"Weird Al" Hits Top 10 Twice
Mon., Oct. 23. 2006 7:43pm EDT
The popularity of parody appears to be increasing. "Weird Al" Yankovic has just hit the top 10 on both the singles and albums charts -- both firsts for the pioneering parody performer.
Al's 12th album, "Straight Outta Lynwood" debuted at #10 on the Billboard album charts, and his latest single, "White and Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire), is now at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, exceeding his previous biggest hit, "Eat It," which peaked at #12 in 1984.
Despite a highly successful career, Al previously only had one other Top 40 hit, "Smells Like Nirvana," which hit #35 in 1992. His other singles to hit the Hot 100 were: "Like a Surgeon" (#47 in 1985) "Amish Paradise" (#53 in 1996), "King of Suede" (#62 in 1984), "Ricky" (#63 in 1983), "I Lost on Jeopardy" (#81 in 1984), and "Fat" (#99 in 1988).
The members of ApologetiX had the pleasure of meeting Al after one of his concerts in 1999 (You can see a picture of that in the CD booklet of our "Biblical Graffiti" CD.) Al's longtime drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, played drums on a third of the tracks on that CD. He's a great drummer and a nice guy, and has kept in touch with us from time to time over the years.
Al released his previous CD, "Poodle Hat" in 2003, right before we released our most recent full-length all-new studio CD, "Adam Up." Similarly, we'll be releasing our newest CD, "Wordplay," right after Al's. Of course, those wouldn't be the first times we followed in his footsteps, would it? It seems like this isn't a bad time to be doing just that.
For more details on Al's newfound chart success, check out this CNN news story at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/23/music.yankovic.reut/
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