How 15 Famous Musicians Responded to Weird Al's Parodies
![How 15 Famous Musicians Responded to Weird Al's Parodies](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/8/861848_320x180.jpg)
I enjoy this list of interesting facts, although not always for the same reasons as other people. It's true I have an unorthodox sense of humor. I find strange things amusing, and my friends and family have often been surprised by what they find humorous. I don't mean they are surprised by what I find humorous, but they find what I find humorous strange. My family has always thought that I am strange, so when I find things funny, I am only confirming their suspicions. I don't feel any need to prove myself. In many cases, though, my peculiar sense of humor is an obstacle in life. It gets in the way of doing the things I enjoy this list of interesting facts would seem to encourage me to do. I find some things funny, such as when people take themselves too seriously. It is less funny when I do it. But there are some people who take themselves too seriously even when I'm around to point out their ridiculousness.
Coolio
![Coolio GRACKED.COM The most intense reaction to one of Yankov- ic's parodies came from Coolio, who said af- ter Yankovic recorded Amish Paradise that he didn't appreciate him desecrating the song like that and advising Yankovic to stay away from him, which is pretty scary, considering the original song is about shoot- ing people. It turned out there had apparent- ly been some miscommunication with Coo- lio's management, but he later apologized, saying he was being cocky and the song is actually funny as shit. You know Yankovic still sometimes sees spiky shadows in the night, though.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/5/861865.jpg)
Daniel Powter
![Daniel Powter GRAGKED.COM You probably don't even re- member the name Daniel Pow- ter --he did that Bad Day song back in the 2000s --but he decided he was too good for Yankovic when he was record- ing Straight Outta Lynwood. Не Tater changed his mind, but there was no longer any room for him on the album. It was the ultimate musical neg.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/3/861863.jpg)
Eminem
![Eminem CRACKED.COM Eminem allowed Yankovic to re- cord a parody of Lose Yourself but asked him not to make a mu- sic video, fearing that it would change kids' visual perception on what that image was. Yes, the image of Eminem vomiting in a filthy public restroom.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/4/861864.jpg)
Weezer
![Weezer CRACKED.COM Yankovic wanted to include Bud- dy Holly in one of his polka med- leys, and Weezer had initially granted permission, then decided against it at the last minute. And we do mean last minute -- the CD booklets that included special thanks to Weezer had already been printed, confusing fans, and the song had to be physically cut out of the track.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/9/861859.jpg)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
![Red Hot Chili Peppers CRACKED.COM Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea insisted he didn't mind being made fun of by Yankovic, he was just un- impressed with the final product. I didn't think it was very good. I en- joy Weird Al's things, but I found it unimaginative, said the man who has recorded 127 songs about Cali- fornia.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/0/861860.jpg)
Graham Nash
![Graham Nash CRACKED.COM Nash wasn't just pleased that Yan- kovic chose to parody Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, he actually asked him to do it. They ran into each other in the early 2010s, and Nash asked, So when are you going to get around to doing a parody of 'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes? Yankovic had, in fact, just recorded a parody of the song, so he got to play it for him right there.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/2/861862.jpg)
Lady Gaga
![Lady Gaga CRACKED.COM It's unclear exactly who denied Yankovic permission to release his parody of Born This Way, but Lady Gaga's managers demanded a finished demo for her to hear before delivering a resounding no anyway. Since he'd already recorded it, he released it for free instead, and fans were so mad it wouldn't be on his next al- bum that Lady Gaga had to go on the re- cord that her managers never even told her about it, and if they had, of course she'd have said yes. Either they threw themselves under the bus of their boss's whims](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/1/861861.jpg)
Don McLean
![Don McLean CRACKED.COM McLean liked Yankovic's Star Wars par- ody of American Pie, but his kids liked it even more. Не told Yankovic that they played it so much around the house that he sometimes couldn't keep his own lyrics straight when he per- formed. Не also mentioned that he'd denied Coolio permission to sample the song, which Yankovic thought was great, another reason for him to hate me. (We'll get to that.)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/5/861855.jpg)
Nirvana
![Nirvana GRACKED.COM Instead, Yankovic had a stroke of luck after asking a friend and cast member of Saturday Night Live to put Nirvana on the phone if they were ever on the show - and then she did. Kurt Cobain just had one question: Is it going to be a song about food? Yankovic assured him, no, it's going to be a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics, and he replied, Oh, sure, of course, that's funny. It was later revealed that Cobain had called Yankovic America's modern pop-rock genious in his journals.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/7/861857.jpg)
Michael Jackson
![Michael Jackson CRACKED.COM Yankovic's parodies of Michael Jackson are among his most popular, including with Jackson, who became such good friends with Yankovic that he invited him to ар- pear in a music video. There was one song he couldn't hang with, though: Black or White, which Jackson said was too im- portant of a song and actually wound up doing me a big favor, according to Yan- kovic, because, frankly, my wanting to do Michael Jackson a third time was a pure act of desperation.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/8/861858.jpg)
Presidents of the United States of America
![Presidents of the United States of America CRACKED.COM When Yankovic played Gump for the Presidents of the United States of America, it was the first time he got to see a musician's reaction to his work firsthand, and fortunately, they loved it. In fact, they often sing his words when they play Lump live.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/6/861856.jpg)
Mark Knopfler
![Mark Knopfler CRACKED.COM Determined to work the Beverly Hill- billies into something, Yankovic in- stead asked the Dire Straits to use their song Money For Nothing. Frontman Mark Knopfler, taking ad- vantage of the opportunity to jam with a legend, granted permission only on the condition that he was al- lowed to play lead guitar on the track.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/4/861854.jpg)
Paul McCartney
![Paul McCartney CRACKED.COM McCartney had no problem with Yankovic parodying Live and Let Die, but he's famously the most vegetarian, so he didn't want it to be called Chicken Pot Pie. Yan- kovic ended up scrapping the whole thing because Tofu Pot Pie just doesn't have the same ring to it, and besides, the chorus of my song 'Bawk-bawk-bawk-bawk' and tofu doesn't make any noise.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/2/861852.jpg)
Chamillionaire
![Chamillionaire GRAGKED.COM Chamillionaire loved White and Nerdy so much that he posted the video to his own MySpace, which was like putting something up on the walls of your home back then. He's actually rapping pret- ty good on it, he gushed to MTV. He's spittin' just like Krayzie Bone on the second verse.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/3/861853.jpg)
Prince
![Prince CRACKED.COM Throughout the '80s and '90s, Prince always turned down Yankov- ic's pitches, including a parody of Purple Rain called Yellow Snow and one of Let's Go Crazy about the Beverly Hillbillies. Until Prince became a casualty of 2016, Yankov- ic approached him every few years see if he's lightened up.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/1/861851.jpg)