Weird Al Yankovic has been doing song parodies for over 30 years.  If you are an artist in the music business, you haven’t really made it until Weird Al does a parody of one of your songs.  His songs are hilarious and so creative, most of the time, that I always look forward to each of his releases.

But what made Weird Al totally amazing were his videos of the songs he parodied.  Some were complete remakes of the original artists video and others were completely original to go with the song.  Either way, they were always worth watching.

After going through his albums and listening to loads of songs, it turns out I really like the stuff he has done since 2000.  Although his 80’s/90’s stuff is classic, some of it did not hold up well over time for me.

The Top 20 below are what I believe to be his best songs.  I am sure people will disagree as everyone has their own personal favorites.  Okay, my wife doesn’t. She doesn’t appreciate his genius. Go through the list and let me know what you think and what I might have missed.  A couple songs that just missed the cut were “Ricky” and “Alimony”.

20. “My Bologna” off the album ‘Weird Al Yankovic’ and a parody of “My Sharona” by the Knack.  This is the song that started it all for Weird Al.  It was his  debut single.  From here, the rest is history.  Sorry, but no video available except for what is below.

19. “I Lost in Jeopardy” off the album ‘Weird Al Yankovic’ and a parody of “Jeopardy” by the Greg Kihn Band.  This is one of his classics and the theme is based off the game show Jeopardy.  It even comes with commentary by the original host of Jeopardy, Don Pardo.  And if you don’t know what that is, look it up and enjoy.

18. “Handy” off the album ‘Mandatory Fun’ and a parody of “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea.  I figured I have a couple of his oldest parodies so why not pick one of his newer ones.  The song is about a person who is real handy with tools.  It is kind of corny, but still great (okay, all of his parodies are corny so stupid statement).

17. “Couch Potato” off the album ‘Poodle Hat’ and a parody of “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.  Eminem didn’t object to the parody apparently, but he didn’t want it released as a single or a video as he was afraid it would hurt his career.  Really???  Because of that no real video to show.

16. “Ebay” off the album ‘Poodle Hat’ and a parody of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. As someone who has used eBay quite a bit over the years, I appreciated the humor and could so relate.

15. “Word Crimes” off the album ‘Mandatory Fun’ and a parody of “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke.  I don’t like Robin Thicke, so not a fan originally of the song.  But I do like this way better than the original.  Great song to teach you how to write correctly.  Very educational.

14. “Canadian Idiot” off the album ‘Straight Outta Lynwood’ and a parody of “American Idiot” by Green Day.  Sorry to my Canadian readers, but this is just funny to me.  I hope you don’t mind him poking fun at your country.  People have been poking fun at us for years.  This is a fan video that is totally awesome and has over 7 million views.

13. “Party in the C.I.A.” off the album ‘Alpocalypse’ and a parody of “Party in the U.S.A” by Miley Cyrus.  Anytime you poke fun at the C.I.A. is a good time. And they didn’t kill him for it…awesome.

 

12. “TMZ” off the album ‘Alpocalypse’ and a parody of “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift.  I don’t get the fascination with stars and the whole pazzarazi craze which is probably why I find this song so funny.  I also find myself stopping on TMZ when it is on and laughing my ass off as well.

11. “Gump” off the album ‘Bad Hair Day’ and a parody of “Lump” by the Presidents of the United States of America.  What is the best thing about this song?  It tells you exactly what the movie “Forrest Gump” is all about.

10. “Like a Surgeon” off the album ‘Dare to Be Stupid’ and a parody of “Like a Virgin” by Madonna.  This one of those where I might like the video more than the song, but either way it is one of his most memorable.

9. “Another Tattoo” off the album ‘Alpocalypse’ and a parody of “Nothin’ On You” by B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars.  I love the original and I want a tattoo (don’t know what I want though) so I naturally love this song.

8. “Amish Paradise” off the album ‘Bad Hair Day’ and a parody of “Gansta’s Paradise” by Coolio.  This song caused a little controversy because Coolio claims he did not give permission to Weird Al to do a parody of the song and he was not happy when one was done.  Since then, he makes sure to talk specifically to the artist prior to covering a song.

7. “The Saga Begins” off the album ‘Running with Scissors’ and a parody of “American Pie” by Don McLean.  The best thing that came out of the 3 Prequel Star Wars movies was this parody.

6. “Bedrock Anthem” off the album ‘Alapalooza’ and a parody “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  If you love the Chili Peppers and The Flintstones then this parody will be right up your alley. Too funny!!

5. “Eat It” off the album ‘Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D” and a parody of “Beat It” by Michael Jackson.  The Michael Jackson parodies are what really made Weird Al a superstar and they were always high quality.  The video was a hilarious and complete remake of the original video parodied.

4. “Smells Like Nirvana” off the album ‘Off the Deep End” and a parody of the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. I could never understand what Kurt Cobain was saying and apparently I wasn’t the only one as the premise of the song was how you can’t understand the words coming out of his mouth.

3. “Money For Nothing, Beverly  Hillbillies” off the album ‘UHF (Soundtrack)’ and a parody of the song “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits.  Any song about the Beverly Hillbillies is great in my book.  Mark Knopfler actually re-recorded the guitar parts for the parody.

 

2. “Fat” off the album ‘Even Worse’ and a parody of “Bad” by Michael Jackson. Weird Al went all out on this video with that amazing fat suit.  I love the fact the video was a another complete remake of Michael Jackson’s video for the original song.  What is also cool is how much MJ loved the parodies of his songs that Yankovic did. “Yo, Ding Dong, Man…Ding Dong, Ding Dong Yo”.

#1 – “White & Nerdy” off the album ‘Straight Outta Lynwood’ and a parody of “Ridin'” by Chamillionaire.  The video made me laugh out loud probably because I relate to the song.  I am not that big of a nerd, but I have potential.

I hope you enjoyed it!