"Weird Al" Yankovic may earn a living making fun of people's work, but he's always polite about it. Even though no law can stop the comedian from parodying another performer, he gets permission from the artists just the same.

He first garnered attention through the Dr. Demento radio show by sending in lampoons of popular songs like The Knack's "My Sharona" (as "My Bologna") and Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" (as "Another One Rides the Bus").

Over 150 songs and 14 albums later, the curly-haired, accordion-playing satirist is still using the Pop charts as his playground. How well do you know Weird Al?

~Amanda Flinner

Weird Al Songfacts

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More Fact or Fiction

Comments: 12

• Turbooffy from Alma Co.Highly recommend new Roku fim on W.AY. Excellent , excellent casting. Great cameos, script. Daniel Radcliffe nails W. Al. WAY is will always be the Jimmy Page of Rock Accordions!!!
• Sophia A (fursuiter Chloe) from Belvidere, IlGot all right, toom 5 tries
• Rob Orick Alias "robgems68" from Oxford, MichiganWeird Al Is a favorite of mine for many years. I also love his many cartoon appearances on "My Little Pony/FIM" (as Cheese Sandwich), "We Bare Bears" (as a ornery carnival con-artist) and "Wander Over Yonder" (as the Batman villain parody "Dr. Screwball Jones, PHD.")
• Cheese Sandwich from EquestriaJust wait till I tell Pinkie about this!
• Solo579 from Never Sayin'I absolutely love Party in the C.I.A. Wait... Is that the radio?...RED ALERT!!!
• Funky-master from Oh-yeah-sureThe "Other Yankovic" question is debatable. Al has made that comment a few times, but on his "Behind The Music" special they interview his late mother, and she said that it was a choice between guitar and accordion, and she felt the accordion was more fun and reminded her of a one man band. Got the rest right.
• Patti Brown from Algonac, Mi I got two wrong, but I disagree with both. "Snack All Night" was a concert only song. He did perform it live, he just never recorded it. You can search youtube and find him performing just a snippet of it. Yes, I know he said recently that MJ talked him out of it, but that was as far as putting it on record. The other was that Al's parents chose the accordion for him because of Frankie Yankovic. Al's mother was quoted as saying that she chose the accordion for Al because it was kind of like a one-man band. Al did say his parents thought there should be one more accordion playing Yankovic in the world, but I always thought that was off the cuff.
• Darrin from Reno, Nv10 right, 4 wrong, all guesses since I hardly know anything about this guy. Guess it's luck of the draw.
• Glenn from Sydney, Australia"Snack All Night" DOES exist. It has been performed live only, i.e. not released on record.
• James from Vidalia, Ga5 right, 9 wrong. I thought I knew Al... my first Al was "Another one rides the Bus", I even love the film UHF, which actually DOES seem like a film about a favorite TV station that left the airwaves, dadgumit! Loads of tricks in these questions.. Al should do a parody of this quiz.
• Jim from North Billerica, MaI got two wrong myself, the Beach boys one (I call trick question!) and the "Black or White". I did get lucky and guessed at a couple.
  Keep 'em coming boys and girls, they are always fun to play
• Karen from Manchester, NhOnly 2 wrong (and one was on a technicality - Beach Boys' v. Beach Boy's)! The other was the "other Yankovic" one.

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"Jeopardy" by The Greg Kihn Band got the Weird Al treatment with "I Lost On Jeopardy." Kihn and Jeopardy game show announcer Art Fleming both appear in the video.

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"Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun was a huge hit for Berlin, but lead singer Terri Nunn was the only band member to perform on it. This caused friction that broke up the group a year later.

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