For my third Top 10 music playlist, I’m covering another artist who was, at one point, my favourite musician: “Weird Al” Yankovic! Around the ages of 13 and 14, I was obsessed with him and barely ever listened to music by anybody else. Nowadays, he may not be my favourite, but I still have a lot of respect for him and his music. Indeed, considering his huge library of exceptional work, it was hard to choose just ten for my playlist!
Sadly, I think people can be quick to dismiss parody music as “silly” and as not holding any real value, but I love his music. A lot of the time, I prefer Weird Al’s parodies over the original songs they’re based on. If I’m having a bad day, his high energy, comedic music is a great way to help lift my spirits. Also, thanks to him making parodies of so many different artists, I have actually been introduced to a number of musicians who I might not have come across otherwise.
It’s not just parodies either. Though his songs are always comedic in some way, he has completely original pieces too and these are equally as good. I love his sense of humour – it’s wacky, but well-intentioned. He doesn’t go out of his way to tear anybody down, but instead sings about day to day things which many people will relate to or understand. I’ve tried to include a nice mixture of parodies and original pieces in my selection below:
- Bohemian Polka
- White & Nerdy
- Everything You Know Is Wrong
- Whatever You Like
- Headline News
- A Complicated Song
- Virus Alert
- I Was Only Kidding
- You Don’t Love Me Anymore
- Jurassic Park
If you’ve never listened to Weird Al before, I hope you will enjoy sampling his songs in my playlist and if you’re a fan, I hope you agree with my choices! He’s a fantastic musician and covers a broad range of musical styles in his work, so I think a lot of people will be able to enjoy him.
