Weird Al Yankovic Then: The king of pop parody, Alfred Matthew Yankovic, was born in Lynwood, California on October 23rd, 1959. At the age of seven learned to play the accordion. He also became an avid fan of the Dr. Demento Show where they would play musical parodies and even some amateur tapes. It was after Demento spoke at Yankovic's school in 1973 that a 13-year-old Al passed the radio host a demo tape of home recordings. 3 years later, he got a song on the show. As a DJ at the college radio station he adopted the nickname "Weird Al" and in 1979 the success of the Knack's hit "My Sharona" inspired Yankovic to record "My Bologna". Demento fans loved it and so did The Knack who convinced their label to issue the satire as a single. Other parodies followed with "Another One Rides The Bus" and "I Love Rocky Road" came out on his self-titled debut album. But it would be MTV and Al's take on Michael Jackson's "Beat It" that would break him worldwide. "Eat It", from 1984's "Weird" Al Yankovic In 3-D, reached #12. The video parodied the original video scene for scene was a smash hit. Dare to Be Stupid followed the next year featuring "Like a Surgeon," a take-off of the Madonna "Like a Virgin." Again Dare to Be Stupid went gold, but 1986's Polka Party did very little in charts and sales. In 1988, Yankovic returned Even Worse (which went platinum) making fun of Michael Jackson's recent release, Bad. "I'm Fat," the first single and video, also parodied the Jackson's hit "Bad". Yankovic won his second Grammy that year. The next year, he starred in the feature film UHF, which he also co-wrote and created the soundtrack. Now: After quite some time off, Al returned in 1992 with Off The Deep End. It featured the Top 40 hit "Smells Like Nirvana," a send-up of Nirvana's breakout single "Smells Like Teen Spirit." After 1993's Alapalooza , he resurfaced in 1996 with Bad Hair Day. It would be his highest-charting record to date. A take-off of the Coolio hit "Gangsta's Paradise" would find success as the single "Amish Paradise." 1999's Running With Scissors would also make a huge showing as Al would take on the Don McLean classic "American Pie" and meld it with the release of the new movie Star Wars: Episode One in a song titled "The Saga Begins".