Stomp may refer to:

Stomp (strike), a downwards kick using the heel

Stomp (dance troupe), a percussive physical theatre troupe

Stomp Records, a record label now part of Union Label Group

Stomp Entertainment, an Australian entertainment group

Straits Times Online Mobile Print, a Singapore-based web portal

Streaming Text Oriented Messaging Protocol, a protocol for working with Message-Oriented Middleware

Stomp dance, a Native American dance

Stomp progression, a chord progression

Stomp box, a type of bass drum

In songs:

"Stomp!", a song by the Brothers Johnson

"Stomp" (Steps song)

"Stomp" (God's Property song)

"Stomp", a song by Young Buck from Straight Outta Cashville

Name	Young Buck
Background	solo_singer
Born	March 15, 1981 Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genre	Hip Hop, Southern Rap, Dirty South, Crunk
Occupation	Rapper, Songwriter, Actor, Producer
Years active	1995–present
Label	Cashville Records , Real Talk
Associated acts	Drumma Boy, Bun B, Ludacris, 8Ball & MJG, Outlawz, Game
Website	}}

David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), also known as Young Buck, is an American Southern rapper. Buck is a former member of the New York City-based hip hop group G-Unit.

Biography

Early life

Around the age of twelve, Brown began rapping because he was inspired by a Miami friend named McClea, jealous of McClea's talent, he wanted to beat him no matter what he had to give up, at the same time McClea moved to Tallahassee,Fl Brown began recording in a real studio. Shortly thereafter, he was given an opportunity to perform to Brian "Baby" Williams, co-founder of Cash Money Records. After several years on and off of Cash Money Records, Brown and fellow rapper Juvenile decided to leave the label for good in 2000 and went to UTP Records, where he stayed until 2003. His deal with UTP later led to a meeting with New York rapper 50 Cent who later signed Buck to G-Unit Records, under Interscope Records.

G-Unit

50 Cent gave Young Buck a feature on his commercially successful debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin' on the track "Blood Hound". After this, he appeared on G-Unit's debut album, Beg for Mercy, which certified 2x Platinum. Young Buck then released his debut album, Straight Outta Cashville, in 2004, with its follow-up, Buck the World being released in 2007.

On April 7, 2008 in an interview with Miss Jones on New York's Hot 97, 50 Cent stated that Young Buck was no longer a member of the group G-Unit but was still signed to G-Unit Records.

Solo career

After Young Buck was dismissed from the group, He released numerous tracks attacking not only the group, but their associates and, more specifically, group leader 50 Cent. 50 Cent and G-Unit also responded with many tracks, including one particular instance in which 50 Cent released a phone call he had recorded with Young Buck, which featured the Tennessee native weeping and apologizing for numerous things. After this happened, Young Buck responded, stating that the call was a fake, that happened one year prior to its release, and claimed that only police record phone calls.

After a lengthy battle between Young Buck and his former G-Unit comrades, the feud seemed to settle down, with Young Buck stating that he owed one more album for G-Unit Records which would be released in 2009, then titled The Rehab. In other interviews, he's stated that he does not have a problem with 50 Cent or G-Unit anymore, but is currently doing his "own thing". He also stated that although he's still signed to G-Unit Records, he's trying to get out of the contract, and he's no longer signed to Interscope.

On September 13, 2010 an interview with Shade 45 radio host Angela Yee, 50 Cent stated that Young Buck is still signed to G-Unit Records.

Financial problems

Brown filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in August 2010, shortly after an IRS raid on his home. His bankruptcy lawyer later told The City Paper that he was planning to sue Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) and other parties over the record contract dispute.

The IRS made plans to auction off Young Buck's seized property on October 28, 2010, but his legal counsel filed suit to halt the sale, while simultaneously re-filing a revised bankruptcy petition that no longer referenced a $5 million legal claim against 50 Cent and other parties associated with G Unit.

In the lawsuit, viewable at this link, Young Buck said the studio equipment taken in the raid was "directly tied to" his "ability to generate income in order to reorganize the estate." He stated that the seizure of property that belonged to his children had "created great stress in the home" and "within the common law marriage of the debtor plaintiff." He told the court he needed to get back the property belonging to the family.

Young Buck's attorney was able to convince the court that he would be selling real estate worth $638,500 to begin paying the back taxes due. At a hearing on October 26, 2010, plans for the IRS auction were at least temporarily stopped. Young Buck announced the outcome with a Tweet:

Cashville Records

In 2006, Young Buck began preparation on creating a record label named "G-Unit South". However, Interscope was not to be the distributing label, so he could not use the "G-Unit" name, which is when he decided upon using the name "Cashville".

After numerous artists were signed, including Outlawz and C-Bo, a deal was secured with RED Distribution. In 2008, after he was dismissed from the G-Unit group, Young Buck began putting more effort into his label stating that even without a major label deal, he will still be relevant in the music industry.

Albums

Debut album

After being with G-Unit for a little over a year, Young Buck released his debut album, Straight Outta Cashville, a portmanteau reflecting the name of Young Buck's home city, Nashville, Tennessee.

Straight Outta Cashville has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America with over 1.1 million sales in the U.S. and 2.3 million Worldwide.

Second album

Young Buck's second album, Buck the World was released worldwide on March 27, 2007.

Buck the World debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums chart, with sales of 141,083 in the first week.

Third album

The Rehab was released on September 7, 2010. It was a street album, not his official 3rd studio album, released on Real Talk Ent. Buck had made an earlier claim in which he said that The Rehab will sell a million copies in his first week, but at the time, he was still signed to G-Unit/Interscope Records.

The Rehab sold 6,400 in its first week.

Controversy

VIBE Awards incident

On November 15, 2004, Jimmy James Johnson approached Dr. Dre at the VIBE Awards and reportedly asked for an autograph before Dr. Dre was about to go on stage. After Dr. Dre declined, Johnson punched him in the back of the head before running towards the nearest exit. A brawl ensued with several uniformed police officers attempting to break up the fight. Chairs were thrown, and it was alleged that Young Buck stabbed Johnson in the chest with a knife. After video evidence was uncovered from the awards ceremony, the Santa Monica Police Department issued an arrest warrant for him. In a preliminary hearing, it was ruled that there was enough evidence to proceed with a jury trial. However, in December 2005, a deal was reportedly struck that would see Young Buck avoid trial.

The Game

After The Game was kicked out of G-Unit for being disloyal, Young Buck as well as new West Coast G-Unit act rapper Spider Loc who had signed to G-Unit Records in September 2004, called him to task for dissing the group and label. The Game then released a track entitled "240 Bars" which insulted both Spider Loc and Young Buck. Young Buck then released a track called "The Real Bitch Boy", which featured Spider Loc and used a beat from The Game's track, "Where I'm from". In the song, Young Buck talks about how he did not even know The Game when he mentions The Game's name on "Poppin' Them Thangs". Also, Young Buck talks about The Game being a male stripper and also how 50 Cent helped The Game to be successful with his album The Documentary.

The feud has continued to escalate, with there being an exchange of many tracks. In February 2007, The Game and Young Buck got into a non-physical altercation at a club, during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas. The last time that they were seen together was when The Game was part of G-Unit.

After being dismissed from G-Unit, Young Buck appeared on a remix to The Game's song Game's Pain, as well as appearing in the music video to the song My Life, which featured another former rival, Lil Wayne. A mixtape by The Game and Young Buck was also confirmed, though as of 2009, it has not materialized.

Lil Wayne

Young Buck released a song featuring Tony Yayo called "Off Parole" which insulted Lil Wayne. Young Buck said that Lil Wayne could not be angry, because Young Buck spoke the truth. Young Buck also said "You think you got a problem with Juve and B.G.; you'll have a true problem with me", referring to the Cash Money-Juvenile/B.G feud.

One of the reasons 50 Cent stated he was dismissing Young Buck was what he called "inconsistent behavior" which included appearing on stage with Lil Wayne, then seemingly dissing him on records with G-Unit. After he was dismissed, Young Buck appeared in the music video "My Life" by The Game, which featured Lil Wayne in the vocals.

DJ Khaled

During an interview on Rap City, DJ Khaled was asked to choose three classics out of a total of eight albums. He chose every album except Get Rich or Die Tryin'. DJ Khaled stated: }} In response, Young Buck released a track entitled "Personal (Unity)" towards DJ Khaled and Terror Squad. In the song, Young Buck refers to many people on DJ Khaled's second album, We the Best.

During a "TRL" show which 50 Cent was hosting on September 12, 2007 Young Buck repeatedly mocked DJ Khaled by repeatedly shouting "50 we the best. Listennn!" in reference to DJ Khaled’s behaviour, which he exhibited on the same show previously.

Two days later on the same show, 50 Cent was offered the choice of listening to one of his rivals say something about him in a clip from Rap City. He had the choice of Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Ja Rule, and The Game, and chose Khaled's clip, in which Khaled said he did not consider Get Rich or Die Tryin' a classic.

Young Buck later addressed the issue on the mixtape G-Unit Radio Part 25-Sabrina's Baby Boy. He insults DJ Khaled on multiple tracks.

50 Cent

After numerous rumors of a "beef" within G-Unit, 50 Cent officially dismissed Young Buck from the group, in 2008. He later assured that he was still signed with the label. Numerous slander songs then arose on the internet from both camps, with Young Buck appearing in a music video of former rival The Game.

50 Cent then leaked a taped phone conversation between himself and Young Buck, which showed one of the true reasons for the falling out; 50 Cent was owed money by the Southern rapper. Young Buck later stated the conversation took place over a year before the leak. The two camps have since released a multitude of songs against each other, with the feud settling down by 2009, although on Buck's album The Rehab, he disses 50 on a track titled "Hood Documentary".

Discography

Studio Albums

Straight Outta Cashville (2004)

Buck the World (2007)

Independent Albums

The Rehab (2010)

Demo Albums

Born to Be a Thug (2002)

T.I.P. (2005)

Mixtapes

G-Unit Radio Series (2003–2008)

Best Of G-Unit Radio (Young Buck Edition) (2006)

Chronic 2006 (2006)

''Welcome To The Traphouse (Hosted By: Dj Dramma)" (2006)

Case Dismissed! (Intro of G-Unit South) (Hosted By: Dj Dramma) (2006)

G-Unit Radio 24-The Clean Up Man (Hosted By: Lebron James) (2007)

Mr.Ten-A-Key (Product Of The South) (2007)

''StarBucks (With: AllStar) (2007)

Still Ten-A-Key (2008)

Rumors (2008)

Laugh Now Cry Later (With: The Game) (2008)

Cashville Takeover (With: Cashville Records) (2008)

Back For The Streets (With: The Future) (2009)

Back On Buck Shit (Hosted By: Dj Smallz & Dj Scream) (2009)

Only God Can Judge Me (Hosted By: Biggie Rankin) (2009)

601 To The 615 (With: Boo Rossini(of CTE)) (2010)

Back On My Buck Shit Vol.2 Change of Plans (Hosted By: Drumma Boy) (2010)

Bond Money (2011)

Back On My Buck Shit Vol.3 (Hosted By: Drumma Boy) (2011)

References

External links

Official website

Young Buck interview Hustler Magazine

Category:Cash Money Records artists Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:American shooting survivors Category:Cashville Records artists Category:G-Unit members Category:G-Unit Records artists Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:Crips Category:Pseudonymous rappers

ar:يونج باك cs:Young Buck da:Young Buck de:Young Buck es:Young Buck fr:Young Buck ko:영 벅 hr:Young Buck it:Young Buck he:יאנג באק hu:Young Buck nl:Young Buck ja:ヤング・バック no:Young Buck pl:Young Buck pt:Young Buck ru:Young Buck fi:Young Buck sv:Young Buck th:ยัง บัค tr:Young Buck

name	Aliasghar Movasat
background	non_performing_personnel
born	March 10, 1975Tehran, Iran
died
origin	Iranian
genre	Eurodance, Trance
occupation	Producer, DJ
years active	1994–present
label	Gator Records
associated acts	Factual Beat, Zoom
website	djaligator.com }}

Aliasghar Movasat, ), on 10 March 1975, Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-Danish eurodance producer and DJ. He enjoyed worldwide success with the single "The Whistle Song" from his 2000 debut album Payback Time. It peaked at #5 on the UK Singles Chart in January 2002, and subsequently, he performed it on BBC Television's Top of the Pops. The song was a four times platinum selling success in Denmark in 2000, peaking at #1 on both the singles and dance chart, before its international release in 2002.

DJ Aligator has remixed for artists such as Me & My, Infernal, Nik & Jay, O-Zone, and Medina, Rihanna. DJ Aligator now resides in Malmö, Sweden after having lived in Denmark for most of his life.

Discography

Albums

Payback Time (2000)

The Sound of Scandinavia (2002)

Music Is My Language (2005)

Kiss My B-ass (2009)

Singles

"Doggy Style" (2000)

"Lollipop" (2000)

"Turn Up the Music" (2000)

"The Whistle Song" (2000)

"Temple of India" (2001)

"Dreams" (feat. Christina Undhjem) (2002)

"I Like to Move It" (feat. Dr. Alban) (2002)

"Mosquito" (2002)

"Stomp" (2002)

"Davaj Davaj" (feat. MC Vspishkin) (2004)

"Music Is My Language" (feat. Arash) (2005)

"Protect Your Ears" (2005)

"Countdown" (2006)

"Meet Her at the Loveparade 2007" (2007)

"KAOS" (2008)

"Calling You" (2009)

"Shine" (feat. Heidi Degn) (2009)

"Gi' det til dig" (feat. Jinks) (2010)

"Starting Over" (2011)

"Trash The Club (2011)

References

External links

Official website

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:Danish electronic musicians Category:Danish musicians Category:People from Tehran

da:DJ Aligator fa:علی مواساط is:DJ Aligator no:DJ Aligator pl:DJ Aligator ru:DJ Aligator sv:DJ Aligator tr:DJ Aligator

Name	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Alfred Matthew Yankovic
Alias	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Birth date	October 23, 1959
Origin	Lynwood, California, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, accordion, keyboards
Occupation	Record producer, satirist, parodist, singer-songwriter, musician, director, producer, actor
Years active	1976–present
Genre	Parody, comedy, polka
Religion	Christianity
Label	Capitol, Scotti Brothers, Volcano
Associated acts	Dr. Demento
Website	www.weirdal.com }}

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he had sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2007), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Yankovic's success comes in part from his effective use of music video to further parody popular culture, the song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves, scene-for-scene in some cases. He directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film, UHF, and television show, The Weird Al Show. He has also made guest appearances on many television shows, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV.

Early life

The only child of Nick Louis Yankovic (June 4, 1917 – April 9, 2004) and Mary Elizabeth (February 7, 1923 – April 9, 2004), Alfred was born in Downey, California, and raised in the town of Lynwood. His father was born in Kansas City, Kansas of Serbian descent, and began living in California after serving during World War II; he believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy. Nick Yankovic married Mary Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who was of Italian and English descent, and had come to California from Kentucky, gave birth to Alfred ten years later.

Al's first accordion lesson, which sparked his career in music, was on the day before his sixth birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims the reason his parents chose accordion over guitar was "They figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world," referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he is not related directly. Also, Yankovic said, that "[his] parents chose the accordion because they were convinced it would revolutionize rock." He continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own. Yankovic's early accordion role models include Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren (the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show). In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album "was partly how I learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion." As for his influences in comedic and parody music, Yankovic lists artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa "and all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists that he was exposed to through the Dr. Demento Radio Show." Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from Mad magazine, Monty Python, and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker parody movies.

Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on," he recalls. As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school. He was a straight-A student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class. Yankovic was active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League, a play based upon Rebel Without a Cause, the yearbook (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshippers club, "which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook."

Yankovic went on to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a degree in architecture.

Career

Dr. Demento and early fame

Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's radio show, saying "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school where the then 16 year old Yankovic gave him a homemade tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin'", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere, was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately.". Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, saying:

During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed Weird Al by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as the fountain toilets at the Madonna Inn.

In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.

On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects.

Band and fame

1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.

Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006.

In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al, which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.

Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."

Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts.

A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria".

New look and career to present

On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his moustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his signature look (he had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz and 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video). Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music".

Three of his latest albums feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from Running with Scissors is 11 minutes and 25 seconds; "Genius in France" from Poodle Hat runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from Straight Outta Lynwood is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Before 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico), these "epic" songs were not performed live in their entirety due to their length and complexity. (See Live performances for details)

Yankovic has also started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled Internet Leaks, with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set.

In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album. This album, titled Alpocalypse, is his first studio album since Straight Outta Lynwood, and was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous Internet Leaks digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ" for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs.

Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" entitled "Perform This Way", to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially. As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody. Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song.

Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Personal life

Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski in 2001; their daughter, Nina, was born in 2003. They also have a pet cockatiel named Bo Veaner and another dog named Bambu. They used to have a pet poodle, named Bela (pictured atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album, Poodle Hat). Yankovic identifies as Christian and has stated that a couple from his church appeared on the cover of Poodle Hat.

Yankovic changed his diet to become a vegan in 1992, after a former girlfriend gave him the book Diet for a New America and he felt "it made [...] a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet." When asked how he can "rationalize" performing at events such as the Great American Rib Cook-Off when he is a vegan, he replied "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I’m not a student anymore."

In 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead in their Fallbrook, California, home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. Several hours after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota, saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time." Although Yankovic played the concert as planned, a scheduled meet and greet following the concert was canceled.

Music career

While Yankovic's song parodies (such as "Eat It") have resulted in success on the Billboard charts (see List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic), he has actually recorded an equally large number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute"). His work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television (see The TV Album), movies ("The Saga Begins"), food (see The Food Album), popular music ("Bohemian Polka", "Polkarama"), and sometimes issues in contemporary news ("Headline News"). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."

Although many of Yankovic's songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic lampoons the original artist as a person, or the song itself. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Yankovic considered that his first true satirical song was "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Other satirical songs include "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set on You", the unreleased "It's Still Billy Joel to Me", and Perform This Way", set to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way".

Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the songs "Amish Paradise", "White & Nerdy", and "You're Pitiful"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song").

Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs and, for "legal and personal reasons", does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans. There exists, however, one exception to this rule in the case of "Like a Surgeon". Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and happened to wonder aloud when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon". Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey.

Unlike other parody artists such as Allan Sherman, Yankovic strives to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original. While Sherman reproduced them orchestrally, Yankovic and his band essentially play the original song with new lyrics. Instead of using instrumental versions of the original songs, Yankovic and his band transcribe the original song by ear and re-record the song for Yankovic's parody version.

In addition to his parodies, Yankovic also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Because the polkas have become a staple of Yankovic's albums, he has said he tries to include one on each album because "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."

Some of Yankovic's original songs are "style parodies" for which he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody, rather than any single hit by that band. Such bands include Rage Against the Machine with "I'll Sue Ya" (which features many aspects of the hit song "Killing in the Name"), Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", and Queen with "Ringtone". Others are style parodies in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now" and charity records with "Don't Download This Song").

Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously; "Polkamon" from the movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000, and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), in addition to his own film, UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in The Transformers: The Movie.

One of Yankovic's recurring jokes involves the number 27. It is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, and seen on the covers for Running With Scissors, Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood. Yankovic had originally just pulled the number 27 as a random figure to use in filling out lyrics, but as his fans started to notice the reuse of the number after the first few times, Yankovic began to purposely drop references to 27 within his lyrics, videos, and album covers. Yankovic explains that "It's just a number I started using that people started attaching a lot of importance to." Other recurring jokes revolve around the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention the name), Frank (e.g. "Frank's 2000" TV"), and the surname "Finkelstein" (e.g. the music video for "I Lost on Jeopardy", or Fran Dreischer's character, Pamela Finkelstein, in UHF). Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza. Some other recurring jokes include Yankovic borrowing, or being owed, $5. In a number of Al TV interviews, he often asks if he can borrow $5, being turned down every time. This motif also occurs in "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", in which his deceased friend owes him $5. Another recurring joke is his attraction to female nostrils or nostrils in general. This also appears in numerous Al TV interviews as well as in several of his songs ("Albuquerque" and "Wanna B Ur Lovr" to name a few.) Yankovic also asks his celebrity guests if they could "shave his back for a nickel." This also appears in the song "Albuquerque". Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."

Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, and Men Without Hats. While most novelty artists are one-hit wonders, Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the stigma often associated with novelty music.

Music videos

While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", "It's All about the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to Be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.

Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes an appearance by Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays Al's Amish wife in "Amish Paradise".

While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic has also worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of Straight Outta Lynwood features six videos set to songs from the release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show Robot Chicken, and aired as a segment of that program. As of fall 2010, Yankovic is again collaborating with Bill Plympton to create a video for a new song ("TMZ") which will appear on his upcoming album.

Reactions from original artists

Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody. However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies. He claims that only about two to three percent of the artists he approaches for parody permission deny his requests. Also, according to Stanford Libraries, fair use is unlikely to justify a parody song that parodies more than a few lines of song lyrics from an existing song. Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made some sort of cultural impact at the time. However, there are a few notable exceptions where people have not allowed parodies or have otherwise withdrawn permission.

Positive

Michael Jackson was a big fan of Yankovic, and Yankovic claimed that the artist "had always been very supportive" of his work. Jackson twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the Moonwalker video. Though Jackson allowed "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", entitled "Snack All Night", because he felt the message was too important. This refusal, coming shortly after the commercial failure of Yankovic's movie UHF in theaters, had initially set Yankovic back; however, Yankovic later recognized this as a critical time, as in searching for new parodies, he came across Nirvana and leading to a revitalization of his career with "Smells Like Nirvana". Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows. Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl".

Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um... it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with, "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics." According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."

Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film UHF on the provision that Knopfler himself be allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for UHF, explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?" The Permanent Record: Al in the Box booklet referred to the song's "compound fracture of a title." When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."

The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with Yankovic's last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album Pure Frosting. In 2008, Yankovic directed the music video for their song "Mixed Up S.O.B."

The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a US$500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances. Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a Lucasfilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."

Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin'") on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy [...] I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. [...] Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big." In September 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."

Yankovic was briefly denied permission to parody Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for his song "Perform This Way" for release on his next album, but through his release of the song on YouTube and subsequent spread via Twitter, Lady Gaga and her staff asserted that her manager had made the decision without her input, and Gaga herself gave Yankovic permission to proceed with the parody's release. Gaga was considered "a huge Weird Al fan", and she stated that the parody was a "rite of passage" for her musical career and considered the song "very empowering".

Negative

One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don’t remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I’ll be invited to Coolio’s next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."

In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself": {{Block quote|Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.}} For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a fake interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions for comic effect.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers expressed disappointment of Yankovic's parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give it Away" called "Bedrock Anthem", saying that while he "[likes] Weird Al and everything", he "didn't think it was very good".

Refused parodies

On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up." Yankovic related one story where, prior to the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, Yankovic got a telegram from Prince's lawyers, demanding he not make eye contact with the artist.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused. Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".

Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and found the parody to be in bad taste.

In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission, despite Blunt's personal approval of the song. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, and plays it in concert, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.

Live performances

Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza" with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics." Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes. A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour for the Running with Scissors album ("Touring with Scissors") was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000. Titled "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, on October 2, 1999. For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.

2003 saw Yankovic on tour overseas for the first time. Before 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada. Following the success of Poodle Hat in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year. Yankovic returned to Australia and toured New Zealand for the first time in 2007 to support the Straight Outta Lynwood album.

On September 8, 2007, Yankovic performed his 1,000th live show at Idaho Falls, Idaho. Yankovic is scheduled to tour in the summer of 2010. The initial plan was to tour after his 13th album will be released, but in a podcast in May 2010, Yankovic revealed that the album would not be released before or during the tour, but sometime after.

Yankovic performed his first ever European mini-tour, including an appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in Minehead, England in December 2010. Yankovic was picked to perform by the Canadian band Godspeed You Black Emperor who curated the festival's lineup. Yankovic played three other dates in the UK around his festival appearance before performing a single date in the Netherlands.

Other work

UHF

In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma called UHF. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop. However, it was unsuccessful in theaters.

The film has since become a cult classic, with out-of-print copies of the VHS version selling for up to $100 on eBay until the release of the DVD in 2002. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter). In an apparent attempt to make it more accessible to overseas audiences, where the term UHF is used less frequently to describe TV broadcasts, the film was titled The Vidiot From UHF in Australia and parts of Europe.

UHF shows the creation of Yankovic's signature food—the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese put together and dipped in milk before eating. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie Wiener Sandwich.

Notable television appearances

Yankovic had a TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to December 1997 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for his adult fans (as such, it is often compared to Pee-wee's Playhouse). The entire series was released on DVD by Shout! Factory on August 15, 2006.

Yankovic has hosted Al TV on MTV and Al Music on MuchMusic many times, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For Poodle Hat, Al TV appeared on VH1 for the first time. A recurring segment of Al TV involves Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect. He inserts himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and then manipulates his questions, resulting in bizarre and comic responses from the celebrity.

VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Yankovic. His two commercial failures (his film UHF and his 1986 album Polka Party!) were presented as having a larger impact on the direction of his career than they really had. Also, Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Much was also made over his apparent lack of a love life, though he got married shortly after the program aired.

Yankovic has done voice-overs for a number of animated series. He appeared in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, singing "The Ballad of Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires Yankovic to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic also had a cameo in a 2008 episode, entitled "That 90's Show", during which he records a parody of Homer's grunge hit "Shave Me" entitled "Brain Freeze" (Homer's song, "Shave Me", was itself a parody of Nirvana's "Rape Me") making Yankovic one of only a handful of celebrities to appear twice on the show playing themselves. He has had one notable appearance in the animated Adult Swim show Robot Chicken voicing a kid who becomes a giant robot. The episode also featured Al's music video, "Weasel Stomping Day". Yankovic is the voice for Squid Hat on the Cartoon Network show, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He is also the announcer of the cartoon's eponymous video game adaptation. Yankovic had a guest appearance voicing Wreck-Gar, a waste collection vehicle Transformer in the Transformers: Animated cartoon series; previously, Yankovic's "Dare to Be Stupid" song was featured in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie, during the sequence in which the Wreck-Gar character was first introduced; as such, the song is referenced in the episode. He also plays local TV talent show host Uncle Muscles on several episodes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job along with other appearances on the show. Weird Al has also supplied the voice of one-shot character 'Petroleum Joe' on The Brak Show. He also voiced himself on a Back at the Barnyard episode.

An exhaustive list of television shows on which Yankovic has appeared is available on his official website.

Directing career

"Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993’s "Bedrock Anthem" to 2006’s "White & Nerdy". He also directed the end sequence of 1986’s "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his Polka Party! album and the title sequence to Spy Hard, for which he sang the title song. Yankovic wrote, directed and starred in the short 3-D movie attraction "Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey Through The Human Brain", which premiered at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California in 2009. The $2.5 million project sponsored by the Orange County Fair, including a brief cameo by Sir Paul McCartney that Yankovic directed during McCartney's tour at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Fair CEO Steve Beazley, who supported the project, considers the project a success and is considering leasing the exhibit to other fairs; the second appearance of the exhibit will be at the Puyallup Fair in Washington.

In addition to his own, he has directed several videos for Hanson (the Titanic sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), Blues Explosion ("Wail"), and The Presidents of the United States of America ("Mixed Up S.O.B"). He has cameo appearances in his videos for Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer), and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks").

Cartoon Network feature film

On January 25, 2010, Yankovic announced that he signed a production deal with Warner Bros. and is set to write and direct a live-action feature film. Although Yankovic previously wrote the script for UHF, this was to be the first movie Yankovic directed. Little is currently known about the movie. However, Yankovic did state that he would not be starring in the movie, as Cartoon Network wanted a younger protagonist. During an interview on the Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Yankovic revealed that though Cartoon Network "loved" his script, the network decided that they were no longer intending to produce feature films. Yankovic stated that he would instead shop the script around to other potential studios.

Writing

Yankovic wrote When I Grow Up (ISBN 0-06-192691-4), a children's book released on February 1, 2011 and published by HarperCollins. The book features 8-year-old Billy presenting to his class the wide variety of imaginative career possibilities that he is considering. Yankovic stated that the idea for the book was based on his own "circuitous" career path. The book allows Yankovic to apply the humorous writing style found in his music in another medium, allowing him to use puns and rhymes. Yankovic worked with Harper Collins' editor Anne Hoppe—the first time that Yankovic has had an editor—and found her help as a positive experience. The book is illustrated by Wes Hargis, who, according to Yankovic, has a "a childlike quality and a very fun quality and a very imaginative quality" that matched well with Yankovic's writing. The book reached the #4 position on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Picture Books for the week of February 20, 2011.

Other media

In 2008, Weird Al joined Michael J. Nelson as a guest on the RiffTrax treatment of Jurassic Park.

On November 10, 2009, Weird Al was a guest "internet scientist" on Rocketboom's "Know Your Meme" video series, in the installment on the topic of Autotune, hosted by Jamie Wilkinson.

Eric Appel produced a Funny or Die movie trailer for "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story", a fictional biographical film that parodies other films based on musicians; Yankovic (played by Aaron Paul) is seen hiding his "weirdness" from his parents (Gary Cole and Mary Steenburgen), making it big using song parodies with the help of Dr. Demento (Patton Oswalt), falling in and out of love with Madonna (Olivia Wilde), and fading into alcoholism and being arrested, where his father finally admits he is "weird" as well. Yankovic himself plays a music producer in the short.

Weird Al joined the band Hanson in their music video for "Thinking Bout Somethin" in which he plays the tambourine.

Yankovic contributes backing vocals for the song "Time" on Ben Folds' album Songs for Silverman.

Yankovic also appeared in the recent Halloween II as himself on a news channel.

Yankovic was also one of many celebrities who took part in the NOH8 Campaign against Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California.

Yankovic was approached by a beer company to endorse their product. Yankovic had turned it down because he believed that "a lot of my fans were young and impressionable." Yankovic later posted on his Twitter account that he never regretted the decision.

Misattribution and imitators

Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", among other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics. Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca" and several more have a Star Wars motif. Some songs misattributed to him are not songs, but spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler.

Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his only real beef with peer-to-peer file sharing sites": }}

A list of songs frequently misattributed to Yankovic can be found at The Not Al Page and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.

Fan-driven campaigns

The Weird Al Star Fund is a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission is to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate "Weird Al" Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$15,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11, 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks. On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork. However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007. On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000 and as such the Fund is accepting donations again. Yankovic's application was resubmitted for consideration in 2007, but he was not included among 2008's inductees.

Similar to the Weird Al Star Fund, a second fan-driven campaign called "Make the Rock Hall 'Weird'" has tried to enshrine him into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, for which he has been eligible since 2004. Previous attempts to raise awareness for the campaign and support Yankovic's nomination included a petition drive from 2006 to 2007, which raised over 9000 signatures; an art competition in 2005; additionally, a documentary film about the campaign is currently being developed. In addition to these efforts, an ongoing campaign is underway in which supporters of Yankovic's nomination are requested to send "sincere, thoughtful" letters to the Rock Hall Foundation's headquarters in New York. The Hall has not considered Yankovic for nomination since the campaign started in 2004. A 2009 Rolling Stone poll named Weird Al as the top artist that should be nominated for the Hall of Fame, followed by Rush and The Moody Blues in the top ten."

Discography

Studio albums

1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1992 1993 1996 1999 2003 2006 2011

rowspan=2	Title	Releaseyear	Peak chart position
! style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	Billboard Comedy Album
"Weird Al" Yankovic">"Weird Al" Yankovic (album)	"Weird Al" Yankovic	1983	139
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D	|	17
Dare to Be Stupid	|	50
Polka Party!	|	177
Even Worse	|	27
UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff	|	146
Off the Deep End	|	17
Alapalooza	|	46
Bad Hair Day	|	14
Running with Scissors (album)	Running with Scissors	|	16
Poodle Hat	|	17	11
Straight Outta Lynwood	|	10	1
Alpocalypse	|	9	1

Note: Billboard Comedy Album chart was first published in November, 2004.

EPs

Title	Release year
Another One Rides the Bus (EP)	Another One Rides the Bus	1981
Selections from Straight Outta Lynwood	2006
Internet Leaks	2009

Compilation albums

Title	Release year
Greatest Hits (Weird Al)	Greatest Hits	1988
The Food Album	1993
Permanent Record: Al in the Box	1994
Greatest Hits (Volume II)">Greatest Hits Volume II ("Weird Al" Yankovic album)	Greatest Hits (Volume II)	1994
The TV Album	1995
The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic	2009

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

!Year	!Nominated work	!Award	!Result
	1984		"Eat It"	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Best Comedy Recording
	Grammy Awards of 1986>1985		Dare to Be Stupid
	Grammy Awards of 1988>1987		Polka Party!
rowspan="3"		Fat (song)>Fat"	Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video	Best Concept Music Video
	Even Worse	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Best Comedy Recording
	Peter and the Wolf">Peter and the Wolf ("Weird Al" Yankovic & Wendy Carlos album)>Peter and the Wolf	Grammy Award for Best Album for Children	Best Recording for Children
	Grammy Awards of 1993>1992		Off the Deep End
	46th Grammy Awards>2003		Poodle Hat
rowspan="2"
	52nd Grammy Awards>2009

Gold and platinum records

! Recording	! Gold	! Platinum	! DoublePlatinum
"Weird Al" Yankovic	U.S.
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D	CanadaU.S.	U.S.
"Eat It"	AustraliaCanadaU.S.
Dare to be Stupid	U.S.	U.S.
Even Worse	CanadaU.S.	U.S.
"Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits	Canada
Off the Deep End	CanadaU.S.	CanadaU.S.
The Food Album	U.S.
Alapalooza	CanadaU.S.	Canada	Canada
Greatest Hits Volume II	Canada
Bad Hair Day	CanadaU.S.	CanadaU.S.
Running With Scissors	AustraliaCanadaU.S.	U.S.
Straight Outta Lynwood	U.S.
"White & Nerdy"	U.S.	U.S.

The "Eat It" single reached the #1 position on the Australian singles chart in 1984.

The "White & Nerdy" single was certified platinum for digital downloads and gold for ringtone downloads in the U.S.

Videography

The following is a comprehensive list of Yankovic's long form videos to date, with the United States release date.

Video title !! Release date
The Compleat Al	August 1985
	July 21, 1989
The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library	May 1992
Alapalooza: The Videos	December 1993
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection	1993
Bad Hair Day: The Videos	June 1996
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos	January 1998
"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!	November 23, 1999
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection	November 3, 2003
The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series	August 15, 2006

Awards and nominations

{| |- |Grammy Award winners

"Fat" – Best Concept Music Video (1988)

|- |Grammy Award nominees

"Jurassic Park" – Best Music Video, Short Form (1994)

|- |Australian gold long form videos

The Ultimate Video Collection

|- |U.S. gold long form videos

The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library

Alapalooza: The Videos

"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!

Bad Hair Day: The Videos

|- |U.S. platinum long form videos

The Ultimate Video Collection

|}

Cameos and special appearances in film

1988: Tapeheads

1988: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

1991: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

1994: Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

1996: Spy Hard

1997: Safety Patrol

2000: Nothing Sacred

2002: Desperation Boulevard

2003: Haunted Lighthouse

2008: Nerdcore Rising

2009: Halloween II

References

External links

Official website

"Weird Al" timeline from Exclaim!

Category:1959 births Category:Accordionists Category:American accordionists Category:American comedy musicians Category:American male singers Category:American members of the Churches of Christ Category:American music video directors Category:American novelty song performers Category:American musicians of English descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:People of Yugoslav descent Category:American satirists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American vegans Category:American vegetarians Category:American voice actors Category:California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo alumni Category:Christian vegans Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Nerdcore hip hop artists Category:Parody musicians Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Lynwood, California Category:Polka musicians

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name	Joell Ortiz
background	solo_singer
birth date	July 06, 1980
origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
genre	Hip hop
years active	1999 - present
label	SRC, Universal Motown, Shady Records
associated acts	Slaughterhouse, Immortal Technique, Big Noyd, Ras Kass, Battles, Eminem
website	www.joellortiz.com
notable instruments	}}

Joell Ortiz (born July 6, 1980) is an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York. One of the youngest Slaughterhouse members, Joell Ortiz was born to Puerto Rican parents. Ortiz grew up in the Cooper Park Houses in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York formerly signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label. He was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of The Source Magazine and was also selected as Chairman's Choice in XXL Magazine. During the same time Joell also went on to win the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earned his song Mean Business a spot on the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack. The same year he was offered a contract to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. The deal quickly went sour which caused Joell to start beef with Jermaine. Joell has since collaborated with KRS-One and Kool G. Rap. Joell released his street album called "The Brick: Bodega Chronicles" April 24, 2007 on Koch Records. The album was recorded while Joell was trying to get signed and going through some tough times personally. Even though he was signed to Aftermath Entertainment, Dr. Dre allowed him to release the street album on Koch Records. The Brick features productions from Showbiz, The Alchemist, Domingo, Ho Chi from Killahertz Productions, Lil’ Fame of M.O.P., Novel, and Moss, among others. Guest spots include Big Daddy Kane, Styles P, Big Noyd, M.O.P, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, Ras Kass, Stimuli, and Novel. Joell Ortiz is 1/4 of Super Group Slaughterhouse who drop their highly anticipated EP entitled, Slaughterhouse EP on February 8, 2011.

Music career

The Brick (Bodega Chronicles)

Though signed to Aftermath, Ortiz released an album titled The Brick (Bodega Chronicles) April 24, 2007 on Koch Records. The Brick features production by Showbiz, Street Radio, and The Alchemist, among others. Guest artists include rappers Big Daddy Kane, Styles P, Big Noyd, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, and Ras Kass.

Departure from Aftermath and joining Slaughterhouse

Ortiz parted ways with Aftermath Entertainment on April 15, 2008.

Joe Budden reached out to Crooked I, Royce Da 5'9", Joell Ortiz, and Nino Bless for a track titled "Slaughterhouse" on his digital release, Halfway House. Based on the reception of the track, they decided to form a super-group, minus Nino Bless, and named it after the first song they made together. They released numerous songs throughout early 2009, building a buzz for their self-titled album which was released through E1 on August 11, 2009. The album features production from Alchemist, DJ Khalil, Mr. Porter, Streetrunner, plus guest appearances from Pharoahe Monch, K-Young, and The New Royales. In 2010 the group signed to Shady Records and left E1 Entertainment.

A remix of Joell Ortiz' "Hip Hop" featuring Jadakiss and Saigon appeared on a fictitious urban radio station in the popular video game GTA IV.

Signing with SRC/Universal Motown and Free Agent

Ortiz started to have problems with E1 Entertainment and wanted to leave the label, but E1 would not let him. After almost a year, Ortiz finally left the label on November 5, 2010. In August 2010 Ortiz signed a deal with Steve Rifkind's label SRC Records and Universal Motown.

In an October 31, 2010 interview on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Joell Ortiz discussed his relationship with Eminem and the flood of record labels that have flocked to sign him after his Free Agent album is released. He also spoke of Eminem's excitement at working with him.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Peak chart positions					RIAA certification
		!width=40 align=center	!width=40 align=center	!width=40 align=center	!width=40 align=center	!width=40 align=center
		*Released: April 24, 2007	*Label: E1 Music
	align="left"	*Released: February 22, 2011	*Label: E1 Music

EP's

Farewell Summer EP (2010)

Collaboration albums

2009: Slaughterhouse (with Slaughterhouse)

2011: Slaughterhouse EP (with Slaughterhouse)

Mixtapes

Who The F*@k Is Joell Ortiz? (2004)

Covers The Classics (2009)

Road Kill (2009)

Defying The Predictable (with Novel) (2010)

''Pre-Agent(2010)

''life and times of Sebastian Rios ( comming soon 2011)

Singles

{|class="wikitable" ! rowspan="2"|Year ! rowspan="2"|Song ! colspan="3"|Chart positions !rowspan="2"|Album |- !width="40"|U.S. !width="40"|U.S. R&B; !width="40"|U.S. Rap |- |align="center" rowspan=1|2007 | "Hip Hop" |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |rowspan=1|The Brick: Bodega Chronicles |- |align="center" rowspan=1|2010 | "Call Me (She Said)" (featuring Novel) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |rowspan=2|Free Agent |- |align="center" rowspan=1|2011 | "So Hard" (featuring Ana Yvette) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |}

Featured Singles

{|class="wikitable" ! rowspan="2"|Year ! rowspan="2"|Song ! colspan="3"|Chart positions !rowspan="2"|Album |- !width="40"|U.S. !width="40"|U.S. R&B; !width="40"|U.S. Rap |- |align="center" rowspan=1|2011 | "We Keep It Rockin" (Maino featuring Swizz Beatz, Jim Jones, Jadakiss & Joell Ortiz) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |rowspan=1|The Day After Tomorrow |- |align="center" rowspan=1|2011 | "Currency" (Emcee Composition featuring Joell Ortiz) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |rowspan=1|Garden Statements |- |}

References

http://www.champmag.com/2010/12/17/video-joell-ortiz-talks-life-after-free-agents-w-champ-mag/

External links

Official website

Official Twitter

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Aftermath Entertainment artists Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American rappers Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Rappers from New York City

de:Joell Ortiz es:Joell Ortiz pl:Joell Ortiz tr:Joell Ortiz