The following contains spoilers from Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, currently streaming on The Roku Channel.
Al Yankovic made a name for himself parodying the biggest names in music, so it's only fitting that a movie chronicling his life, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, is itself a spoof of musical biopics. The film depicts Yankovic's (Daniel Radcliffe) humble beginnings as a solo accordionist and meteoric rise to fame, where he outsold the Beatles, dated Madonna and fought cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. It's almost wholly fictitious and patently absurd, but fans would expect nothing less from music's premier parodist.
What's not fake are the songs Yankovic wrote, with the man himself dubbing Radcliffe's singing voice. Weird showcases the early hits that made him a star and sometimes provides apocryphal stories for how they came to be. This is every Weird Al song played in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
'My Bologna' Is One of Weird Al's Earliest Hits
By the time the audience meets adult Al, he's struggling to find his place as an accordionist in the Los Angeles music scene. His roommates Steve (Spencer Treat Clark), Jim (Jack Lancaster) and Bermuda (Tommy O'Brien) encourage him not to give up on his dreams and to write parody music if that's what he wants to do. While making sandwiches for them, "My Sharona" by The Knack plays on the radio, and Al comes up with his first spoof, "My Bologna," on the spot. His roommates are astounded by his creative genius and immediately cut a demo tape and send it to a local radio station.
Weird depicts Al and his friends recording "My Bologna" in a public bathroom, which did happen, although it's doubtful that they forcibly removed someone in order to do it. It first received airplay on The Dr. Demento Show in 1979 before Doug Fieger, lead singer for The Knack, convinced Capitol Records to release it as a single. It was later included in Yankovic's self-titled first album in 1983.
'I Love Rocky Road's' Music Video Featured Dr. Demento
The success of "My Bologna" leads Al to his first live gig at a biker bar with an unfriendly audience. He opens with "I Love Rocky Road," a parody of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" (itself a cover of The Arrows). While the crowd is initially hostile to Al (represented by a heckling Patton Oswalt), they warm to the act when Al's roommates join him onstage as his backing band. After the show, Al is approached by none other than his boyhood hero Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), who offers to take the young musician under his wing and redubs him "Weird" Al Yankovic.
"I Love Rocky Road" was released as a single in 1983 and also included on Yankovic's debut album. In reality, Yankovic had a relationship with Dr. Demento before the song was recorded, and Demento himself made a cameo appearance in the music video.
'Another One Rides the Bus' Was a Queen Favorite
Al later attends a pool party at Demento's house, with the guests all being outsider artists of yesteryear played by comedians doing cameos. There, he's approached by raspy-voiced DJ Wolfman Jack (Jack Black), who doubts Al's prowess and challenges him to come up with a parody on the spot. Queen bassist John Deacon (David Dastmalchian) suggests his own hit, "Another One Bites the Dust." Backed into a corner, Al nonetheless wows the party guests by spontaneously singing "Another One Rides the Bus." This is enough to put Wolfman in his place and Deacon invites Al to play with Queen at their upcoming Live Aid show, which Al rudely refuses.
"Another One Rides the Bus" was Yankovic's second single for Dr. Demento, released in 1981 and a massive hit for the show. Queen guitarist Brian May expressed his approval of the spoof, calling it "extremely funny" and "hilarious."
'Eat It' Famously Earned Weird Al a Grammy
By the midpoint of the movie, Al has hit the heights of musical stardom but finds himself unsatisfied with success. Demento encourages Al to write his own music and stimulates his creativity by giving him guacamole laced with LSD. Al's trip provides the inspiration to write "Eat It," which becomes his next big hit. However, he's enraged upon learning that pop singer Michael Jackson has parodied him with his own song, "Beat It," with Al worried people will think "Eat It" is the real spoof and people will only think of him as a parody artist.
In reality, "Eat It" is, of course, the spoof of "Beat It." It was the first track off of Yankovic's second album, "Weird" Al Yankovic in 3-D, released in 1984. The song would go on to earn Yankovic his first Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording the following year.
'Like a Surgeon' Is a Hilarious Madonna Parody
Weird finds its primary villain in Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), here depicted as a scheming temptress hoping to ride Al's coattails to further success. When Al tells her he's given up parody music, Madonna seduces him and starts a relationship, with her encouraging Al's worst vices. After a drunk driving accident nearly costs him his life, Al is inspired to break his own rule and write "Like a Surgeon," a parody of Madonna's "Like a Virgin," mere minutes before performing it onstage.
This is, naturally, almost entirely fictitious. Yankovic and Madonna never dated, but Madonna did suggest "Like a Surgeon" to Yankovic, something which he generally discourages when writing parodies. The song was the opening track to his third album, Dare to Be Stupid, released in 1985.
'Amish Paradise' Marked a Controversial Weird Al Release
After breaking up with Madonna, Al's final character beat is reconciling with his parents, who never approved of his eccentricities. He learns that his father (Toby Huss) was raised Amish, but was excommunicated due to his love of the accordion, thus explaining why he was so opposed to Al's passions. Al also uncovers lyrics written by his dad about his upbringing, which he turns into a new song, "Amish Paradise."
"Amish Paradise" was released on Yankovic's 1996 album Bad Hair Day as a spoof of "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio. The song wound up being one of Yankovic's more controversial singles, as he had received permission to make the parody by Tommy Boy Records but not from Coolio himself, who didn't want to see his biggest hit made fun of. Fortunately, Yankovic and Coolio later reconciled, with the rapper saying it was a mistake for him to speak out against "Amish Paradise," and he actually found the song to be funny.
'Now You Know' Closes Out Weird's Credits
Weird's final number is "Now You Know," an original song that plays over the credits. In it, Yankovic describes the movie's ludicrous plot as wholly accurate ("We only changed one thing/I really did play Live Aid with Queen/And I blew 'em off the freakin' stage!") and reminds audiences that the song itself is technically eligible for an Academy Award.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is available to stream on the Roku Channel. The soundtrack is available from Legacy Recordings.