I watched Dan Rather interview a guy tonight.  I sat there watching the interview thinking to myself, “That dude has put together a really unique, albeit succesful career”.  I also wondered if this interview would just be interesting to somebody of my demographic or if the younger generation would even know who this guy is.  At the end of the interview, I strolled down the hall to where the younger generation has a habitat.  I asked Duke, “Do you know who Weird Al is?”  He cocked an eyebrow, gave me that RUSM? look and said, “Yeah.”  I then asked, “What’s his last name?”  He replied, “Yankovic.”  I then asked, “Do you know any of his songs?”  Once again, “Yeah.  A bunch of them.  Have you heard the Yoda song?”  

      When you realize that Weird Al was doing this gig back in the early 80s and he is still relevant, that my friends is an amazing career.  He’s done parodies of rock, rap, pop, country, you name it.  Many of the people that he made fun of use his songs as a badge of honor.  “You know you’ve made it when Weird Al does a parody of your song.”  Michael Jackson, Madonna, Nirvana, Coolio, and the list goes on.  Ironically, only he,  Michael Jackson and Madonna are the only artists to have a top 40 hit in the 80s, 90s, 00s and 2010s.  

     The dude has had numerous hits, won video of the year awards, had a #1 album, grammy(s) and is working on a 40 year career.  Yet, he still admits that he plays the accordian and is a nerd.  Classic.  His true skill is putting new lyrics, that actually fit the song, into a comedic fashion while keeping the music legit.  He has also understood how to use the newest medium from MTV to internet to social media.  Go watch his “Word Crimes” video.  He slays that song and video.  Of course, in my opinion, the all time best parody of a song and video is and always will be his version of “Smells like Nirvana”.  I was in college at the time, MTV was HUGE and Nirvana and their song “Smells like Teen Spirit” was all over the place.  But his version was stellar.  I’d still rather watch Weird Al’s video instead of the original.  And the great thing, he can do these parodies without being nasty or dirty.  They are just clever and funny.  Basically, Weird Al Yankovic might be one of the most under-rated geniuses of our time.  Plus, think of the royalties that the original artists have continued to cash as a result of Weird Al using their work.  

      It just goes to show that a person needs to explore all opportunities for success.  You never know which path might take you some place that you never expected.