World of Weird Al Yankovic

That's a very good way of putting it!

We're up to Bad Hair Day, and now things get a little easier, style-parody-wise. I consider BHD to be the beginning of the "modern era" of Weird Al, where the albums begin to be very similarly structured with 5 parodies, 6 originals and 1 polka medley somewhere close to the middle of the album. Importantly for this project, the originals are now almost all style parodies.

For BHD, we start with the TMBG tribute, "Everything You Know is Wrong." This one has no identifiable specific parallel in the TMBG catalog, and I hear instruments and little pieces borrowed from their first four albums. For the timeline, I'm placing it 1992, the year Apollo 18 came out, even though it cribs from as far back as their 1986 debut. Check out "They'll Need a Crane," "Stand On Your Own Head," and "Birdhouse in Your Soul" for reference purposes.

Next is the far easier to place "Callin' in Sick," based primarily on Nirvana's "Lithium" from the Nevermind album.

"Since You've Been Gone" is a doo-wop a cappella number that I'm putting at 1954 since that was the height of popularity for doo-wop. I don't think there's a specific song being mimicked here, but it's possible that I just haven't found it yet.

"I'm So Sick of You" is an Elvis Costello style parody that fits in with his first two Attractions records This Year's Model and Armed Forces. Specifically it sounds a lot like "Pump It Up" and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" (which was tacked on to Armed Forces in the U.S.)

"I Remember Larry" is based on Hilly Michaels' "Calling All Girls."

"The Night Santa Went Crazy" is based on Soul Asylum's "Black Gold."

"Callin' In Sick" has always reminded me more of "Come As You Are" than "Lithium".

Genius in Maine wrote:"Callin' In Sick" has always reminded me more of "Come As You Are" than "Lithium".

Really? The bassline is virtually a direct lift from "Lithium" and the it follows all of the same rises and falls (it would probably be a direct match if Al's song wasn't a little bit shorter.) Granted, both Nirvana songs are similarly structured, but the only part that of "Callin' in Sick" that actually sounds like "Come As You Are" is the guitar at the very end.

I also think the opening sounds like Come As You Are, but both songs are on Nevermind.

I always thought the way he sings this song kind of ruins the "grunge" vibe of it. It's like he's singing 80s hair metal or something (especially the "I can do anything I want to..." part). I've always hated the way the the "aaayyyyy" sounds when he says "I'm callin' in sick todaaaaaayyyyyy". It just seems way too loud on that part.

Now, that having been said, I do actually LOVE this song overall. I love singing over the instrumental version on the Gump single. It's hard to do because the whole song is very high.

That always bothered me too. It's something I have to always remind myself of: Al is not doing impressions of his targets, he is singing as himself in their styles. Sometimes that doesn't sound "right" to us. I actually thought this song sounded like a particular Warrant song (can't remember which one now) until I saw somewhere it was supposed to be Nirvana.

So Running With Scissors is interesting in that its style parodies are not, for the most part, based on single artists or songs, but musical styles and genres. I'm skipping "The Weird Al Show Theme" unless someone has a compelling argument for it.

First up is "My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder," which is simply a zydeco song. If I had to pick an artist as a target, I'd go with Buckwheat Zydeco, as Vedder is reminiscent of "Baby Doll" and "What You Gonna Do." (That second video doesn't contain the whole song but it's the best thing I could find.) But even much older zydeco songs have a similar sound, so I'm going to put this one at 1954, which Wikipedia tells me is approximately the beginning of modern zydeco.

"Germs" is at this point universally accepted as being a pastiche of Nine Inch Nails' "Terrible Lie" and "Closer." There is no reason to dispute this.

"Your Horoscope For Today" features members of Reel Big Fish and has been described as a style parody of that band, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Goldfinger, and others. I haven't heard any third-wave ska/punk song that sounds remarkably like Horoscope, so I feel like it's really just a genre parody.

"Truck Drivin' Song" is yet another genre parody, this time of a specific kind of country music that is nicely spelled out for us in the title. I listened to waaaaaaaaay too many of these truck songs trying to find something with a more obvious similarity, but to no avail. I don't think there's a specific song influence for this one either.

"Albuquerque" is the most original song Al has ever written. It does not seem to be influenced by any song of any genre and is a remarkable achievement of composi--what? What's this? Oh. Never mind.

Skippy wrote:"Your Horoscope For Today" features members of Reel Big Fish and has been described as a style parody of that band, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Goldfinger, and others. I haven't heard any third-wave ska/punk song that sounds remarkably like Horoscope, so I feel like it's really just a genre parody.

I think the correct timeframe for this would be 1997, which is when "The Impression That I Get" by the Bosstones came out. Even though the song features members of Reel Big Fish, I think Horoscope sounds most like the Bosstones out of any third wave ska band.

Also, for Truck Drivin' Song, I think the artist that the song sounds the most like is Dave Dudley.


I would be really interested to know if The Weird Al Show Theme is thought to be a style parody of something. Anyone? I would assume it is a wholly original song.

TMBJon wrote: I think the correct timeframe for this would be 1997, which is when "The Impression That I Get" by the Bosstones came out. Even though the song features members of Reel Big Fish, I think Horoscope sounds most like the Bosstones out of any third wave ska band.

I went with 1995, right in the middle of the whole ska/punk thing, but I didn't put a lot of thought into that date. The Bosstones are definitely the most recognizable group to come out of that movement, so I have no problem with focusing on them.

Also, for Truck Drivin' Song, I think the artist that the song sounds the most like is Dave Dudley.

Yeah? Any song in particular? I listened to some Dave Dudley on Spotify, but nothing really jumped out at me.