Weird And Not So Weird Facts About Weird Al Yankovic and His Songs. Starting with his first professional recordings and appearances on the Dr. Demento radio show decades ago, Weird Al Yankovic has managed to stay on the pop culture map and change with the times, even while so many of the bands and artists he has parodied lost the spotlight. Here are some facts about Weird Al Yankovic and his songs. WEIRD ALS PARENTS CHOSE THE ACCORDION FOR HIMThe legendverified by Al Yankovic in the liner notes of his 1. Permanent Record Al in the Boxreads that on the day before Al turned 7, a door to door salesman came through Lynwood, California, to solicit business for a local music school, which offered its pupils a choice between guitar or accordion lessons. Because Frankie Yankovic shared the familys surname and was known as Americas Polka King, Als parents chose the squeezebox for their son. Al would gradually learn how to play rock n roll on the instrument, mostly from Elton Johns Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album, playing it over and over and trying to play along with it. Frankie and Al werent actually related, but the two would eventually collaborate, with Al playing on Who Stole the Kishka on Frankies Songs of the Polka King, Vol. Frankies The Tick Tock Polka played by Al as a lead in to Kehas Tik Tok on the Alpocalypse track Polka Face. YANKOVIC SKIPPED THE SECOND GRADEAl attended kindergarten one year early and skipped the second grade, and his scholastic promotion was not popular with his older classmates. I got my fair share of verbal abuse, but I learned to run pretty fast so I didnt get beat up a lot, Yankovic once explained. Al claimed that when he wasnt running away, his second grade actually third grade recess was spent pretending to be Mr. Terrific, a TV character that took a power pill to make him a superhero. Yankovic would graduate Lynwood High School at the age of 1. DVD Rentals Sales, Bluray, New Releases, Criterion, Foreign Films, Classics, Documentary, Imports, Mailbox Rental Service, DVD Protective Cases, Open Late Starting with his first professional recordings and appearances on the Dr. Demento radio show decades ago, Weird Al Yankovic has managed to stay on the pop culture. DVD and BLURAY REVIEWS INDEX Alphabetical listing, divided by studio, of all our DVD and Bluray reviews. DVDs, if not specified. Sortable DVD Bluray Review. HE GAVE HIMSELF THE NICKNAME WEIRD IN COLLEGEYankovic was referred to by his full first name Alfred throughout childhood. It wasnt until he attended California Polytechnic State University looking for a degree in architecture that Weird became attached to Al Yankovic permanently. Al got a gig with the campus radio station playing records on Wednesdays from midnight to 3 a. DJ name, christening himself Weird Al. It would take Yankovic time to sneak in any weird music that was not considered a part of the college stations format New Wave music, but the moniker was his tribute to the comedy and novelty song playing radio broadcaster Dr. Demento Barry Hansen, who gave Yankovics earliest compositions some airplay. MY BOLOGNA WAS RECORDED IN A BATHROOM. During his senior year in 1. Yankovic recorded his parody of The Knacks My Sharona in the acoustic tiled bathroom across the hall from the college radio station, finding a microphone cord long enough to reach back to KCPR FMs tape deck to make it possible. The song got a huge positive response on Dr. Dementos show, but My Bologna was the song that turned Yankovics hobby into a career thanks to a backstage meeting with The Knack after a campus concert. Fortuitously, Rupert Perry, the VP of Capitol Records, was also present when Knack lead singer Doug Feiger professed to liking Als parody. Yankovic remembered Feiger turning to Perry and saying, You guys oughta put this song out on Capitol Records. Perry agreed, and Al soon signed a six month contract. YANKOVIC DOESNT LEGALLY HAVE TO SEEK OUT PERMISSION TO PARODY SONGS, BUT ASKS FOR IT ANYWAY. Under the fair use provision of U. S. copyright law, Yankovic and others do not need permission from original artists to satirize their work, as long as royalties are paid. But to stay on friendly terms with other artists in the industry, Weird Al asks for permission before recording anyway. When he was still wet behind the ears, Al also discovered that if you dont seek out original artist approval, you can have a tough time getting a label to release your latest single. In 1. 98. 1, Weird Al released Another One Rides The Bus, a parody of Queens Another One Bites the Dust, without asking the band, and before TK Records agreed to a deal. It would turn out to be TK Records last single release, as the company abruptly closed down citing financial trouble. Yankovic decided to go ahead and make his first national TV appearance on April 2. Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, and Queen eventually gave the song their blessing though guitarist Brian May referred to him as Mad Al. SOME MUSICIANS AND RECORD LABELS HAVE SAID NOYankovic has said that only about 2 to 3 percent of the time does he get a no from an artist or record label, but there have been notable rejections. Even though Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a fan, he indicated he would not approve of a polka medley of Zeppelin tunes. Still, a sample of Black Dog was allowed in a Trapped in the Closet parody. Paul Mc. Cartney didnt give permission for Wings Live and Let Die because the altered version would have been Chicken Pot Pie, which would have gone against Mc. Cartneys vegetarianism. Weird Al Yankovic Live!: The Alpocalypse Tour Full Movie' title='Weird Al Yankovic Live!: The Alpocalypse Tour Full Movie' />In some cases, the artist agrees but is overruled by the label. James Blunt initially said that it would be a huge compliment to have Youre Beautiful changed to Youre Pitiful, but Atlantic Records rescinded authorization Yankovic released his version as a free My. Space download to avoid starting trouble with Atlantic. In an example of a no being turned into a yes, Daniel Powter initially refused to have his Bad Day parodied as You Had a Bad Date, but changed his mind. Powter had the change of heart literally the day before Weird Al recorded White Nerdy the music video of which has Al vandalizing Atlantic Records Wikipedia entry, and by then the train had left the station. ONE GROUPS FANS THREW THINGS AT WEIRD AL AND HIS BAND FOR 4. MINUTESIn 1. 98. 2, Weird Al and his newly formed band played at their first major gigand it was a profound disaster. The band opened for the then popular New Wave band Missing Persons at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where they were on the receiving end of assorted thrown objects for their entire 4. Yankovic remembered his band scrambling for the loose change as soon as the curtain went down. The ignominy didnt end indoors I was walking to my car in the parking lot, and this 1. Are you Weird Al I said yes, and he said YOU SUCK That was the capper of the evening. After that, the band agreed to never play as anyones opening act and to just be the headliner of smaller showsa rule they wouldnt break for five years until agreeing to open for The Monkees in 1. Their fans were far more civil. I LOST ON JEOPARDY HELPED PUT JEOPARDY BACK ON THE AIR MAYBEThis is the general timeline of events Jeopardy NBC from 1. Art Fleming, with Don Pardo later of SNL fame as the announcer. On December 1. 2, 1. Weird Al recorded I Lost On Jeopardy. The single, which referred to the NBC version of the show, was released on June 4, 1. Fleming and Pardo, had been filmed two weeks earlier. Sometime in between the recording of the song and the shooting of the video, Griffin was asked to pair his already popular Wheel of Fortune with another half hour game show, and at some point he re discovered JeopardyGriffin invited Yankovic to perform his song on June 2. Jeopardy was coming back on the air. Whether Griffin was being tongue in cheek, or just exaggerating, or hedging his bets if the revival failed, Jeopardy September 1. Alex Trebek. Despite some programmers initially putting the show on during unpopular morning and late night hours, the revival would become an television institution, and generate many losers. Watch The Pillow Book Online (2017) there. LIKE A SURGEON WAS MADONNAS IDEAReportedly, Madonna and an unnamed friend made history while talking one day.