What if Al was a girl?

[Well, Well, Well]

no, it definitely does! that's the problem I think. :p

[Yankomaniac]

That looks like my friends sister. People would tell her she looked like Weird Al in school too. Her brother was the drummer of my band back in high school, he looked very similar but with more straight black hair and they would make the same weird faces as Al and always remind me of Al even though they didn't listen to his stuff, they just naturally looked like that. It's funny because I still haven't met anybody else who looks that much like Al.

[tomatochives]

WOW!! That blew away my expectations. Nice work, melloweasel!

[mellow weasel]

WOW!! That blew away my expectations. Nice work, melloweasel!

Thank you!

[IFoundMyYankochicks]

In my opinion, Weird Allison, Alice, Alexa, or whatever her name would be, wouldn't be as famous as Weird Al. She wouldn't exactly have that signature look that Al does. First off, lets see the problems with her 80s look. Females can't grow mustaches, and the curly hair with glasses was pretty normal back then. The problems with her current look would be, is that she would look like a completely normal person. Al can pull off the long curly hair, because its not common for a guy to have extremely curly and long hair. Maybe she could act crazy, but the look really pulls it all together, and makes Al so recognizable. Maybe the current Weird Allison would look like Lorde

[Yankomaniac]

Well she would also have to keep a band together for decades, and I don't believe any female stars have ever done that. If he was a female, we wouldn't have the awesome band we all adore so much.

[mellow weasel]

Well she would also have to keep a band together for decades, and I don't believe any female stars have ever done that.

That's probably because less of the females have the longevity than the male bands. And very few male bands maintain the same people over decades. So it's just statistically improbable to find a female who had both a decades of career AND a same band. So that's the wrong causality. The only possibility for a band to split up because of Al being a female is if more than one guy falls in love with her... OK I admit that's kind of likely given how cute Al is

[yankochick38]

Excuse me but No Doubt formed in 1986 and they're still touring now. Paramore formed in 2004 and they're still going strong, so it's only been a decade there but it's still pretty substantial. Also, how about Beyoncé?? I don't think people being in love with a leader of a band, no matter their gender, is cause for the band to break up. It comes with the territory. The main problem here is everyone seems to be imagining a female Weird Al as a male Weird Al with a wig. They would be a completely different person, and who is to say they would follow the exact same path except with "girlier" things happening? Al's '80s look is reminiscent of the other male looks of the time, if a bit wackier. If Al had been female, her look would have been reminiscent of the other female looks of the time, if a bit wackier. Unfortunately, sexism is a thing, and if Al had been female the cold hard truth is that she may not have had as much success as a male Al did. Conversely, she could have been revolutionary and been one of the first majorly successful musical comedy artists. Instead of 12 year old nerd boys looking up to a male Al, 12 year old nerd girls would have looked up to a female Al. Both still would happen no matter Al's gender, but the majority would have shifted. Male Al inspired a horde of mainly male comedians and comedy musicians, and a female Al could have done the same for females. Thankfully, we do have a few female comedians who were inspired by male!Al, such as Garfunkel and Oates, but the list of comedians who are known to be inspired by Al is predominately male. It's possible a female Al could have had just as much influence as male Al did and does. Ultimately, it was all up to Dr. Demento.

Or she could have been a dentist.

[Killingsworth]

Yes, but how many original members have No Doubt and Paramore maintained since they've been together?

[TMBJon]

I don't know anything about Paramore, but No Doubt has had the same lineup since 1994 when they released Tragic Kingdom.

I know no one intends to be sexist here, but there are definitely hints of sexism creeping up. The idea that a female-led band is more likely to break up than a male-led band?? What about Sleater-Kinney???????????

I do think "Weird Alison" probably would not have caught on. The 1980s were still a pretty backward time for equality, and as others have said I think it would have been a much tougher sell. It's hard to say, of course, as it's a huge hypothetical. By virtue of the fact that she would be born a girl in 1959, it's impossible to say that everything would be the same except for her gender. There would be different challenges all the way through her life.

But for argument's sake, let's say it's exactly the same career except it's a hot woman? I'd be on board, of course.