“Weird Al” Yankovic is completely normal, as the name suggests. There’s nothing out of the ordinary, and it’s common practice to call yourself “Weird Al”, right?

YMMV.

It’s quite debatable whether coming up with an original song requires more creative juices flowing, or making a parody of an existing (arguably popular) song. Art being subjective as it is, this thought makes it even harder to decide whether to appreciate parody songs as genuine works of art, or to pass them off nonchalantly as “heh, anyone can do it” stuff.

I think I’d side with the side that says that even parodies are equally a work of art as the original creation. In music, though we can agree that the melody is already out there for a parody artist to use, and all they have to do is fill in some absurd lyrics that fit the music, it still is only half the job done! For any song, there’s a lot of context required, and it isn’t easy to come up with a coherent parody song. The artist really needs to understand what makes a good joke.

For instance, take the case of Smells like Nirvana - the original track is arguably one of the most recognizable grunge songs and you wouldn’t really think much about making a parody of it - until you try to figure out the lyrics, which you arguably cannot. And such is the beauty of simplicity in parody music - take one aspect of a song which deserves being parodied, and get everyone (including the original artists themselves!) to laugh about it.

But pushed too far, a point comes where cringe starts seeping in if the lyrics are not carefully thought through (even Weird Al does have some cringy stuff).

There is most certainly a fine line to tread on while creating parodies, and it is no easy task - in my opinion the fame Weird Al has got is justified. Following him I’d love to see parody art become more popular in the coming years - it’s just another form of humour and should have more audience.

Let’s all laugh together.

But please, please don’t download this song.