“Weird Al” Yankovic comes to El Paso with his “The Mandatory World Tour” July 19 at the Plaza Theatre. Yankovic is known for his top-selling comedic parodies of famous songs such as “White and Nerdy,” “Smells Like Nirvana” and “Like a Surgeon.”
“Mandatory Fun,” the album featured for the tour, includes parodies of big hits such as Pharrell William’s “Happy” (“Tacky”), Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” (“World Crimes”), and Lorde’s “Royals” (“Foil”).
Jeffrey Gonzales, senior graphic design and marketing major, said he grew up listening to Weird Al Yankovic during the height of the artist’s popularity in the 1980s.
“I think it’s funny and entertaining,” Gonzales said. “It makes people laugh and it’s going out of the box.”
The Grammy-award winning Yankovic has recorded over 10 albums of parodies, appeared in multiple films and television shows and has filmed two concert films, the second of which aired on Comedy Central. He has won four Grammys, the most recent for Best Comedy Album in 2015.
Yankovic’s style of music has created quite a bit of controversy, with plenty of musicians denying him permission to parody their material. Despite multiple attempts, the late Prince never permitted Yankovic to parody any of his songs. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Paige and Sir Paul McCartney, although self-proclaimed Yankovic fans, are among the list of artists to also refuse.
Jose Carrasco, a sophomore civil engineering major, is familiar with Yankovic’s style of music.
“I know he can be controversial. He’ll say stuff that pushes people’s buttons,” Carrasco said. “But the way I see it, if you want to do parodies, tick some people off, then that’s on you, you have that freedom.”
Not many students were aware of the controversial artist’s scheduled performance in the Sun City.
“I didn’t hear about the concert, I didn’t see it in the newspaper, anything in the media, or have heard about it on the radio,” Gonzales said. The one-night-only event will have VIP tickets ranging from $139 to $269, as well as general admission tickets for $55.
For more information, visit weirdal.com and elpasolive.com.
Allison Livermore may be reached at [email protected].
Jay Levey • Jul 5, 2016 at 11:40 AM
Hi –
I’m Al’s manager. I rarely respond to or seek to correct the press, but your piece was so egregious in its basic assertions that I feel compelled to.
Al’s approach to parody over more than 3 decades has been anything but “controversial,” due primarily to the WELL KNOWN FACT THAT HE GETS PERMISSION FROM HIS SUBJECTS BEFORE HAND. In fact, having Weird Al parody one of your songs is considered a badge of honor by the artists he parodies. Kurt Cobain famously said in Rolling Stone that he felt like he had finally “made it” when Al did his parody of of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Lady Gage called it a “rite of passage.” Michael Jackson was a true fan, having granted permission TWICE. The idea for the parody of “Like A Virgin” (“Like A Surgeon”) CAME FROM MADONNA HERSELF.
As to your specific examples – yes, Prince was one of the very few artists who denied permission. It was his prerogative as an artist, and since Al never did anything THERE WAS NO CONTROVERSY. Paul McCartney was a fan, asking Al outright when he would do a parody of one of his songs, but the one time Al did ask permission, the parody in question was of “Live And Let Die” called “Chicken Pot Pie,” to which Paul passed out of principle since he’s a vegan. (He remains a fan, and recently did a guest cameo in a short film that Al directed and starred in called AL’S BRAIN.) Your assertion re: Jimmy Page is just flat out wrong: he GRANTED PERMISSION for Al to use a portion of the Zepplin classic “Black Dog” for use in a Weird Al parody – something Jimmy NEVER does.
There’s this thing in journalism called RESEARCH. You may want to employ it next time you choose to write about a subject, especially one for which you clearly have a predisposed bias.