“Weird Al” Yankovic is the most successful, astute, and wickedly funny song parodist of our time. On his latest album Mandatory Fun, Yankovic performs his usual balance of style parodies and send ups of big singles, which, in this case includes songs by Robin Thicke, Lorde, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons and Pharrell Williams, replacing their content with lyrics about bad grammar, aluminium foil, DIY home repair, and being a douchebag. A couple of months ago, Al agreed to answer Exclaim! Magazine’s Questionnaire. Here, he ponders what he’s up to, watermelon, living in the house he owns, the work of Mark Ryden, playing Bonnaroo, the glorious highs of Mandatory Fun and the traumatic low of opening for Missing Persons, being told he sucks, LeBron James, having good handwriting, his idea of a perfect sundae, his idea of a perfect Sunday, being amazingly advisable, Canadians know comedy, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and never having met Elton John, being an accordion repo man, spoiling yourself, vocational dreams, spiders in your mouth, vegan police, hat manners, meeting Linda McCartney, wives and Indian food, supportive parents, “Back in Black” by AC/DC at your funeral, what songs and styles he parodies on his new album, the dictatorial flavour of Mandatory Fun, his future album-making plans, Robin Thicke, grammar, Prince might be loosening up, spoofing Arcade Fire or the National, writing parodies when the mood strikes, writing books for kids and a Broadway musical, making a movie, the song “Now That’s What I Call Polka!,” and then our mandatory fun was over.
Related links: weirdal.com exclaim.ca/Features/Questionnaire/weird_al_yankovic vishkhanna.com
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