Headline News ("Weird Al" Yankovic song)

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"Headline News"
Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic
from the album Permanent Record: Al in the Box
B-sideChristmas at Ground Zero" (alternate mix)
ReleasedSeptember 27, 1994
RecordedJuly 27, 1994
Length3:46
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)"Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology
"Achy Breaky Song"
(1993) 		"Headline News"
(1994) 		"Amish Paradise"
(1996)
Music video
"Headline News" on
YouTube

"Headline News" is a parody song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of the Crash Test Dummies' 1993 hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". It was released as the lead-off single for the compilation box set Permanent Record: Al in the Box on September 27, 1994. The song was written after Yankovic's label insisted he craft a new song to promote the album; Yankovic in turn combined the music of the Crash Test Dummies' song with three news stories that were popular in late 1993 and early 1994.

To help promote the song and album, Yankovic directed a music video that was a direct parody of the Crash Test Dummies' original. In it, the three news stories are presented as if they are one-act plays to an audience. The song's video took two days to film and ended up running over the allotted time that had been scheduled for production, costing the record label a considerable amount of money. Several notable individuals made cameos in the video, including Doug Llewelyn, Dr. Demento, and Judy Tenuta.

The song and video were met with mostly positive reviews from critics, although at least one critic for

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, making it Yankovic's first single to chart domestically since 1992's "Smells Like Nirvana
".

Writing

While Yankovic was writing the original songs for a new album—which was later released in 1996 as Bad Hair Day—his label, Scotti Brothers Records, insisted that he release a new record in order to meet monetary projections for the fourth fiscal quarter of the year. Yankovic, however, explained that he would be unable to finish a new record in time, so his label decided to release a box set entitled Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The label then stipulated that Yankovic would need to at least record a new single to promote the box set.[1]

Due to this demand, Yankovic nearly had Scotti Brothers cancel the box set due to being unable to write under pressure before turning to the Crash Test Dummies' recent hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". Yankovic had heard the song earlier in the year and, at the time, believed that it had the potential to be parodied on his next studio album. However, after Scotti Brothers insisted that he record a new song to promote Permanent Record, Yankovic decided to feature a Crash Test Dummies parody as the set's lead single. Yankovic later realized that by releasing "Headline News" on the Permanent Record set rather than wait to include it on his next album, he could capitalize on the topicality of the parody's lyrics.[1]

While each verse of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" told the story of a different abnormal child,

attacking her rival Nancy Kerrigan, and Lorena Bobbitt severing her husband's penis with a knife.[3] (When singing about the latter story, Yankovic substitutes the term "penis" with euphemisms like "wiener" and "Mr. Happy".)[4] Yankovic later joked that he "wanted to write a song about these people because he didn't think they're getting quite enough media attention"—a reference to the stories' over-saturation in the news.[5]

Recording

"Headline News" (sample)
"Headline News", from Yankovic's 1994 compilation album Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The sample illustrates Yankovic's parody, including the musical re-creation of the original song, along with the various elements added, such as manualism, accordion, and kazoos.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Recording for the song began on July 27, 1994, at Santa Monica Sound Recorders in Santa Monica, California.[6][7] Yankovic himself produced the song.[8][9] Backing Yankovic were Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, Jim West on guitar, and Kim Bullard on keyboards. Lisa Popeil provides the female backup vocals, as well as the scream of Nancy Kerrigan.[10] The song also features idiosyncratic sonic elements to increase the humor, such as: manualist sound effects courtesy of Mike Kieffer; a chorus of kazoos, which joins in during the song's outro; and Yankovic playing a short riff on his trademark instrument, the accordion.[10][11] Due to the vocal parts of the original song being in such a low register, Yankovic had to record the parody's vocal tracks early in the morning, when his voice was naturally lower.[7]

Music video

The

Lorena Bobbitt.[14]

Release

Reception

Brad Roberts, writer of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", enjoyed the parody and has performed it in concert with Yankovic.

"Headline News" was released on September 26, 1994, as the lead-off single for Permanent Record: Al in the Box, which was also released a day later.

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which corresponds to a position of 104 on the Billboard Hot 100.[17] This made it Yankovic's first domestically charting single since 1992's "Smells Like Nirvana".[18]

Brad Roberts, the original songwriter for "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was extremely pleased with the parody, and found it humorous. He later noted, "People assume that I was annoyed but when [Yankovic] does a parody of you, you know you've made it."[19] He later praised the way Yankovic interacted with the artists that he parodies: "Weird Al goes the whole route and cultivates a relationship with the artist. Plus he gets half the earnings and that helps me make money."[19]

Reviews

"Headline News" received mostly positive reviews from

The Milwaukee Journal wrote a positive review and felt that the musical parody was a "dead-on skewering of the Crash Test Dummies' 'Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Mmm".[22] Not all reviews, however, were so positive; an article that appeared in The Commercial Appeal noted that while the video for "Headline News" had some "cute bits and unusual cameos", it was "not as clever as many of Yankovic's past efforts" and that "the current events included here are already dated".[23]

Live performances

Yankovic first started performing "Headline News" in August 1994, almost a month before it was officially released.

MuchMusic channel and another time at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.[25] Reportedly, during one of the performances, Ellen Reid, backing vocalist and keyboardist for the Crash Test Dummies, went out and purchased kazoos. The band then hid the instruments until the end of the song, when they took them out and played them; this "came as a big surprise to" Yankovic.[11][26] Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood concert tour contained new lyrics as part of a parody medley, referencing Britney Spears, dealing with her 2007 head-shaving shock and underpants-less limousine trip in late 2006.[27] Later in the tour, he changed it to reference Paris Hilton's DUI and imprisonment, and her subsequent interview on Larry King Live.[28][29]

Track listing

CD single[8]
  1. "Headline News" – 3:46
  2. "Christmas at Ground Zero" (alternate mix) – 3:07

Charts

Chart (1994) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[17]
 4

Personnel

See also

  • List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic
  • List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Yankovic, Alfred M. (February 1995). "Visions of Gray" (Interview). Interviewed by Jeff Elbel. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
  2. SongFacts
    . Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  3. ^ McDonald, Patrick (December 1, 1994). "Magical Music". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved May 1, 2013. (subscription required)
  4. ISBN 9781575600215
    .
  5. ^ Yankovic, Alfred M. (November 14, 1994). "WONC 89.1 FM" (Interview). Interviewed by Chad Mitchell. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  6. ^ Yankovic, Alfred M. (December 2007). "Recording Dates". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  7. ^
    Volcano Records
  8. ^ a b c d Headline News (liner). "Weird Al" Yankovic. California, United States: Scotti Brothers Records. 1994.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ^ Hansen, Barret (1994). Permanent Record: Al in the Box (liner). "Weird Al" Yankovic. California, United States: Scotti Brothers Records.
  10. ^ a b c "Players". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  11. ^ a b "Crash Test Dummies FAQ". CrashTestDummies.com. July 2006. Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  12. ^ "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos (liner notes). "Weird Al" Yankovic. Image Entertainment. 1998. ID4105AADVD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^
    Volcano Records
  14. ^ Yankovic, Alfred M. "Video Facts". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  15. Allmusic
    . Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  16. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic – Greatest Hits, Volume 2". Amazon. 1999. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  17. ^ a b "Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 45. Nov 5, 1994. p. 132.
  18. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic Album & Song Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  19. ^
    MediaNews Group
    . (subscription required)
  20. Tribune Company
    . Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  21. ^ Parisien, Roch. "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 – Weird Al Yankovic". AllMusic. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  22. Journal Communications
    . Retrieved May 2, 2013. (subscription required)
  23. ^ "Video Vibe". The Commercial Appeal. E. W. Scripps Company. October 22, 1994. Retrieved May 2, 2013. (subscription required)
  24. ^ Matthews, Lynn (August 9, 1994). "Outrageous 'Weird Al' Tickles Fairgoers Fancy". The Columbian. Columbian Publishing Company. Retrieved May 1, 2013. (subscription required)
  25. ^ Yankovic, Alfred M. (November 1998). "'Ask Al' Q&As for November, 1998". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  26. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic featuring the Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm - LIVE!". YouTube. Retrieved 20 January 2021.[dead YouTube link]
  27. ^ "Headline News (Britney Version) – "Weird Al" Yankovic". YouTube. September 4, 2010. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  28. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic – Paris Hilton Parody". YouTube. July 8, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2013.[dead YouTube link]
  29. ^ Yankovic, Alfred M. (December 2007). "Set Lists". The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
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