College Times

Media Credit: Courtesy Volcano Records

Weird Al Yankovic has been one of America’s premiere satirists for more than 30 years. His parodies of popular songs by such artists as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Nirvana and Green Day have earned him accolades from fans, critics and even the artists he’s parodied. The three-time Grammy-winner shows no signs of slowing down, having recently earned his first Top 10 single with “White & Nerdy,” a hilarious send-up of Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’.” College Times spoke with Yankovic recently about his humble beginnings, fellow song parodists and the likelihood of a polka comeback.

 
How does it feel to have the best job security in the music industry?

I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve just been very lucky the last quarter-century or so. I’m amazed that I’ve been able to eke out a career all these years.

For people who are too young to remember Dr. Demento, can you talk a little about his influence on you and on music, comedy and pop culture in general?

Well, I should point out that Dr. Demento is still with us. In fact he’s still doing a show every week, even though he’s not on in as many markets. He’s doing it going on 35, 36 years now, I guess. He gave me my start when I was a teenager. I was a big fan of his show and I would record songs in my bedroom with my accordion on a little cheesy cassette tape recorder and send them in to the Dr. Demento radio show and, to my amazement, he would play them on the radio. And that’s how I got my start. He encouraged me to send in more tunes and my stuff eventually developed a cult following. By the time I graduated from college, I had a couple of nationally released records … He was on KMET in Los Angeles every Sunday night for four hours and I was just glued to the radio. It was like a religious experience every week. If it was past my bedtime, I would take the little alarm clock radio into bed with me and pull the covers up over my head and listen to the Top 10 on Dr. D.

What do you think of guys like Richard Cheese, Red Peters or Larry Pierce who work dirty?

Well, you know, that’s their thing. I’ve known Mark Davis, aka Richard Cheese, for many years and, you know, that’s great too. I mean, I appreciate that kind of humor as well. I prefer personally to work clean, and that’s just my own choice. But that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate other kinds of humor. I’m a big “South Park” fan. I appreciate a lot of humor that I wouldn’t personally put out there myself.

Is it more of a challenge to work clean? Have you ever had to axe one of your parodies because you thought it was borderline offensive?

I don’t know. I have my own personal boundaries as to what I think is appropriate for me to put out there. My stuff isn’t squeaky clean. It certainly has an edge to it. I don’t think there’s anything that I do that you couldn’t show on prime time TV, but at the same time, there’s a lot of stuff that the Disney Channel wouldn’t play because it’s not antiseptically clean.

What’s it going to take for mainstream America to finally embrace polka again?

Well, it’s a long process. Maybe not in my time or my grandchildren’s time, but sometime before the eventual downfall of the world, I hope.

Weird Al Yankovic @ Arizona State Fair, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 1326 W. McDowell Road, Phoenix, 602.252.6771, Tuesday, October 16, 7 p.m., $20 for reserved, free with fair admission

Article Tools