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"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] One is grateful to say that the delay in publication of the long heralded "WE" whether brought about by Lindbergh's refusal to be stampeded or by the counsel of other heads, has permitted Lindbergh to tell his own story without the interpolations, as they are known in the editorial world, of too many ghosts."

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] Lindbergh noted in "WE" that his year of US Army flight training (1924–25) was the key factor in his development as both a focused, goal-oriented individual, and as a skillful and resourceful aviator capable of making his remarkable transatlantic flight just two years later. "Always there was some new experience, always something interesting going on to make the time spent at Brooks and Kelly one of the banner years in a pilot's life." Lindbergh noted. "

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] The training is difficult and rigid, but there is none better. A cadet must be willing to forget all other interest in life when he enters the Texas flying schools and he must enter with the intention of devoting every effort and all of the energy during the next 12 months towards a single goal. But when he receives the wings at Kelly a year later, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has graduated from one of the world's finest flying schools." ("

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] WE", p. 125) "WE", by Lindbergh is Out Tomorrow. The New York Times July 26, 1927 p. 6 Herrmann, Anne "On Amelia Earhart: The Aviatrix as American Dandy" Ann Arnbor, MI:The Michigan Quarterly Review Volume XXXIX, Issue 1, Winter 2000 Lindbergh, Charles A. "WE" (with an appendix entitled "A Little of what the World thought of Lindbergh" by Fitzhugh Green, pp.  233–318).

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] New York & London: G.P. Putnam's Sons (The Knickerbocker Press), July 1927. Dustjacket endpaper notes, First Edition, July 27, 1927 Wohl, Robert. The Spectacle of Flight: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1920–1950. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-300-10692-0 p. 35. Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998. ISBN 0-399-14449-8.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] Chapter 7 ("Only a Man") MacDonald, Carlisle (as "Captain Charles A.Lindbergh) LINDBERGH'S OWN STORY OF EPOCHAL FLIGHT, The New York Times, May 23, 1927, p. 1 MacDonald, Carlyle (as "Captain Charles A.Lindbergh) LINDBERGH'S SECOND STORY OF HIS FLIGHT, The New York Times, May 24, 1927, p. 1 James, Edward L. Good-Bye Tributes Paid to Lindbergh; "Come Back Soon," the Flier Hears as he Sails from Cherbourg on Warship.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] The New York Times, June 4, 1927 p. 1 Lindbergh Works Hard to Complete Book: Shows Same Characteristic Thoroughness as Author as He Does as Aviator. The New York Times, July 2, 1927, p. 4 190,000 Copies Sold of Lindbergh's Book; It Is Estimated That This Means Royalties of $95,000 to the Flier. The New York Times, September 18, 1927. p. 2 Sponsors Lindbergh Book: Herrick in Introduction to "WE" Lauds Flier's Enthusiasm.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] The New York Times, July 25, 1927. p. 2 Green, Horace "WE" Reveals Lindbergh as More Careful than Lucky: His Own Narrative, as Well as His Biography, Demonstrates His Practical Genius. The New York Times, August 7, 1927. Book Review Section, p. BR3 Dustjacket endpaper note, "WE" G.P. Putnam's, First Edition, July 27, 1927: IN this publisher's safe reposes a remarkable and valuable manuscript.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] Every word of it has been painstakingly written in longhand. Every word of it is precious, not only because it goes into the telling of a great story, but because it clothes so simply and modestly the spirit of Charles A. Lindbergh. This manuscript — Lindbergh's own story—is herewith printed unaltered and unadorned. It is the real story of "WE" by the articulate member of that famous partnership.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] It goes back in its recital to long before May 20, 1927, when a slim youth stood silhouetted beside his plane against the dawn, calmly awaiting the supreme test in his young life. It goes back to Lindbergh's description of his boyhood and early flights. It tells how he got his first plane. It describes vividly and in detail his unique career as a stunt flier; his training days in the Army Air Corps; his four emergency parachute jumps which saved his life as an Air Mail pilot.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] It includes his views of the future of aviation. Then come the stirring events leading up to the flight which has made history; the flight itself; and finally Lindbergh's gracious acknowledgment of the amazing receptions accorded him in Europe and America. There follows a chronicle of the honors and ceremonies, the wild welcomes and the kaleidoscopic travels of the flier from the moment he reached Paris until he reached St. Louis after his return.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] The publishers knew the editorial "we" as a business byword; but it was not until Lindbergh landed in Paris that they heard of the aeronautical "we." This new and fitting "flying pronoun" at once struck fire as the proper title for the book. Further, it is this "we" and the deep spiritual meaning with it that give an added significance and emphasis to the divine guidance which must have been the pilot's through the dark hours of his flight.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] Said Lindbergh more than forty years later of MacDonald's "smarmy, aw-shucks style, poor imitation of Will Rogers" accounts: "I was shocked and disappointed. It was neither accurate nor in accord with my character and viewpoint. It made me into quite a different fellow than I was or wanted to be, and it gave quite a distorted picture of the flight itself."

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] The cities in which Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis landed during the Guggenheim Fund-sponsored book tour for "WE": New York, NY; Hartford, CT; Providence, RI; Boston, MA; Concord, NH; Orchard Beach & Portland, ME; Springfield, VT; Albany, Schenectady, Syracuse, Rochester, & Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; Wheeling, WV; Dayton & Cincinnati, OH; Louisville, KY; Indianapolis, IN; Detroit & Grand Rapids, MI; Chicago & Springfield, IL; St. Louis & Kansas City, MO; Wichita, KS; St. Joseph, MO; Moline, IL; Milwaukee & Madison, WI; Minneapolis/St. Paul & Little Falls, MN; Fargo, ND; Sioux Falls, SD; Des Moines, IA; Omaha, NE; Denver, CO; Pierre, SD; Cheyenne, WY; Salt Lake City, UT; Boise, ID; Butte & Helena, MT; Spokane & Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; San Francisco, Oakland, & Sacramento, CA; Reno, NV; Los Angeles & San Diego, CA; Tucson, AZ; Lordsburg, NM; El Paso, TX; Santa Fe, NM; Abilene, Fort Worth & Dallas, TX; Oklahoma City, Tulsa & Mukkogee, OK; Little Rock, AR; Memphis & Chattanooga, TN; Birmingham, AL; Jackson, MS; New Orleans, LA; Jacksonville, FL; Spartensburg, SC; Greensboro & Winston-Salen, NC; Richmond, VA; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, MD; Atlantic City, NJ; Wilmington, DE; Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY.

"WE" (1927 book) [SEP] Author's Note: "I have asked Fitzhugh Green to write a brief account of my various receptions not only because I think he has caught the spirit of what I have tried to do for aviation, but because I trust his judgement in selection of material." Charles A. Lindbergh (facsimile autograph), "WE", p. 232

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic was born in Downey, California, on October 23, 1959, the only child of Mary Elizabeth (née Vivalda) and Nick Yankovic. He was raised in Lynwood, California. His father, who was born in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, was of Serbian descent (the original surname spelling being Janković) and began living in California after earning two Purple Hearts for his service as a medic during World War II.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy. Yankovic's mother, a stenographer of English and Italian descent, married his father in 1949. She came to California from Kentucky a decade before Yankovic was born. Yankovic's first accordion lesson, which sparked his interest in music, took place on the day before his seventh birthday.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered his parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims that his parents chose the accordion over the guitar because "they figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world" (referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he is not related). He has also said that they chose the accordion because "they were convinced it would revolutionize rock".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] As his mother did not let him outside the house very often, he had plenty of time to practice the instrument at home. He continued lessons at the school for three years before deciding to learn on his own. In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album was partly how he "learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] As for his influences in comedy and parody music, he listed artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein, and Frank Zappa, as well as "all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists" he found through The Dr. Demento Radio Show. Other sources of inspiration for his comedy came from Mad magazine, Monty Python, and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker movies.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He had also enjoyed George Carlin's FM & AM comedy album so much that he transcribed it by typewriter. Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children and skipped second grade, later saying, "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist, so I was labeled a nerd early on." He attended Lynwood High School, where his unusual schooling experience meant he was two years younger than most of his classmates.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He was not interested in sports or social events but was active in extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League-sanctioned public speaking events; a play based on Rebel Without a Cause; the yearbook, for which he wrote most of the captions; and the Volcano Worshippers club—which, according to Yankovic, did "absolutely nothing" and was started "just to get an extra picture of [themselves] in the yearbook". He graduated in 1975 and was valedictorian of his senior class.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture. Yankovic received his first exposure via syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's Southern California–based radio show, saying, "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." Despite his mother having caught Yankovic listening to Dr. Demento's program and banning him from listening to it again in the future, he found ways to hear it discreetly.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school, where the then–16-year-old Yankovic gave him a homemade tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song, "Belvedere Cruisin'" – about his family's Plymouth Belvedere – was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Demento said, "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately." Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, accompanied by fellow dorm resident Joel Miller on bongos. Yankovic said: "It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs. They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from 2001. And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest." During Yankovic's second year as an architecture student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at KCPR, the university's radio station.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic had been called "Weird Al" originally as a more derogatory nickname from others within the dormitory he shared, as he was seen as the strange outcast compared to other residents. Though he initially took it as an insult, Yankovic eventually "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as Bubblegum Alley and the waterfall toilets at the Madonna Inn. In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by the Knack was on the charts, and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic met the Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. " My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music. On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit "Another One Bites the Dust".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. " Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder on April 21, 1981.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects. Yankovic's record label, TK Records, went bankrupt about two weeks after the single was released, so Yankovic received no royalties from its initial release. 1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" originally recorded by The Arrows) which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. The song "Ricky" (a parody of Toni Basil's hit "Mickey") was released as a single and the music video received exposure on the still-young MTV. " Ricky" broke the top 100 videos on MTV at the time, which Yankovic took as a sign that his career was in music, quitting his job as a mailroom clerk at the local offices of Westwood One to pursue the music career.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic sarcastically described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. "

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Eat It" was also aided by the first of Yankovic's Al TV specials that aired on MTV on April 1, 1984, the network looking to Yankovic's rising popularity to help fill its programming time. Peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at No. 9 in October 2006. In Canada, "Eat It" reached No. 5.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life titled The Compleat Al (the title being a parody of the 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles), which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents. Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for the Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with the Monkees, even though "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In 1988, Yankovic was the narrator on the Wendy Carlos recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. The album also included a sequel to Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals, titled "The Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Yankovic's success led to a deal to make his film UHF, which premiered in July 1989.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] While the film had since become a cult title, its initial release was against mediocre reviews, and it was up against several other summer blockbusters, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Batman, and Licence to Kill. While Yankovic released an associated soundtrack album, UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff, it was not as successful as his previous albums. Yankovic fell into a slump over the next three years as a result of the poor performance of the film.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic had returned to the studio to prepare songs for his next album Off the Deep End around 1990. During production, Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts. Further, Yankovic took over production from Rick Derringer in 1992.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] While Derringer had produced six of Yankovic's previous albums, for which he won two Grammy Awards, Derringer's drug-related issues had become an issue, along with Yankovic's more complex musical scores (involving horns and other instruments). By 1992, most of the original songs for Off the Deep End were complete, but Yankovic still did not have a strong parody and was waiting for the next big hit to work from, as he was still in a slump post-UHF.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] When Jackson released his next album, Dangerous, and its hit single "Black or White", Yankovic had quickly written a parody, "Snack All Night", from it, and hoped Jackson would allow him to use the parody. Jackson denied Yankovic this, as Jackson felt "Black or White" carried a serious message that would be undermined by the parody. Again, Yankovic fell into a mood and delayed release of Off the Deep End without a lead parody.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Around this time, Nirvana and the grunge music scene began to take off. Yankovic wrote a parody of Nirvana's hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Smells Like Nirvana", and was able to secure the band's permission for the parody; Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain was said that getting Yankovic to parody their work was a sign their band had "made it". " Smells Like Nirvana" became the lead song on Off the Deep End, landing at No.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] 35 on the Billboard charts, his second top 40 hit in the United States. Off the Deep End reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200, and helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after the failure of UHF. Yankovic's next two studio albums were modest successes in light of Off the Deep End. Alapalooza was released in 1993, and led with "Jurassic Park", a spoof of "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris while mocking the 1993 film of the same name. Alapalooza peaked at No.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] 46 on the Billboard 200. Bad Hair Day in 1996 headlined with "Amish Paradise", a parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". " Amish Paradise" reached No. 53 on the top Billboard 100 singles, while the album reached No. 14 on the Billboard 200, and eventually was certified Double Platinum in sales by RIAA, making it one of Yankovic's more successful works.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In addition, Yankovic released a number of compilation works during this period, including Permanent Record: Al in the Box, a four-CD collection which included most of Yankovic's previous works as well as an informational booklet with contributions from Dr. Demento. Other compilations included Greatest Hits Volume II, a collection of songs that were not included in Permanent Record, and The TV Album, featuring songs loosely based on television shows. On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] When Running with Scissors debuted in 1999, he unveiled a radically changed look. In addition to shedding his glasses, he had shaved off his moustache and grown out his hair. He had previously shaved his moustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz, in 1989 for segments of the "UHF" music video, and in 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music". Running with Scissors was followed by his next studio album Poodle Hat in 2003. Poodle Hat was met with average reviews without any standout singles, though the album did peak at number 17 on the Billboard 200.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic's following album was Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006, which featured the single "White & Nerdy", a parody of "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire. " White & Nerdy" became Yankovic's first Billboard Hot 100 single, debuting at No. 29 and peaking at No. 9. " Canadian Idiot", a parody of "American Idiot" by Green Day, also charted in the Hot 100. The album as a whole reached No.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] 10 in the Billboard 200, and by 2008 was Yankovic's first certified platinum album, having reached over one million sales. Following Straight Out of Lynwood, Yankovic started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled Internet Leaks, with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set. In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album, titled Alpocalypse, which was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous Internet Leaks digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ", for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" titled "Perform This Way" to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful", which was titled "You're Pitiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song. Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. Yankovic stated in September 2013 that he was working on a new album, and in 2014, he used social media websites to hint at a July 15 release of the new album.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] The album artwork and title, Mandatory Fun, were confirmed by his publisher. Yankovic said in an interview promoting the album that, with the end of his recording contract, it is likely his last traditional album, in the sense of recording and releasing that many songs at a time; he said he will likely switch to releasing singles and EPs over the Internet, a method which offers more immediate release opportunities, as Yankovic considers his parodies in particular as something that can become dated by the time of release.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Mandatory Fun was released to strong critical praise and was the No. 1 debut album on the Billboard charts the week of its release, buoyed by Yankovic's approach for releasing eight music videos over eight continuous days that drew viral attention to the album as described below. It became Yankovic's first No. 1 album in his career. Additionally, the song "Word Crimes" (a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines") reached No.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] 39 on the Top 100 singles for the same week; this is Yankovic's fourth Top 40 single (following "Eat It", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "White & Nerdy") and made him the third musical artist, after Michael Jackson and Madonna, to have a Top 40 single in each decade since the 1980s. Since Mandatory Fun, Yankovic has not released any additional albums.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Yankovic said, "I can't tell you when any material is coming out. Inspiration could strike tomorrow and I might have something out next month. There's no plan. It's just going to be whenever it winds up being." After several years of fan-driven campaigns, Yankovic received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In March 2018, Al released a new song, "The Hamilton Polka", a polka medley consisting of several songs from the musical Hamilton. The song holds the distinction of being the first polka song to chart on Billboard's Digital Songs Sales Chart. After Hamilton had premiered on Disney+ in July 2020, Yankovic released a video version of "The Hamilton Polka" that synched his song to video clips from the show. Also in March, Al released two remixes of songs by Portugal.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] The Man: "Feel It Still" and "Live in the Moment". In 2020, he collaborated with the band again on their single "Who's Gonna Stop Me", which was released for Indigenous Peoples' Day. Yankovic became a vegetarian in 1992 when his then-girlfriend gave him a copy of the 1987 John Robbins book Diet for a New America, which he said "made a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] When asked how he can rationalize performing shows at events such as the Great American Rib Cook-Off as a vegetarian, he replied, "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I'm not a student anymore." In a 2011 interview with OnMilwaukee, he clarified his stance on his diet: "I am still a vegetarian, and I try to be a vegan, but I occasionally cheat. If there's a cheese pizza on the band bus, I might sneak a piece."

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski, a marketing executive with 20th Century Fox, after they met in 2001. They were introduced to each other by their mutual friend Bill Mumy. Their daughter, Nina, was born in 2003. They live in Los Angeles, where they own a home previously owned by figures such as writer Jack S. Margolis and rapper Heavy D. In stark contrast to his stage persona, Yankovic is known by friends and associates to be polite, shy, and introverted, even among family.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He is a Christian, and a married couple from the church he attends can be seen in the background on the cover of his album Poodle Hat. His religious upbringing is reflected in his abstinence from profanity, alcohol, and drugs. On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead at their home in Fallbrook, California, the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Hours after his wife notified him of this, he made the decision to go on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin. He later said, "Since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well ... it would at least give me a break from sobbing all the time." Their deaths occurred following the release of Poodle Hat, which was Yankovic's lowest-selling album in 20 years.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He considered the Appleton show and subsequent tour dates therapeutic: "If I didn't have anything to distract me, I probably would have spiraled into an even deeper depression. For a couple of hours each night, I could go onstage and put on a big fake smile and pretend like everything was just okay."

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In a 2014 interview, he cited the deaths of his parents as the worst thing that had ever happened to him, adding, "I knew intellectually, that at some point, probably, I'd have to, you know, live through the death of my parents, but I never thought it would be at the same time, and so abruptly." Yankovic is well known for creating parodies of contemporary radio hits, typically which make up about half of his studio releases.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Unlike other parody artists such as Allan Sherman, Yankovic and his band strive to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original, transcribing the original song by ear and re-recording the song for the parody.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In some cases, after Yankovic has requested that the original band allow his parody, the band will offer to help out with the recreation: Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher perform on "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", Yankovic's parody of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing", while Imagine Dragons provided Yankovic with advice on how to recreate some of the electronic sounds they used for "Radioactive" in Yankovic's parody "Inactive".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, and Men Without Hats. Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the one-hit wonder stigma often associated with novelty music.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic considers his body of work to primarily feature parodies, rather than satires of the original song or artist, as he found that satire of songs or artists has already been done before. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the songs "Amish Paradise", "White & Nerdy", and "You're Pitiful"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song").

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic's parodies are often satirical of popular culture, including television (see The TV Album), movies ("The Saga Begins"), and food (see The Food Album). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic considered that his first true satirical song was "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Other satirical songs include "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set on You", and "Perform This Way", set to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", that drew inspiration from Lady Gaga's outlandish but confident attitude.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs and, for "legal and personal reasons", does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans. There exists, however, one exception to this rule: Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and happened to wonder aloud when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon". Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In writing his parodies as well as his original songs, Yankovic spends a great deal of time in deciding the right words that not only match the beat of the original song but that fit theme of the parody. He says that some songs have taken him weeks to compose the lyrics to as he permeates the various choices, sometimes entering a "zombie phase" as he mulls these over in his home.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] For example, Yankovic believes he could have written a completely different version of "White & Nerdy" based on the alternative choices of lyrics he had come up with and had discarded for the final song. He has also done significant research for other song parodies to get facts and keywords for certain areas of knowledge, such as for "I Think I'm a Clone Now" or hospitals for "Like a Surgeon".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic has documented all these past lyrical attempts, first through binders and then computerized in case he needs to go back for future songs. Most of Yankovic's studio albums include a polka medley of about a dozen contemporary songs at the time of the album, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] In Yankovic's early career, before recording his first album, he had performed such polka medleys in live shows in California, though then using songs from lesser-known bands like Bad Brains and the Plasmatics. He had been inspired to do so from Spike Jones, who had transitioned from classical music into polka. Yankovic said that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic did not include a medley on his first album, but considered this for his second, In 3-D, recognizing that it would only work if he used well-known songs. The resulting "Polkas on 45", which featured songs from Devo, Deep Purple, Berlin, and The Beatles, was popular, and the polka medley became a staple of all but one of Yankovic's future albums.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic said that "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley." More current polka medleys feature songs that Yankovic had wanted to parody but which had proved difficult, such as Daft Punk's "Get Lucky", which lacked sufficient lyrics to parody. The polkas are recorded in studio, including the sound effects which are performed live during recording, which Yankovic considered one of his favorite parts of recording.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic has recorded numerous original humorous songs, such as "You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute". Many of these songs are style pastiches of specific bands with allusions to specific songs. For example, "First World Problems" from Mandatory Fun is a style take on the Pixies, with the opening stanza reminiscent of the Pixies' "Debaser".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Other style parodies includes those of Rage Against the Machine with "I'll Sue Ya" (which features many aspects of the hit song "Killing in the Name"), Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", The B-52's with "Mr. Popeil", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", and Queen with "Ringtone".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Some songs are pastiches of an overall genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now", charity records with "Don't Download This Song" and college fight songs with "Sports Song"). Yankovic stated that he does not have any unreleased original songs, instead coming up and committing to the song ideas he arrives at for his albums and other releases.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously; "Polkamon" from the movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000, and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), in addition to his own film, UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in The Transformers: The Movie. One of Yankovic's recurring jokes involves the number 27.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] It is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, and seen on the covers for Running with Scissors, Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood. He had originally just pulled the number 27 as a random figure to use in filling out lyrics, but as his fans started to notice the reuse of the number after the first few times, he began to purposely drop references to 27 within his lyrics, videos, and album covers.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] He explains that "It's just a number I started using that people started attaching a lot of importance to."

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Other recurring jokes revolve around the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention the name, David Bowe's character in UHF is named Bob, and a song called "Bob", done in the style of Bob Dylan, is featured on Poodle Hat), Frank (e.g. "Frank's 2000" TV"), and the surname "Finkelstein" (e.g. the music video for "I Lost on Jeopardy", or Fran Drescher's character, Pamela Finkelstein, in UHF).

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] A number of songs use the phrase "internal organs". Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza. Other recurring jokes include Yankovic borrowing or being owed, $5. In a number of Al TV interviews, he often asks if he can borrow $5, being turned down every time.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] This motif also occurs in "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", in which his deceased friend owes him $5. Another recurring joke is his attraction to female nostrils or nostrils in general. This also appears in numerous Al TV interviews as well as in several of his songs ("Albuquerque" and "Wanna B Ur Lovr" to name a few.) Yankovic also asks his celebrity guests if they could "shave his back for a nickel".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] This also appears in the song "Albuquerque". Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", "It's All About the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to Be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump".

"Weird Al" Yankovic [SEP] The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes an appearance by Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays an Amish seductress in "Amish Paradise". While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums.