Song:Another One Rides The Bus
Album:The Essential Weird Al Yankovic
Weird Al Yankovic is a modern day Spike Jones. He does today what Jones did back in the 40s, parodies of popular songs. Another One Rides The Bus was one of his earliest hits. He was born Oct. 23, 1959 in Downey, CA. He learned to play the accordion as a child. This choice made by his parents was influenced by polka king Frankie Yankovic though they are not related. Yankovic learned to play rock music on the accordion. His influences include Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, Allen Sherman and Frank Zappa. And he was a devoted listener to Barry "Dr. Demento" Hansen's radio show of novelty songs. In 1976, Hansen spoke at Yankovic's high school. Yankovic gave Hansen a recording of Belvedere Cruisin about his parents' car. Hansen played the song on his show and Yankovic started playing local clubs. While attending Cal Poly, Yankovic was a DJ on the campus radio station. One of the biggest hits of 1979 was My Sharona by The Knack. Yankovic recorded his parody My Bologna in a campus bathroom. He sent it to Hansen. The Knack's lead singer Doug Fieger liked it so much he had his label Capitol release it as a single. Then Yankovic recorded Another One Rides The Bus on Dr. Demento's radio show. This led to Yankovic appearing on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show. Unfortunately his label TK Records went bankrupt. He decided to form a band and tour. His recording of I Love Rocky Road got Rick Derringer's attention. He got Yankovic a deal with Scotti Brothers distributed by Columbia. Derringer produced Yankovic's 1983 debut album. The album did well and the video for Ricky was heavily played on MTV. Probably his biggest hit was Eat It, his parody of Michael Jackson's Beat It. If you're wondering how the original artists feel about Yankovic's parodies, he asks them to approve it before release. This 2CD comp covers Yankovic's entire career. Though Yankovic isn't as popular today as he was in the 80s, he still records parodies and releases them online. His latest The Hamilton Polka is a parody of the hit musical Hamilton. I think Spike Jones would be very proud of Al Yankovic. Here's Weird Al Yankovic performing Another One Rides The Bus on Tomorrow Apr. 21, 1981.
Somewhere in heaven Spike Jones is both smiling and proud. I liked some of his stuff. But I always liked Spike Jones.
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