At Long Last, Weird Al Did It

I have been a fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic since 1996’s “Bad Hair Day.” My 13-year-old self couldn’t get enough of this album, which featured “Amish Paradise,” a parody of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”Of course, I then picked up his other albums and listened to the classics: “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon,” “Yoda,” and so many others. I even watched his cult film, “UHF.”That wave of nostalgia came flooding back with the release of “Mandatory Fun,” Yankovic’s 14th — yes, fourteenth — studio album this month. It features five parodies:• “Handy,” a craftsman’s take on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”;• “Foil,” a parody of Lorde’s “Royals” that’s all about aluminum foil (with a surprise twist);• “Word Crimes,” which uses Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” to teach listeners about the use of proper grammar;• “Inactive,” a lazy man’s version of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive”;• “Tacky,” a self-explanatory take on Pharrell Williams’s “Happy.”The album also features six original songs and Yankovic’s staple polka medley, in which popular songs get the accordion treatment, including Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” and “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk.Yankovic released eight videos in eight days to coincide with the release of “Mandatory Fun.” The videos quickly went viral and amassed millions of views.The best video, in my humble opinion as an editor, is for “Word Crimes.” Fonts fly across the screen, teaching viewers various grammatical lessons, such as the difference between “its” and “it’s.”“You’ll learn the definitions of nouns and prepositions; literacy’s your mission,” Yankovic says. As an English major, that’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear in a song.“Tacky” comes in a close second for my favorite video. It’s all done in one shot and features celebrities such as Jack Black, Margaret Cho and Kristen Schaal dancing and listing the most tacky things possible. Wearing sandals with socks? So tacky.Rounding out my top three videos is “Foil,” which features an appearance by comedian Patton Oswalt. I don’t want to spoil the video — think of it as a really short M. Night Shyamalan film.Of course, the other videos are worth watching for any Weird Al fan. “Lame Claim to Fame,” an original song written in the style of Southern Culture on the Skids, uses some interesting stop-motion animation. “Mission Statement,” another original song in the style of Crosby, Stills & Nash, was drawn by hand. You can watch them all at www.weirdal.com.Thanks to this massive push on the Internet, “Mandatory Fun” topped the Billboard 200 chart, making it Yankovic’s first No. 1 album in his 30-year career. “If you’d told me 30 years ago this would happen, I never would’ve believed it,” Yankovic wrote on Twitter. “If you’d told me two WEEKS ago, I never would’ve believed it. I’m so pleased everybody is enjoying the album, and I’m enormously grateful for everyone’s support. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.”To celebrate Weird Al’s success, let’s all watch “Word Crimes” together. I’ll bring the red pens.