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Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born October 23, 1959, in Lynwood, CA. An only child, he began playing the accordion at age seven, following in the tradition of polka star Frank Yankovic (no relation); in his early teens he became an avid fan of the Dr. Demento show, drawing inspiration from the parodies of Allan Sherman as well as the musical comedy of Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer, and Stan Freberg. In 1973 Demento spoke at Yankovic's school, where the 13 year old passed the radio host a demo tape of home recordings; three years later, Demento played Yankovic's "Belvedere Cruising" -- an accordion-driven pop song written about the family's Plymouth -- on the air, and his career was launched.
Yankovic quickly emerged as a staple of the Demento play list, recording a prodigious amount of tongue-in-cheek material throughout his high-school career. After graduation, he studied architecture; while attending California Polytechnic State University, he also joined the staff of the campus radio station, first adopting the nickname "Weird Al" and spinning a mixture of novelty and new wave hits. In 1979, the success of the Knack's monster hit "My Sharona" inspired Yankovic to record a parody dubbed "My Bologna"; not only was the song a smash with Demento fans, but it even found favor with the Knack themselves, who convinced their label, Capitol, to issue the satire as a single.
After graduating in 1980, Yankovic cut "Another One Rides the Bus," a parody of Queen's chart-topping "Another One Bites the Dust" recorded live in Dr. Demento's studios; the song became an underground hit, and Yankovic followed it up with "I Love Rocky Road," a satire of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n Roll." After hooking up with noted session guitarist and producer Rick Derringer, he signed to Scotti Bros., which issued his debut LP, "Weird Al" Yankovic, in 1983. The album featured the song "Ricky," a tune inspired equally by Toni Basil's hit "Mickey" and the I Love Lucy television series; issued as a single, it hit the Top 100 charts, and its accompanying video became a staple of the fledgling MTV network.
Ultimately, much of Yankovic's success resulted from his skilled use of music video, a medium not available in the era of Spike Jones or Allan Sherman; suddenly, not only could records themselves serve as parody fodder, but their video clips were ripe for satire as well. Additionally, MTV firmly established Yankovic's public persona; sporting garish Hawaiian shirts, frizzy hair, and an arsenal of goofy mannerisms, he cut a distinctly bizarre figure which he consistently exploited to maximum comic effect. After Michael Jackson's "Beat It" became the most acclaimed video in the medium's brief history, Yankovic recorded "Eat It" for his sophomore effort, 1984's "Weird" Al Yankovic in 3-D; the "Eat It" video, which mocked the "Beat It" clip scene-for-scene, became an MTV smash, and the Grammy-winning single reached the Top 15.
In addition to "Eat It," In 3-D also launched the minor hits "King of Suede" (a rewrite of the Police's "King of Pain") and "I Lost on Jeopardy" (a send-up of the Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy"), as well as "Polkas on 45," the first in a series of medleys of pop hits recast as polka numbers. Dare to Be Stupid, the first comedy record ever released in the new compact disc format, followed in 1985, and featured "Like a Surgeon," a takeoff of the Madonna hit "Like a Virgin." Like its predecessor, Dare to Be Stupid went gold, but 1986's Polka Party! fared poorly and charted only briefly, prompting many to write off Yankovic's career.
However, in 1988, Yankovic returned with the platinum-selling Even Worse, its title and album cover a reference to Michael Jackson's recent Bad LP. "I'm Fat," the first single and video, also parodied the lavish Martin Scorsese-directed clip for Jackson's hit "Bad"; shot on the same subway set used by Jackson, the video -- which portrayed Yankovic as a grotesquely obese tough guy -- won him his second Grammy. The next year, he starred in the feature film UHF, which he also co-wrote; a soundtrack appeared as well.
After an extended period of silence, he returned in 1992 with Off the Deep End, which featured the Top 40 hit "Smells Like Nirvana," a send-up of Nirvana's landmark single "Smells Like Teen Spirit." After 1993's Alapalooza, he resurfaced in 1996 with Bad Hair Day, his highest-charting record to date thanks to the success of the single "Amish Paradise," a takeoff of the Coolio hit "Gangsta's Paradise." The follow-up, Running With Scissors, appeared in 1999.
1. White & Nerdy
2. Pancreas
3. Canadian Idiot
4. I'll Sue Ya
5. Polkarama
6. Virus Alert
7. Confessions Part III
8. Weasel Stomping Day
9. Close But No Cigar
10. Do I Creep You Out
11. Trapped In The Drive-Thru
12. Don't Download This Song
1. Couch Potato
2. Hardware Store
3. Trash Day
4. Party At The Leper Colony
5. Angry White Boy Polka
6. Wanna B Ur Lovr
7. A Complicated Song
8. Why Does This Always Happen To Me
9. Ode To A Superhero
10. Bob
11. eBay
12. Genius In France
1. The Saga Begins
2. My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder
3. Pretty Fly For A Rabbi
4. The Weird Al Show Theme
5. Jerry Springer
6. Germs
7. Polka Power!
8. Your Horoscope For Today
9. It's All About The Pentiums
10. Truck Drivin' Song
11. Grapefruit Diet
12. Albuquerque
1. Amish Paradise
2. Everything You Know Is Wrong
3. Cavity Search
4. Callin' In Sick
5. The Alternative Polka
6. Since You've Been Gone
7. Gump
8. I'm So Sick Of You
9. Syndicated Inc.
10. I Remember Larry
11. Phony Calls
12. The Night Santa Went Crazy
1. Jurassic Park
2. Young, Dumb & Ugly
3. Bedrock Anthem
4. Frank's 2000" TV
5. Achy Breaky Song
6. Traffic Jam
7. Talk Soup
8. Livin' In The Fridge
9. She Never Told Me She Was A Mime
10. Harvey The Wonder Hamster
11. Waffle King
12. Bohemian Polka
1. Smells Like Nirvana
2. Trigger Happy
3. I Can't Watch This
4. Polka Your Eyes Out
5. I Was Only Kidding
6. The White Stuff
7. When I Was Your Age
8. Taco Grande
9. Airline Amy
10. Plumbing Song
11. You Don't Love Me Anymore
1. Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies
2. Gandhi II
3. Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars
4. Isle Thing
5. The Hot Rocks Polka
6. UHF
7. Let Me Be Your Hog
8. She Drives Like Crazy
9. Generic Blues
10. Spatula City
11. Fun Zone
12. Spam
13. The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota
1. Living With A Hernia
2. Dog Eat Dog
3. Addicted To Spuds
4. One Of Those Days
5. Polka Party!
6. Here's Johnny
7. Don't Wear Those Shoes
8. Toothless People
9. Good Enough For Now
10. Christmas At Ground Zero
1. Fat
2. Stuck in a Closet With Vanna White
3. (This Song's Just) Six Words Long
4. You Make Me
5. I Think I'm a Clone Now
6. Lasagna
7. Melanie
8. Alimony
9. Velvet Elvis
10. Twister
11. Good Old Days
1. Like A Surgeon
2. Dare To Be Stupid
3. I Want A New Duck
4. One More Minute
5. Yoda
6. George Of The Jungle
7. Slime Creatures From Outer Space
8. Girls Just Want To Have Lunch
9. This Is The Life
10. Cable TV
11. Hooked On Polkas
1. Eat It
2. Midnight Star
3. The Brady Bunch
4. Buy Me A Condo
5. I Lost On Jeopardy
6. Polkas On 45
7. Mr. Popeil
8. King Of Suede
9. That Boy Could Dance
10. Theme From Rocky XIII
11. Nature Trail To Hell
1. Ricky
2. Gotta Boogie
3. I Love Rocky Road
4. Buckingham Blues
5. Happy Birthday
6. Stop Draggin' My Car Around
7. My Bologna
8. The Check's In The Mail
9. Another One Rides The Bus
10. I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead
11. Such A Groovy Guy
12. Mr. Frump In The Iron Lung