All 53 “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Music Videos, Ranked
By SPIN Staff
“Weird Al” Yankovic is a national treasure. It’s as simple as that. Going on four decades now, he’s the strange uncle who shows up every few years to remind us that pop music is supposed to be fun, that sacred cows were meant to be tipped. And while some folks like to argue about his relevance — should he still release albums? Has YouTube obviated his existence? — such claims seem silly in light of the fact that he’s dominated the music news cycle this week, releasing a new video every day. Indeed, anyone can spoof pop music, but no one does it like Al. To mark the release of Yankovic’s 14th studio album (!!), Mandatory Fun, SPIN burned the midnight oil ranking Weird Al’s entire music video oeuvre – (including the brand new ones)!
53. “Lasagna” (Even Worse, 1988)
Parody of: Los Lobos – “La Bamba”
Notable Lyric: “Have-a more ravioli / You-a get roly poly, a-nice and-a big”
52. “I Love Rocky Road” (Weird Al Yankovic, 1983)
Parody of: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”
Notable Lyric: “I love rocky road / So have another triple scoop with me”
51. “Spy Hard” (Gump B-Side, 1996)
In the Style of: The opening sequence of Goldfinger
Notable Lyric: “If you walked in late /Allow me to reiterate / The name of this movie is ‘Spy Hard.’ / They call it ‘Spy Hard.’ / You’re watching ‘Spy Hard.’ / It’s the theme from ‘Spy Hard.’
50. “Skipper Dan” (Alpocalpyse, 2011)
In the Style of: Weezer
Notable Lyric: “I shoulda listened when my grandfather said / “Why don’t you major in business instead?” / Now my hopes have all vanished and my dreams have all died / And I’ll probably work forever as a tour guide on the Jungle Cruise ride”
49. “Headline News” (Permanent Record, 1994)
Parody of: Crash Test Dummies – “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”
Notable Lyric: “And then, there was this guy who / Made his wife so mad one night that she cut off his weiner / And when he finally came to / He found that Mr. Happy was missing”
48. “Pancreas” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
In the Style of: The Beach Boys
Notable Lyric: “My spleen just doesn’t matter / Don’t really care about my bladder / But I don’t leave home without / My pancreas”
47. “UHF” (UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff, 1989)
In the Style of: A “Weird Al” original track
Notable Lyric: “Kick off your sneakers / Stick around for a while / We got it all on UHF”
46. “Christmas at Ground Zero” (Polka Party!, 1986)
In the Style of: Phil Spector
Notable Lyric: “You might hear some reindeer on your rooftop / Or Jack Frost on your windowsill / But if someone’s climbin’ down your chimney / You better load your gun and shoot to kill”
45. “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” (Off The Deep End, 1992)
Parody of: Extreme “More Than Words”
Notable Lyric: “I knew that we were having problems when / You put those piranhas in my bathtub again”
44. “One More Minute” (Dare to Be Stupid, 1985)
In the Style of: Doo-wop
Notable Lyric: “I’d rather clean all the bathroom in Grand Central Station with my tongue / Than spend one more minute with you”
43. “Living With a Hernia” (Polka Party!, 1986)
Parody of: James Brown – “Living in America”
Notable Lyric: “Can’t run, barely crawl / Got a bulge in my intestinal wall”
42. “Handy” (Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Parody of: Iggy Azalea – “Fancy”
Notable Lyric: “I’ve got 99 problems but a switch ain’t one.”
41. “This Is the Life” (Dare to Be Stupid, 1985)
In the Style of: 1930s jazz
Notable Lyric: “That’s right, I’m the king, number one / I buy monographed Kleenex by the ton”
40. “Ricky” (“Weird Al” Yankovic, 1983)
Parody of: Toni Basil – “Mickey”
Notable Lyric: “Oh Ricky / What a pity, don’t you understand / That every day’s a rerun and the laughter’s always canned”
39. “Close But No Cigar” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
In the Style of: Cake
Notable Lyric: “I thought after all these years of searching around I’d found my soulmate finally / But one day I found out she actually owned a copy / Of Joe Dirt on DVD”
38. “Pac-Man” (released 2017, from 1995)
Parody of: Taxman by the Beatles
Notable lyrics: “Hey mom, I won’t be home this year (Pacman)/Please forward all my mail right here (Pacman)/I’m at the Pacman/Yeah it’s the Pacman”
37. “TMZ” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
Parody of: Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me”
Notable Lyric: “You just picked up some transvestite / Seconds later It’s up on the website”
36. “If That Isn’t Love” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
In the Style of: Hanson
Notable Lyric: “I’ll even let you warm your freezing hands inside my butt crack”
35. “Do I Creep You Out” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
Parody of: Taylor Hicks – “Do I Make You Proud”
Notable Lyric: “Somethin’ I should ask about / Can I sniff the pit-stains on your blouse?”
34. “Weasel Stomping Day” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
In the Style of: Albert Hague – “Trim Up the Tree”
Notable Lyric: “It’s tradition, that makes it okay”
33. “CNR” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
In the Style of: The White Stripes
Notable Lyric: “He had his very own line at the DMV / He made sweet, sweet love to a manatee”
32. “Like a Surgeon” (Dare to Be Stupid, 1985)
Parody of: Madonna – “Like a Virgin”
Notable Lyric: “I’ll pull his indsides out, pull his insides out / And see what he ate / Like a surgeon, hey / Cuttin’ for the very first time”
31. “Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies” (UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff, 1989)
Parody of: Dire Straits – “Money for Nothing”
Notable Lyric: “Old Jed was shootin’ at some food / When all of a sudden right up from the ground, there / Well, there came a bubblin’ crude”
30. “Another One Rides the Bus” (Weird Al Yankovic, 1983)
Parody of: Queen – “Another One Bites the Dust”
Notable Lyric: “Riding in the bus down the boulevard / And the place was pretty packed (Yeah!) / Couldn’t find a seat so I had to stand / With the perverts in the back”
29. “Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
In the Style of: Jim Stenman
Notable Lyric: “You’re passing around a link to some dumb thing on YouTube / That everybody else already saw three years ago / And wacky badly Photoshopped billboard / Were never that amusing to me / And I just can’t believe you believe those urban legends”
28. Mission Statement (Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Parody of: Crosby, Stills, & Nash
Notable lyrics: “Providing our supply chain with diversity (versity, ooooh)/We will distill our identity”
27. “Bob” (Poodle Hat, 2003)
In the Style of: Bob Dylan
Notable Lyric: “Rise to vote, sir / Do geese see god?”
26. “Virus Alert” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
In the Style of: Sparks
Notable Lyric: “It’ll make your keyboard all sticky / Give your poodle a hickey / And invest your cash in stock in Euro Disney”
25. “Don’t Download This Song” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
In the Style of: Various Artists – “We Are the World”
Notable Lyric: “Don’t take away money / From artists just like me / How else can I afford another solid gold Hum V?”
24. “Craigslist” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
In the Style of: The Doors
Notable Lyric: “I’ll trade you for my old wheelbarrow / And a slightly-used sombrero / And I’ll even throw in a stapler, if you insist”
23. “Foil” (Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Parody of: Lorde – “Royals”
Notable Lyric: “I never bother with baggies, glass jars, tupperware containers / Plastic cling wrap, really a no-brainer / I just like to keep all my flavors sealed in tight”
22. “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Jurassic Park” (Alapalooza, 1993)
Parody of: Jimmy Webb – “MacArthur Park”
Notable Lyric: “I cannot approve of this attraction / ‘Cause getting disemboweled always makes me kinda mad / A huge tyrannosaurus ate our lawyer / Well, I suppose that proves… they’re really not all bad”
21. Lame Claim to Fame (Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Parody of: Southern Culture on the Skids
Notable lyrics: “I tried to sit by Steve Buscemi/But he told me this seat’s taken”
20. “Bedrock Anthem” (Alapalooza, 1993)
In the Style of: Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away”
Notable Lyric: “Wanna chill with a Sabretooth Tiger / Wear a loincloth, natural fiber / Be the first Rolling Stone subscriber / Got a pterodactyl for a windshield wiper”
19. “Dare to Be Stupid” (Dare to Be Stupid, 1985)
In the Style of: Devo
Notable Lyric: “You can turn the other cheek / You can just give up the ship / You can eat a bunch of sushi and forget to leave a tip”
18. “Polka Face” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
Parody of: Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”
Notable Lyric: “No he can’t read-a my polka face”
17. “Gump” (Bad Hair Day, 1996)
Parody of: The Presidents of the United States of America – “Lump”
Notable Lyric: “His girlfriend Jenny was kind of a slut / He went to the White House, showed LBJ his butt”
16. “It’s All About the Pentiums” (Running With Scissors, 1999)
Parody of: P. Diddy – “It’ All About the Benjamins”
Notable Lyric: “I’m down with Bill Gates, I call him “Money” for short / I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support”
15. “Another Tattoo” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
Parody of: B.o.B. – “Nothin’ on You”
Notable Lyric: “At every job interview they’re just so impressed / ‘Cause I got all my ex-wives on my chest”
14. “Party in the CIA” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
Parody of: Miley Cyrus – “Party in the U.S.A.”
Notable Lyric: “So I get my handcuffs, my cyanide pills, my classified dossier / Tapping the phones like yeah / Shredding the files like yeah”
13. “Whatever You Like” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
Parody of: T.I. – “Whatever You Like”
Notable Lyric: “Hottest shorty I know, if you had some lipo / You could be second runner-up Miss Ohio”
12. “Perform This Way” (Alpocalypse, 2011)
Parody of: Lady Gaga – “Born This Way”
Notable Lyric: “I might be wearin’ Swiss cheese or maybe covered with bees / It doesn’t mean I’m crazy, I perform this way”
11. “I’ll Sue Ya” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
In the Style of: Rage Against the Machine – “Killing in the Name”
Notable Lyric: “I sued Delta Airlines / ‘Cause they sold me a ticket to New Jersey / I went there, and it sucked!”
10. “Tacky” (Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Parody of: Pharrell – “Happy”
Notable Lyric: “Wear my Ed Hardy shirt with fluorescent orange pants (because I’m tacky) / Got my new résumé, it’s printed in Comic Sans (because I’m tacky)”
9. “The Saga Begins” (Running With Scissors, 1999)
Parody of: Don McLean – “American Pie”
Notable Lyric: “And the Jedi I admire most / Met up with Darth Maul and now he’s toast / Well, I’m still here and he’s a ghost”
8. “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
Parody of: R. Kelly – “Trapped in the Closet”
Notable Lyric: “Almost there at the drive-thru / Now we’re here at the drive thru / Here in line at the drive-thru /Did I mention the drive-thru?”
7. “Eat It” (Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D, 1984)
Parody of: Michael Jackson – “Beat It”
Notable Lyric: “Have some more yogurt, have some more spam / It doesn’t matter if it’s fresh or canned / Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it”
6. “Smells Like Nirvana” (Off the Deep End, 1992)
Parody of: Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Notable Lyric: “Sing distinctly? We don’t wanna / Buy our album, we’re Nirvana”
5. “Fat” (Even Worse, 1988)
Parody of: Michael Jackson – “Bad”
Notable Lyric: “The pavement cracks when I fall down / I’ve got more chins than Chinatown” (Ugh).
4. “I Lost on Jeopardy” (Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D, 1984)
Parody of: The Greg Kihn Band – “Jeopardy”
Notable Lyric: “I was there to match my intellect on national TV / Against a plumber, oh and an architect, both with a Ph.D”
3. “Word Crimes” (Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Parody of: Robin Thicke – “Blurred Lines”
Notable Lyric: “And, I thought that you’d gotten it through your skull what’s figurative and what’s literal / Oh but, just now, you said you ‘literally couldn’t get out of bed’ / That really makes me want to literally / Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head”
2. “White & Nerdy” (Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
Parody of: Chamillionaire – “Ridin'”
Notable Lyric: “MC Escher that’s my favorite MC / Keep your 40, I’ll just have an Earl Grey tea”
1. “Amish Paradise” (Bad Hair Day, 1996)
Parody of: Coolio – “Gangsta’s Paradise”
Notable Lyric: “As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain / I take a look at my wife and realize she’s very plain”
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