How You First Discovered Al....

[DrDecay]

Ok heres my story...

I was in the second grade and the year was 1992 and I was on a bus on the way to a school filed trip. There was a kid sitting in the back steat of me singing at the top of his lungs "Trigger Happy" on his get this "Walk-man" and he was kicking the back of the seat also I said to him "Stop it!!" However he was listing to his walk-man and was not paying any attention me so I think I tapped him on the shoulders and asked him what he was listing to and he said "Weird Al" so... I took a listen and liked it right away! Now its almost 2008 and well, I am telling my story on a "Weird Al" forum!! Can you believe it??? Wow I never thought I would like him in my 20's but he just keeps getting better!!! Man I am still so mad a Regis Philbin for calling "Weird Al" a phase during an interview back in 1997 it plagues me to this very day!!!! WEIRD AL IS NOT A PHASE!!! Grrrrr....

[Scarlatti]

Im very embarrassed at how i discovered Al

I was over a friends house and they put on 'Always smoke a roll up'. I thought it was Ok and asked who it was. They said 'Weird Al Yankovic.h'

So i went home and forgot about it. Then, two days later, i was looking for a Jay and silent bob film in my dads collection when i stumbled across the Ultimate Video Collection. So, out of curiousity more than anyhting, I watched it.

I was hooked. I bought as many albums as possible, bought UHF, bought an accordion and turned vegetarian. And now i always say 'Yankovic'


But i still kinda like' Always smoke a roll up'

[Braider]

Nice thread and I've enjoyed reading everybody's stories!

My first Al song was "My Bologna" and I must have heard it in 1980, on the radio. I was hooked right away. As the years went by I took every chance to hear him on the radio, or if I knew he would be on TV I would watch. I could not afford to buy the tapes or albums, it's one of the things about the career choice of "starving artist". Finally I was able to get DTBS.... I was so thrilled! I played that poor tape to death. Mr. Braider got OTDE on CD for me after that. Recently I got upgraded in my career to "struggling artist" and now have FIVE of the CDs - SOL, PH and RWS, a new DTBS CD to replace the poor tape that finally disintegrated, plus the OTDE we already had. And some day, SOME day, I'll have all the rest........

[DrSteggy]

Amusingly I never found this thread before...

I got into Al's music when I was in 7th or 8th grade...I went to a very small Catholic grammar school and was pretty much the outcast, so I almost would go out of my way to find what the popular kids DID like and do the opposite. They were all into Michael Jackson, and at the time MTV was still showing music videos, and one fine day I caught "Eat It."

Perfect. The Anti-Jackson. Consider me hooked.

I scraped up my allowence over a few weeks and bought my Very First Album EVER which turned out to be "In 3-D" on cassette. My parents were thrilled.

So this all cooked along in the background for many years, and then one fine day in 1999 while I had Running With Scissors playing behind me, I wondered if that Yankovic guy had a website or something. This was when I found AMWA and learned not only did that Yankovic guy have a website, he actually TOURED, and he was coming to a location only 4 hours away, and I just had to go see this in person to say that I had done so once.

And that was in August on Cape Cod and when it was over, my head was spinning and I was saying "I must do that again." And I did....and that time I met Al and he signed my copy of In 3-D.

It is now about 8 years (and an additional 49 shows) since that first live show, and though I've always been AWARE of Al, I think that show in Hyannis, MA was where I became a Fan.

Jackie

[Supermeat2005]

Well, my first real exposure to Weird Al was back in my freshmen year, when a friend brought his portable DVD player, and a copy of the video collection...
Unfortunatly, I couldn't actually hear the music...
It wasn't untill the end of that summer that I really got into his music.
I was directed to the vid for "Don't Download This Song, and I was hooked!
I quickly looked up as many vids as I could find.
Then I started listening to my mom's old cassette of the first album.
Yes, it really turned my life around...
I used to be a depressed loser, with intense social akwardnes, and alwayse being too scared of such trivial things such as teh end of teh world and the downfall of modern society to really attempt to sociallize...
Yup, it really helped calm me down...
Ya know what was ironic?
Before I really got into his music, I alwayse thought Weird Al was just for little kids...
What a fool I was....

[BigWeirdAlFan]

You know what? I used to think that too! hehe thought I was alone.

[Supermeat2005]

You know what? I used to think that too! hehe thought I was alone.

Ya, I first thought that when I saw the original cassette and there were songs like "Another One Rides the Bus" and "Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung"...
The names sounded really childish, so I never really tried to listen to them...
Of course, I was rather jaded and bitter back then...
Thing is, when I actually first heard "Another One Rides the Bus", I loved it...
Heck, I even learned to play it on my stomach

[BigWeirdAlFan]

Ha! That's awesome!! lol

[Teh Dingo]

I have no clue!

I remember hearing Al as early as 86. But I just can't put my finger on any specific event.

I guess it just kind of happened. I was (Well am...) a smartmouth. So I guess Al just kind of appealed to me automatically.

[algonacchick]

So, what is this "Always Smoke a Roll Up' song, Scarlatti? I'm sure you're just teasing when you say you like it, and that it's an Al song. At least, I hope you are...