World of Weird Al Yankovic

weirdojace @ May 29 2007, 11:44 AM wrote: I know the Offspring commented that "Laundry Day" was too silly of an idea or something...

I remember reading about that. I think they didn't aprove of it originally because "Come Out and Play" is a pretty serious song, and a parody would undermine its meaning. Not as unreasonable as Eminem's response IMO, though.

Well yeah, if an artist doesn't want their song parodied because they think the song is too serious, I see no problem with that.

With Eminem's case, it was just hypocracy.

I know George Harrison didn't approve Taxman because he wasn't in the best of moods at the time. His former band-mate John Lennon had been killed not too long ago and everything.

Avril Lavigne had no idea who Weird Al was when she was approached by him to do "A Complicated Song". This is the same girl who mispronounced David Bowie's name, remember?

Marilyn Manson was one of the first outsiders to hear Polka Power, because he was next-door recording songs. They never met face-to-face but Weird Al gave his guitarist a copy of the song for him to hear. Not sure what his reaction was, but he was cool with The Dope Show being used in it, according to Al.

Barenaked Ladies probably liked "Jerry Springer", since I understand they're friends with Weird Al in real life. The actual Jerry Springer didn't like the song though. He thought it made the show look bad.

I know Weird Al mentioned that The Kinks said something about Yoda before too, but I can't remember what. It apparently took a while to get permission for it.

I'd also be interested on Billy Joel's opinion on Ode To A Superhero.

About the permission for Yoda, I remember hearing that they were fine with it but it took a while to track down Lucas Film to get permission to use Star Wars names.

If I remember correctly, Weird Al was told by somebody that The Kinks were not happy with a Lola parody, but about a year or so later Weird Al bumped into the lead singer (Ray Davies, I believe?) and he said he had never been told about the parody idea and okayed it. Then it took a while to get a response from Lucasfilms to use the Star Wars names, since Weird Al didn't want any legal battles with George Lucas.

It's interesting to see these stories. I didn't know about the Kinks one. Btw, it's Ray Davies.

Thanks for the correction, algonnachick. I'll try and see if I can find where I heard The Kinks story. I'll try to see if I can remember some more artists' responses.

EDIT: Well, it's not where I heard it originally, but I noticed the Wikipedia article for the song Yoda mentions the incident. I'll quote it now.

"Trying to get permission from George Lucas and The Kinks delayed the release five years. Eventually, the song publishers turned him down. By chance, one day Yankovic met Ray Davies, and when he asked him why he turned down the song, Davies said he had never been asked about it. Davies then gave Yankovic permission. This is similar to the controversy with Coolio over "Amish Paradise", except Coolio's publishers accepted his proposition."

Too bad they didn't give a link to where they got it from, because I'm trying to remember where this info originally came from

No problem, ArtVandelay. You can call me Patti.

ArtVandelay @ May 29 2007, 07:34 PM wrote: Too bad they didn't give a link to where they got it from, because I'm trying to remember where this info originally came from

I could be wrong, but wasn't that from the "Permanent Record" booklet?

Thanks, Patti! I just recalled another artist's reaction. The Crash Test Dummies were happy with "Headline News" and even played with Weird Al in concert once with their own kazoos which they brought, to Al's delight. Also, Al and CTD's lead singer once did an interview together.

I remember hearing Mike D. of The Beastie Boys was a Weird Al fan, so he probably liked the inclusion of Intergalactic in Polka Power!

Oh, and guitarist Jimmie Page of Led Zeppelin is a Weird Al fan and gave him the rare honour of letting him use a sample of Black Dog in Trapped In The Drive-Thru.

And chances are R.E.M likes Weird Al, seeing as how they've let him use their songs as a parody/polka cover a few times. Same with The Rolling Stones, who I believe were nice enough to refuse letting Weird Al pay them for letting him use all their songs.