Artists Talk About How They Really Feel About Being Parodied By Weird Al Yankovic

Crush Test Dummies' most famous song is "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” so naturally Weird Al parodied it with the track “Headline News.” The band loved the parody so much that they've performed the song live with him.

Regarding being parodied by Weird Al, Brad Roberts said in an interview that it was “a great milestone for the band” and loved performing the song with him.

Michael Jackson was one of the first artists to allow Weird Al to parody his songs. “Beat It” became “Eat It,” and “Bad” became “Fat.” The only song he didn’t want the comedy-musician to parody was “Black or White,” as Jackson felt the message was too important. The King of Pop liked the parodies so much that Jackson even allowed the accordionist to use his subway set for the video. 

Weird Al said that Jackson “had a great sense of humor about it!”

Kurt Cobain wrote, “Weird Al Yankovic is America’s modern pop-rock genius” in his journals, so it makes sense he would allow the accordionist to parody one of his songs. 

Weird Al told Spin how he got permission from Cobain to do “Smells Like Nirvana”:

He was sweet and he got it in like five seconds and said, ‘Of course you can do a parody.’ The famous quote from him was, ‘Is it going to be a song about food?’ because at that point that’s primarily what I was known for. And I said, ‘Well, no, it’s going to be a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics.’ And he said, ‘Oh, sure, of course, that’s funny.’

One of Weird Al’s biggest parody hits was his version of Madonna’s “Like A Virgin,” “Like A Surgeon.” As the legend goes, it was Madonna herself, at the height of her popularity, who suggested the song's title. In 2022, Weird Al finally addressed who had the idea for “Like A Surgeon,” telling NPR:

From what I heard, she was just kind of musing out loud to a friend of hers one day. Oh, I wonder what Weird Al's is going to do - ‘Like A Surgeon’ - 'cause it seemed like the obvious thing to do. And her friend happened to know my manager, and word got back to me. And I thought, well, not a bad idea. So, yeah, she did indirectly suggest that title for the song.

Don McLean’s biggest hit is “American Pie.” The track is as lengthy as it is catchy; until recently, it was the longest song to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“American Pie” proved to be perfect for Weird Al to parody by using it tell to the story of Star Wars: Episode I -  The Phantom Menace. The resulting song, “The Saga Begins," is a fan favorite.

McLean loved what Weird Al did with his song, telling Rebecca Milzoff:

When I heard his version, I thought it was better than the original.

Devo always marched to the beat of their own drum, with a visual presentation and music that made them unique. So Weird Al decided not to parody one of their songs, but rather their whole vibe and sound with “Dare To Be Stupid.”

When Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh was asked about it in a Behind the Music interview he cheekily stated: 

I was in shock. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. He sort of re-sculpted that song into something else and... I hate him for it, basically.