Guest contributor Jeff Miller is a giant Weird Al fan and the only person who could write this post. Pictured above with Al at KCRW
I can’t recall a time in my life when I wasn’t a fan of Weird Al Yankovic — I’m pretty sure there’s a video somewhere of a 5-year-old me singing “Eat It” and I’m one of about 10 people who saw his movie “UHF” in theaters, and can quote just about every line from it to this day (“What is in the box that Hiro-san is bringing down the aisle right now…”).
I’ll argue for Weird Al’s brilliance until I explode: the man is a living legend.
Who else has weathered every change in the music business for decades and decades without losing his own relevance? No one, that’s who.
So, when I was invited out to watch the taping of his Guest DJ Project set, I obviously jumped at the opportunity to meet Al.
Guess what? He was as gracious, friendly, and awesome as you’d expect.
His music picks, also, were fascinating; he’s clearly a music-lover and not just a parodist.
His new album “Mandatory Fun“, is going to stand as a classic (“Word Crimes“, his grammar-friendly take on “Blurred Lines“, is unquestionably going to be played in classrooms for decades), and that’s as it should be, but getting to know the man behind the silly was really fun. Enjoy it.