4-- The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, December 8, 1994 Weird Al showcases his true talent By BRIAN A. GNATT If Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, then "Weird Al" Yankovic must be God of All Music. The most popu- lar, and easily the most talented of all parody artists, Weird Al is simply a genius. For 15 years, Weird Al has been recording his awesome satirizing pop music, and for those 15 years, he has been charming music lovers of all ages. From his early days on the Dr. Demento Show, to seeing his face on MTV every hour, Al has been a immense part of pop music throughout the '80s and far into the '90s. To celebrate the exist- ence of this comedic polka hero, Al has released "Permanent Record - Al In The Box," a mind-blowing four CD box set that is a superb retrospec- tive of his best work. "Weird Al" Yankovic's talents run deeper than the typical poking fun at pop icons. He rips them up, eats them alive, spits them out, and then gives them a big, fat kiss. And they let him do this? The 60 page book that accompa- nies the discs explains how Al con- tacted some of the artists to get their permission for the remakes. For one of his more famous paro- dies, Al contacted Kurt Cobain to get permission to use "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a basis for his hit, "Smells Like Nirvana." "I heard that Nirvana was going to appear on 'Saturday Night Live,' so I phoned Victoria Jackson (who was in the cast at the time and had also been in 'UHF') and asked her to grab Kurt Cobain and put him on the phone with me," Al recalled. "It turned out that Kurt was familiar with my work, and when I asked if I could do a parody of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' he agreed it going to be a song about food?' and I said no, in fact it's going to be a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics, and he said 'Oh, that's a funny idea, go ahead!'"' Of all his work, Weird Al is prob- ably most famous for his parodies of Michael Jackson. Being one of his first major hits, "Eat It," a take-off of "Beat It," got Al recognized as a sharp- witted musician, and the song won him a Grammy for Best Comedy Re- cording. Years later, Al once again parodied Jackson, this time with his rendition of "Bad." "Fat" once again showcased Al's awesome talent of making fun of the funny. "Permanent Record" features a countless number of other Weird Al classics. Some of the better known tracks are "Like A Surgeon" (Madonna, "Like A Virgin"), "Living With A Hernia" (James Brown, "Living In America"), "Yoda" (The Kinks, "Lola"), and "Achy Breaky Song" (Billy Ray Cyrus, "Achy Breaky Heart"). The box also has the rare "My Bo- logna," Al's first and only single re- leased on Capitol Records, a parody of The Knack's "My Sharona." "Perma- nent Record" also has one new track, "Headline News," a take-off of Crash Test Dummies "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm." The song rocks in the typical Weird Al fashion, and plays on this year's favorite topics like Tonya and Nancy, the Bobbits and bad Ameri- can teens who spray paint cars in foreign countries. Besides the charming parodies, Weird Al has a number of equally as funny originals. Songs like "You Don't LoveMeAnymore," "Good Old Days," and the eternal "One More Minute" are famous songs. Al sings "I'd ratherjump naked on a huge pile of thumb tacks /Or stick my nostrils together with crazy glue / I'd rather dive into a swimming pool filled with double-edged razor blades / Than spend one more minute with you / I'd rather rip my heart right out of my rib cage with my bare hands and then throw it on the floor and stomp on it 'till I die / Than spend one more minute with you." To complement his off the wall songs, Al has created some of the best music videos ever made. From "Fat" to "Eat It," and who could forget, argu- ably the best video of all time, "Smells Like Nirvana," Weird Al's videos are just as bizarre as his music. "Smells Like Nirvana" used the same set as the original, casted the same janitor and many of the same extras. It also added Dick Van Patten, farm animals and dozens of other hysterical additions. Cobain later said in an interview that was the one moment when he felt he'd really made it, when Weird Al did a parody of him. Al's illustrious creativity goes far beyond his goofy music. Besides the records, he has starred in his own phe- nomenal comical movie, "UHF"about, what else, a television station with a few minor problems. Alfred Yankovic has accomplished much more than the average accordion player ever does; then again, Weird Al isn't your average polka hero. Al's brand of clean and fun humorous mu- sic has touched millions, and will hope- fully continue as long as there people who need to be made fun of. "Permanent Record - Al In The Box" is exactly what its title claims - a permanent record of pop music history and the remaking of that history, writ- 0 Michael Douglas and his parasitic twin Demi Moore pose in front of some cool b Crichton'sca By JOSHUA RICH A multi-cultural cop duo teaming up to bring down Japanese corporate terrorists? Dinosaurs running amok in Central America? A male corporate executive accusing his new female boss of sexual harassment? Obscure sce- narios indeed. Nevertheless, they are the bases for some of the most enter- taining and popular motion pictures of the past three years. This is the high-intensity, fictional world of author-turned-director-turned- pop-icon Michael Crichton. And with the release of "Disclo- sure" tomorrow, Crichton may enjoy the continued success of his work. This new addition becomes the third film adaptation of one of his best selling novels in as many years. But while anotherpopular Crichton novel-and now Hollywoodjuggernaut-"Juras- sic Park," may be his most famous work to date, it is merely the latest in a long string of Crichton-conceived blockbuster films. Born in Chicago in 1942, and edu- cated at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Crichton rose to fame with his classic 1969 novel, "The An- dromeda Strain." He immediately emerged as a Hollywood production force when the film version of the same title was released a year later. Thus, in his prosperous 1970s and early-1980s this author continued to write generally scientific novels and expanded his tal- ents to directing movies. From 1973 to 1984,Crichton wrote and directed a plethora of films includ- ing the movie adaptation of his novel "The Great Train Robbery" (1978) star- ring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland; the 1978 medical thriller, "Coma," with Michael Douglas; and one of the first of many Tom Selleck star vehicles, "Runaway," also starring Gene "The Heavy Metal Clown" Simmons. But as the banality of Crichton's projects became increas- ingly unpopular, a lull in his mass film production began as he dropped out of the Hollywood limelight to focus on writing books. Eight years later, after having authored a series of hit novels, Crichton's "Rising Sun" (1992) came to the big screen. It was a turning point for this author who had not conceived the plot for a successful film in almost 10 years. It was also a turning point in his abilities as a story creator; his work became less techno- logical (although his three latest works still incorporate scientific innova- tions) and more diversified. Following the capitalist tirade on Japanese corporate take-overs in "Ris- ing Sun" came "Jurassic Park" (1993), the most popular Crichton film and linds in "Disclosure." ~ti1 rsing most successful motion picture ever. Yet while this movie is rich in com- puter animation and special effects, it is nevertheless poor in execution. The extremely outlandish story - about the re-generation of dinosaurs through DNA replication- that Crichton pre- sented with intrigue and horror in his novel was compromised like none of his books before. Incorporating science and tech- nology into a diverse range of themes and story lines, Michael Crichton has made a career of writing best selling novels which are adapted into gener- ally engaging films. His style of fiction interests areader or movie-watcher who seeks action and adventure along with intellectual and engaging drama. And his recent recognition as a popular cultural icon has helped to extend Crichton's reper- toire to television, where his hospital emergency room drama creation, "E.R.," is a hit. Although the quality of his movies and novels has certainly varied over the past few years, Michael Crichton's work still remains interesting and ex' citing entertainment. So let'sjust hope his commentary on sexual harassment, "Disclosure," (as well as the film ver- sion of another bestseller, "Congo," which is set for release in the Summer of 1995) re-generates the magic Crichton last possessed with "Rising Sun." This author-extraordinaire is undoubtedly far from extinction. I i 0 Color * Perms * OMNI I Haircuts" Nail Care 0 MIRO 119 W. 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