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more... Hillsong United - All Of The Above Backing Tracks 
2009-01-11 - extension: rar - parts: 2 - size: 98 MB
Hillsong United - All Of The Above Backing Tracks
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HU - United We Stand Backing Tracks 2006
2009-01-11 - extension: rar - size: 158 MB
HU - United We Stand Backing Tracks 2006
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Video results for: more than life backing tracksMore results from video
Beatles Tribute
You love this music Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon Beatles (More) You love this music Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon Beatles Soundtrack (partials) 0:00 - 0:13 Twist & Shout 0:14 - 0:29 I Feel Fine 0:29 - 0:41 We Can Work It Out 0:41 - 0:54 I Wanna Hold Your Hand 0:54 - 1:10 Love Me Do 1:10 - 1:21 She Loves You 1:21 - 1:39 Yes It Is 1:40 - 1:55 I Will 1:56 - 2:20 All My Loving 2:20 - 2:44 Birthday 2:45 - 3:10 Lucy in the Sky 3:10 - 3:26 Sgt. Pepper 3:26 - 3:42 I Am the Walrus 3:42 - 3:57 Magical Mystery Tour 3:57 - 4:13 Yes it Is (again) 4:13 - 4:24 She Loves You (again) 4:24 - 4:44 Ticket to Ride 4:44 - 5:05 Paperback Writer 5:05 - 5:30 Hey Jude 5:30 - 5:52 Get Back 5:53 - 6:02 I need help here, no idea what this one is 6:02 - 6:29 Ob La Di Ob La Da [ above is courtesy of HappyDaze01. Thx HaDz01"!] Origin Liverpool, England Rock/Pop - Years active 1960--1970 Parlophone, Capitol, Apple, Vee-Jay, Polydor, Swan, Tollie Related to Tony Sheridan, The Quarrymen, The Plastic Ono Band, The Dirty Mac, Wings, Traveling Wilburys, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Ringo Starr All-Starr Band, Billy Preston Members - Ever to Date John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Former members Stuart Sutcliffe Pete Best The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music. The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time in the United States of America, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which certified them as the highest selling band of all time based on American sales of singles and albums. In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries: their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion discs and tapes worldwide. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. According to that same magazine, their innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s,[2] and their influence on pop culture can still be felt today. The Beatles led the mid-1960s musical "British Invasion" into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle, the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, styles, and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. 1957--1960: Formation The Quarrymen In March 1957, John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen whilst attending Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool.[6] Lennon and the Quarrymen met guitarist Paul McCartney at the Woolton Garden Fête held at St. Peter's Church on 6 July 1957.[7] On 6 February 1958, the young guitarist George Harrison was invited to watch the group (who played under a variety of names) at Wilson Hall, Garston, Liverpool.[8] McCartney had become acquainted with Harrison on the morning school bus ride to the Liverpool Institute, as they both lived in Speke. At McCartney's insistence, Harrison joined the Quarrymen as lead guitarist[9] after a rehearsal in March 1958, overcoming Lennon's initial reluctance because of Harrison's young age.[10] Members continually joined and left the lineup during that period, and in January 1960 Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass.[11] Lennon and McCartney both played rhythm guitar and the group had a high turnover of drummers. The Quarrymen went through a progression of names — "Johnny and the Moondogs", "Long John and the Beatles", "the Silver Beetles" (derived from Larry Parnes' suggestion of "Long John and the Silver Beetles") — before settling on "The Beatles". There are many theories as to the origin of the name and its unusual spelling. It is usually credited to Lennon, who said that the name was a combination word-play on the insects "beetles" (as a reference to Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets) and the word "beat". Cynthia Lennon suggests that Lennon came up with the name Beatles at a "brainstorming session over a beer-soaked table in the Renshaw Hall bar."[12] Lennon, who was well known for giving multiple versions of the same story joked in a 1961 Mersey Beat magazine article that "It came in a vision — a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, 'From this day on you are Beatles with an A'".[13] During an interview in 2001, Paul McCartney took credit for the peculiar spelling of the name, saying that "John had the idea of calling us the Beetles, I said, 'how about the Beatles; you know, like the beat of the drum?' At the time, everyone was stoned enough to find it hilarious. It's funny how history is made." [14] In May 1960 The Beatles toured northeast Scotland as a back-up band with singer Johnny Gentle.[15] They met Gentle an hour before their first gig, and McCartney referred to the tour as a great experience for the band.[16] For the tour the often drummerless group secured the services of Tommy Moore, who was considerably older than the others.[17] Soon after the tour, however, feeling the age gap was too great Moore left the band and went back to work in a bottling factory as a fork-lift truck driver.[18] Norman Chapman was the band's next drummer, but was called up for National Service in a few weeks. His departure posed a significant problem as the group's unofficial manager, Allan Williams, had arranged for them to perform in clubs on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany.[19] 1960--1970: The Beatles Hamburg On 15 August 1960, McCartney invited Pete Best to become the group's permanent drummer. He had watched Best play with the Blackjacks[20] in the Casbah Club, owned by Pete's mother, Mona Best. This was a cellar club in West Derby, Liverpool, where The Beatles had played and often visited.[21] In the documentary The Compleat Beatles, Williams said that Best "played not too cleverly, but passable." The Beatles started playing in Hamburg at the Indra and Kaiserkeller bars. They were required to play six or seven hours a night, seven nights a week. Shortly after they began performing at a new venue, the "Top Ten Club",[22] Harrison was deported for having lied to the German authorities about his age.[23] A week later, having started a small fire at their living quarters while vacating it for more luxurious rooms, McCartney and Best were arrested, charged with arson, and deported.[24] Lennon followed the others to Liverpool in mid-December. The reunited Beatles played their first engagement on 17 December 1960 at the Casbah Club and returned to Hamburg in April 1961. Whilst playing at the Top Ten Club they were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label,[25] produced by famed bandleader Bert Kaempfert.[19] Kaempfert signed the group to its own Polydor contract at the first session on 22 June 1961. On 31 October Polydor released the recording "My Bonnie (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur)", which appeared on the German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers", a generic name used for whoever happened to be in Sheridan's backup band.[26] In addition to the legend that this record led to the group's eventual meeting with Brian Epstein, it also resulted in their first mention in the American press. Around the beginning of 1962, Cashbox mentioned "My Bonnie" as the debut of a "new rock and roll team, Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers". A few copies were also pressed under the Decca label for U.S. disc jockeys, as American Decca had a distribution deal with Polydor parent Deutsche Grammophon.[27] (This was ironic, considering that by this time the then-unaffiliated British Decca had turned down the group's attempt to gain a recording contract.) When the group returned to Liverpool, Sutcliffe stayed on in Hamburg with his new German fiancee Astrid Kirchherr, [28] and McCartney took over bass duties.[29] Their third stay in Hamburg was from 13 April to 31 May 1962, when they opened The Star Club.[19] Upon their arrival they were informed of Sutcliffe's death from a brain haemorrhage.[30] Epstein took over as the group's manager in January 1962 and led The Beatles' quest for a British recording contract. Epstein had been manager of the record department at North End Music Store (NEMS), an offshoot of his family's furniture store. He played on the status of NEMS as a major record dealer to gain access to producers and recording company executives. In a now-famous exchange, Decca Records A&R executive Dick Rowe turned Epstein down flat, informing him that "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."[31] While Epstein was negotiating with Decca, he also approached EMI marketing executive Ron White.[32] White (who was not himself a record producer) in turn contacted EMI producers Norrie Paramor, Walter Ridley, and Norman Newell, all of whom declined to record The Beatles.[33] White did not approach EMI's fourth staff producer — George Martin — who was on holiday at the time.[34] Record contract After failing to impress Decca Records, Epstein went to the HMV store on Oxford Street in London to transfer the Decca tapes to discs. There, recording engineer Jim Foy referred him to Sid Coleman, who ran EMI's publishing arm. When Coleman heard the demo tapes he suggested taking the tapes to George Martin, who, Coleman explained, "does comedy records" and headed the Parlophone label at EMI. Epstein eventually met with Martin, who signed the group to EMI on a one-year renewable contract and scheduled their first recording session on 6 June at EMI's Abbey Road studios in north London.[35] Martin had not been particularly impressed by the band's demo recordings,[36] but he instantly liked them as people when he met them. He concluded that they had raw musical talent, but said (in later interviews) that what made the difference for him was their wit and humour.[37] Martin did have a problem with Pete Best, [36] whom he criticised for not being able to keep time. He privately suggested to Epstein that the band use another drummer in the studio. Best was good-looking and popular with the group's fans, but the three founding members had become increasingly unhappy with his drumming and his personality.[citation needed] There was speculation by some that Best's popularity[38] with fans was another source of friction. In addition, Epstein had become exasperated with his refusal to adopt the distinctive hairstyle as part of their unified look. Best also had missed a number of engagements because of illness. The three founding members enlisted Epstein to dismiss Best - which he did on 16 August 1962.[39] They asked Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey), the drummer for one of the top Merseybeat groups, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, to join the band, as Starr had performed occasionally with The Beatles in Hamburg.[40] The first recordings of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr together were made as early as 15 October 1960, in a series of demonstration records privately recorded in Hamburg while acting as the backing group for singer Lu Walters.[41] Starr played on The Beatles' second EMI recording session on 4 September 1962, but Martin hired session drummer Andy White for their next session on 11 September.[42] Their recording contract paid them one penny for each single sold, which was split amongst the four Beatles — one farthing per group member.[43] This royalty rate was further reduced for singles sold outside the UK, on which they received half of one penny (again split between the whole band) per single. Martin said later that it was a "pretty awful" contract.[43] Their publishing contract with Dick James Music (DJM) was also standard for the time: songwriters received the statutory minimum of 50% of the gross monies received, with the publisher retaining the other 50%.[citation needed] The Beatles' first EMI session on 6 June did not yield any releasable recordings but the September sessions produced a minor UK hit, "Love Me Do", which peaked on the charts at number 17.[44] ("Love Me Do" reached the top of the U.S. singles chart over 18 months later in May 1964.) On 26 November they recorded their second single "Please Please Me", which reached no. 2 in the official UK charts and no. 1 in the NME chart. Three months later they recorded their first album (also titled Please Please Me). The band's first televised performance was on the People and Places programme transmitted live from Manchester by Granada Television on 17 October 1962.[45] As The Beatles' fame spread, the frenzied adulation of the group, predominantly from teenage female fans, was dubbed 'Beatlemania'. In November 1963 The Beatles appeared on the Royal Variety Performance and were photographed with Marlene Dietrich, who also appeared on the show.[citation needed] America Although the band experienced huge popularity in the UK record charts from early 1963, EMI's American operation, Capitol Records, declined to issue the singles "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You (their first official no. 1 hit in the UK)".[46] Vee-Jay Records, a small Chicago label, issued the singles as part of a deal for the rights to another performer's masters. Art Roberts, music director of Chicago powerhouse radio station WLS, placed "Please Please Me" into radio rotation in late February 1963 making it the first time a Beatles record was heard on American radio. Vee-Jay's rights to The Beatles were later cancelled for non-payment of royalties.[47] In August 1963, Philadelphia-based Swan Records released "She Loves You", which also failed to receive airplay. A testing of the song on Dick Clark's TV show American Bandstand produced laughter from American teenagers when they saw the group's distinctive hairstyles. New York disc jockey Murray the K featured "She Loves You" on his '1010 WINS record revue' show in January.[48] In early November 1963, Brian Epstein persuaded Ed Sullivan to present The Beatles on three editions of his show in February, and parlayed this guaranteed exposure into a record deal with Capitol Records. Capitol committed to a mid-January release for "I Want to Hold Your Hand",[49] On 7 December 1963 a clip of The Beatles was shown on the CBS Evening News (the story originally had been scheduled to air on 22 November and was aired on the CBS Morning News but was pre-empted by the assassination of John F. Kennedy). The clip inspired a teenage girl in Washington, D.C. to request a Beatles song on a local radio station. The station secured an imported copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" — forcing Capitol Records to release the song ahead of schedule on 26 December. Several New York radio stations — first WMCA, then WINS (AM) and WABC — began playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on its release day. The Beatlemania that had started in Washington was duplicated in New York and quickly spread to other markets. The record sold one million copies in just ten days, and by 16 January, Cashbox magazine had certified the record number one (in the edition marked 23 January). On 3 January 1964 a film of The Beatles performing "She Loves You" was aired on the late-night Jack Paar Show. Beatlemania crosses the Atlantic On 7 February 1964, a crowd of four thousand fans at Heathrow Airport waved to The Beatles as they took off for their first trip to America as a group.[51] They were accompanied by photographers, journalists (including Maureen Cleave) and Phil Spector, who had booked himself on the same flight.[52] The pilot had radioed ahead, and as they prepared to land said, "Tell the boys there's a big crowd waiting for them." Kennedy International Airport had never experienced such a crowd, estimated at about 3,000 screaming fans.[53] After a press conference (where they first met Murray the K) they were put into limousines and driven to New York. On the way McCartney turned on a radio and listened to a running commentary: "They [The Beatles] have just left the airport and are coming to New York City..."[54] After reaching the Plaza Hotel, they were besieged by fans and reporters. Harrison had a temperature of 102 the next day and was ordered to stay in bed, so Neil Aspinall replaced him for the first television rehearsal.[55] Their first live American television appearance was on the The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964. The next morning practically every newspaper wrote that The Beatles were nothing more than a "fad", and "could not carry a tune across the Atlantic".[56] Their first American concert appearance was at Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C. on 11 February.[57] After The Beatles' huge success in 1964, Vee-Jay Records and Swan Records took advantage of their previously secured rights to The Beatles' early recordings and reissued the songs, all of which reached the top ten the second time around. (MGM and Atco also secured rights to The Beatles' early Tony Sheridan-era recordings and had minor hits with "My Bonnie" and "Ain't She Sweet", the latter featuring John Lennon on lead vocal.) In addition to Introducing... The Beatles, which was essentially The Beatles' debut British album with some minor alterations, Vee-Jay also issued an unusual LP called The Beatles Vs The Four Seasons. This 2-LP set paired Introducing... The Beatles and The Golden Hits Of The Four Seasons, another successful act that Vee-Jay had under contract, in a 'contest' (the back cover featured a 'score card'). Another unusual release was the Hear The Beatles Tell All album, which consisted of two lengthy interviews with Los Angeles radio disc jockeys (side one was titled "Dave Hull interviews John Lennon," while side two was titled "Jim Steck interviews John, Paul, George, Ringo"). No Beatles music was included on this interview album, which turned out to be the only Vee Jay Beatles album Capitol Records could not reclaim. The Vee-Jay/Swan-issued recordings eventually ended up with Capitol, who issued most of the Vee-Jay material on the American-only Capitol release The Early Beatles, with three songs left off this final US version of the album. ("I Saw Her Standing There" was issued as the American B-side of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and also appeared on the Capitol Records album Meet The Beatles. "Misery" and "There's a Place" were issued as a Capitol "Starline" reissue single in 1964, and reappeared on the 1980 Rarities compilation album.) The early Vee-Jay and Swan Beatles records command a high price on the record collectors' market, and all have been copiously bootlegged.[58] The Swan tracks ("She Loves You" and "I'll Get You") were issued on the Capitol LP The Beatles' Second Album. (Swan also issued the German-language version of "She Loves You," called "Sie Liebt Dich." This song later appeared (in stereo) on Capitol's US version of the Rarities compilation album.) In mid-1964 the band undertook their first appearances outside of Europe and North America. They toured Australia and New Zealand without Ringo Starr, who was ill and temporarily replaced by session drummer Jimmy Nicol. In Adelaide they were greeted by over 300,000 people who turned out at Adelaide Town Hall.[59] In June 1965, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire, MBE. The band members were nominated by Prime Minister Harold Wilson (who also was the M.P. for Huyton, Liverpool).[60] The appointment — at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders — sparked some conservative MBE recipients to return their insignia in protest.[61] The first two were returned on 14 June, before The Beatles received theirs on 26 October 1965.[62] On 15 August that year, The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of 55,600.[63] Their sixth album, Rubber Soul, was released in early December 1965. It was hailed as a major leap forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.[64] Backlash and controversy In July 1966, when The Beatles toured the Philippines, they unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace.[65] When presented with the invitation, Brian Epstein politely declined on behalf of the group, as it had never been the group's policy to accept such "official" invitations.[66] The group soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to accepting "no" for an answer. After the 'snub' was broadcast on Philippine television and radio, all of The Beatles' police protection disappeared. The group and their entourage had to make their way to Manila airport on their own. At the airport, roadie Mal Evans was beaten and kicked, and the band members were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd.[67] Once the group boarded the plane, Epstein and Evans were ordered off, and Evans said, "Tell my wife that I love her."[68] Epstein was forced to give back all the money that the band had earned while they were there before being allowed back on the plane.[69] Almost as soon as they returned from the Philippines, an earlier comment by Lennon made in March that year launched a backlash against The Beatles from religious and social conservatives in the United States. In an interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave,[70] Lennon had offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus now."[71] Afterwards, a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama, ran a story on burning Beatles records, in what was considered to be a joke. However, many people affiliated with rural churches in the American South started taking the suggestion seriously. Towns across the United States and South Africa started to burn Beatles records in protest. Attempting to make light of the incident, McCartney said, "They've got to buy them before they can burn them." Under tremendous pressure from the American media, Lennon apologised for his remarks at a press conference in Chicago on August 11, the eve of the first performance of what turned out to be their final tour.[72] The group's two-year series of Capitol compilations also took a strange twist in the United States when one of their publicity shots, used for a Yesterday and Today album and a poster promoting the UK release of "Paperback Writer", created an uproar, as it featured the band draped in meat and plastic dolls. Thousands of these copies had to be withdrawn. Years later, the cover shot was linked with the group's interest in German expressionism.[72] Elvis Presley disapproved of The Beatles's anti-war activism and open use of drugs, later asking President Nixon to ban all four members of the group from entering the United States. Peter Guralnick writes, "The Beatles, Elvis said, [...] had been a focal point for anti-Americanism. They had come to this country, made their money, then gone back to England where they fomented anti-American feeling."[73] Guralnick adds, "Presley indicated that he is of the opinion that The Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music while entertaining in this country during the early and middle 1960s."[74] Despite Elvis' remarks, Lennon still had some positive feeling towards him: "Before Elvis, there was nothing."[75] The studio years The Beatles at their last concert, Candlestick Park.In April 1966, the group began recording what would be their most ambitious album to date, Revolver. During the recording sessions for the album, tape looping and early sampling were introduced in a complex mix of ballad, R&B, soul and world music. The Beatles performed their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on 29 August 1966.[72] McCartney asked Tony Barrow to tape the event, but the 30-minute tape he used ran out halfway through the last song. The concert lasted a little under 35 minutes.[76] From then on, The Beatles concentrated on recording. Less than seven months after recording Revolver, The Beatles returned to Abbey Road Studios on 24 November 1966 to begin the 129-day recording sessions for their eighth album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on 1 June 1967. On 25 June 1967, The Beatles became the first band globally transmitted on television—before an estimated 400 million people worldwide. The band appeared in a segment within the first-ever worldwide TV satellite hook-up, a show titled Our World. The Beatles were transmitted live from Abbey Road Studios, and their new song "All You Need Is Love" was recorded live during the show. The band's business affairs began to unravel after manager Brian Epstein died of an accidental prescription drug overdose on 27 August 1967 at the age of 32. At the end of 1967, they received their first major negative press in the UK with disparaging reviews of their surrealistic TV film Magical Mystery Tour.[77] Part of the criticism arose because colour was an integral part of the film, but in 1967 few viewers in the UK had colour televisions. The film's soundtrack, which features one of The Beatles' few instrumental tracks ("Flying"), was released in the United Kingdom as a double EP, and in the United States as a full LP (the LP is now the official version). The group spent the early part of 1968 in Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, India, studying transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[78] Upon their return, Lennon and McCartney went to New York to announce the formation of Apple Corps. The middle of 1968 saw the band busy recording the double album The Beatles, popularly known as The White Album because of its plain white cover. These sessions saw deep divisions opening within the band, with Starr temporarily walking out. The band carried on, with McCartney recording the drums on the songs "Martha My Dear", "Wild Honey Pie", "Dear Prudence" and "Back in the USSR". Among the other causes of dissension were that Lennon's new girlfriend, Yoko Ono, was at his side through almost all of the sessions, and that the others felt that McCartney was becoming too dominating.[79] Internal divisions within the band had been a small but growing problem during their early years; most notably, this was reflected in the difficulty that George Harrison experienced in getting his own songs onto Beatles albums. On the business side, McCartney wanted Lee Eastman, the father of his then-girlfriend Linda Eastman, to manage The Beatles, but the other members wanted New York manager Allen Klein. All past Beatles' decisions had been unanimous, but this time the four could not agree. Lennon, Harrison and Starr felt the Eastmans would put McCartney's interests before those of the group. In 1971 it was discovered that Klein, who had been appointed manager, had stolen £5 million from The Beatles' holdings. Years later, during the Anthology interviews, McCartney said of this time, "Looking back, I can understand why they would feel that he [Lee Eastman] was biased against them." Their final live performance was on the rooftop of the Apple building in Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969, the next-to-last day of the difficult Get Back sessions. Most of the performance was filmed and later included in the film Let It Be. While the band was playing, the local police were called because of complaints about the noise. Although the group was simply asked to end their performance, the band members later remarked in the Anthology video that they were disappointed they were not arrested — pointing out that the police hauling the band members off in handcuffs would have been "an appropriate ending" for the film. The Beatles recorded their final album, Abbey Road, in the summer of 1969. The completion of the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" for the album on 20 August was the last time all four Beatles were together in the same studio. Their final new song was Harrison's "I Me Mine", recorded 3 January 1970 and released on the Let It Be album. It was recorded without Lennon, who was in Denmark when the song was recorded.[80] Breakup John Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September 1969 but agreed that no announcement was to be publicly made until a number of legal matters were resolved. In March 1970 the Get Back session tapes were given to American producer Phil Spector, who had produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!". Spector's "Wall of Sound" production values went against the original intent of the record, which had been to record a stripped-down live performance. McCartney was deeply dissatisfied with Spector's treatment of "The Long and Winding Road", and unsuccessfully attempted to halt release of Spector's version of the song. McCartney publicly announced the break-up on 10 April 1970, a week before releasing his first solo album, McCartney. Pre-release copies included a press release with a self-written interview explaining the end of The Beatles and his hopes for the future.[81] On 8 May 1970, the Spector-produced version of Get Back was released as Let It Be, followed by the documentary film of the same name. The Beatles' partnership was finally dissolved in 1975.[82] 1970--present: After The Beatles Ringo Starr, 1968 Shortly before and after the official dissolution of the group, all four Beatles released solo albums, including Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, McCartney's McCartney, Starr's Sentimental Journey, and Harrison's All Things Must Pass. Some of their albums featured contributions by other former Beatles; Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only one to include compositions and performances by all four, albeit on separate songs. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974 (later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74), Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. In the wake of the expiration in 1975 of The Beatles' contract with EMI-Capitol, the American Capitol label, rushing to cash in on its vast Beatles holdings and freed from the group's creative control, released five LPs: Rock 'n' Roll Music (a compilation of their more uptempo numbers), The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (containing portions of two unreleased shows at the Hollywood Bowl), Love Songs (a compilation of their slower numbers), Rarities (a compilation of tracks that either had never been released in the U.S. or had gone out of print), and Reel Music (a compilation of songs from their films). There was also a non-Capitol-EMI release of a show from the group's early days at the Star Club in Hamburg captured on a poor-quality tape. Of all these post-breakup LPs, only the Hollywood Bowl LP had the approval of the group members. Upon the American release of the original British CDs in 1986, these post-breakup Capitol American compilation LPs were deleted from the Capitol catalogue. John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman on 8 December 1980 in New York City. Shortly afterward, in 1981, the three surviving Beatles reunited to record "All Those Years Ago", released as a George Harrison solo single. Its original lyrics had been rewritten as a tribute to Lennon. The BBC has a large collection of Beatles recordings, mostly comprising original studio sessions from 1963 to 1968. Much of this material formed the basis for a 1988 radio documentary series The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes. In 1989, many outtakes from The Beatles sessions appeared on the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes. Later, in 1994, the best of the BBC sessions were given an official EMI release on Live at the BBC. In 1988 The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a group (not as individual performers) during their first year of eligibility.[83] On the night of their induction, Harrison and Starr appeared to accept their award along with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and his two sons. McCartney stayed away, issuing a press release citing "unresolved difficulties" with Harrison, Starr, and Lennon's estate. Solo Beatles later inducted were Lennon in 1994, McCartney in 1999 and Harrison in 2004. Collage of the various covers of the Anthology seriesIn February 1994, the three surviving Beatles reunited to produce and record additional music for a few of Lennon's home recordings. "Free as a Bird" premiered as part of The Beatles Anthology series of television documentaries and was released as a single in December 1995, with "Real Love" following in March 1996. These songs were also included in the three Anthology collections of CDs released in 1995 and 1996, each of which consisted of two CDs of never-before-released Beatles material. Klaus Voormann, who had known The Beatles since their Hamburg days and had previously illustrated the Revolver album cover, directed the Anthology cover concept. 450,000 copies of Anthology 1 were sold on its first day of release. In 2000, a compilation album named 1 was released, containing almost every number-one single released by the band from 1962 to 1970. The collection sold 3.6 million copies in its first week (selling 3 copies a second) and more than 12 million in three weeks worldwide. The collection also reached number one in the United States and 33 other countries and had sold 25 million copies by 2005 (about the ninth best selling album of all time). George Harrison during this time showed his socio-political consciousness and earned respect for his contribution for arranging the Concert For Bangladesh in New York in August 1971 along with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Harrison died of lung cancer on 29 November 2001. More recently, in 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin remixed original Beatles recordings to create a soundtrack to accompany Cirque du Soleil's theatrical production Love. Musical evolution The Beatles' constant demands to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with George Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers such as Norman Smith, Ken Townshend and Geoff Emerick, all played significant parts in the innovative sounds of the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries. Among those influences were Bob Dylan, who influenced songs such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[84] Other contemporary influences included the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose album Pet Sounds was a favourite of McCartney's.[85] Along with studio tricks such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, The Beatles began to augment their recordings with instruments that were unconventional for rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar as in Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) and the swarmandel as in Strawberry Fields Forever. They also used early electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the intro to "Strawberry Fields Forever", and the ondioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby You're a Rich Man". Beginning with the use of a string quartet (arranged by George Martin with input from McCartney) on "Yesterday" in 1965, The Beatles pioneered a modern form of art song, exemplified by the double-quartet string arrangement on "Eleanor Rigby" (1966), "Here, There and Everywhere" (1966) and "She's Leaving Home" (1967). A televised performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 directly inspired McCartney's use of a piccolo trumpet on the arrangement of "Penny Lane". The Beatles moved towards psychedelia with "Rain" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" from 1966, and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus" from 1967. Influence on popular culture Lifestyle The Beatles' lifestyles were greatly altered by their success and the income they earned. The availability of the first oral contraceptive and illegal drugs changed many people's opinions — including The Beatles' — about life, marriage, and sexual relationships.[86] Recreational drug use In Hamburg, The Beatles used "prellies" (Preludin) both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.[87] McCartney would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five.[87] Bob Dylan introduced them to cannabis during a 1964 visit to New York.[88] McCartney remembered them all getting "very high" and giggling.[89] The Beatles occasionally smoked a spliff in the car on the way to the studio during the filming of Help!, which often made them forget their lines.[90] In April 1965, Lennon and Harrison were introduced to LSD by an acquaintance, dentist John Riley.[91] Lennon in particular became an avid "tripper", claiming in a 1970 interview in Rolling Stone to have taken LSD hundreds of times. McCartney was more reluctant to try the drug, but finally did so in 1966 and was the first Beatle to talk about it in the press. The Beatles added their names to an advertisement in The Times, on 24 July 1967, which asked for the legalisation of cannabis, the release of all prisoners imprisoned because of possession, and research into marijuana's medical uses. The advertisement was sponsored by a group called Soma, and was signed by 65 people, including Brian Epstein, Graham Greene, R.D. Laing, 15 doctors, and two MPs.[92] On a sailing trip to Greece, in 1967, the whole band sat around on the boat and took acid.[93] Meditation On 24 August 1967, The Beatles met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton, and a few days later went to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend a weekend 'initiation' conference.[94] There, the Maharishi gave each of them a mantra.[95] Their time in early 1968 at the Maharishi's ashram in India was highly productive from a musical standpoint, as practically all of the songs that would later be recorded for The White Album and Abbey Road were composed there by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison.[78] Discography Further information: List of Beatles songs by singer, The Beatles record sales, worldwide charts, The Beatles bootlegs, and List of Beatles hit singles Official CD catalogue In 1987, EMI released all 12 of The Beatles' studio albums — as originally released in the UK — on CD worldwide. (North American releases were on EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records). It was a considered decision by Apple Corps to standardise The Beatles catalogue throughout the world. Because there were tracks that had been released in the UK on singles and EPs that had not been released on the original UK albums, in order for all their recordings to be available on CD it was necessary to create three further CDs that would contain the missing tracks. One CD was of a 1967 US compilation album that featured the 6-track 1967 UK EP Magical Mystery Tour and the various singles released in that year. The other two CDs were new compilations that gathered together all the other singles, EP tracks and recordings from 1962--1970 that had not been issued on the original British studio albums. Magical Mystery Tour - 8 August 1987[96] Past Masters, Volume One - 7 March 1988 Past Masters, Volume Two - 7 March 1988 According to EMI and the Guinness Book of Records, The Beatles have sold in excess of one billion units (1,010,000,000, including cassettes, records, CDs and bootlegs). Beginning in 2004, the US album configurations were released as a series of box sets from Capitol Records (The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 & Volume 2); these included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of their original 1960s releases. Song catalogue In 1963 Lennon and McCartney agreed to assign their song publishing rights to Northern Songs, a company created by music publisher Dick James. The company was administered by James' own company Dick James Music. Northern Songs went public in 1965, with Lennon and McCartney each holding 15% of the company's shares whilst Dick James and the company's chairman, Charles Silver, held a controlling 37.5%. In 1969, following a failed attempt by Lennon and McCartney to buy the company, James and Silver sold Northern Songs to British TV company Associated TeleVision (ATV), from which Lennon and McCartney received stock. In 1985, after a short period in which the parent company was owned by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court, ATV Music was sold to Michael Jackson for a reported $47 million (trumping a joint bid by McCartney and Yoko Ono), including the publishing rights to over 200 songs composed by Lennon and McCartney. A decade later Jackson and Sony merged its music publishing businesses. Since 1995, Jackson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing have jointly owned most of the Lennon-McCartney songs recorded by The Beatles. Sony later reported that Jackson had used his share of their co-owned Beatles' catalogue as collateral for a loan from the music company. Meanwhile, Lennon's estate and McCartney still receive their respective songwriter shares of the royalties. (Despite his ownership of most of the Lennon-McCartney publishing, Jackson has only recorded one Lennon-McCartney composition himself, "Come Together" which was featured in his film Moonwalker.) Although the Jackson-Sony catalogue includes most of The Beatles' greatest hits, four of their earliest songs had been published by one of EMI's publishing companies prior to Lennon and McCartney signing with Dick James — and McCartney later succeeded in personally acquiring the publishing rights to "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "P.S. I Love You" and "Ask Me Why" from EMI. Harrison and Starr did not renew their songwriting contracts with Northern Songs in 1968, signing with Apple Publishing instead. Harrison later created Harrisongs, his own company which still owns the rights to his post-1967 songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". Starr also created his own company, called Startling Music. It holds the rights to his two post-1967 songs recorded by The Beatles, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden". The future of The Beatles catalogue The Beatles are but a few of the major artists (aside from Led Zeppelin and Garth Brooks) who have not to date allowed their entire recorded catalogue to be available through major online music services (iTunes, Napster, etc.). This may be due to the massive royalty fees demanded by the group. As a result, The Beatles' music (both officially and unofficially released) has been made available through illegal music search engines such as eMule and BearShare, and have apparently raised the ire of the entire music industry. However, sure signs that official online distributions may be coming is the fact that the video for Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You (the remix from their album Love) is currently being distributed (as of June, 2007) via Napster, and many Internet radio networks (such as Pandora Internet Radio and Live365.com) are allowing Beatles songs to be broadcasted over the world wide web. There has been talk of negotiations to make such an official online distribution schedule possible. Officials at Apple Corps have hinted at this, as they have confirmed that the entire Beatles catalog has been digitally remastered for online distribution. On film Main article: The Beatles on film The Beatles appeared in several films, all of which featured associated soundtrack albums. The band played themselves in two films directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The group produced and starred in the hour-long television movie Magical Mystery Tour (1967), while the documentary Let It Be (released 1970) followed the recording sessions for the Get Back project in early 1969. In addition, the psychedelic animated film Yellow Submarine (1968) followed the adventures of a cartoon version of the band; the members did not provide their own voices, appearing only in a brief live-action epilogue. Other projects Anthology Main article: The Beatles Anthology Love Main article: Love (Cirque du Soleil) Instrumentation Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Epiphone, Gibson, Fender, and C.F. Martin & Company guitars Höfner, Fender and Rickenbacker basses Vox, Fender, and Selmer amplifiers Premier and Ludwig drums Zildjian cymbals Steinway, and Blüthner pianos Hammond, Vox and Lowrey electric organs Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Hohner Pianet electric pianos Moog Modular synthesiser Mellotron Polyphonic Keyboard Neumann, AKG, and STC microphones Bill Stoll Stollco video tampa fl (Less)
Weird Al Yankovich
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: (More) Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: [ˈjŋ.kəˌvɪk]; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, satirist, parodist, songwriter, accordionist, and television producer. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since receiving his first accordion lesson a day before his seventh birthday, he has sold more than 12 million albums (more than any comedy act in history),[1] recorded more than 150 parody and original songs,[2][3][4] and has performed more than 1,000 live shows.[5] His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album and single were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic has written and starred in his own movie and television show, directed music videos for himself and other artists including Ben Folds and Hanson. He has also made guest appearances on television shows such as The Simpsons, Behind the Music, Johnny Bravo, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Robot Chicken, in addition to starring in his own Al TV specials. Biography Early life The only child of Nick Yankovic (June 4, 1917April 9, 2004; an American of Yugoslavian descent) and Mary Elizabeth Vivalda (February 7, 1923April 9, 2004; an American of Italian and English descent), Alfred was born in Downey, California, and raised in the neighboring town of Lynwood.[6] Nick was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and began living in California after serving during World War II.[7][8] He believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy.[7] Nick married Mary Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who had come to California from Kentucky, gave birth to Alfred ten years later.[7] Alfred's first accordion lesson was on October 22, 1966, a day before his seventh birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims the reason his parents chose accordion over guitar was "They figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world," referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he has no relation.[7] He continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own.[6] Yankovic's early accordion role models include Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren (the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show). In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album "was partly how I learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion."[7] He would repeatedly play the album and try to play along on his accordion. As for his influences in comedic and parody music, Yankovic lists artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa "and all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists that he was exposed to through the Dr. Demento Radio Show."[9][6] Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from Mad magazine,[7] Monty Python,[10] and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker parody movies.[11] Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on," he recalls.[7] As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school. He claims to have been a "straight A" student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class.[7] Yankovic was fairly active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League (in which he "usually brought home some kind of trophy"), a play based upon Rebel Without a Cause, the yearbook program (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshipper's Club, "which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook."[7] Dr. Demento, "My Bologna", and early fame In 1976, Yankovic, then a high school senior, sent a homemade tape to Dr. Demento, the host of a comedy radio program.[7] The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere; another song included on the tape (which never received airtime) was "Dr. D Superstar", a parody of the title song from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.[12] Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately."[7] Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses saying, "It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs, They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads. And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from '2001.' And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest."[13] During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed "Weird Al" by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station.[7] In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous local landmarks such as the fountain toilets at Madonna Inn. In mid 1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody entitled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college, and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release the song as a single.[7] "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract.[14] Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.[7] On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began.[7] "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on the The Tomorrow Show (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects. The band and fame 1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away".[7] Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982.[15] Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons. The unimpressed audience threw items at the group, and they were booed off the stage.[14] Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road" (a parody of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) in 1982. Due to the influence of his new producer, Rick Derringer, it managed to become a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Bros. Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It" a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It" became quite popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006. In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al, which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents. Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid 1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."[16] He also noticed "they didn't seem to get along all that great when they weren't on stage. There was even a separate tour bus for each Monkee!"[17] Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Sans's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubn Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts. A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation Permanent Record: Al In The Box.[7] The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria". New look, personal life, and career to present Yankovic's "classic" look before eye surgery, with glasses and mustache In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his mustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his trademark look. (He had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of Ricky in order to resemble Desi Arnaz more closely.) Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every twenty years."[18] He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for The Saga Begins, claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about," that being "the music."[19] Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski on February 10, 2001. Their daughter, Nina, was born February 11, 2003. They also have a pet cockatiel named Bo. [6]They used to have a pet poodle, Bela (pictured atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album, Poodle Hat). Despite songs such as "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi", his frequent use of "Oy vey" and other Yiddish phrases, Yankovic is not of Jewish ancestry, and identifies himself as a Christian.[20] Yankovic changed his diet to become a vegetarian in 1992, after a fan of his gave him the book Diet for a New America and he felt "it made [...] a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet."[21] He eats no meat, and tries to avoid egg and dairy products.[6] When asked how he can "rationalize" performing at events such as the Great American Rib Cook-Off when he is a vegetarian, he replied "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though Im not a student anymore."[22] On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents, Nick, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. An hour after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin,[23] saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time."[24] Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, Men Without Hats, and Crash Test Dummies.[25][26] While most novelty artists are one-hit wonders, Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the stigma often associated with novelty music.[27] Yankovic's work Music Main article: List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic While Yankovic's song parodies (such as "Eat It") have resulted in success on the Billboard charts (see List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic), he has actually recorded an equally large number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute").[6] His work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television (see The TV Album), movies ("The Saga Begins"), food (see The Food Album), popular music (the polkas), and sometimes issues in contemporary news ("Headline News"). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."[28] Although many of Yankovic's songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic lampoons the original artist as a person, or the song itself. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Exceptions include "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set On You" and "Confessions Part III", which references "Confessions" and "Confessions Part II" in the first few lines. Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the rap songs "Amish Paradise" and "White & Nerdy"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichs (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song"). Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs, and for "legal and personal reasons" does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans.[6] There exists, however, one exception to this rule in the case of "Like a Surgeon." Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and happened to wonder aloud when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon." Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey.[7] Unlike other parody artists such as Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, Yankovic strives to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original. While Lehrer reproduced the songs on piano and Sherman reproduced them orchestrally, Yankovic and his band essentially play the original song with new lyrics. Instead of using instrumental versions of the original songs, Yankovic and his band transcribe the original song by ear and re-record the song for Yankovic's parody version.[29] In addition to his parodies, Yankovic also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Because the polkas have become a staple of Yankovic's albums, he has said he tries to include one on each album because "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."[30] Some of Yankovic's original songs are pastiches or "style parodies", for which he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody, rather than any single hit by that band. Such bands include Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", or most recently, charity records with "Don't Download This Song".[31] Others are style parodies are in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now"). Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously; "Polkamon" from the movie Pokmon: The Movie 2000, and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), in addition to his own film, UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in Transformers: The Movie. Yankovic's recurring jokes include the number 27 (as seen on the covers for Running With Scissors, Poodle Hat, and Straight Outta Lynwood) and the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention the name),[32] Frank ("Frank's 2000" TV"), and Leroy Finkelstein (music video for "I Lost On Jeopardy"). Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza. Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."[33] His latest three album releases feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from Running with Scissors is 11 minutes and 23 seconds; "Genius in France" from Poodle Hat runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from Straight Outta Lynwood is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Prior to 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico),[34] these "epic" songs were not performed live due to their length and complexity. (See Live performances for details) Music videos While Yankovic's music generally does not parody the song or the artist of the original song, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes incorporate parodies of many elements of the original song's music video, or otherwise spoof the general style of the music. Most notably, the video for "Smells like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that are parodies of their original song videos include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.[35] "It's All About the Pentiums" plays on the style of rap and hip-hop videos. Recent videos have included notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band; for example, Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem", Drew Carey appears in "It's All About the Pentiums", and Donny Osmond and Seth Green appear in "White & Nerdy". Reactions from original artists Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody.[36] However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies.[6] Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made an impact on the music scene at the time. There are, however, a few notable exceptions, where people have not allowed parodies or otherwise withdrawn permission. Positive Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit".[6] On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um...it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics".[14] According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."[37] Yankovic performing The Saga Begins in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, 2007. Michael Jackson is also a big fan of Yankovic. Jackson has twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Bad" video from the Moonwalker video.[38] Though Jackson was a good sport about "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", because he felt the message was too important. However, Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows.[34] Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl". Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film UHF on the provision that Knopfler himself were allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*".[39] Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for UHF, explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?"[40] When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."[41] The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a $500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances.[42] Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a LucasFilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."[43] Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy [...] I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. [...] Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big."[44] In September of 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."[45] Negative One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I dont remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt Ill be invited to Coolios next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."[46] In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself": Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.[47] For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a false interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions such that it unmasked Eminem as a hypocrite on the matter of an artist's right to free speech.[48] The clip is one of several screened during Yankovic's 2007 "Straight Outta Lynwood" tour (other clips have interviews with Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion, Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, Cher, Madonna, Michael Stipe, and Kevin Federline). Refused parodies On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up."[49] Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused.[50] Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive Thru".[51] Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and did not wish to condone the eating of animal flesh.[52] Yankovic, who is a vegetarian as well, has stated that he respects McCartney's decision to refuse the parody, and is hesitant to "put Paul on the list" of artists who have refused permission for a parody.[2] However, like "Snack All Night", "Chicken Pot Pie" has been performed numerous times in concert.[34] His concerts often feature parodies for which the artist did not give permission or could not be released for various reasons. Weird Al expresses his opinion about Atlantic Records on Wikipedia, as shown in the music video of "White & Nerdy". In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.[53] In the "White & Nerdy" video, Yankovic's character is seen vandalizing the record label's Wikipedia entry with the exclamation "YOU SUCK!" After the video was released online, Wikipedia's Atlantic Records article mirrored the video with numerous "vandals" editing it. The article has since been in various states of protection and cannot be edited except by administrators and, when semi-protected, registered Wikipedia members.[54] Yankovic has said that he does not approve of the vandalism, though he admits being amused by it.[55] During various live performances of "You're Pitiful", Yankovic took off layers of shirts (similar to the music video for "You're Beautiful") revealing a series of humorous t-shirts. Among these was a bright yellow shirt with the words "Atlantic Records sucks!"[56] Live performances Weird Al wearing his "Atlantic Records Sucks" shirt during a performance of "You're Pitiful", on August 8, 2007, at the Ohio State Fair. Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza"[57] with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics."[28] Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes.[57] A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour for the Running With Scissors album (Touring With Scissors) was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000.[3] Titled "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California on October 2, 1999.[58] For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.[59] 2003 saw Yankovic on tour overseas for the first time. Prior to 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada.[15] Following the success of Poodle Hat in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year.[60] Yankovic performing during the parody medley at Melbourne, Australia on March 23, 2007. Yankovic began the tour for Straight Outta Lynwood in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, with ten concerts in Australia following. The North American leg of the tour began in May, and will last throughout the mid year.[61] During the encore of the Straight Outta Lynwood tour, the song "Albuquerque" was performed in its entirety for the first time, with Yankovic improvising throughout the performance. Yankovic stated in the past that, he was afraid that performing the song frequently would leave his vocals "trashed," (likely because of the screaming involved in the song, in addition to its extensive length) - as the Albuquerque, New Mexico performance did in 1999.[62] The Straight Outta Lynwood tour's parody medley features one "chapter" of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru", a new verse of "Headline News" dealing with Britney Spears' 2007 head-shaving shock and underpants-less limousine trip in late 2006, (later replaced with a verse about Paris Hilton getting released from prison) and the concert-only parody of T-Pain's "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)", "I'm in Love with The Skipper", a song about the title character from Gilligan's Island and his supposed homosexual feelings towards The Skipper. Yankovic explains that while he was given permission to record the song for Straight Outta Lynwood, he decided "at the last minute" not to put the song on the album. However, T-Pain is still mentioned in the album's "special thanks" section.[63] On September 8, 2007, Weird Al had performed his 1,000th live show at Idaho Falls, Idaho.[64] UHF Main article: UHF (film) In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma called UHF. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop.[65] However, it was unsuccessful in theaters, likely due to a release in mid 1989, going up against Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, and others. The film has since become a cult classic, with out-of-print copies of the VHS version selling for up to $100 on eBay until the release of the DVD in 2002. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter).[66] To apparently make it more accessible to overseas audiences where UHF TV stations were less prominent, the film was titled The Vidiot From UHF in Australia and parts of Europe.[67] UHF shows the creation of Yankovic's signature foodthe Twinkie Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie-Wiener Sandwich.[68] Notable television appearances Yankovic had a TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to September 1998 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for his adult fans (as such, it is often compared to Pee-wee's Playhouse). The entire series was released on DVD by Shout! Factory on August 15, 2006. Yankovic has hosted Al TV on MTV and Al Music on MuchMusic many times, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For Poodle Hat, Al TV appeared on VH1 for the first time. A recurring segment of Al TV involves Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect. He inserts himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and then manipulates his questions, resulting in bizarre and comic responses from the celebrity. VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Yankovic; however, he was so clean-cut that the producers could not find any of the typical angst-laced problems that make many rock stars' stories compelling (as Yankovic noted in the episode), so they stretched many smaller disappointments and skirmishes during his career into major downfalls to fit the program's classic formula. His two commercial failures (his film UHF and his 1986 album Polka Party!) were presented as having a larger impact on the direction of his career than they really had. Also, Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Much was also made over his apparent lack of a love life, though he got married shortly after the program aired.[14] Yankovic has done voice-overs for a number of animated series. He appeared in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, singing "The Ballad of Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires Yankovic to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic is the voice for Squid Hat on the Cartoon Network show, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He is also the announcer of the cartoon's eponymous video game adaptation. During a BotCon 2007 panel session, voice actor David Kaye confirmed Yankovic will have a guest appearance voicing a waste collection vehicle Transformer in the upcoming Transformers: Animated cartoon series.[69][70] Previously, Yankovic's "Dare to be Stupid" song was featured in the animated 1986 film The Transformers: The Movie. An exhaustive list of television shows on which Yankovic has appeared is available on his official website.[71] Directing career "Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993s "Bedrock Anthem" to his latest, 2006s "White & Nerdy". He also directed the end sequence of 1986s "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his Polka Party! album and the title sequence to Spy Hard, for which he sang the title song.[72] In addition to his own, he has directed several videos for Hanson (The Titanic sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ("Wail").[72] He has cameo appearances in his videos for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer), and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks"). Misattribution and imitators A screenshot of LimeWire PRO, showing a large number of parodies misattributed to Yankovic, as well as numerous misspellings of his surname Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", among other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics.[73] Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca" and several more have a Star Wars motif.[74] Some songs misattributed to him are not songs, but spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler. Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his real beef with Peer-to-peer file sharing sites": If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly imageand some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just, well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet."[75] A list of songs frequently misattributed to Yankovic can be found at The Not Al Page[74] and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.[76] Weird Al Star Fund The Weird Al Star Fund is a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission is to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate 'Weird Al' Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame."[77] Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$15,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11, 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks.[78] On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork.[77] However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007.[79] On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000[77] and as such the Fund is accepting donations again. Yankovic's application was resubmitted for consideration in 2007, but he was not included among 2008's inductees.[80] (Less)
Groups results for: more than life backing tracks Beatles Tribute You love this music Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon Beatles (More) You love this music Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon Beatles Soundtrack (partials) 0:00 - 0:13 Twist & Shout 0:14 - 0:29 I Feel Fine 0:29 - 0:41 We Can Work It Out 0:41 - 0:54 I Wanna Hold Your Hand 0:54 - 1:10 Love Me Do 1:10 - 1:21 She Loves You 1:21 - 1:39 Yes It Is 1:40 - 1:55 I Will 1:56 - 2:20 All My Loving 2:20 - 2:44 Birthday 2:45 - 3:10 Lucy in the Sky 3:10 - 3:26 Sgt. Pepper 3:26 - 3:42 I Am the Walrus 3:42 - 3:57 Magical Mystery Tour 3:57 - 4:13 Yes it Is (again) 4:13 - 4:24 She Loves You (again) 4:24 - 4:44 Ticket to Ride 4:44 - 5:05 Paperback Writer 5:05 - 5:30 Hey Jude 5:30 - 5:52 Get Back 5:53 - 6:02 I need help here, no idea what this one is 6:02 - 6:29 Ob La Di Ob La Da [ above is courtesy of HappyDaze01. Thx HaDz01"!] Origin Liverpool, England Rock/Pop - Years active 1960--1970 Parlophone, Capitol, Apple, Vee-Jay, Polydor, Swan, Tollie Related to Tony Sheridan, The Quarrymen, The Plastic Ono Band, The Dirty Mac, Wings, Traveling Wilburys, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Ringo Starr All-Starr Band, Billy Preston Members - Ever to Date John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Former members Stuart Sutcliffe Pete Best The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music. The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time in the United States of America, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which certified them as the highest selling band of all time based on American sales of singles and albums. In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries: their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion discs and tapes worldwide. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. According to that same magazine, their innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s,[2] and their influence on pop culture can still be felt today. The Beatles led the mid-1960s musical "British Invasion" into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle, the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, styles, and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. 1957--1960: Formation The Quarrymen In March 1957, John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen whilst attending Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool.[6] Lennon and the Quarrymen met guitarist Paul McCartney at the Woolton Garden Fête held at St. Peter's Church on 6 July 1957.[7] On 6 February 1958, the young guitarist George Harrison was invited to watch the group (who played under a variety of names) at Wilson Hall, Garston, Liverpool.[8] McCartney had become acquainted with Harrison on the morning school bus ride to the Liverpool Institute, as they both lived in Speke. At McCartney's insistence, Harrison joined the Quarrymen as lead guitarist[9] after a rehearsal in March 1958, overcoming Lennon's initial reluctance because of Harrison's young age.[10] Members continually joined and left the lineup during that period, and in January 1960 Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass.[11] Lennon and McCartney both played rhythm guitar and the group had a high turnover of drummers. The Quarrymen went through a progression of names — "Johnny and the Moondogs", "Long John and the Beatles", "the Silver Beetles" (derived from Larry Parnes' suggestion of "Long John and the Silver Beetles") — before settling on "The Beatles". There are many theories as to the origin of the name and its unusual spelling. It is usually credited to Lennon, who said that the name was a combination word-play on the insects "beetles" (as a reference to Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets) and the word "beat". Cynthia Lennon suggests that Lennon came up with the name Beatles at a "brainstorming session over a beer-soaked table in the Renshaw Hall bar."[12] Lennon, who was well known for giving multiple versions of the same story joked in a 1961 Mersey Beat magazine article that "It came in a vision — a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, 'From this day on you are Beatles with an A'".[13] During an interview in 2001, Paul McCartney took credit for the peculiar spelling of the name, saying that "John had the idea of calling us the Beetles, I said, 'how about the Beatles; you know, like the beat of the drum?' At the time, everyone was stoned enough to find it hilarious. It's funny how history is made." [14] In May 1960 The Beatles toured northeast Scotland as a back-up band with singer Johnny Gentle.[15] They met Gentle an hour before their first gig, and McCartney referred to the tour as a great experience for the band.[16] For the tour the often drummerless group secured the services of Tommy Moore, who was considerably older than the others.[17] Soon after the tour, however, feeling the age gap was too great Moore left the band and went back to work in a bottling factory as a fork-lift truck driver.[18] Norman Chapman was the band's next drummer, but was called up for National Service in a few weeks. His departure posed a significant problem as the group's unofficial manager, Allan Williams, had arranged for them to perform in clubs on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany.[19] 1960--1970: The Beatles Hamburg On 15 August 1960, McCartney invited Pete Best to become the group's permanent drummer. He had watched Best play with the Blackjacks[20] in the Casbah Club, owned by Pete's mother, Mona Best. This was a cellar club in West Derby, Liverpool, where The Beatles had played and often visited.[21] In the documentary The Compleat Beatles, Williams said that Best "played not too cleverly, but passable." The Beatles started playing in Hamburg at the Indra and Kaiserkeller bars. They were required to play six or seven hours a night, seven nights a week. Shortly after they began performing at a new venue, the "Top Ten Club",[22] Harrison was deported for having lied to the German authorities about his age.[23] A week later, having started a small fire at their living quarters while vacating it for more luxurious rooms, McCartney and Best were arrested, charged with arson, and deported.[24] Lennon followed the others to Liverpool in mid-December. The reunited Beatles played their first engagement on 17 December 1960 at the Casbah Club and returned to Hamburg in April 1961. Whilst playing at the Top Ten Club they were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label,[25] produced by famed bandleader Bert Kaempfert.[19] Kaempfert signed the group to its own Polydor contract at the first session on 22 June 1961. On 31 October Polydor released the recording "My Bonnie (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur)", which appeared on the German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers", a generic name used for whoever happened to be in Sheridan's backup band.[26] In addition to the legend that this record led to the group's eventual meeting with Brian Epstein, it also resulted in their first mention in the American press. Around the beginning of 1962, Cashbox mentioned "My Bonnie" as the debut of a "new rock and roll team, Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers". A few copies were also pressed under the Decca label for U.S. disc jockeys, as American Decca had a distribution deal with Polydor parent Deutsche Grammophon.[27] (This was ironic, considering that by this time the then-unaffiliated British Decca had turned down the group's attempt to gain a recording contract.) When the group returned to Liverpool, Sutcliffe stayed on in Hamburg with his new German fiancee Astrid Kirchherr, [28] and McCartney took over bass duties.[29] Their third stay in Hamburg was from 13 April to 31 May 1962, when they opened The Star Club.[19] Upon their arrival they were informed of Sutcliffe's death from a brain haemorrhage.[30] Epstein took over as the group's manager in January 1962 and led The Beatles' quest for a British recording contract. Epstein had been manager of the record department at North End Music Store (NEMS), an offshoot of his family's furniture store. He played on the status of NEMS as a major record dealer to gain access to producers and recording company executives. In a now-famous exchange, Decca Records A&R executive Dick Rowe turned Epstein down flat, informing him that "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."[31] While Epstein was negotiating with Decca, he also approached EMI marketing executive Ron White.[32] White (who was not himself a record producer) in turn contacted EMI producers Norrie Paramor, Walter Ridley, and Norman Newell, all of whom declined to record The Beatles.[33] White did not approach EMI's fourth staff producer — George Martin — who was on holiday at the time.[34] Record contract After failing to impress Decca Records, Epstein went to the HMV store on Oxford Street in London to transfer the Decca tapes to discs. There, recording engineer Jim Foy referred him to Sid Coleman, who ran EMI's publishing arm. When Coleman heard the demo tapes he suggested taking the tapes to George Martin, who, Coleman explained, "does comedy records" and headed the Parlophone label at EMI. Epstein eventually met with Martin, who signed the group to EMI on a one-year renewable contract and scheduled their first recording session on 6 June at EMI's Abbey Road studios in north London.[35] Martin had not been particularly impressed by the band's demo recordings,[36] but he instantly liked them as people when he met them. He concluded that they had raw musical talent, but said (in later interviews) that what made the difference for him was their wit and humour.[37] Martin did have a problem with Pete Best, [36] whom he criticised for not being able to keep time. He privately suggested to Epstein that the band use another drummer in the studio. Best was good-looking and popular with the group's fans, but the three founding members had become increasingly unhappy with his drumming and his personality.[citation needed] There was speculation by some that Best's popularity[38] with fans was another source of friction. In addition, Epstein had become exasperated with his refusal to adopt the distinctive hairstyle as part of their unified look. Best also had missed a number of engagements because of illness. The three founding members enlisted Epstein to dismiss Best - which he did on 16 August 1962.[39] They asked Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey), the drummer for one of the top Merseybeat groups, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, to join the band, as Starr had performed occasionally with The Beatles in Hamburg.[40] The first recordings of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr together were made as early as 15 October 1960, in a series of demonstration records privately recorded in Hamburg while acting as the backing group for singer Lu Walters.[41] Starr played on The Beatles' second EMI recording session on 4 September 1962, but Martin hired session drummer Andy White for their next session on 11 September.[42] Their recording contract paid them one penny for each single sold, which was split amongst the four Beatles — one farthing per group member.[43] This royalty rate was further reduced for singles sold outside the UK, on which they received half of one penny (again split between the whole band) per single. Martin said later that it was a "pretty awful" contract.[43] Their publishing contract with Dick James Music (DJM) was also standard for the time: songwriters received the statutory minimum of 50% of the gross monies received, with the publisher retaining the other 50%.[citation needed] The Beatles' first EMI session on 6 June did not yield any releasable recordings but the September sessions produced a minor UK hit, "Love Me Do", which peaked on the charts at number 17.[44] ("Love Me Do" reached the top of the U.S. singles chart over 18 months later in May 1964.) On 26 November they recorded their second single "Please Please Me", which reached no. 2 in the official UK charts and no. 1 in the NME chart. Three months later they recorded their first album (also titled Please Please Me). The band's first televised performance was on the People and Places programme transmitted live from Manchester by Granada Television on 17 October 1962.[45] As The Beatles' fame spread, the frenzied adulation of the group, predominantly from teenage female fans, was dubbed 'Beatlemania'. In November 1963 The Beatles appeared on the Royal Variety Performance and were photographed with Marlene Dietrich, who also appeared on the show.[citation needed] America Although the band experienced huge popularity in the UK record charts from early 1963, EMI's American operation, Capitol Records, declined to issue the singles "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You (their first official no. 1 hit in the UK)".[46] Vee-Jay Records, a small Chicago label, issued the singles as part of a deal for the rights to another performer's masters. Art Roberts, music director of Chicago powerhouse radio station WLS, placed "Please Please Me" into radio rotation in late February 1963 making it the first time a Beatles record was heard on American radio. Vee-Jay's rights to The Beatles were later cancelled for non-payment of royalties.[47] In August 1963, Philadelphia-based Swan Records released "She Loves You", which also failed to receive airplay. A testing of the song on Dick Clark's TV show American Bandstand produced laughter from American teenagers when they saw the group's distinctive hairstyles. New York disc jockey Murray the K featured "She Loves You" on his '1010 WINS record revue' show in January.[48] In early November 1963, Brian Epstein persuaded Ed Sullivan to present The Beatles on three editions of his show in February, and parlayed this guaranteed exposure into a record deal with Capitol Records. Capitol committed to a mid-January release for "I Want to Hold Your Hand",[49] On 7 December 1963 a clip of The Beatles was shown on the CBS Evening News (the story originally had been scheduled to air on 22 November and was aired on the CBS Morning News but was pre-empted by the assassination of John F. Kennedy). The clip inspired a teenage girl in Washington, D.C. to request a Beatles song on a local radio station. The station secured an imported copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" — forcing Capitol Records to release the song ahead of schedule on 26 December. Several New York radio stations — first WMCA, then WINS (AM) and WABC — began playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on its release day. The Beatlemania that had started in Washington was duplicated in New York and quickly spread to other markets. The record sold one million copies in just ten days, and by 16 January, Cashbox magazine had certified the record number one (in the edition marked 23 January). On 3 January 1964 a film of The Beatles performing "She Loves You" was aired on the late-night Jack Paar Show. Beatlemania crosses the Atlantic On 7 February 1964, a crowd of four thousand fans at Heathrow Airport waved to The Beatles as they took off for their first trip to America as a group.[51] They were accompanied by photographers, journalists (including Maureen Cleave) and Phil Spector, who had booked himself on the same flight.[52] The pilot had radioed ahead, and as they prepared to land said, "Tell the boys there's a big crowd waiting for them." Kennedy International Airport had never experienced such a crowd, estimated at about 3,000 screaming fans.[53] After a press conference (where they first met Murray the K) they were put into limousines and driven to New York. On the way McCartney turned on a radio and listened to a running commentary: "They [The Beatles] have just left the airport and are coming to New York City..."[54] After reaching the Plaza Hotel, they were besieged by fans and reporters. Harrison had a temperature of 102 the next day and was ordered to stay in bed, so Neil Aspinall replaced him for the first television rehearsal.[55] Their first live American television appearance was on the The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964. The next morning practically every newspaper wrote that The Beatles were nothing more than a "fad", and "could not carry a tune across the Atlantic".[56] Their first American concert appearance was at Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C. on 11 February.[57] After The Beatles' huge success in 1964, Vee-Jay Records and Swan Records took advantage of their previously secured rights to The Beatles' early recordings and reissued the songs, all of which reached the top ten the second time around. (MGM and Atco also secured rights to The Beatles' early Tony Sheridan-era recordings and had minor hits with "My Bonnie" and "Ain't She Sweet", the latter featuring John Lennon on lead vocal.) In addition to Introducing... The Beatles, which was essentially The Beatles' debut British album with some minor alterations, Vee-Jay also issued an unusual LP called The Beatles Vs The Four Seasons. This 2-LP set paired Introducing... The Beatles and The Golden Hits Of The Four Seasons, another successful act that Vee-Jay had under contract, in a 'contest' (the back cover featured a 'score card'). Another unusual release was the Hear The Beatles Tell All album, which consisted of two lengthy interviews with Los Angeles radio disc jockeys (side one was titled "Dave Hull interviews John Lennon," while side two was titled "Jim Steck interviews John, Paul, George, Ringo"). No Beatles music was included on this interview album, which turned out to be the only Vee Jay Beatles album Capitol Records could not reclaim. The Vee-Jay/Swan-issued recordings eventually ended up with Capitol, who issued most of the Vee-Jay material on the American-only Capitol release The Early Beatles, with three songs left off this final US version of the album. ("I Saw Her Standing There" was issued as the American B-side of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and also appeared on the Capitol Records album Meet The Beatles. "Misery" and "There's a Place" were issued as a Capitol "Starline" reissue single in 1964, and reappeared on the 1980 Rarities compilation album.) The early Vee-Jay and Swan Beatles records command a high price on the record collectors' market, and all have been copiously bootlegged.[58] The Swan tracks ("She Loves You" and "I'll Get You") were issued on the Capitol LP The Beatles' Second Album. (Swan also issued the German-language version of "She Loves You," called "Sie Liebt Dich." This song later appeared (in stereo) on Capitol's US version of the Rarities compilation album.) In mid-1964 the band undertook their first appearances outside of Europe and North America. They toured Australia and New Zealand without Ringo Starr, who was ill and temporarily replaced by session drummer Jimmy Nicol. In Adelaide they were greeted by over 300,000 people who turned out at Adelaide Town Hall.[59] In June 1965, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire, MBE. The band members were nominated by Prime Minister Harold Wilson (who also was the M.P. for Huyton, Liverpool).[60] The appointment — at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders — sparked some conservative MBE recipients to return their insignia in protest.[61] The first two were returned on 14 June, before The Beatles received theirs on 26 October 1965.[62] On 15 August that year, The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of 55,600.[63] Their sixth album, Rubber Soul, was released in early December 1965. It was hailed as a major leap forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.[64] Backlash and controversy In July 1966, when The Beatles toured the Philippines, they unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace.[65] When presented with the invitation, Brian Epstein politely declined on behalf of the group, as it had never been the group's policy to accept such "official" invitations.[66] The group soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to accepting "no" for an answer. After the 'snub' was broadcast on Philippine television and radio, all of The Beatles' police protection disappeared. The group and their entourage had to make their way to Manila airport on their own. At the airport, roadie Mal Evans was beaten and kicked, and the band members were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd.[67] Once the group boarded the plane, Epstein and Evans were ordered off, and Evans said, "Tell my wife that I love her."[68] Epstein was forced to give back all the money that the band had earned while they were there before being allowed back on the plane.[69] Almost as soon as they returned from the Philippines, an earlier comment by Lennon made in March that year launched a backlash against The Beatles from religious and social conservatives in the United States. In an interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave,[70] Lennon had offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus now."[71] Afterwards, a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama, ran a story on burning Beatles records, in what was considered to be a joke. However, many people affiliated with rural churches in the American South started taking the suggestion seriously. Towns across the United States and South Africa started to burn Beatles records in protest. Attempting to make light of the incident, McCartney said, "They've got to buy them before they can burn them." Under tremendous pressure from the American media, Lennon apologised for his remarks at a press conference in Chicago on August 11, the eve of the first performance of what turned out to be their final tour.[72] The group's two-year series of Capitol compilations also took a strange twist in the United States when one of their publicity shots, used for a Yesterday and Today album and a poster promoting the UK release of "Paperback Writer", created an uproar, as it featured the band draped in meat and plastic dolls. Thousands of these copies had to be withdrawn. Years later, the cover shot was linked with the group's interest in German expressionism.[72] Elvis Presley disapproved of The Beatles's anti-war activism and open use of drugs, later asking President Nixon to ban all four members of the group from entering the United States. Peter Guralnick writes, "The Beatles, Elvis said, [...] had been a focal point for anti-Americanism. They had come to this country, made their money, then gone back to England where they fomented anti-American feeling."[73] Guralnick adds, "Presley indicated that he is of the opinion that The Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music while entertaining in this country during the early and middle 1960s."[74] Despite Elvis' remarks, Lennon still had some positive feeling towards him: "Before Elvis, there was nothing."[75] The studio years The Beatles at their last concert, Candlestick Park.In April 1966, the group began recording what would be their most ambitious album to date, Revolver. During the recording sessions for the album, tape looping and early sampling were introduced in a complex mix of ballad, R&B, soul and world music. The Beatles performed their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on 29 August 1966.[72] McCartney asked Tony Barrow to tape the event, but the 30-minute tape he used ran out halfway through the last song. The concert lasted a little under 35 minutes.[76] From then on, The Beatles concentrated on recording. Less than seven months after recording Revolver, The Beatles returned to Abbey Road Studios on 24 November 1966 to begin the 129-day recording sessions for their eighth album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on 1 June 1967. On 25 June 1967, The Beatles became the first band globally transmitted on television—before an estimated 400 million people worldwide. The band appeared in a segment within the first-ever worldwide TV satellite hook-up, a show titled Our World. The Beatles were transmitted live from Abbey Road Studios, and their new song "All You Need Is Love" was recorded live during the show. The band's business affairs began to unravel after manager Brian Epstein died of an accidental prescription drug overdose on 27 August 1967 at the age of 32. At the end of 1967, they received their first major negative press in the UK with disparaging reviews of their surrealistic TV film Magical Mystery Tour.[77] Part of the criticism arose because colour was an integral part of the film, but in 1967 few viewers in the UK had colour televisions. The film's soundtrack, which features one of The Beatles' few instrumental tracks ("Flying"), was released in the United Kingdom as a double EP, and in the United States as a full LP (the LP is now the official version). The group spent the early part of 1968 in Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, India, studying transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[78] Upon their return, Lennon and McCartney went to New York to announce the formation of Apple Corps. The middle of 1968 saw the band busy recording the double album The Beatles, popularly known as The White Album because of its plain white cover. These sessions saw deep divisions opening within the band, with Starr temporarily walking out. The band carried on, with McCartney recording the drums on the songs "Martha My Dear", "Wild Honey Pie", "Dear Prudence" and "Back in the USSR". Among the other causes of dissension were that Lennon's new girlfriend, Yoko Ono, was at his side through almost all of the sessions, and that the others felt that McCartney was becoming too dominating.[79] Internal divisions within the band had been a small but growing problem during their early years; most notably, this was reflected in the difficulty that George Harrison experienced in getting his own songs onto Beatles albums. On the business side, McCartney wanted Lee Eastman, the father of his then-girlfriend Linda Eastman, to manage The Beatles, but the other members wanted New York manager Allen Klein. All past Beatles' decisions had been unanimous, but this time the four could not agree. Lennon, Harrison and Starr felt the Eastmans would put McCartney's interests before those of the group. In 1971 it was discovered that Klein, who had been appointed manager, had stolen £5 million from The Beatles' holdings. Years later, during the Anthology interviews, McCartney said of this time, "Looking back, I can understand why they would feel that he [Lee Eastman] was biased against them." Their final live performance was on the rooftop of the Apple building in Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969, the next-to-last day of the difficult Get Back sessions. Most of the performance was filmed and later included in the film Let It Be. While the band was playing, the local police were called because of complaints about the noise. Although the group was simply asked to end their performance, the band members later remarked in the Anthology video that they were disappointed they were not arrested — pointing out that the police hauling the band members off in handcuffs would have been "an appropriate ending" for the film. The Beatles recorded their final album, Abbey Road, in the summer of 1969. The completion of the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" for the album on 20 August was the last time all four Beatles were together in the same studio. Their final new song was Harrison's "I Me Mine", recorded 3 January 1970 and released on the Let It Be album. It was recorded without Lennon, who was in Denmark when the song was recorded.[80] Breakup John Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September 1969 but agreed that no announcement was to be publicly made until a number of legal matters were resolved. In March 1970 the Get Back session tapes were given to American producer Phil Spector, who had produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!". Spector's "Wall of Sound" production values went against the original intent of the record, which had been to record a stripped-down live performance. McCartney was deeply dissatisfied with Spector's treatment of "The Long and Winding Road", and unsuccessfully attempted to halt release of Spector's version of the song. McCartney publicly announced the break-up on 10 April 1970, a week before releasing his first solo album, McCartney. Pre-release copies included a press release with a self-written interview explaining the end of The Beatles and his hopes for the future.[81] On 8 May 1970, the Spector-produced version of Get Back was released as Let It Be, followed by the documentary film of the same name. The Beatles' partnership was finally dissolved in 1975.[82] 1970--present: After The Beatles Ringo Starr, 1968 Shortly before and after the official dissolution of the group, all four Beatles released solo albums, including Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, McCartney's McCartney, Starr's Sentimental Journey, and Harrison's All Things Must Pass. Some of their albums featured contributions by other former Beatles; Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only one to include compositions and performances by all four, albeit on separate songs. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974 (later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74), Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. In the wake of the expiration in 1975 of The Beatles' contract with EMI-Capitol, the American Capitol label, rushing to cash in on its vast Beatles holdings and freed from the group's creative control, released five LPs: Rock 'n' Roll Music (a compilation of their more uptempo numbers), The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (containing portions of two unreleased shows at the Hollywood Bowl), Love Songs (a compilation of their slower numbers), Rarities (a compilation of tracks that either had never been released in the U.S. or had gone out of print), and Reel Music (a compilation of songs from their films). There was also a non-Capitol-EMI release of a show from the group's early days at the Star Club in Hamburg captured on a poor-quality tape. Of all these post-breakup LPs, only the Hollywood Bowl LP had the approval of the group members. Upon the American release of the original British CDs in 1986, these post-breakup Capitol American compilation LPs were deleted from the Capitol catalogue. John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman on 8 December 1980 in New York City. Shortly afterward, in 1981, the three surviving Beatles reunited to record "All Those Years Ago", released as a George Harrison solo single. Its original lyrics had been rewritten as a tribute to Lennon. The BBC has a large collection of Beatles recordings, mostly comprising original studio sessions from 1963 to 1968. Much of this material formed the basis for a 1988 radio documentary series The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes. In 1989, many outtakes from The Beatles sessions appeared on the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes. Later, in 1994, the best of the BBC sessions were given an official EMI release on Live at the BBC. In 1988 The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a group (not as individual performers) during their first year of eligibility.[83] On the night of their induction, Harrison and Starr appeared to accept their award along with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and his two sons. McCartney stayed away, issuing a press release citing "unresolved difficulties" with Harrison, Starr, and Lennon's estate. Solo Beatles later inducted were Lennon in 1994, McCartney in 1999 and Harrison in 2004. Collage of the various covers of the Anthology seriesIn February 1994, the three surviving Beatles reunited to produce and record additional music for a few of Lennon's home recordings. "Free as a Bird" premiered as part of The Beatles Anthology series of television documentaries and was released as a single in December 1995, with "Real Love" following in March 1996. These songs were also included in the three Anthology collections of CDs released in 1995 and 1996, each of which consisted of two CDs of never-before-released Beatles material. Klaus Voormann, who had known The Beatles since their Hamburg days and had previously illustrated the Revolver album cover, directed the Anthology cover concept. 450,000 copies of Anthology 1 were sold on its first day of release. In 2000, a compilation album named 1 was released, containing almost every number-one single released by the band from 1962 to 1970. The collection sold 3.6 million copies in its first week (selling 3 copies a second) and more than 12 million in three weeks worldwide. The collection also reached number one in the United States and 33 other countries and had sold 25 million copies by 2005 (about the ninth best selling album of all time). George Harrison during this time showed his socio-political consciousness and earned respect for his contribution for arranging the Concert For Bangladesh in New York in August 1971 along with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Harrison died of lung cancer on 29 November 2001. More recently, in 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin remixed original Beatles recordings to create a soundtrack to accompany Cirque du Soleil's theatrical production Love. Musical evolution The Beatles' constant demands to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with George Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers such as Norman Smith, Ken Townshend and Geoff Emerick, all played significant parts in the innovative sounds of the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries. Among those influences were Bob Dylan, who influenced songs such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[84] Other contemporary influences included the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose album Pet Sounds was a favourite of McCartney's.[85] Along with studio tricks such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, The Beatles began to augment their recordings with instruments that were unconventional for rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar as in Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) and the swarmandel as in Strawberry Fields Forever. They also used early electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the intro to "Strawberry Fields Forever", and the ondioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby You're a Rich Man". Beginning with the use of a string quartet (arranged by George Martin with input from McCartney) on "Yesterday" in 1965, The Beatles pioneered a modern form of art song, exemplified by the double-quartet string arrangement on "Eleanor Rigby" (1966), "Here, There and Everywhere" (1966) and "She's Leaving Home" (1967). A televised performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 directly inspired McCartney's use of a piccolo trumpet on the arrangement of "Penny Lane". The Beatles moved towards psychedelia with "Rain" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" from 1966, and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus" from 1967. Influence on popular culture Lifestyle The Beatles' lifestyles were greatly altered by their success and the income they earned. The availability of the first oral contraceptive and illegal drugs changed many people's opinions — including The Beatles' — about life, marriage, and sexual relationships.[86] Recreational drug use In Hamburg, The Beatles used "prellies" (Preludin) both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.[87] McCartney would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five.[87] Bob Dylan introduced them to cannabis during a 1964 visit to New York.[88] McCartney remembered them all getting "very high" and giggling.[89] The Beatles occasionally smoked a spliff in the car on the way to the studio during the filming of Help!, which often made them forget their lines.[90] In April 1965, Lennon and Harrison were introduced to LSD by an acquaintance, dentist John Riley.[91] Lennon in particular became an avid "tripper", claiming in a 1970 interview in Rolling Stone to have taken LSD hundreds of times. McCartney was more reluctant to try the drug, but finally did so in 1966 and was the first Beatle to talk about it in the press. The Beatles added their names to an advertisement in The Times, on 24 July 1967, which asked for the legalisation of cannabis, the release of all prisoners imprisoned because of possession, and research into marijuana's medical uses. The advertisement was sponsored by a group called Soma, and was signed by 65 people, including Brian Epstein, Graham Greene, R.D. Laing, 15 doctors, and two MPs.[92] On a sailing trip to Greece, in 1967, the whole band sat around on the boat and took acid.[93] Meditation On 24 August 1967, The Beatles met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton, and a few days later went to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend a weekend 'initiation' conference.[94] There, the Maharishi gave each of them a mantra.[95] Their time in early 1968 at the Maharishi's ashram in India was highly productive from a musical standpoint, as practically all of the songs that would later be recorded for The White Album and Abbey Road were composed there by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison.[78] Discography Further information: List of Beatles songs by singer, The Beatles record sales, worldwide charts, The Beatles bootlegs, and List of Beatles hit singles Official CD catalogue In 1987, EMI released all 12 of The Beatles' studio albums — as originally released in the UK — on CD worldwide. (North American releases were on EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records). It was a considered decision by Apple Corps to standardise The Beatles catalogue throughout the world. Because there were tracks that had been released in the UK on singles and EPs that had not been released on the original UK albums, in order for all their recordings to be available on CD it was necessary to create three further CDs that would contain the missing tracks. One CD was of a 1967 US compilation album that featured the 6-track 1967 UK EP Magical Mystery Tour and the various singles released in that year. The other two CDs were new compilations that gathered together all the other singles, EP tracks and recordings from 1962--1970 that had not been issued on the original British studio albums. Magical Mystery Tour - 8 August 1987[96] Past Masters, Volume One - 7 March 1988 Past Masters, Volume Two - 7 March 1988 According to EMI and the Guinness Book of Records, The Beatles have sold in excess of one billion units (1,010,000,000, including cassettes, records, CDs and bootlegs). Beginning in 2004, the US album configurations were released as a series of box sets from Capitol Records (The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 & Volume 2); these included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of their original 1960s releases. Song catalogue In 1963 Lennon and McCartney agreed to assign their song publishing rights to Northern Songs, a company created by music publisher Dick James. The company was administered by James' own company Dick James Music. Northern Songs went public in 1965, with Lennon and McCartney each holding 15% of the company's shares whilst Dick James and the company's chairman, Charles Silver, held a controlling 37.5%. In 1969, following a failed attempt by Lennon and McCartney to buy the company, James and Silver sold Northern Songs to British TV company Associated TeleVision (ATV), from which Lennon and McCartney received stock. In 1985, after a short period in which the parent company was owned by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court, ATV Music was sold to Michael Jackson for a reported $47 million (trumping a joint bid by McCartney and Yoko Ono), including the publishing rights to over 200 songs composed by Lennon and McCartney. A decade later Jackson and Sony merged its music publishing businesses. Since 1995, Jackson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing have jointly owned most of the Lennon-McCartney songs recorded by The Beatles. Sony later reported that Jackson had used his share of their co-owned Beatles' catalogue as collateral for a loan from the music company. Meanwhile, Lennon's estate and McCartney still receive their respective songwriter shares of the royalties. (Despite his ownership of most of the Lennon-McCartney publishing, Jackson has only recorded one Lennon-McCartney composition himself, "Come Together" which was featured in his film Moonwalker.) Although the Jackson-Sony catalogue includes most of The Beatles' greatest hits, four of their earliest songs had been published by one of EMI's publishing companies prior to Lennon and McCartney signing with Dick James — and McCartney later succeeded in personally acquiring the publishing rights to "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "P.S. I Love You" and "Ask Me Why" from EMI. Harrison and Starr did not renew their songwriting contracts with Northern Songs in 1968, signing with Apple Publishing instead. Harrison later created Harrisongs, his own company which still owns the rights to his post-1967 songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". Starr also created his own company, called Startling Music. It holds the rights to his two post-1967 songs recorded by The Beatles, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden". The future of The Beatles catalogue The Beatles are but a few of the major artists (aside from Led Zeppelin and Garth Brooks) who have not to date allowed their entire recorded catalogue to be available through major online music services (iTunes, Napster, etc.). This may be due to the massive royalty fees demanded by the group. As a result, The Beatles' music (both officially and unofficially released) has been made available through illegal music search engines such as eMule and BearShare, and have apparently raised the ire of the entire music industry. However, sure signs that official online distributions may be coming is the fact that the video for Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You (the remix from their album Love) is currently being distributed (as of June, 2007) via Napster, and many Internet radio networks (such as Pandora Internet Radio and Live365.com) are allowing Beatles songs to be broadcasted over the world wide web. There has been talk of negotiations to make such an official online distribution schedule possible. Officials at Apple Corps have hinted at this, as they have confirmed that the entire Beatles catalog has been digitally remastered for online distribution. On film Main article: The Beatles on film The Beatles appeared in several films, all of which featured associated soundtrack albums. The band played themselves in two films directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The group produced and starred in the hour-long television movie Magical Mystery Tour (1967), while the documentary Let It Be (released 1970) followed the recording sessions for the Get Back project in early 1969. In addition, the psychedelic animated film Yellow Submarine (1968) followed the adventures of a cartoon version of the band; the members did not provide their own voices, appearing only in a brief live-action epilogue. Other projects Anthology Main article: The Beatles Anthology Love Main article: Love (Cirque du Soleil) Instrumentation Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Epiphone, Gibson, Fender, and C.F. Martin & Company guitars Höfner, Fender and Rickenbacker basses Vox, Fender, and Selmer amplifiers Premier and Ludwig drums Zildjian cymbals Steinway, and Blüthner pianos Hammond, Vox and Lowrey electric organs Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Hohner Pianet electric pianos Moog Modular synthesiser Mellotron Polyphonic Keyboard Neumann, AKG, and STC microphones Bill Stoll Stollco video tampa fl (Less)
Weird Al Yankovich Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: (More) Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: [ˈjŋ.kəˌvɪk]; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, satirist, parodist, songwriter, accordionist, and television producer. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since receiving his first accordion lesson a day before his seventh birthday, he has sold more than 12 million albums (more than any comedy act in history),[1] recorded more than 150 parody and original songs,[2][3][4] and has performed more than 1,000 live shows.[5] His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album and single were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic has written and starred in his own movie and television show, directed music videos for himself and other artists including Ben Folds and Hanson. He has also made guest appearances on television shows such as The Simpsons, Behind the Music, Johnny Bravo, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Robot Chicken, in addition to starring in his own Al TV specials. Biography Early life The only child of Nick Yankovic (June 4, 1917April 9, 2004; an American of Yugoslavian descent) and Mary Elizabeth Vivalda (February 7, 1923April 9, 2004; an American of Italian and English descent), Alfred was born in Downey, California, and raised in the neighboring town of Lynwood.[6] Nick was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and began living in California after serving during World War II.[7][8] He believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy.[7] Nick married Mary Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who had come to California from Kentucky, gave birth to Alfred ten years later.[7] Alfred's first accordion lesson was on October 22, 1966, a day before his seventh birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims the reason his parents chose accordion over guitar was "They figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world," referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he has no relation.[7] He continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own.[6] Yankovic's early accordion role models include Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren (the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show). In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album "was partly how I learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion."[7] He would repeatedly play the album and try to play along on his accordion. As for his influences in comedic and parody music, Yankovic lists artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa "and all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists that he was exposed to through the Dr. Demento Radio Show."[9][6] Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from Mad magazine,[7] Monty Python,[10] and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker parody movies.[11] Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on," he recalls.[7] As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school. He claims to have been a "straight A" student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class.[7] Yankovic was fairly active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League (in which he "usually brought home some kind of trophy"), a play based upon Rebel Without a Cause, the yearbook program (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshipper's Club, "which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook."[7] Dr. Demento, "My Bologna", and early fame In 1976, Yankovic, then a high school senior, sent a homemade tape to Dr. Demento, the host of a comedy radio program.[7] The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere; another song included on the tape (which never received airtime) was "Dr. D Superstar", a parody of the title song from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.[12] Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately."[7] Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses saying, "It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs, They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads. And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from '2001.' And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest."[13] During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed "Weird Al" by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station.[7] In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous local landmarks such as the fountain toilets at Madonna Inn. In mid 1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody entitled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college, and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release the song as a single.[7] "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract.[14] Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.[7] On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began.[7] "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on the The Tomorrow Show (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects. The band and fame 1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away".[7] Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982.[15] Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons. The unimpressed audience threw items at the group, and they were booed off the stage.[14] Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road" (a parody of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) in 1982. Due to the influence of his new producer, Rick Derringer, it managed to become a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Bros. Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It" a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It" became quite popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006. In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al, which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents. Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid 1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."[16] He also noticed "they didn't seem to get along all that great when they weren't on stage. There was even a separate tour bus for each Monkee!"[17] Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Sans's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubn Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts. A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation Permanent Record: Al In The Box.[7] The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria". New look, personal life, and career to present Yankovic's "classic" look before eye surgery, with glasses and mustache In January 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his mustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his trademark look. (He had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of Ricky in order to resemble Desi Arnaz more closely.) Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every twenty years."[18] He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for The Saga Begins, claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about," that being "the music."[19] Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski on February 10, 2001. Their daughter, Nina, was born February 11, 2003. They also have a pet cockatiel named Bo. [6]They used to have a pet poodle, Bela (pictured atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album, Poodle Hat). Despite songs such as "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi", his frequent use of "Oy vey" and other Yiddish phrases, Yankovic is not of Jewish ancestry, and identifies himself as a Christian.[20] Yankovic changed his diet to become a vegetarian in 1992, after a fan of his gave him the book Diet for a New America and he felt "it made [...] a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet."[21] He eats no meat, and tries to avoid egg and dairy products.[6] When asked how he can "rationalize" performing at events such as the Great American Rib Cook-Off when he is a vegetarian, he replied "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though Im not a student anymore."[22] On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents, Nick, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. An hour after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin,[23] saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time."[24] Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, Men Without Hats, and Crash Test Dummies.[25][26] While most novelty artists are one-hit wonders, Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the stigma often associated with novelty music.[27] Yankovic's work Music Main article: List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic While Yankovic's song parodies (such as "Eat It") have resulted in success on the Billboard charts (see List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic), he has actually recorded an equally large number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute").[6] His work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television (see The TV Album), movies ("The Saga Begins"), food (see The Food Album), popular music (the polkas), and sometimes issues in contemporary news ("Headline News"). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."[28] Although many of Yankovic's songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic lampoons the original artist as a person, or the song itself. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Exceptions include "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set On You" and "Confessions Part III", which references "Confessions" and "Confessions Part II" in the first few lines. Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the rap songs "Amish Paradise" and "White & Nerdy"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichs (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song"). Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs, and for "legal and personal reasons" does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans.[6] There exists, however, one exception to this rule in the case of "Like a Surgeon." Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and happened to wonder aloud when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon." Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey.[7] Unlike other parody artists such as Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, Yankovic strives to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original. While Lehrer reproduced the songs on piano and Sherman reproduced them orchestrally, Yankovic and his band essentially play the original song with new lyrics. Instead of using instrumental versions of the original songs, Yankovic and his band transcribe the original song by ear and re-record the song for Yankovic's parody version.[29] In addition to his parodies, Yankovic also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Because the polkas have become a staple of Yankovic's albums, he has said he tries to include one on each album because "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."[30] Some of Yankovic's original songs are pastiches or "style parodies", for which he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody, rather than any single hit by that band. Such bands include Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", or most recently, charity records with "Don't Download This Song".[31] Others are style parodies are in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now"). Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously; "Polkamon" from the movie Pokmon: The Movie 2000, and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), in addition to his own film, UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in Transformers: The Movie. Yankovic's recurring jokes include the number 27 (as seen on the covers for Running With Scissors, Poodle Hat, and Straight Outta Lynwood) and the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention the name),[32] Frank ("Frank's 2000" TV"), and Leroy Finkelstein (music video for "I Lost On Jeopardy"). Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza. Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."[33] His latest three album releases feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from Running with Scissors is 11 minutes and 23 seconds; "Genius in France" from Poodle Hat runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from Straight Outta Lynwood is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Prior to 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico),[34] these "epic" songs were not performed live due to their length and complexity. (See Live performances for details) Music videos While Yankovic's music generally does not parody the song or the artist of the original song, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes incorporate parodies of many elements of the original song's music video, or otherwise spoof the general style of the music. Most notably, the video for "Smells like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that are parodies of their original song videos include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.[35] "It's All About the Pentiums" plays on the style of rap and hip-hop videos. Recent videos have included notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band; for example, Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem", Drew Carey appears in "It's All About the Pentiums", and Donny Osmond and Seth Green appear in "White & Nerdy". Reactions from original artists Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody.[36] However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies.[6] Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made an impact on the music scene at the time. There are, however, a few notable exceptions, where people have not allowed parodies or otherwise withdrawn permission. Positive Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit".[6] On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um...it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics".[14] According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."[37] Yankovic performing The Saga Begins in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, 2007. Michael Jackson is also a big fan of Yankovic. Jackson has twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Bad" video from the Moonwalker video.[38] Though Jackson was a good sport about "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", because he felt the message was too important. However, Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows.[34] Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl". Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film UHF on the provision that Knopfler himself were allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*".[39] Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for UHF, explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?"[40] When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."[41] The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a $500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances.[42] Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a LucasFilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."[43] Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy [...] I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. [...] Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big."[44] In September of 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."[45] Negative One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I dont remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt Ill be invited to Coolios next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."[46] In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself": Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.[47] For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a false interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions such that it unmasked Eminem as a hypocrite on the matter of an artist's right to free speech.[48] The clip is one of several screened during Yankovic's 2007 "Straight Outta Lynwood" tour (other clips have interviews with Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion, Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, Cher, Madonna, Michael Stipe, and Kevin Federline). Refused parodies On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up."[49] Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused.[50] Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive Thru".[51] Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and did not wish to condone the eating of animal flesh.[52] Yankovic, who is a vegetarian as well, has stated that he respects McCartney's decision to refuse the parody, and is hesitant to "put Paul on the list" of artists who have refused permission for a parody.[2] However, like "Snack All Night", "Chicken Pot Pie" has been performed numerous times in concert.[34] His concerts often feature parodies for which the artist did not give permission or could not be released for various reasons. Weird Al expresses his opinion about Atlantic Records on Wikipedia, as shown in the music video of "White & Nerdy". In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.[53] In the "White & Nerdy" video, Yankovic's character is seen vandalizing the record label's Wikipedia entry with the exclamation "YOU SUCK!" After the video was released online, Wikipedia's Atlantic Records article mirrored the video with numerous "vandals" editing it. The article has since been in various states of protection and cannot be edited except by administrators and, when semi-protected, registered Wikipedia members.[54] Yankovic has said that he does not approve of the vandalism, though he admits being amused by it.[55] During various live performances of "You're Pitiful", Yankovic took off layers of shirts (similar to the music video for "You're Beautiful") revealing a series of humorous t-shirts. Among these was a bright yellow shirt with the words "Atlantic Records sucks!"[56] Live performances Weird Al wearing his "Atlantic Records Sucks" shirt during a performance of "You're Pitiful", on August 8, 2007, at the Ohio State Fair. Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza"[57] with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics."[28] Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes.[57] A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour for the Running With Scissors album (Touring With Scissors) was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000.[3] Titled "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California on October 2, 1999.[58] For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.[59] 2003 saw Yankovic on tour overseas for the first time. Prior to 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada.[15] Following the success of Poodle Hat in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year.[60] Yankovic performing during the parody medley at Melbourne, Australia on March 23, 2007. Yankovic began the tour for Straight Outta Lynwood in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, with ten concerts in Australia following. The North American leg of the tour began in May, and will last throughout the mid year.[61] During the encore of the Straight Outta Lynwood tour, the song "Albuquerque" was performed in its entirety for the first time, with Yankovic improvising throughout the performance. Yankovic stated in the past that, he was afraid that performing the song frequently would leave his vocals "trashed," (likely because of the screaming involved in the song, in addition to its extensive length) - as the Albuquerque, New Mexico performance did in 1999.[62] The Straight Outta Lynwood tour's parody medley features one "chapter" of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru", a new verse of "Headline News" dealing with Britney Spears' 2007 head-shaving shock and underpants-less limousine trip in late 2006, (later replaced with a verse about Paris Hilton getting released from prison) and the concert-only parody of T-Pain's "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)", "I'm in Love with The Skipper", a song about the title character from Gilligan's Island and his supposed homosexual feelings towards The Skipper. Yankovic explains that while he was given permission to record the song for Straight Outta Lynwood, he decided "at the last minute" not to put the song on the album. However, T-Pain is still mentioned in the album's "special thanks" section.[63] On September 8, 2007, Weird Al had performed his 1,000th live show at Idaho Falls, Idaho.[64] UHF Main article: UHF (film) In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma called UHF. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie RoboCop.[65] However, it was unsuccessful in theaters, likely due to a release in mid 1989, going up against Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, and others. The film has since become a cult classic, with out-of-print copies of the VHS version selling for up to $100 on eBay until the release of the DVD in 2002. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter).[66] To apparently make it more accessible to overseas audiences where UHF TV stations were less prominent, the film was titled The Vidiot From UHF in Australia and parts of Europe.[67] UHF shows the creation of Yankovic's signature foodthe Twinkie Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie-Wiener Sandwich.[68] Notable television appearances Yankovic had a TV series called The Weird Al Show, which aired from September 1997 to September 1998 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for his adult fans (as such, it is often compared to Pee-wee's Playhouse). The entire series was released on DVD by Shout! Factory on August 15, 2006. Yankovic has hosted Al TV on MTV and Al Music on MuchMusic many times, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For Poodle Hat, Al TV appeared on VH1 for the first time. A recurring segment of Al TV involves Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect. He inserts himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and then manipulates his questions, resulting in bizarre and comic responses from the celebrity. VH1 produced a Behind the Music episode on Yankovic; however, he was so clean-cut that the producers could not find any of the typical angst-laced problems that make many rock stars' stories compelling (as Yankovic noted in the episode), so they stretched many smaller disappointments and skirmishes during his career into major downfalls to fit the program's classic formula. His two commercial failures (his film UHF and his 1986 album Polka Party!) were presented as having a larger impact on the direction of his career than they really had. Also, Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Much was also made over his apparent lack of a love life, though he got married shortly after the program aired.[14] Yankovic has done voice-overs for a number of animated series. He appeared in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, singing "The Ballad of Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires Yankovic to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic is the voice for Squid Hat on the Cartoon Network show, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He is also the announcer of the cartoon's eponymous video game adaptation. During a BotCon 2007 panel session, voice actor David Kaye confirmed Yankovic will have a guest appearance voicing a waste collection vehicle Transformer in the upcoming Transformers: Animated cartoon series.[69][70] Previously, Yankovic's "Dare to be Stupid" song was featured in the animated 1986 film The Transformers: The Movie. An exhaustive list of television shows on which Yankovic has appeared is available on his official website.[71] Directing career "Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993s "Bedrock Anthem" to his latest, 2006s "White & Nerdy". He also directed the end sequence of 1986s "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his Polka Party! album and the title sequence to Spy Hard, for which he sang the title song.[72] In addition to his own, he has directed several videos for Hanson (The Titanic sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ("Wail").[72] He has cameo appearances in his videos for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer), and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks"). Misattribution and imitators A screenshot of LimeWire PRO, showing a large number of parodies misattributed to Yankovic, as well as numerous misspellings of his surname Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", among other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics.[73] Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca" and several more have a Star Wars motif.[74] Some songs misattributed to him are not songs, but spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler. Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his real beef with Peer-to-peer file sharing sites": If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly imageand some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just, well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet."[75] A list of songs frequently misattributed to Yankovic can be found at The Not Al Page[74] and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.[76] Weird Al Star Fund The Weird Al Star Fund is a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission is to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate 'Weird Al' Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame."[77] Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$15,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11, 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks.[78] On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork.[77] However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007.[79] On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000[77] and as such the Fund is accepting donations again. Yankovic's application was resubmitted for consideration in 2007, but he was not included among 2008's inductees.[80] (Less)
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