{"id":615,"date":"2017-11-28T10:20:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T10:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/?p=615"},"modified":"2017-11-28T10:20:31","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T10:20:31","slug":"smells-like-success-weird-al-yankovic-and-musical-parody-in-the-age-of-mtv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/assignments\/music-video-review\/smells-like-success-weird-al-yankovic-and-musical-parody-in-the-age-of-mtv\/","title":{"rendered":"Smells Like Success: ‘Weird Al Yankovic’ and Musical Parody in the Age of MTV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parody has long been an important device in music composition and production. Its form and purpose have changed drastically over the years from the parody masses<\/a> of the late sixteenth century to the more humorous musical embellishments of Spike Jones and the silly lyrics of \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic. In the last thirty years Yankovic has found unprecedented commercial success in parodying iconic pop and rock songs as well as their associated music videos. These multimedia masterpieces have held the public\u2019s attention through fourteen studio albums<\/a>, the latest of which reached the top spot on the U.S. charts. Yankovic\u2019s success can in large part be attributed to his music\u2019s accompanying fifty-four music videos, many of which mimic the music video of the original song. <\/span><\/p>\n