While I know we've seen the idea kicked around for the authors on amIright, how about we come up with the most famous parody authors in the music world?

I'm thinking something where we can list out a bio and maybe have a list of 10-20 different people. 

The goal is something that when assembled, I can submit to a site like digg or fark and try and drum up a little traffic during the slow summer months.

Allan Sherman
Weird Al Yankovic
Spaff.com with Robert Lund (outside of amiright)
Lukeski (http://www.lukeski.com/)
Bob Rivers
Homer & Jethro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_and_Jethro)
Rick Dees
Stan Freberg (although not a song parodist, but a song satirist, his influence on Weird Al Yankovic is immeasurable)

Spike Jones (known more as a song satirist, did record a few parodies and his influence again is immeasurable)

Dickie Goodman (creator of the "cut-in" comedy record where an announcer has his questions answered by snippets of popular songs; his work led to important legislative stances on "fair use" and the use of parody in recordings)

Francis Scott Key (created "The Star Spangled Banner", a poetical tribute to a flag which became the national anthem of the United States of America, as a parody of "To Anacreon In Heaven", a British drinking song.)

And per wikipedia:
My Country, 'Tis of Thee," also known as "America," is an American patriotic song. The melody is derived from the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen".

The lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" were written in 1831 by Reverend Samuel Francis Smith of Boston's Park Street Church while at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. The song served as a de facto national anthem for much of the 19th century

...if you want to stretch the definition of PARODY.

Glad to have helped out.

John Valby

http://johnvalbynation.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Valby

Tom Lehrer

Excellent list so far.  I wonder how we should order it.  Maybe vote on it?

The Capitol Steps were born in December, 1981 when 3 staffers for Senator Charles Percy were planning entertainment for a Christmas party.  Their first idea was to stage a nativity play, but in the whole Congress they couldn't find three wise men or a virgin! So, they created political and topical song parodies and skits and have been doing them ever since.

Mark Russell also does excellent political song parodies as a solo act while playing the piano.


Excellent list so far.  I wonder how we should order it.  Maybe vote on it?


After the nominations close, I would like to see a vote.  Since Spaff is the only AmiRight author nominated (so far), I hope he is not offended if some of us only pick him 2nd or 3rd.

Blowfly (dirty R&B parodies) http://www.blowflymusic.com/

Pinkard & Bowdin (the Homer & Jethro of the modern age) http://www.pinkardandbowden.com/

Cledus T. Judd

Mike Elliott & Bud LaTour were big hits on the Dr. Demento Show, caused a minor sensation with "Rock Me Jerry Lewis"--LatOur went on his own in 1987 and became a dance music producer and had a hit with "People Are Still Having Sex".

The Capitol Steps
Mark Russell

After the nominations close, I would like to see a vote.  Since Spaff is the only AmiRight author nominated (so far), I hope he is not offended if some of us only pick him 2nd or 3rd.


Sounds good. 

The goal is two-fold.  One is I've wanted a list like this on the site for ages, to help highlight some people authors could derive inspiration from.  The other is to provide link bait for "news aggregation" sites. 

I think if number two works and we get some high profile links, a clever way to provide traffic to author's on the site would be for an author to pick one bio/description to write.  That way I can do a link to that author's parody page on amiright, and maybe push more traffic on the site to individual parodies.

so it would be something like:

Rank
Name
Parody Performer Picture
Description
Bio Written by amIright Author Name

I'm thinking one or two concise paragraphs about why they are significant, etc.

The Capitol Steps
Mark Russell

I love the Cap Steps. O0 I went to go see them last year and enjoyed the show. If you like political humor, they are definitely an act to check out.

And of course, we can't forget ...

FORBIDDEN BROADWAY !!!

http://www.forbiddenbroadway.com/

And of course, we can't forget ...

FORBIDDEN BROADWAY !!!

http://www.forbiddenbroadway.com/




Excellent Choice! Johnny gets to write that one if it comes to that. 8)

Awesome mentions! And it's awesome that someone knows of Dikcie Goodman besides me around here

Awesome mentions! And it's awesome that someone knows of Dikcie Goodman besides me around here


I do too... I've heard several of his pieces... I know Ron Gerber at CrapFromThePast.com plays his stuff on his show from time to time too. He helped define some of the laws on samples.

Bob Ricci? www.bobricci.com EveryoneI know knows Internet Love Song, but they don't know it's Bob Ricci

JibJab's 2004 election song seemed to be real influential too.  Not sure if that's too recent though.

The 4 preps were generally a mainstream group, but they had a top 20 song in 1961 parodying several popular artists at the time called "more money for you and me".

I also think that no parody hall of fame would be complete without Dr. Demento and Charles Grovesnor for their work encouraging and providing exposure for song parodies.

The star spangled banner is not a song parody...it was common back then to set new poems to old songs and that wasn't supposed to be satirical at all. Francis Scott Key was an important american poet, but not a song parodist. 

So it's not a satire...it's still a parody, by all technical standpoints.  ;)

JibJab's 2004 election song seemed to be real influential too.  Not sure if that's too recent though.


Put jibjab up there too...their parody of "I Want It That Way" was better than Weird Al's.

The 4 preps were generally a mainstream group, but they had a top 20 song in 1961 parodying several popular artists at the time called "more money for you and me".


LOL that song RULES,I even did a similar parody based on it

So it's not a satire...it's still a parody, by all technical standpoints.  ;)


Wasn't it set to music long after the poem was written? Parodies need to be written with the original work in mind, and I think the definition is even narrower than that which is why some of weird al's songs are labeled as lyrical adaptations as opposed to parodies on the official lyrics sheets.


"And they...asked me how I knew...our career was through" simple yet brilliant.

I think Randy Rogel should also be considered for his work on animaniacs.

"And they...asked me how I knew...our career was through" simple yet brilliant.

LOL yeah, the whole thing is

"Where they oughta go we cannot tell ( alley oop oop boop) But it's awful hot, and it rhymes with smell, California?"

I also think that no parody hall of fame would be complete without Dr. Demento and Charles Grovesnor for their work encouraging and providing exposure for song parodies.


this list will be on my site, which will look REALLY vain to someone visiting the site for the first time, so while I'm flattered, I have to say no way.

Philip Pope (creator of the Hee Bee Gee Bees)

Neil Innes has to be in there, if only for the Rutles.

Neil Innes has to be in there, if only for the Rutles.


that one's so key and essential it almost doesn't need to be voted on does it?

that one's so key and essential it almost doesn't need to be voted on does it?


I'm pretty picky about the definition of "Song Parody" vs. "Song Satire"--Neil Innes hasn't actually done any parodies, but he has done plenty of satirical songs. But I am not going to be the guy who creates this list.  8)

I'm pretty picky about the definition of "Song Parody" vs. "Song Satire"--Neil Innes hasn't actually done any parodies, but he has done plenty of satirical songs. But I am not going to be the guy who creates this list.  8)

A bit like Rex mentioning Lehrer: he didn't parody songs (apart from The Elements, which is only two verses of the Major-General's song), but did parody song styles.  The Rutles album is a whole band parody, rather than a parody of individual songs.  As with the Hee Bee Gee Bees.

I'm pretty picky about the definition of "Song Parody" vs. "Song Satire"--Neil Innes hasn't actually done any parodies, but he has done plenty of satirical songs. But I am not going to be the guy who creates this list.  8)


I thought it was a parody of the style of Beatles music, more of a pastiche than proper satire.  Then again, satire and parody is a fine line.

I'd like to see Tim Cavanagh and DaVinci's Notebook considered.

I'd like to see Tim Cavanagh and DaVinci's Notebook considered.


Good call, I was thinking of Tim, the "99 Dead Baboons" guy...straight out of my Chi-town!

should we have regular voting on this?  maybe start a new thread with all the picks?

Should there be criteria for inclusion? Maybe a list that includes objective and subjective criteria that gets completed and voted on.

Should there be criteria for inclusion? Maybe a list that includes objective and subjective criteria that gets completed and voted on.


that might help.

I'm thinking we should structure it a little like the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, only the members would be us, not the actual people awarded (since I doubt they'd be all that interested in participating).  25 years since first release is way too long though, I think it should be 10.

So this year we would pick an inaugural class and then vote on one or two new members every year afterwards. Probably an odd number like 17 or something.

So um let's see...

1) 10 years after first parody release in some form (CD, digital, printed lyrics, etc)
2) Significant impact on popular culture
3) Inspires other parody authors

What should be the definition of parody?  Tim Leher didn't directly parody songs, usually just styles (same for the Rutles). Let I would certainly think he belongs.  I'm not trying to pick a Dr. Demento hall of fame either

I'm open to suggestions for more criteria conditions.  Probably want no more than five to keep it flexible.

I would define "parody" as the changing of a song's original lyrics words to change the original songwriter's intent, usually humorous. After all, that's what our intentions are for this Web site, and why we don't post original song lyrics.

Maybe Tom Lehrer could be mentioned still as "an honorary member", instead of "official" status. I would reserve the same for Stan Freberg and Spike Jones, as well as Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach).

I would define "parody" as the changing of a song's original lyrics words to change the original songwriter's intent, usually humorous. After all, that's what our intentions are for this Web site, and why we don't post original song lyrics.

Maybe Tom Lehrer could be mentioned still as "an honorary member", instead of "official" status. I would reserve the same for Stan Freberg and Spike Jones, as well as Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach).


You're right.  I think we'll have to leave Lehrer on a "honorary mentions" type of thing

Bob Ricci? www.bobricci.com EveryoneI know knows Internet Love Song, but they don't know it's Bob Ricci



Bob Ricci is an excellent recorder, however as a writer he never finishes his work, he half does songs. . .in fact, I have yet to hear a full length parody by him.

The Detergents!

If we are going to consider historical song parody writers for the AmIRight Hall of Fame, a strong argument could be made to include Joe Hill.  In the early 1900s he wrote many song parodies in an effort to bring attention to what he perceived to be the exploitation of labor at the hands of unscrupulous capitalists.  The 1913 edition of the IWW's "Little Red Songbook" (subtitled Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent) included thirteen of his songs, and it is believed that he wrote dozens, if not hundreds, more.  Joe's lyrics were sung on picket lines, street corners, in hobo jungles and at mass meetings.  He also is credited with coining the phrase, “pie in the sky.”  His politics were not my politics, but he probably deserves to be recognized because his writing was innovative, prodigious, effective, and clever.

It appears that all of the nominators so far have been male; but even a male like myself can appreciate the writer/producer of a musical targeted at female baby boomers.  In 2001, Jeanie Linders created Menopause, the Musical, which consists of 21 hilariously irreverent song parodies.  The musical is still going strongly; and, even though I understand that 90% of the audiences are female, because of my appreciation for song parodies, I have reservations to see it with my wife next month.

If we are going to consider historical song parody writers for the AmIRight Hall of Fame, a strong argument could be made to include Joe Hill.  In the early 1900s he wrote many song parodies in an effort to bring attention to what he perceived to be the exploitation of labor at the hands of unscrupulous capitalists.  The 1913 edition of the IWW's "Little Red Songbook" (subtitled Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent) included thirteen of his songs, and it is believed that he wrote dozens, if not hundreds, more.  Joe's lyrics were sung on picket lines, street corners, in hobo jungles and at mass meetings.  He also is credited with coining the phrase, “pie in the sky.”  His politics were not my politics, but he probably deserves to be recognized because his writing was innovative, prodigious, effective, and clever.

It appears that all of the nominators so far have been male; but even a male like myself can appreciate the writer/producer of a musical targeted at female baby boomers.  In 2001, Jeanie Linders created Menopause, the Musical, which consists of 21 hilariously irreverent song parodies.  The musical is still going strongly; and, even though I understand that 90% of the audiences are female, because of my appreciation for song parodies, I have reservations to see it with my wife next month.



excellent suggestions all the way around.  I wonder why parody artists tend to be male...

1) 10 years after first parody release in some form (CD, digital, printed lyrics, etc)



In 2001, Jeanie Linders created Menopause, the Musical, which consists of 21 hilariously irreverent song parodies.


Oops!  Let me defer this nomination for 4 years.

excellent suggestions all the way around.  I wonder why parody artists tend to be male...


Thanks for your generous (and prompt) use of the word "excellent."  Why parody artists tend to be male is possibly a topic for another thread.  Obviously, AmIRight has many outstanding female parodists; but, yes, in general, it does seem to be a "guy" thing.  I suspect that my wife might suggest that it is because women have better things to do with their time, but there has to be a better answer than that.

I'm not 100% sure who did the "Masturbator" parody of "Macarena" (I think it is Adam Sandler and Tom Green, though I'm probably wrong), but as a stand alone parody it made me realize you can turn a turd of an OS into something incredibly funny. That parody should be in the Hall of Fame.

Also, and I'll get a bit of heat for this, Mike Judge (ala Beavis and Butt-head), should be included: mocking crappy songs, though through spoken words rather than music parody, was a big inspiration for me. (there, I finally admitted it!)

Leader of the Laundromat should be there too

"Who's that bangin on the piano?"
"I don't know"

Leader of the Laundromat should be there too

"Who's that bangin on the piano?"
"I don't know"


Not only for its spot-on humor (oops, no pun intended!), but for tiptoeing past the lawyers ever so lightly in making the song SOUND like the os without using the ACTUAL os music!

excellent suggestions all the way around.  I wonder why parody artists tend to be male...


Speaking of . . . Dennis Blair gets my vote.

The Simpsons and Family Guy have several song parodies to their name, many quite poop but some quite catchy.

I would like to nominate Jewish rapper Eric Schwartz (SuburbanHomeboy.com), who does song parodies and video vlips satirising pop culture like Britney Spears, Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton etc.
http://www.myspace.com/ericschwartz

Famous Australian comedy group Tripod are more a Tom Lehrer style, but have also done some parodies.
http://profile.myspace.com/tripodaussie

Surely someone will nominate an s.t.g song!

If this was an amiright hall of fame, which had been talked about but I don't think anyone could agree on a nominating committee, then STG should definitely be in. But this is supposed to be for all parodies, with a minimum of ten years between the first public parody submission/performance and now. So no one who got started with amiright is eligible, although William Tong actually is and should be considered for his boot newt site.

After the nominations close, I would like to see a vote.  Since Spaff is the only AmiRight author nominated (so far), I hope he is not offended if some of us only pick him 2nd or 3rd.


Are you kidding? It's first place or I'm outta here.

Heh heh. Actually, when it comes to song parodies, there's Allan Sherman and "Weird Al" Yankovic, and then there's everyone else. I'm honored that you'd consider me as part of the everyone else.

Chucky mentions "significant impact on popular culture" as one of the qualifications, however. I can't and won't claim that.

xoxox
Spaff

I nominate Ray Stevens if he counts as a parodist - I think he's done some parodies during his career as a comedy songwriter. His earlier stuff is great.

Cledus Judd is definitely one of my favorites and well, duh, Weird Al goes without saying.

I would also be quick to put the Spaff/Lund team on my short list, even though they aren't the most "famous".

Besides, isn't a Hall of Fame for people who are the best of the best, not just popular?

Might be a tad obscure, but how about P.D.Q. Bach (real name Peter Schickele).  He parodies classical (Baroque) music, like The Abduction of Figaro, and some traditional Christmas carols like Good King Kong Looked Out, O Little Town Of Hackensack, and parodied Peter and the Wolf called Sneaky Pete and the Wolf

He's been doing it for decades.  wikipedia has a decent article about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schickele

Might be a tad obscure, but how about P.D.Q. Bach (real name Peter Schickele).  He parodies classical (Baroque) music, like The Abduction of Figaro, and some traditional Christmas carols like Good King Kong Looked Out, O Little Town Of Hackensack, and parodied Peter and the Wolf called Sneaky Pete and the Wolf

He's been doing it for decades.  wikipedia has a decent article about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schickele


Yes, i third that, because I firsted that earlier in the thread as a honorable mention  ::) (but you helped me remember those specific examples).
Schickele is a genius. Get The Wurst Of P.D.Q Bach as a pretty good overview of the earliest (and best) material.

It's been almost a month since anyone commented on this thread. I'm guessing we have enough nominations to pull together a list of candidates to be voted on.  I'm locking this thread and I'll do a quick cut-paste and start the voting.