LYNDON, Vt. (WCAX) – One class at Vermont State University is daring to be different by offering a music class dedicated to learning from Weird Al Yankovic.
Weird Al Yankovic is a musician and comedian mostly known for his witty parodies of popular songs. You might have heard his song “Eat It”, a parody of the Michael Jackson hit “Beat It”, or “Smells Like Nirvana,” poking fun at Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
While his music is witty and fun, VTSU Lyndon Music and Performing Arts Professor Brian Warwick says his art has a lot to teach budding music industry students.
“It’s incredibly funny and it’s really well done,” said Miles Haimovitch, a VTSU Lyndon Junior.
“This guy’s just really smart. Just like really smart critiques. Like he really makes a parody worth listening to,” said VTSU Lyndon Senior Alexandra Hayes.
Weird Al Yankovic gained popularity in the 80′s and 90′s for his parodies of popular songs. With his strong comedic writing, high production value, and infectious personality, Weird Al fans can be found near and far. One of them is Professor Warwick, who says he considers Al a friend after working with him during his career.
“Al Yankovic‘s work is not just about the parodies. It’s also about his tribute or pastiche songs, where it’s actually an original work by Al Yankovic, but he’s paying tribute to another artist,” said Warwick.
Warwick is hosting the Weird Al Yankovic course this fall. It’s a music industry and business course, inspired by Harvard offering a course on Taylor Swift.
He plans on diving into the Weird Al Universe with an analysis of what makes a good parody, how to pay tribute to another artist, strong lyricism, and even looking at the context of the world when the song was written.
“It just gives us an avenue to start studying the 20th century and pop culture in the 20th century,” said Warwick.
“I’m really excited to look at like the lyrical content and see like he just makes a song I have absolutely anything,” said VTSU Lyndon Senior Alexandra Hayes.
As students in the audio production major and musicians themselves, Haimovich and Hayes say they’re excited to learn about the writing, production, and thought that goes into Weird Al’s work that resonates with so many.
“It’s really impressive to me that he can take these take these big productions that costs so much money to make and, and yeah, make these make these parodies and make them sound like parodies while really keeping the integrity of the song,” said Haimovich.
The class will start in the fall, and you don’t have to be enrolled in VTSU to take it – you can just sign up.