine style parody, taking aim at the abundance of frivolous lawsuits in the United States. Dont Download This Song, a parody of 1980s charity songs, such as We are the World, Hands Across America. Describes the perils of online music file-sharing, Virus Alert is a style parody of Sparks, specifically their work in the mid-1970s, such as their album Kimono My House. It details the evil that lurks in your email inbox, Close but No Cigar is a style parody of Cake. It tells the story of a man that breaks up with his seemingly perfect girlfriends due to the most inconsequential of flaws, the final original recorded, Pancreas, is a song mainly about the biological functions of the aforementioned organ. The song is an imitation of the musical stylings of Brian Wilson, specifically his work found on the 1966 album Pet Sounds, released by the Beach Boys, and their aborted follow-up album, Smile. Yankovic joked that the reason the song was written was because my pancreas has given so much to me over the years, on February 19,2006, Yankovic began working on the albums parodies. During these sessions, three parodies were recorded, the first of these, Canadian Idiot, is a play on American Idiot by Green Day and it is a satirical commentary on American nationalism and the stereotypical American view of Canadians
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White & Nerdy
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White & Nerdy is the second single from Weird Al Yankovics album Straight Outta Lynwood, which was released on September 26,2006. It parodies the song Ridin by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone, the song has won many accolades, including being Yankovics first Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit, which peaked at #9. It was also certified platinum by the RIAA, the first Yankovic single to achieve this feat, Chamillionaire himself also stated that he enjoyed the song. The two musicians recorded their tracks at their home studios. The finished audio tracks were brought to Westlake Studio in Los Angeles, California. The single has a music video, which was recorded in high definition. These scenes include shots that directly parody the Ridin video, including similar outfits by both artists. Yankovic is seen at night dancing in front of a set of road flares arranged in the form of Pac-Man, similar to the shot of Chamillionaire in front of the figure of a lizard, his personal logo. Whereas Chamillionaires video ends with the artist throwing up a hand sign to the camera. Further interspersed among these shots are additional shots of Yankovic demonstrating his white and nerdy life, fans of the video have replicated the action depicted in the video several times. Yankovic is shown making a deal with a thug in a back alley to acquire a bootleg VHS copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special. When Yankovic is on his Myspace page in the video, White and this is a continuation of his usual trend of putting the number 27 somewhere in his videos. The mayonnaise Al spreads on a sandwich in the video is labelled Pest Foods mayonnaise, also, when Yankovic says, Even made a homepage for my dog, yo, the music video shows a website devoted to his dog, Foofie. In addition to Osmond, there are cameos in the video. Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key of MADtv appear in the blue 1967 Chevrolet Impala convertible at the beginning of the video, the license plate on the Impala reads OG4LIFE, a reference to Ice-Ts 1991 album Original Gangster. Seth Green appears in front of a display of action figures. Judy Tenuta, a regular on The Weird Al Show and who appeared in Headline News. Other actors were recruited by Yankovic through a post on his MySpace page
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Alpocalypse
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Alpocalypse is the thirteenth studio album by Weird Al Yankovic, released on June 21,2011. It was the studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late-2000s and early 2010s. The albums first single, Whatever You Like was released almost two and a years prior to the release of the album, and the single peaked at number 104 on the Billboard Hot 100. The albums final single, Perform This Way, was released digitally on April 25,2011, but failed to chart. Prior to the release of Alpocalypse, Yankovic released the EP Internet Leaks, all of the tracks released on Internet Leaks would later be re-released on Alpocalypse. The album was preceded by a controversy after Yankovic sought Lady Gagas permission to record a parody of her song Born This Way. Yankovic recorded the parody, but due to an error, was very nearly forced to leave it off the album. Yankovic produced a video for every song on the record. Most of these videos were animated, but an action video for Perform this Way was produced. A deluxe edition of the CD was later released that all of these music videos, sans the ones for Perform this Way. Yankovic later issued Alpocalypse HD, a Blu-ray release which features all 12 music videos from this album, Alpocalypse was met with mostly positive reviews, and was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200, making it, at the time, Alpocalypse followed a five-year gap that succeeded the release of Straight Outta Lynwood. These five songs were packaged as an EP called Internet Leaks. Other tracks on the album were recorded in January, May and he was told by Gagas manager that Gaga wanted to read the lyrics before giving approval, then that she wanted to hear a recorded version. Yankovic was able to set the date of Alpocalypses release by the end of that day, the albums opening track, Perform This Way, is a parody of Born This Way by Lady Gaga. The lyrics are told from the point of view of Gaga and describe her performance style, CNR is a style parody of The White Stripes, in particular borrowing heavily from Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground. The songs lyrics are about superhuman feats that Charles Nelson Reilly could accomplish, the songs end is also very similar to the chorus of the song You Dont Mess Around with Jim
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Mandatory Fun
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Mandatory Fun is the fourteenth studio album by American musician Weird Al Yankovic. Self-produced, the album was released by RCA Records in the United States on July 15,2014, Yankovic had previously released Alpocalypse in 2011, and toured in support of it when he first spoke of his next record. When he began to work on what would become Mandatory Fun, Yankovic found himself listening to older acts, many of which he would stylistically spoof on the album. It also features songs in the form of pastiche, imitating the styles of the Pixies, Cat Stevens, Foo Fighters, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Yankovic composed the originals first, and wrote parodies last in order for them to be as timely as possible upon the albums release, after Yankovics 32 years under contract, Mandatory Fun marks his first number one album in the United States. It received positive reviews from music critics. Yankovic chose not to release a single and instead publicized the album by launching eight music videos online during the first week of the album release through different video content portals. Among these, Word Crimes became Yankovics fourth top 40 song, making him one of few artists to achieve such a feat in four separate decades, the album won for Best Comedy Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Yankovics fourth career Grammy. In a later interview with NPRs Weekend Edition, he stated that this might be his last conventional album, turning instead to more frequent releases of singles and EPs. The first tracks conceived for the album were songs in the style of various bands as, compared to direct parodies. Prior to composing songs, he had been listening to older acts such as Cat Stevens, Foo Fighters. His Crosby, Stills & Nash style parody Mission Statement draws from his experiences attending executive meetings in his music career, shortly after completing the song, Yankovic encountered Graham Nash, who coincidentally asked Yankovic to parody Suite, Judy Blue Eyes. Yankovic played a recording of his pastiche on his phone to Nash on the spot, First World Problems is an original composition emulating the style of the Pixies, whom Yankovic had performed alongside for a charity concert two years earlier. The song features vocals by Amanda Palmer, emulating the vocal style of Kim Deal. Yankovic noted that his method of generating parody ideas is to scan Billboard charts, radio play. From that point, he works out possible puns on the song titles, fans speculated ahead of the albums release that Yankovic would parody Let It Go from the Disney film Frozen, due to the songs popularity. He later explained that he considered making a Frozen parody titled Make It So about Star Trek, The Next Generation, Yankovic observed that the existing spoof had gotten enough attention online to make the Disney legal department ask them to take it down. I couldnt think of an idea that I liked as much as Make It So, so
