Typed from "The Midnight Star" Vol. 1 No. 4 by "Happy Steve" Chai ------------------------------------------------------------------- In Celebration of Al's Birthday October 23rd, we present: Weird Al...The Story So Far... It all started years ago in the acoustically-perfect men's room across the hall from his campus radio station at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It was there that an architecture student named Alfred Yankovic recorded a version of the Knack's MY SHARONA, which he titled MY BOLOGNA. When the song was picked up by the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento Radio Show, Al knew his T-square days were numbered and the "Weird Al" legacy had begun. A year later he performed his Queen take-off ANOTHER ONE RIDES THE BUS live on Dr. Demento's show and it quickly became the most requested song in the program's history. In 1983, Weird Al's self-titled debut album was released. It featured the Toni Basil parody RICKY (his homage to Lucille Ball), the video of which became an instant hit on MTV. The LP was produced by Rick Derringer and included the Joan Jett take-off I LOVE ROCKY ROAD as well as the definitive recorded versions of MY BOLOGNA and ANOTHER ONE RIDES THE BUS. The following year "WEIRD AL" IN 3-D was released, going gold in both the US and Canada, and selling more than one million copies world-wide. The record featured the ground-breaking Michael Jackson parody EAT IT, while its companion video which hilariously spoofed the Jackson original seemed to, almost overnight, create the standard for comedy music videos. The album also contained his epic Police send-up KING OF SUEDE, and the Greg Kihn satire I LOST ON JEOPARDY, which inspired a video featuring the legendary Art Fleming, Don Pardo and Greg himself. People Magazine named IN 3-D one of the Ten Best albums of 1984. Meanwhile EAT IT hit the top 20 in the US and went to #1 in Australia. A Grammy for Best comedy Recording and an American Video Award for Best Male Performance (beating out Bruce Springsteen and George Michael) capped off a tremendous year for the young pop satirist. DARE TO BE STUPID came out in the summer of 1985 and it was time for Madonna (LIKE A SURGEON), Huey Lewis (I WANT A NEW DUCK) and the Kinks (YODA) to get theirs. There were also several hot Weird Al originals including the Devo-esque title track, the twisted doo-wop ballad ONE MORE MINUTE and the theme song for the movie JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY (THIS IS THE LIFE). DARE TO BE STUPID became Weird Al's second gold record on the strength of the LIKE A SURGEON video and subsequent concert tour. At the same time, CBS/Fox released the historic 100-minute home video THE COMPLEAT AL a "mockumentary" which included eight classic Weird Al videos. In September of 1985, Showtime aired a special one-hour version of THE COMPLEAT AL to kick off its "Comedy Spotlight" series, while Contemporary Books published the literary companion piece THE AUTHORIZED AL. That year the Yankmeister also appeared in an Emmy-nominated Motown special with Smokey Robinson, hosted the nationally syndicated WEIRD AL'S GUIDE TO THE GRAMMYS for television, and starred in an episode of Steven Spielberg's AMAZING STORIES, in which he was typecast as a Cabbage Man from Outer Space. Weird Al's POLKA PARTY!, released in October 1986, included the James Brown parody LIVING WITH A HERNIA (the first single and video), the Robert Palmer send-up ADDICTED TO SPUDS, the cheery yuletide anthem CHRISTMAS AT GROUND ZERO and the title track - a medley of a dozen rock songs such as SLEDGEHAMMER, NASTY, and PAPA DON'T PREACH, all given the polka treatment these tunes have always cried out for. The album received a Grammy nomination as Best Comedy Record of the Year. EVEN WORSE, Weird Al"s fifth album (and his third Gold Album) featured the logical successor to EAT IT - a parody of Michael Jackson's BAD, called FAT. The video features Al's version of the King of Pop as he inflates to epic proportions and waddles with his portly gang through a New York subway set (which Michael was kind enough to donate). As one of the most widely-seen videos of 1988, FAT earned his second Grammy Nomination - this time for Best Concept video. Other targets on EVEN WORSE (which also received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Recording) included George Harrison (THIS SONG'S JUST SIX WORDS LONG), Los Lobos (LASAGNA) and Billy Idol (ALIMONY). October, 1988 saw the release of two (count'em, two) Weird Al albums: WEIRD AL YANKOVIC'S GREATEST HITS and PETER AND THE WOLF (with Wendy Carlos), in which Al provided his own warped (and completely rewritten) version of the Prokofiev classic. PETER AND THE WOLF received a Grammy nomination for Best Children's Recording, giving Al THREE nominations (and one win) at the 1988 Grammy Award ceremonies. In summer 1989, Weird Al's first feature-length movie, UHF hit the big screen. Released in the midst of the summer '89 blockbusters, UHF (which co-starred Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthey and a pre-Sienfeld Michael Richards) received its share of laughter and critical kudos (the NY Times recently crowned it a "cult classic"), and went on to become a Top 20 video rental and cable hit. Simultaneously, UHF - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (AND OTHER STUFF) was released. On the album, the Dire Straits classic MONEY FOR NOTHING got the Weird Al treatment as he gave the tune a new set of lyrics (THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES THEME SONG). The music video, featured prominently in the film, re-created the computer-animation of the original MONEY FOR NOTHING video. The crafty hybrid boasted appearances by Dire Straits' Guy Fletcher on keyboards and Mark Knopfler himself on lead guitar. The album also featured parodies of Tone Loc (ISLE THING), R.E.M. (SPAM) and Fine Young Cannibals (SHE DRIVES LIKE CRAZY), along with several Al originals which also had the ultimate Yankovic touch, as he lampooned many of the biggest artists of the decade, including George Michael, Talking Heads, Robert Palmer, Guns 'n Roses, Billy Idol and Prince. While quietly readying his new album, Al busied himself with an assortment of special appearances and projects - including a headline appearance at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, a special music video for the prestigious Children's Television workshop (which received a Gold Medal from the American Film and Television Association), and a home video tribute of I LOVE LUCY called BABALU MUSIC! which he produced for CBS Video and Columbia Records. The much anticipated release of Weird Al's most recent album OFF THE DEEP END lead with the single and video SMELLS LIKE NIRVANA, skewering Nirvana's mega-hit SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT. The video, which simultaneously World Premiered on MTV, Comedy Central and Hungarian Cable Television, parodied virtually every frame of the original - filmed in the same gymnasium with the same cheerleaders, the same janitor - even the same caterer. OFF THE DEEP END also included parodies of hit by Hammer (I CAN'T WATCH THIS), Gerardo (TACO GRANDE) New Kids On The Block (THE WHITE STUFF) and Milli Vanilli (THE PLUMBING SONG), plus a foot-stomping polka medley and five brand new Al originals. 1992 saw The Weird One back on the road, causing random acts of mayhem on his OFF THE DEEP END TOUR. The show was an all-new high-energy mix of performance (with his band of ten years), hilarious videos, film clips and costume changes. "It was kind of like a Prince concert," said Al, " only _intentionally_ funny." 1993 has seen the debut of Al's newsletter, THE MIDNIGHT STAR, and we here on the staff are very grateful for the tremendous help and enthusiasm he and the band have offered us. THE FOOD ALBUM was released in June, and the less said about that the better. But now we're looking forward to the release (finally!!) of Al's new album - ALAPALOOZA - on October 5th. We've already had hints that are making our mouths water - VARIETY leaked the news a while back about some song set to the tune of MACARTHUR PARK... and we now know that song will be titled JURRASIC PARK! There are more original songs on this album than parodies, and all of us are happy about that. Judging by his past performances, we know we can expect the very best from our main man, Weird Al. ...AND THE STORY CONTINUES...