Now, a rigorous adherence to professional ethics dictates that I acknowledge a personal bias, in the form of my fondness for the man himself.
Watch our countdown of Weird Al's greatest hits on YouTube.
The man has assembled a remarkably diverse catalog, too: There are song parodies, of course, but also originals, pastiches (Yankovic calls them "style parodies"), polka medleys, TV theme songs and even movie skits to choose from. Yankovic's self-titled debut album came out exactly 40 years ago on May 3, so I decided to mark the occasion by doing the only reasonable thing a person who's been a fan for that entire span could possibly do: I listened to all of his songs in chronological order and ranked the 40 best. He's also evolved constantly as he's moved from spare early parody singles (1979's "My Bologna," 1981's "Another One Rides the Bus") to the masterfully joke-dense satires and lavishly arranged originals that fill his later records. That idea helps account for Yankovic's many comebacks: New 12-year-olds are minted every day, and as listeners age into adulthood, they're not likely to leave behind the man who helped provide their gateway into grown-up comedy – and in the process made adolescence a tiny bit bearable.īut that alone doesn't account for Yankovic's incredible staying power. Ask people under 50 for their favorite "Weird Al" Yankovic record, though, and they're likely to come up with the one that came out when they were 12 or 13. Photo Illustration by Jackie Lay/NPR/The Associated PressĪsk random people for their favorite year in music, and they'll often name the year they turned 19.
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