Idolator

I don't know what the Indie Rules of Irony are in terms of whether or not one is allowed to like Weird Al in this day in age. But screw it. I love this man. I just don't know half of the songs he spoofs anymore.

Al is so much funnier when he's goofing broadly on pop, rather than parodying a particular song (see also the palindromic Dylan pastiche "Bob"). I've loved this song for ages; the "I can't hear you / Okay, I can hear you now" bit never gets old.

i remember being way too excited when i first saw this video on MTV - ohmygod someone's doin a DEVO homage! plus it was a better Devo song than Devo themselves were putting out at that point... i gotta go put the UHF dvd onto my xmas wish list now.

Despite his image as a music video clown, he's actually a damn good accordian player. It's hard to pin down his artisitic peak - maybe "Smells Like Nirvana"?

@dippinkind: I think Devo themselves said it was better! The ultimate praise! (And yeah, you need that DVD, everyone does.)

@Jack Fear: I think that's the key to getting out of your early teens while still appreciating him. I've always found his style parodies to be better than the "Oh, I said 'Fat' instead of 'Bad'" songs. And though they're generally ignored, even his wholly original songs have suprising staying power.

I consider "One More Minute" Al's ultimate achievement.

@Halfwit: "I Think That You Don't Love Me Anymore" is definitely timeless.

Part of me wonders what would happen if Al wrote and recorded a "serious" album. I mean, the guy clearly knows what he's doing musically, and has chops to back up any idea he might have. Really, why not? It could easily be a trainwreck, but could you imagine if he pulled it off?

Favorite Weird Al line (in some blues-style parody):

"Well I woke up this morning/then I went right back to bed"

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Yankovic in Portland, ME on Halloween night, 98 (I think). I bought him a Jager, he drank it, and off I went. Cool dude!

Devo rightly gave this song its props. UHF 4 life.

@Marth: I think Weird Al's original material (that is, the songs that amount to more than a clever game of mad libs) is serious. Ex: I see very little difference between Al, Malkmus, and John Ashbery.

Actually, there are quite a few Pavement songs ("Stereo" comes to mind) that wouldn't have sounded odd coming from Weird Al's lips.

And of course, while I was rooting around youtube, I found this hilarious [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-grdpKVqg]little gem[/url] that seemed strangely apropos.

Loved the ludicrously extreme lyrics.

Loved the over-the-top martyrization at the end.

Weird Al: bringing things back into perspective since 1981.