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Every couple years the clever, Grammy Award winning "Weird Al" Yankovic releases a new album of contemporary pop parodies and every couple years critics wonder where he's been. But with a nearly thirty-year career, five platinum records and three gold records, the savvy Yankovic gets the last laugh. Everyone is at least passingly familiar with Al's mop of curly hair and manic Hawaiian shirts. On record covers and music videos, there's often an accordion featured prominently. But when taken as a whole, the breadth and body of Al's career as a parodist is stunning. Generations who have little else in common have grown up grinning along to Al's note-perfect revamps, whether it's Madonna's "Like A Virgin" ("Like A Surgeon") or Green Day's "American Idiot" ("Canadian Idiot.") In fact, it's tempting to say that you haven't made it as a pop megastar until Al's made a best-selling re-make out of one of your songs. Starting in the late-70's with parodies of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" ("Another One Rides the Bus") and The Knack's inescapable "My Sharona" ("My Bologna") Al hooked up with radio impresario Dr. Demento, who was famous for highlighting novel and bizarre music on his program. Demento was charmed by Al and brought him on tour. One thing that's kept Yankovic current is his obvious love of music. Behind the goofy persona, there's a highly meticulous artist his albums often feature polka medleys of contemporary hits that have to be heard to be believed (Nine Inch Nails sounds surprisingly awesome with an accordion!) With the advent of MTV, Al got to take the same obsessive craftsmanship to a series of hilariously remade videos replicating Nirvana's entire "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise." Weird Al also directed, wrote and starred in the 1989 cult-hit movie UHF, about a struggling cable channel. Wherever pop music goes next, we're lucky to have "Weird Al" Yankovic and his accordion along for the ride. Common misspelling: yankovich, yankovick

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