Matching Weird Al Trivia Quiz

Answer: Robert Palmer

"Addicted to Love" was Robert Palmer's biggest hit, likely aided by a music video featuring him and a band made up of five models who were made to look cloned. - and who apparently had never had a guitar lesson in their lives! Al's version just gave us several different ways to enjoy potatoes.

Answer: Coolio

"Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio was the top selling single of 1995, according to the "Top 100 Hits of 1995" produced by "Billboard" magazine. "Weird Al" jumped right on it with his parody. Many people liked it but Coolio wasn't amused.

Answer: Queen

In 1981, "Weird Al" took on Queen's hit "Another One Bites the Dust". Al's first television appearance was playing this song on the "Tomorrow" show with Tom Snyder. Al sang and played accordion; his drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, played percussion on Al's accordion case and blew a duck call, a siren whistle and more.

As Al noted in an interview: "If you're in my band you can't have too much of a sense of dignity."

Answer: Bob Dylan

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" was released by Bob Dylan in 1965. It was accompanied by what might have been one of the first music videos, with Dylan standing in an alley flipping cue cards which had some of the song's lyrics printed on them. In 2002, "Weird Al" made a music video named "Bob" in which he imitated Dylan's "Subterranean" video with the song done like Dylan's "Tombstone Blues", but all the lyrics were palindromes, such as: "Do nine men interpret? Nine men I nod."

Answer: Eminem

Eminem won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Lose Yourself" from the 2002 movie "8 Mile". Al wrote "Couch Potato" to be the lead song of the CD "Poodle Hat". Eminem was worried that it might hurt his career and asked Al not to release it as a single.

Answer: Taylor Swift

"TMZ" is on the "Weird Al" CD "Alpocalypse". It is a parody of Taylor Swift's "You Belong to Me". The music video is an animation about someone, who resembles Swift, being photographed partially nude and having it spread everywhere by celebrity gossip website "TMZ".

Answer: Michael Jackson

The "Weird Al" parody of "Bad" by Michael Jackson had him wearing a fat suit and mask. For the video he got permission from Jackson to use the same subway set as Jackson's song. The music video had six overweight men as backup dancers for Al. One was a pizza delivery man who happened to bring some pizzas to the casting office and was hired on the spot.

Answer: Greg Kihn Band

"I Lost on Jeopardy" is a 1984 "Weird Al" parody of the Greg Kihn Band song "Jeopardy". Al's song was about "Jeopardy!", the TV quiz show about trivia, which at that point was off the air. Three months later the show, with new host Alex Trebek, was back on the air, and still is. Coincidence?

Answer: James Brown

What song do you get if you cross "Weird Al" Yankovic with James Brown? "Living with a Hernia" of course. It was Al's take on "Living in America", Brown's song used in the movie "Rocky IV" (1985). Al used the same set as Brown's music video and the performers' costumes as well.

Answer: Toni Basil

Toni Basil was a one-hit wonder in 1982 with her song "Mickey". It was turned into "Ricky" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, about the early TV show "I Love Lucy". Most of the music video for the song was filmed in black and white and portrayed typical scenes from the TV show.