"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is a Grammy award winning American musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, and television producer.

Trivia

• Al has put two backwards messages into his songs, presumably parodies of the hysteria over backwards messages in pop music that reached their peak in the 1980s: the first, in Nature Trail to Hell, said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in I Remember Larry, said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands." http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/faq/#secret
• Al's favorite food is a Twinkie-Weiner Sandwich which consists of a twinkie split open, hot dog, and Cheez Whiz. Recently in several interviews, Al has stated that he has switched to using vegetarian hot dogs due to becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys them as his favorite snack. (he also likes to dip them in milk)
• Al often hides the number 27 somewhere in his songs, album art, and memorabilia. Examples are Al wearing a 27 on the cover of the Running With Scissors album and including 27 photos in the photo gallery on the "Weird Al Yankovic Live!" DVD.
• On November 10, 2004, The Onion published an editorial titled "I Must Take Issue With The Wikipedia Entry For Weird Al Yankovic."http://www.theonion.com/content/node/37314
• While artists are generally pleased with Weird Al, there are three notable exceptions. Coolio was very displeased since his management told Weird Al to go ahead with the parody allegedly without consulting him, but as stated previously, there has been no legal action and Coolio still cashes royalty checks from the song. Al has taken the high road and apologized for the alleged misunderstanding. Also, Prince has refused to allow parodies, though Weird Al has stated that he continues to "check back with him to see if he has developed a sense of humor" in interviews. Al was also requested to change the video for his remake of Eminem's "Lose Yourself." Says Al: "Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career ..."
• Weird Al has backed down from artists like Prince and Alanis Morissette only out of courtesy and convenience. Because parody is recognized as fair use under copyright laws, Weird Al is actually free to make fun of any artist's work without permission. He only asks for permission to maintain good relationships and avoid pointless law suits.
• Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is actually a self proclaimed Weird Al fan, but when Al tried to create a Led Zeppelin polka he refused.
• Licensing issues for Weird Al's works are some of the most complicated in the music industry. Because of his polka-medleys, Weird Al can wind up performing works by dozens of artists on a single album. Because of the potentially crippling amount of royalties required for this, Weird Al's record labels have had to engage in endless negotiation and diplomacy.
• Recently though, the accordion playing parody artist has inspired new parody artists including Matthew Hodgson "That One Guy", Jake Waters, Bob Ricci, The Great Luke Ski, Ruben and the Novelty Shack, and "Weirdo Jace" McLain. These artists are often dubbed "Weird Al Wannabes". UFO Phil has also been a victim of this comparison, though he is famous for original comedy music, not parody covers.
• Al is no relation to famous accordionist Frankie Yankovic, but Al did play accordion for "Who Stole the Kishka" on one of Frankie's final records, Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1. Frankie also cameo'd in a special by Al for the 1986 Grammys.
• Al's song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") is notable because it accurately states the entire plot of ', despite being released before the film. Al got everything he needed from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a $500 screening to make sure. http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/weirdal.asp
• Despite never having a #1 Single in America, Weird Al's Michael Jackson parody of Beat It (Eat It) reached the #1 position in Australia in 1984.