Weird Stuff? What is weird? Well these days it's getting harder to decide what counts as weird and what doesn't. One dictionary definition of weird is, "Of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange". Surely that isn't enough any more? A search of Google or even eBay will find you many items that would match somebody's idea of weird. e.g. toast with a celebrity face on it, glass jars containing someone's ghost etc, which are at least weird and wacky in the opinion of the people who have submitted them. Based on the dictionary definition above, the number of these weird objects means that they cannot be weird. Many of today's newspapers have recognised the public's thirst for the unusual and now have pages of weird news and there is no scarcity of people willing to appear on them. Weird is big news and getting bigger. Read more

More Weird Stuff Soon.

What will qualify an item as weirdness on weirdism.com? Something that is:
  • Strange, Odd, Bizarre, Peculiar, Unusual etc.
  • Family safe even though it is weird.
  • Has a reasonably good photo or description.
[weird] from Old English wyrd, wurd ("that which happens, fate, chance, fortune, destiny, Fate, the Fates, Providence, event, phenomenon, transaction, fact, deed"), more

We like Weird Al - Yes We Do

With more than 150 parody AND original songs, three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records, Alfred Matthew Yankovic is one of the best entertainers out there (depending of course on your sense of humour).

Music!

Al started being discovered via Dr Demento's comedic radio show, when he was 16 years old; his first really successful parody is "My Bologna" after The Knack's "My Sharona". Doug Fieger, leader of The Knack loved it and got "Weird" Al a six month recording contract with Capitol Records. After this, came a string of successful parodies, including "Another one rides the bus" (after Queen's " Another one bites the dust"), "I love Rocky Road" (after Joan Jett's "I love Rock'n'Roll").

In 1982, Al signed a contract with Scotti Brothers Records and released his first album, self-titled and followed shortly by his second - "Weird Al Yankovic in 3D" (1984). The first single on the album, "Eat it"-parody after Michael Jackson's "Beat it"- escalated quickly in the charts, peeking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, in 1984. The terribly amusing video for the song is a shot by shot parody of "Beat It"-you can see it below!

Movies!

Weird Al' talent doesn't seem to stop at music. UHF is a (surprise!) comedy film written by and starring Al; it's about a TV station which is rapidly losing all audience until George Newman (Yankovic) takes over and steers it to success. This movie is filled with Weird Al's satirical humor and it's definitely worth a watch!

Humor isn't for everybody....Weird Al doesn't need legal permission to parody famous songs. However, he does talk to the artist beforehand and usually gets a blessing accompanied by a thumbs up after the music is done.

This was not the case with Prince and Coolio! Prince has never to this day let Weird Al parody his music, although he was approached many times to give his permission (a bit self conscious this guy!).

Also, Coolio states that "Amish Paradise" (after "Gangsta Paradise") was done behind his back. It seems to have been a misunderstanding between Yankovic's people and Coolio's and even though Weird Al apologized for the music video, Coolio has never approved of it.