When I was in college, I didn’t own a car and there wasn’t much to do in Seguin, Texas on a Saturday night. As a result, one of the highlights of my week was listening to the Dr. Demento Show. Songs by Weird Al Yankovic were a regular feature on the show. I hadn’t thought much about Weird Al in the past 25 years. (Well, there was the Dr. Demento Christmas CD that I bought which included “Christmas At Ground Zero,” but other than that, I hadn’t thought about him).
Recently I was buying some new music for my iPod when I came across Dare to Be Stupid and decided to give it a try. This CD perfectly captures the music of the 1980s in parody. From “Girls Just Want to Have Lunch” to “Like A Surgeon,” these songs capture the sound of the originals (which were all played about a million times too often back in the day) while completely skewering the meaning. “Hooked on Polkas” mauls a medley of 80s hits by setting them to polka music. This is especially effective when applied to ZZ Top and Twisted Sister. My favorite song is “I Want a New Duck,” which makes the original Huey Lewis & the News song hysterical instead of just insipid. This really brings back memories of the 1980s.
I did some looking on YouTube and there are a lot of Weird Al videos out there. His latest CD is Straight Out of Lynwood, which includes the tune “White and Nerdy.” Donny Osmond appears in this video. Some of the others I watched included “Amish Paradise” and “Canadian Idiot.” You can waste a lot of hours watching these clever videos.
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