I grew up soaked in silly music, from Tom Lehrer Monty python to the arrogant worms. Middle class white kids in really white areas weren’t cool enough, or maybe we were too cool to be into pop music, not brave or worldly enough to try hip hop, and only did grunge metal or rock if we wanted our parents to search our sock drawers for weed. Also we were anti southern bigots so country was right out. Weird music was about our only outlet for a while, and Al was definitely the king. Funnily enough, some of his original songs, rather than straight parodies, were the most popular. Then when we found out about UHF (“it has Kramer in it!”) and we’re calling each other “you so stupid!” for months. The best part about Al as a kid was that connecting to him made you feel proxy connected to the mainstream. Jurassic park blew up the theatres, there was Al. Coolio had a mainstream breakthrough hip hop hit, there was Al.
Yeah, it all seems campy and hack now, but his musical talent and stage presence are undeniable, and weird kids had never had a role model like Weird Al before.