‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is still getting the last laugh

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When “Weird Al” Yankovic first hit the national airwaves in 1984 with “Eat It,” his parody of Michael Jackson’s song “Beat It,” the Internet was barely an idea in Al Gore’s mind, MTV still played music and song parodies were few, far between and one-hit wonders.

These days, virtually anyone can have the world hear and see their comedy takeoffs on popular songs by uploading them on the video Web site YouTube.

But not only is Yankovic still lampooning hot music, his latest album, Straight Outta Lynwood, released in September on Volcano Records, is his highest-charting album ever—it debuted at No. 10—and has given him his first Top 10 single, “White and Nerdy,” a parody of Chamillionaire’s mega-hit “Ridin.’”

Yankovic, now 47 years old, married and the father of a 4-year-old daughter, conceded in a telephone news conference recently that the Internet “sort of levels the playing field. It allows pretty much anybody to get their material out there.”

“But,” he says, “to coin a phrase, cream rises to the top. So if your stuff is good, a lot of people will hear it.”

And Yankovic says that rather than diluting his audience, the Internet has helped him by making his music even more accessible. He points out that the video for “White and Nerdy,” which had 6 million hits in the first three weeks on YouTube, broke several Internet records.

“That was a huge hit,” he says. “I think it’s gotten, like, 20 or 30 million hits so far, if you’re adding up all the YouTube and MySpace hits. It was quite a phenomenon. So I’d have to say that that was in a large way responsible for the high chart debut.”

Then again, “Maybe people are finally catching up with me,” he says, laughing.

Actually, people have been in Yankovic’s corner all along. He has sold more comedy recordings—12 million and counting—than any other artist in history. He has six platinum and four gold albums and seven gold or platinum long-form videos, and has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning three.

Yankovic may be correct about the boost the Internet has given his music—“White and Nerdy” gave him only his second gold single, 22 years after “Eat It.” But he says cyberspace also “can be a two-edged sword.” On his Web site, he lists a half-dozen Web videos he says are wrongly attributed to him, and urges users to check his catalog if they’re not sure.

“One of my pet peeves about the information superhighway is there is a lot of misinformation,” he says. “If you were to do a search for my name on a lot of the peer-to-peer sites, half the songs that come up are not by me.”

And while Yankovic strives to keep his songs family friendly, many Internet imitators don’t. “The reason I had to point out the fact that I didn’t do a lot of those songs is… a lot of these songs are vulgar or just not very good,” he says. “It certainly doesn’t do me any favors to have my name attached to them.”

But he also has used the Web to his advantage. When Atlantic Records had him pull “You’re Pitiful” from the new disc, Yankovic released the parody of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” as a free-for-download single on the Net. (He also performs it in concert.)

Yankovic is keenly aware of how the Internet allows the public to share music without buying it, and on the new album he deliciously takes to task artists who cry foul because of it. “Don’t Download This Song” is a dead-on send-up of celebrity charity songs such as “We Are The World,” and Yankovic offered it as a free download on his Web site and MySpace.com.

“I don’t have a huge problem with people illegally downloading music from the Internet,” he says, adding with mock seriousness, “unless it’s my music. Then that’s wrong.”

Yankovic says one reason for his longevity has been his ability to keep aware of what music is popular.

“I still listen to the radio. I still enjoy pop music,” he says. “I’m aware of what’s happening in music, and whether people view me as hip or not hip, I do feel like I have a working knowledge of what’s out there. ...

“I still enjoy doing what I do. I think the consumers and the buying public will let me know when it’s time to retire.”

These days, his daughter, Nina, is his biggest critic.

“She likes my stuff from early on,” Yankovic says. “I was neck-and-neck with a (children’s television show) `Blues Clues’ soundtrack for a while, but I’m proud to say that my daughter is still a fan of my work.

“Although, for some reason, she doesn’t like me singing to her in person. I’ll start singing lullabies to her or making up silly songs, and she’ll say, `No, daddy, don’t sing. Put on the CD.’ She likes the recorded material better.”