There’s no denying that “Weird Al” Yankovic has been a fixture of American popular culture for the last four decades and counting, thanks to his rich catalog of pop song parodies, artist-specific style pastiches, thematically-layered polka medleys, and supremely underrated original compositions. The accordion-clad musical satirist has amassed a multitude of music industry milestones: 14 standalone full length albums, four Grammy Awards, and six platinum albums. He’s only the third artist to have a Top 40 song ranking in each decade since the ’80s and he uniquely straddles the worlds of being a recognizable celebrity icon and the leader of a rabidly devoted fan base that veers charmingly close to cultism.
关于“怪异的al”如何平衡了实质性的声誉和虔诚的狂热的最聪明的事情也许是他实现这一目标的手段。当他在流行文化铁很热的同时，他发挥了自己的优势（他发布了一个月后，他发行了“传奇开始”魅影危机热门剧院）和制作错综复杂的喜剧荒谬（他在专辑中最长的歌曲是一个11分钟以上的发烧梦，讲述了他对Sauerkraut的仇恨，称为“ Albuquerque”），Yankovic了解到，作为著名和利基谎言的秘密不是特殊性，而是共同。在人类共有的所有共同分母中，扬科维奇似乎发现最广泛的相关和幽默的材料是食物。
扬科维奇（Yankovic）早些时候就有这个喜剧片，这是他早期作品中很大一部分的美食歌曲所证明的。这就是为什么一个已经携带“怪异Al”绰号的艺术家也获得了第二个昵称：“吃”的家伙。专辑班轮指出，无论是在无数的采访中，他的最新Questlove至高无上播客剧集，甚至是他自己的Twitter个人资料，Yankovic迅速承认或自欺欺人地将自己称为“''''家伙”。公平地说，扬科维奇（Yankovic）1984年的单曲“ eat It”是迈克尔·杰克逊（Michael Jackson）的大型巨大打击“击败它”的美食歌曲模仿 - 扬科维奇（Yankovic）的大炮飞向主流流行文化的深处。
在发行“ Eat It”之前，Yankovic偶尔通过Demento Radio Show，他的首张专辑发行和一些早期的MTV音乐视频来偶尔通过文化雷达。但是，没有什么比《扬科维奇》第二张专辑《 Yankovic》的主打单曲“吃”的惊喜粉碎了3-D中的“怪异的”扬科维奇。这首歌在广告牌Hot 100单打排行榜，获得了Yankovic的第一个格莱美奖，并获得了销售金（专辑本身的铂金）认证。Yankovic doubled down on the satirical nature of the track by essentially filming a shot-for-shot remake of Jackson’s brilliant “Beat It” video, all the way down to the choreographed street gang fight/dance-off and the iconic multi-zipper, red leather jacket. Not only did the “Eat It” video earn Yankovic heavy rotation on MTV, but it also led the network to give him the recurring blank check ofAl TV，一个多小时的通话时间，可以实质上做他想做的任何事情。
在“吃它”（在广播和MTV上）取得了广泛的成功之后，扬科维奇的歌曲已贩运了许多不同的概念和主题。但是食物总是浮出水面。This is partially due to the quantity of food-related work—his early albums featured songs like “I Love Rocky Road” (a parody of The Arrows/Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”), “Addicted to Spuds” (Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”), and “Lasagna” (Ritchie Valens/Los Lobos’ “La Bamba”)—and their instant-hit quality. His debut single “My Bologna” (The Knack’s “My Sharona”) was released by Capitol Records, “Eat It” went to No. 1 in Australia and practically made him a household name in America, and “Fat” (Michael Jackson’s “Bad”) earned Yankovic his second Grammy award and helped更糟糕成为他达到白金状态的第一张专辑（直到成功之后，他的较早专辑才达到白金状态更糟糕）。
扬科维奇（Yankovic）的美食歌曲如此之多，甚至是他两种最不利的经历的原因。1985年的歌曲“女孩只想吃午饭”敢于愚蠢之所以被记录，是因为他的标签要求他产生辛迪·劳珀（Cyndi Lauper）模仿 - 扬科维奇（Yankovic食品专辑他的唱片公司释放了他的唱片公司，他坚持认为这只是已经发行的材料的便宜现金。您可以在专辑艺术品中看到扬科维奇的抗议活动，其中包括一个怪物，吞噬了“怪异的al”并挑起他的骨头清洁。
也许有辩论。On one hand, the connection between Yankovic’s food songs and his status as a pop culture icon has valid points: Yankovic often tells the story of how he tracked down Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to seek approval for an upcoming “Smells Like Teen Spirit” parody and, upon agreement, was then asked by Cobain, “Is it going to be a song about food?” On the other hand, there is greater merit in assessing his food work as merely one notable portion of a diverse whole. In terms of their overall place in Yankovic’s song catalog, many of Yankovic’s most popular songs—“Smells Like Nirvana,” “Amish Paradise,” “Word Crimes,” and the广告牌前10名热门单曲“ White＆nerdy” - 与食物完全无关。他最高的图表专辑（2014年强制性乐趣）一路走到第一名广告牌200张专辑排行榜没有包含任何以食物为中心主题的歌曲 - 尽管一对歌词确实引用了Cheeto Dust，Pizza Crust和Aluminum Foil的烹饪益处。
因此，尽管“''''家伙”的昵称得到了很好的奖励，尤其是与他最早的材料结合在一起，但他的基于食物的模仿只代表了他的多媒体艺术武器库中的一种创意武器。除了他的所有专辑，音乐视频和音乐会之旅外，扬科维奇还积累了一份广泛的简历，其中包括出现在多个电影和电视节目中，包括共同创作和主演的经典唱片UHF1989年；主持90年代中期星期六早晨发烧梦怪异的表演；为其他艺术家（Ben Folds，The Black Crowes，Hanson）指导各种电影项目和音乐视频；在30多个不同的动画节目中执行配音工作；并担任乐队的领袖喜剧爆炸！砰!电视连续剧。
扬科维奇（Yankovic）肯定应该为建立如此悠久而杰出的艺术生涯的基础上的基础而受到鼓掌，并受到研究，该职业由食物的歌曲模仿组成。然而，正如扬科维奇本人在他的歌曲录音带上所说的那样，它们应该是相关的（我敢说，很容易消化）进入了Al的怪异，广阔的世界，不应被视为他的创造力和成就的巅峰之作。
我建议现在是时候作为流行文化的集体消费者，停止将“怪异的al”减少到一些闪烁的新颖性。Referring to Yankovic as just “the ‘Eat It’ guy” trivializes the vast multi-decade, multimedia creative output that followed his initial introduction into mainstream pop culture in the same way that calling Justin Timberlake “the blond Mouseketeer” or Beyonce “the soprano from Destiny’s Child” would. It’s a woefully misleading oversimplification. Maybe he hasn’t played the Super Bowl halftime show or delivered a historic headlining set at Coachella, but Yankovic’s creative catalog is essentially a time capsule capturing the last 40 years or so of popular culture. Yankovic has proven time and again that he’s so much more than just “the ‘Eat It’ guy”—and he’s done it all under the only nickname he’s ever really needed.