With a career encompassing teen accordion teacher, college deejay, and 12 albums (yielding dozens of gold and platinum hits, plus three GRAMMYs), we had to know if he could play a computer keyboard, too.
- "Al attended Lynwood High School, where he was a straight-A student and graduated as Valedictorian at the age of 16. From there he went to the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, where he got a degree in Architecture."
- "Although he can play other keyboard instruments, the accordion has always been Al's main 'axe,' and he continues to play it on record as well as in concert. His first lesson was on the day before his 7th birthday. After three years of accordion lessons, he quit, deciding to continue learning on his own."
He can.
And it's just our type...
Mike Durrett: In preparation for this interview, memories of Weird Al Through the Ages hurtled into my head. It wasn't long before I was struck by how truly prolific and successful you've been. Later, poised over the bio, I was delighted to see you, ahem, steal my opening point when you said: "The irony of it is I’ve managed to stick around longer than many of the acts I’ve parodied.”
You've also outdistanced the creative spans of most, if not all, of the popular song parodists. It's a remarkable achievement, even with the inclusion of the original non-parody content in your repertoire. Why do you think you've overcome the show business odds relating to musical humorists?
"Weird Al" Yankovic: It’s hard for me to say. I guess luck, timing and talent are all contributing factors. Also, I try to respect other artists and not burn any bridges.
I have several theories on your longevity, which go beyond the obvious comedic and musical talents. You've continued to create through the years, not resting on past glories, and there has been a strong attention to comic detail. Could you comment on your work ethic?
I like to think that I’m in decent mental health, but when it comes to my work, I get dangerously close to obsessive-compulsive territory. I get very focused and I work very hard to make sure that every song I write is as good as it can possibly be. People might suspect just the opposite because of the nature of my material. That's one of the reasons I wanted to put a very straightforward featurette on the making of the album on the DVD side of Straight Outta Lynwood - so people could see that even though it's ridiculous material, it’s serious work.
How much time and effort goes into your average piece of material, from the initial idea until the finalized track?
The actual amount of work involved would be nearly impossible to quantify, and of course it varies a lot from song to song. The originals take significantly longer than the parodies because obviously I need to write the music for those songs as well, and that involves charting, making demos and rehearsing with the band. As a point of reference, I probably spent a couple months working on my Frank Zappa homage "Genius In France," but I wrote, recorded and mixed “White & Nerdy” in less than a week.
Which comes first with the parodies, the comic idea or the selection of a tune to rewrite? Are most of them the results of light bulb moments, when the concepts are immediately clear -- or do you make yourself slave away at a potential song until an acceptable idea reveals itself?
Usually I find a song that seems to be a good candidate for parody, and then try to think of all the possible directions I could take with it. Sometimes, usually with the movie parodies, the songs are reverse-engineered - meaning I have the concept first, and then try to find the right song to go along with it. There are times when I really need to strain to find an idea that works well, but it seems that most of my best ideas are the ones that just spontaneously pop into my head.
Can you recall the early events which set you on the musical parody path? Are there specific performances that influenced your imagination and glee?
I largely attribute my interest in comedic music to my early exposure to the Dr. Demento Radio Show. I don’t know if I could pinpoint specific performances, but I remember I was transfixed the first time I heard songs by Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg and Shel Silverstein.
As a child, which was more important to you, being a musician or getting laughs? How about today?
I guess I enjoyed playing the accordion as a kid, but I never took it too seriously. And I always loved making people laugh, but I don’t think I was ever really considered the class clown - I was just the weird nerd kid. And it’s impossible for me to choose between the two today - they’re obviously both very important to me. Sometimes it’s hard for me to do one without the other.
Next Page: "Weird Al" on Straight Outta Lynwood, laughing, and a certain body part.
