Parody music
Encyclopedia
Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or recycling existing (usually very well known) musical idea
s or lyrics
— or copying the peculiar style of a composer or artist, or even a general style
of music. Although the result is often funny
, and this is the usual intent — the term "parody
" in musical terms also includes serious (or not intentionally humorous) reuse of music. Parody of music has probably existed as long as music itself, but in the 20th century it has emerged as a category of music in itself.
and Renaissance
, parody mass
es were written using tunes from folk music
and other sources. Later popular song returned the compliment, borrowing hymn tune
s and other church music
and substituting secular (sometimes obscene) words. John Brown's Body
, the great marching song of the American Civil War, was based on the tune to a hymn; it was in turn borrowed back for a new hymn. This continued into World War I
, with many of the soldiers' songs being based on hymn tunes (for instance When this bloody war is over, to the tune of What a friend we have in Jesus
).
Folk song is as often as not written to existing tunes, or slight modifications of them. This is another very old (and usually non-humorous) kind of musical parody that still continues — for instance Bob Dylan
took the tune of the old slave song No more auction block for me as the basis for Blowing in the wind. Some folk tunes have been recycled many times — for instance the melody of Auld Lang Syne
.
Classical composer
s often borrowed folk and popular tunes, as well as making fun of each other's musical styles. Bach
and his contemporaries
were very fond of the quodlibet
— taking popular tunes and playing them in grotesque ways - often combining several different melodies at once. Haydn
(who had a very strong sense of musical humour) was notorious for taking popular melodies and giving them mock serious treatment. Sir Arthur Sullivan was a master of parody of other composers' styles — in the dramatic works
he wrote with W. S. Gilbert
he parodies at different times the styles of Mendelssohn
, Wagner
, and Handel
, without (except occasionally) quoting actual musical themes. His own music has been parodied ever since. The Carnival of the Animals
composed by Camille Saint-Saëns
in 1886 was meant as a musical joke for the composer's musician friends. Several of the movements contain musical parody, radically changing the tempo and instrumentation of well known melodies.
The 18th century ballad opera
— which included satirical
songs set to popular melodies of the time — involved some of the broadest musical parodies.
The use of well-known tunes with new lyrics is a common feature of pantomime
— an old and continuing theatrical tradition (especially in the United Kingdom).
frequently recycled themes from the staider "white" popular music of the time, as well as producing occasional parodies (usually called "travesties"
) of well known classical themes.
In the 1940s, Spike Jones
and his City Slickers parodied popular music in their own unique way, not by changing lyrics, but adding wild sound effects and comedic stylings to formerly staid old songs such as "Cocktails for Two" and "April Showers." Beginning in 1949, Homer and Jethro
did country music
arrangements of popular songs, with parody lyrics, such as "Hart Brake Motel" (for "Heartbreak Hotel
") and "The Battle of Kookamonga" (after Johnny Horton
's "The Battle of New Orleans").
The 1957 Broadway
musical
Jamaica
amusingly parodied the then very fashionable commercial variety of Calypso music
. A musical using heavy parody was the 1959 show Little Mary Sunshine
, which poked fun at old-fashioned operetta
.
created parodies of popular songs in the 1950s and 1960s, mocking the musical conventions of the day, such as Elvis Presley
's "Heartbreak Hotel
" in which the vocalist rips his jeans from too much hip-swiveling and drowns in reverberative sound effects at the end. Another major parodist was Allan Sherman
, who began making hit records with parodies such as the now-classic "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)
" (to the tune of Amilcare Ponchielli
's "Dance of the Hours
" from the opera La Gioconda) and "When I Was A Lad" (after Gilbert & Sullivan's "Ruler of the Queen's Navee" from "HMS Pinafore
").
Bandleader and pianist Paul Weston
and his wife, singer Jo Stafford
, created the musical duo, "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards", as a parody of bad cabaret
acts. Initially it began as a private party joke but they recorded several albums and one, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris, won a Grammy Award
in 1961 for best comedy record.
Other parodists included composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
, who in 'Eight Songs for a Mad King' (1969) took a canonical piece of music, Handel's Messiah, and subverted it to suit his own needs, in much the same way Jimi Hendrix
did with 'Star Spangled Banner'. The self-described "piano
-wielding fugitive from Harvard", Tom Lehrer
; and Victor Borge
, originally from Denmark, who switched from a concert piano career to comedy, have also created parodies of classical piano pieces and opera.
In 1965, musical satirist Peter Schickele
created P. D. Q. Bach
, a supposedly newly-discovered member of the Bach family
, whose creative output parodies musicological
scholarship, the conventions of Baroque
and classical music, as well as introducing elements of slapstick
comedy. Schickele continues to tour and record under the pseudonym P. D. Q. Bach to the present day.
Ray Stevens
became a country star in the 1970s and 1980s with a few serious songs (such as "Everything is Beautiful
"), more novelty songs (such as "The Streak
", "Shriner's Convention
", and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival") and many parody songs, such as the adult-contemporary send-up "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow", and the Beach Boys parody "Surfin USSR".
The Barron Knights
became famous for their parodies of pop songs in the 1970s.
, now in his fourth decade of writing song parodies. He got his start sending tapes to be played by Barret Hansen, AKA Dr. Demento
, on his nationally syndicated radio
show. Seattle, WA-based disc jockey and longtime parodist Bob Rivers
records parodies of hit songs from a variety of genres and periods satirizing current events. Dabbling in topical parodies is Buffalo, New York
-based humorist Mark Russell
, who appears several times a year on PBS television. The New York, NY performing troupe Forbidden Broadway
annually parodies the Great White Way's most popular current musicals and their songs on stage and recordings.
In the science fiction
fan community filk music
thrives as a source of both parodies and original music, as it has since at least the 1930s.
Tom Lehrer
song "The Elements" adapts a tune from Gilbert & Sullivan to the periodic table, and more recently he turned "That's Entertainment" into a précis on his real vocation, "That's Mathematics" (carefully altering the melody to avoid litigation).
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
produces parodies not in the traditional sense of someone like Yankovic, but rather derive their humor from exactly the opposite means. While traditional parody puts new lyrics to largely unchanged music, Cheese keeps the lyrics intact but alters the musical style, thus altering the intent of the song. The humor comes from the juxtaposition of very familiar lyrics from popular rap
, metal
, and rock
songs (particularly containing profane, violent, or sexually explicit lyrics) with Cheese's exceedingly clean, "white bread
", campy, lounge
style. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
does likewise in a complete opposite manner: they perform hard, sped-up punk
renditions of folk songs, soft rock
, showtunes
, R&B, and other genres not usually associated with punk. Yankovic has also ventured into this practice; all but two of his albums feature medleys of either classic rock or then-current hit songs done as fast polka
s. Ray Stevens
has had hits of Glenn Miller
's "In the Mood
" done in the style of clucking chickens, and a honky-tonk or bluegrass version of Michael Jackson
's "Bad".
Musical parody in recent years has included the 2005 musical Altar Boyz
, which parodies both Christian rock
and the "boy band
" style of pop, the Christian parody band Apologetix
, who have targeted popular music from the 1950s to the present, and the Capitol Steps
, a group of current and former U.S. Congress staff members based in Washington, DC who focus on politics and other public figures.
In 2009 a group from London, The Midnight Beast
, gained fame after posting on YouTube their parody of the song "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha
. Since then, the group has parodied other pop songs.
On YouTube and online, Rucka Rucka Ali
became known for his rapping parodies "Go Cops" and "Ching Chang Chong".
The London based indie label Criminal Records
will release a parody of the punk
classic "Anarchy In The U.K."
by the band 'rocketclover' for the 2010 Christmas holidays. Part of the profit will be devolved to charity.
Maris
", "Albert Einstein
," and "There's No Business Like No Business
" were included (in poem format; with a parenthetical phrase after each title, stating "Sung to the tune of..."). Several music publishers joined in a suit taking the magazine to court. The matter was eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to review the decision by a lower court dismissing the suit against Mad.
Musical parody was briefly threatened in the mid-1990s when a case (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
) was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court by country music
Roy Acuff
's music publishing company against the lead singer of the rap music group 2 Live Crew
for recording a lewd version of one of Acuff's songs without his permission. But the justices ruled in favor of the rappers, protecting the fair use
doctrine and creating a legal standard for parody as protected derivative work
.
Musical idea
In music, an idea is conception or realization of an idea such as a theme or texture. A complete but not independent musical idea is a section.The term Idée fixe, or fixed idea, refers to Leitmotif.-External Links:...
s or lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
— or copying the peculiar style of a composer or artist, or even a general style
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
of music. Although the result is often funny
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
, and this is the usual intent — the term "parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
" in musical terms also includes serious (or not intentionally humorous) reuse of music. Parody of music has probably existed as long as music itself, but in the 20th century it has emerged as a category of music in itself.
Pre-1918
In the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, parody mass
Parody mass
A parody mass is a musical setting of the mass, typically from the 16th century, that uses multiple voices of another pre-existing piece of music, such as a fragment of a motet or a secular chanson, as part of its melodic material. It is distinguished from the two other most prominent types of...
es were written using tunes from folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and other sources. Later popular song returned the compliment, borrowing hymn tune
Hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....
s and other church music
Church music
Church music may be defined as music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclestiacal liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. This article covers music in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. For sacred music outside this...
and substituting secular (sometimes obscene) words. John Brown's Body
John Brown's Body
"John Brown's Body" is an American marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the 19th century...
, the great marching song of the American Civil War, was based on the tune to a hymn; it was in turn borrowed back for a new hymn. This continued into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, with many of the soldiers' songs being based on hymn tunes (for instance When this bloody war is over, to the tune of What a friend we have in Jesus
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
"What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is a Christian hymn originally written by Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. Scriven originally published the poem anonymously, and only received full credit for it in the 1880s. The tune to...
).
Folk song is as often as not written to existing tunes, or slight modifications of them. This is another very old (and usually non-humorous) kind of musical parody that still continues — for instance Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
took the tune of the old slave song No more auction block for me as the basis for Blowing in the wind. Some folk tunes have been recycled many times — for instance the melody of Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
.
Classical composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s often borrowed folk and popular tunes, as well as making fun of each other's musical styles. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and his contemporaries
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
were very fond of the quodlibet
Quodlibet
A quodlibet is a piece of music combining several different melodies, usually popular tunes, in counterpoint and often a light-hearted, humorous manner...
— taking popular tunes and playing them in grotesque ways - often combining several different melodies at once. Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
(who had a very strong sense of musical humour) was notorious for taking popular melodies and giving them mock serious treatment. Sir Arthur Sullivan was a master of parody of other composers' styles — in the dramatic works
Savoy opera
The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house...
he wrote with W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
he parodies at different times the styles of Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, and Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
, without (except occasionally) quoting actual musical themes. His own music has been parodied ever since. The Carnival of the Animals
The Carnival of the Animals
Le carnaval des animaux is a musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The orchestral work has a duration between 22 and 30 minutes.-History:...
composed by Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
in 1886 was meant as a musical joke for the composer's musician friends. Several of the movements contain musical parody, radically changing the tempo and instrumentation of well known melodies.
The 18th century ballad opera
Ballad opera
The term ballad opera is used to refer to a genre of English stage entertainment originating in the 18th century and continuing to develop in the following century and later. There are many types of ballad opera...
— which included satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
songs set to popular melodies of the time — involved some of the broadest musical parodies.
The use of well-known tunes with new lyrics is a common feature of pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
— an old and continuing theatrical tradition (especially in the United Kingdom).
1918-1959
The emerging form of Jazz musicJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
frequently recycled themes from the staider "white" popular music of the time, as well as producing occasional parodies (usually called "travesties"
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
) of well known classical themes.
In the 1940s, Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
and his City Slickers parodied popular music in their own unique way, not by changing lyrics, but adding wild sound effects and comedic stylings to formerly staid old songs such as "Cocktails for Two" and "April Showers." Beginning in 1949, Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...
did country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
arrangements of popular songs, with parody lyrics, such as "Hart Brake Motel" (for "Heartbreak Hotel
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. His first number-one pop record, "Heartbreak Hotel" topped Billboards Top 100 chart, became his first...
") and "The Battle of Kookamonga" (after Johnny Horton
Johnny Horton
John Gale "Johnny" Horton was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
's "The Battle of New Orleans").
The 1957 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Jamaica
Jamaica (musical)
Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. Harburg was blacklisted in Hollywood at the time of the writing of the musical...
amusingly parodied the then very fashionable commercial variety of Calypso music
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
. A musical using heavy parody was the 1959 show Little Mary Sunshine
Little Mary Sunshine
Little Mary Sunshine is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The musical should not be confused with the 1916 silent film of the same name ....
, which poked fun at old-fashioned operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
.
1960-1980
Stan FrebergStan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
created parodies of popular songs in the 1950s and 1960s, mocking the musical conventions of the day, such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "Heartbreak Hotel
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. His first number-one pop record, "Heartbreak Hotel" topped Billboards Top 100 chart, became his first...
" in which the vocalist rips his jeans from too much hip-swiveling and drowns in reverberative sound effects at the end. Another major parodist was Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
, who began making hit records with parodies such as the now-classic "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)
Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh
"Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh " is a Grammy Award-winning novelty song by Allan Sherman, based on letters of complaint he received from his son Robert while Robert attended Camp Champlain in Westport, New York. The song is a parody that complains about the fictional "Camp Granada" and is set to the...
" (to the tune of Amilcare Ponchielli
Amilcare Ponchielli
Amilcare Ponchielli was an Italian composer, largely of operas.-Biography:Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.Two years...
's "Dance of the Hours
Dance of the Hours
Dance of the Hours is a short ballet from Act 3, Scene 2 of the opera La Gioconda composed by Amilcare Ponchielli. It depicts the hours of the day through solo and ensemble dances. The opera was first performed in 1876 and was revised in 1880...
" from the opera La Gioconda) and "When I Was A Lad" (after Gilbert & Sullivan's "Ruler of the Queen's Navee" from "HMS Pinafore
HMS Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
").
Bandleader and pianist Paul Weston
Paul Weston
Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts...
and his wife, singer Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
, created the musical duo, "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards", as a parody of bad cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
acts. Initially it began as a private party joke but they recorded several albums and one, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris, won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1961 for best comedy record.
Other parodists included composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
, who in 'Eight Songs for a Mad King' (1969) took a canonical piece of music, Handel's Messiah, and subverted it to suit his own needs, in much the same way Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
did with 'Star Spangled Banner'. The self-described "piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
-wielding fugitive from Harvard", Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
; and Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
, originally from Denmark, who switched from a concert piano career to comedy, have also created parodies of classical piano pieces and opera.
In 1965, musical satirist Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele
Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
created P. D. Q. Bach
P. D. Q. Bach
P. D. Q. Bach is a fictitious composer invented by musical satirist "Professor" Peter Schickele. In a gag that Schickele has developed over a five-decade-long career, he performs "discovered" works of this forgotten member of the Bach family...
, a supposedly newly-discovered member of the Bach family
Bach family
The Bach family was of importance in the history of music for nearly two hundred years, with over 50 known musicians and several notable composers, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach...
, whose creative output parodies musicological
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
scholarship, the conventions of Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
and classical music, as well as introducing elements of slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy. Schickele continues to tour and record under the pseudonym P. D. Q. Bach to the present day.
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
became a country star in the 1970s and 1980s with a few serious songs (such as "Everything is Beautiful
Everything Is Beautiful
"Everything is Beautiful" is a song by Ray Stevens. It has appeared on many of Stevens' albums, including one named after the song, and has become a pop standard and common in religious performances. The children heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little...
"), more novelty songs (such as "The Streak
The Streak
"The Streak" is a popular country/novelty song written, produced, and sung by Ray Stevens. It was released in March 1974 as the lead single to his album Boogity Boogity...
", "Shriner's Convention
Shriner's Convention
"Shriners Convention" is a country-and-western novelty song written, composed, and performed by Ray Stevens. It is allegedly based on his experiences at a hotel where an actual Shriners convention was being held....
", and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival") and many parody songs, such as the adult-contemporary send-up "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow", and the Beach Boys parody "Surfin USSR".
The Barron Knights
Barron Knights
The Barron Knights is a British humorous pop group, originally formed in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire as The Knights of the Round Table....
became famous for their parodies of pop songs in the 1970s.
1980-present
A successful parodist is "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
, now in his fourth decade of writing song parodies. He got his start sending tapes to be played by Barret Hansen, AKA Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
, on his nationally syndicated radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
show. Seattle, WA-based disc jockey and longtime parodist Bob Rivers
Bob Rivers
Bob Rivers is a well-known American rock and roll radio on air personality in the Pacific Northwest as well as a prolific producer of parody songs, most famous for his Christmas song parodies....
records parodies of hit songs from a variety of genres and periods satirizing current events. Dabbling in topical parodies is Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
-based humorist Mark Russell
Mark Russell
Mark Russell is an American political satirist/comedian. He also sings and plays the piano.-Biography:...
, who appears several times a year on PBS television. The New York, NY performing troupe Forbidden Broadway
Forbidden Broadway
Forbidden Broadway is an Off-Broadway satirical revue conceived, written and directed by Gerard Alessandrini. The original version of the revue opened on January 15, 1982 at Palsson's Supper Club in New York City and ran for 2,332 performances. Alessandrini has rewritten the show over a dozen...
annually parodies the Great White Way's most popular current musicals and their songs on stage and recordings.
In the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
fan community filk music
Filk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term predates 1955.-Definitions:As the Interfilk What Is Filk page demonstrates, there is...
thrives as a source of both parodies and original music, as it has since at least the 1930s.
Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
song "The Elements" adapts a tune from Gilbert & Sullivan to the periodic table, and more recently he turned "That's Entertainment" into a précis on his real vocation, "That's Mathematics" (carefully altering the melody to avoid litigation).
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
Mark Jonathan Davis , known by his stage name Richard Cheese, is an American musician and comedian. He was born in New York...
produces parodies not in the traditional sense of someone like Yankovic, but rather derive their humor from exactly the opposite means. While traditional parody puts new lyrics to largely unchanged music, Cheese keeps the lyrics intact but alters the musical style, thus altering the intent of the song. The humor comes from the juxtaposition of very familiar lyrics from popular rap
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
songs (particularly containing profane, violent, or sexually explicit lyrics) with Cheese's exceedingly clean, "white bread
White bread
White bread is made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ have been removed through a process known as milling. Milling gives white flour a longer shelf life by removing the bran which contains oil, allowing products made with it, like white bread, the ability to survive storage and...
", campy, lounge
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
style. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in 1995. The Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione...
does likewise in a complete opposite manner: they perform hard, sped-up punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
renditions of folk songs, soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
, showtunes
Showtunes
Showtunes is the result of collaboration between Stephin Merritt with Chen Shi-zheng on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao , Peach Blossom Fan , and My Life as a Fairy Tale . Select tracks from these are featured on this album...
, R&B, and other genres not usually associated with punk. Yankovic has also ventured into this practice; all but two of his albums feature medleys of either classic rock or then-current hit songs done as fast polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
s. Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
has had hits of Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
's "In the Mood
In the Mood
"In the Mood" is a big band era #1 hit recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. Joe Garland and Andy Razaf arranged "In the Mood" in 1937-1939 using a previously existing main theme composed by Glenn Miller before the start of the 1930s...
" done in the style of clucking chickens, and a honky-tonk or bluegrass version of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Bad".
Musical parody in recent years has included the 2005 musical Altar Boyz
Altar Boyz
Altar Boyz is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker and book by Kevin Del Aguila . Centering on a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio, the show satirizes, among other things, the phenomenon of boy bands and the popularity of Christian-themed music in...
, which parodies both Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
and the "boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
" style of pop, the Christian parody band Apologetix
ApologetiX
ApologetiX is a Christian parody band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The band was founded in 1992, and since then, has played in 44 states, released 17 studio albums, and built up a fan club that includes 45,000 people. The band is currently composed of J...
, who have targeted popular music from the 1950s to the present, and the Capitol Steps
Capitol Steps
The Capitol Steps are an American political satire group. It has been performing since 1981, and has released approximately thirty albums consisting primarily of song parodies. Originally consisting exclusively of Congressional staffers performing around Washington, D.C., the troupe now primarily...
, a group of current and former U.S. Congress staff members based in Washington, DC who focus on politics and other public figures.
In 2009 a group from London, The Midnight Beast
The Midnight Beast
The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy music group from London, perhaps most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single TiK ToK by American pop artist Ke$ha...
, gained fame after posting on YouTube their parody of the song "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
. Since then, the group has parodied other pop songs.
On YouTube and online, Rucka Rucka Ali
Rucka Rucka Ali
Rucka Rucka Ali is an anonymous American rapper, radio personality, singer, comedian, and satirist most noted for his song parodies on YouTube. He has been labelled one of the most successful artists to come out of YouTube, where he has received over 100 million hits...
became known for his rapping parodies "Go Cops" and "Ching Chang Chong".
The London based indie label Criminal Records
Criminal Records
Criminal Records is the name of a UK based independent record label representing basement bands. It was formed in 2004 and focuses of the emergence of the subgenre known as Basement Rock or Basement. They represent over 20 UK bands.-External links:* *...
will release a parody of the punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
classic "Anarchy In The U.K."
Anarchy in the U.K.
"Anarchy in the U.K." was covered by American thrash metal band Megadeth for their third album So Far, So Good... So What!, released in 1988.Notoriously, the song has incorrect lyrics...
by the band 'rocketclover' for the 2010 Christmas holidays. Part of the profit will be devolved to charity.
Legal issues
Mad Magazine provoked an early legal backlash against parody when in 1961 the magazine published a songbook in which various topical ditties such as "The Last Time I SawThe Last Time I Saw Paris
The Last Time I Saw Paris is a 1954 romantic drama made by MGM. It is loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Babylon Revisited." It was directed by Richard Brooks, produced by Jack Cummings and filmed on locations in Paris and the MGM backlot. The screenplay was by Julius J. Epstein,...
Maris
Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...
", "Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
," and "There's No Business Like No Business
There's No Business Like Show Business
"There's No Business Like Show Business" is an Irving Berlin song, written for the musical Annie Get Your Gun and orchestrated by Ted Royal. The song, a slightly tongue-in-cheek salute to the glamor and excitement of a life in show business, is sung in the musical by members of Buffalo Bill's Wild...
" were included (in poem format; with a parenthetical phrase after each title, stating "Sung to the tune of..."). Several music publishers joined in a suit taking the magazine to court. The matter was eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to review the decision by a lower court dismissing the suit against Mad.
Musical parody was briefly threatened in the mid-1990s when a case (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, 510 U.S. 569 was a United States Supreme Court copyright law case that established that a commercial parody can qualify as fair use...
) was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court by country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
's music publishing company against the lead singer of the rap music group 2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew was a hip hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.- Early career :...
for recording a lewd version of one of Acuff's songs without his permission. But the justices ruled in favor of the rappers, protecting the fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
doctrine and creating a legal standard for parody as protected derivative work
Derivative work
In United States copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major, copyright-protected elements of an original, previously created first work .-Definition:...
.
See also
- Mashup (music)Mashup (music)A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
- ParodyParodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
- PastichePasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
- QuodlibetQuodlibetA quodlibet is a piece of music combining several different melodies, usually popular tunes, in counterpoint and often a light-hearted, humorous manner...
- Victorian burlesque
- Comedy musicComedy musicComedy music is music that is comedic or humorous in nature, encompassing a wide variety of music genres. Popular types of comedy music include parody music, novelty songs, comedy rock and comedy hip hop.- Notable comedy musicians :...
- Composer tributes (classical music)Composer tributes (classical music)Musical tributes or homages from one composer to another can take many forms. Following are examples of the major types of tributes occurring in classical music. Note that a particular work may fit into more than one of these types.-Variations:...
Parody music websites
- Am I RightAm I RightAmIRight is a popular music Web site created by Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. . Visitors can view sections based on such topics as song parodies, misheard lyrics , and album cover parodies, and can submit their own without registering...
- searchable archive of parody lyrics, public submissions, recordings
Parody music artists
- Amateur TransplantsAmateur TransplantsAmateur Transplants are a London based, British parody musical duo consisting of medical professionals, Dr. Adam Kay and Dr. Suman Biswas , who came to prominence in 2005 with a song about the London Underground, parodying the Jam song "Going Underground"...
- ApologetiXApologetiXApologetiX is a Christian parody band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The band was founded in 1992, and since then, has played in 44 states, released 17 studio albums, and built up a fan club that includes 45,000 people. The band is currently composed of J...
- Christian parody band - Austrian Death MachineAustrian Death MachineAustrian Death Machine is an American metal side project from San Diego, California, founded by As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis to be a parody and tribute of Arnold Schwarzenegger's films.-Biography:...
- parodies Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
's famous movie one-liners in their release Total BrutalTotal BrutalTotal Brutal is the debut full length album by Austrian Death Machine, a project of As I Lay Dying's vocalist; Tim Lambesis. The band and record are based upon Arnold Schwarzenegger and his movies. Tim plays all the instruments and performs vocals but "Ahhhnold" is billed as the vocalist... - Rob BalderRob BalderRobert T. Balder is a professional cartoonist, singer/songwriter, game designer and web entrepreneur. He graduated from Roanoke College with a major in English in 1993, and after a variety of jobs, entered a seven year career in IT, starting as a Manager of Database Development, which he left for...
- BeatallicaBeatallicaBeatallica is a mash-up band that plays music made from combinations of songs of The Beatles and Metallica. A Beatallica song is typically a blend of a Beatles song and a Metallica song with a related title Beatallica is a mash-up band that plays music made from combinations of songs of The Beatles...
- Metallica and The Beatles parody - Bob RiversBob RiversBob Rivers is a well-known American rock and roll radio on air personality in the Pacific Northwest as well as a prolific producer of parody songs, most famous for his Christmas song parodies....
has a radio show site with parody archives - Capitol StepsCapitol StepsThe Capitol Steps are an American political satire group. It has been performing since 1981, and has released approximately thirty albums consisting primarily of song parodies. Originally consisting exclusively of Congressional staffers performing around Washington, D.C., the troupe now primarily...
- political comedy troupe - Chris MoylesChris MoylesChristopher David Moyles is an English radio and television presenter and author, who currently presents The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 and Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on Channel 4....
- radio dj who has a parody album - DethklokDethklokDethklok is both a virtual band featured in the Adult Swim animated program Metalocalypse, as well as a real band created to perform the band's melodic death metal music in live shows. The band was created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The music heard on Metalocalypse is performed by Brendon...
- Melodic death metalMelodic death metalMelodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...
band from the TV show MetalocalypseMetalocalypseMetalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim... - Dr. DementoDr. DementoBarret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
- The Jimi Homeless ExperienceThe Jimi Homeless ExperienceThe Jimi Homeless Experience is a comedy rock act created, produced and managed by Jon Kinyon. The band performs mainly in and around Hollywood, CA...
- a Hendrix parody band - Cledus T. JuddCledus T. JuddBarry Poole is an American country music artist who records under the name Cledus T. Judd. Known primarily for his parodies of popular country music songs, he has been called the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music, and his albums are usually an equal mix of original comedy songs and parodies...
- the great Luke Ski
- Jon LajoieJon LajoieJonathan "Jon" Lajoie is a Canadian comedian, actor, rapper, singer, musician and Internet celebrity from Montreal, Quebec.- Background :...
- Rucka Rucka AliRucka Rucka AliRucka Rucka Ali is an anonymous American rapper, radio personality, singer, comedian, and satirist most noted for his song parodies on YouTube. He has been labelled one of the most successful artists to come out of YouTube, where he has received over 100 million hits...
- The Lonely IslandThe Lonely IslandThe Lonely Island is an American comedy troupe composed of Akiva "Kiv" Schaffer, Jorma "Jorm" Taccone, and David Andrew "Andy" Samberg, best known for their comedic music. Originally from Berkeley, California, the group is currently based in New York City. The group broke out due to their...
- Michael V.Michael V.Michael V. , also known as "Bitoy" or "Toybits", is a Filipino comedian, actor, director, composer, singer, rapper, voice artist and parodist, who appears in the GMA Network show Bubble Gang, and in his own TV show Bitoy's Funniest Videos...
, a FilipinoPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
parodist - Paul ShanklinPaul ShanklinPaul Shanklin is an American conservative political satirist, impressionist, comedian, and conservative speaker...
- political voice impersonator heard frequently on The Rush Limbaugh Show - Ray StevensRay StevensRay Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
- Rucka Rucka AliRucka Rucka AliRucka Rucka Ali is an anonymous American rapper, radio personality, singer, comedian, and satirist most noted for his song parodies on YouTube. He has been labelled one of the most successful artists to come out of YouTube, where he has received over 100 million hits...
- The RutlesThe RutlesThe Rutles are a band that are known for their visual and aural pastiches and parodies of The Beatles. Originally created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a fictional band to be featured as part of various 1970s television programming, the group recorded, toured, and released two UK chart hits in...
With Monty Python backing Eric Idle wrote songs based on Beatle songs - Spinal TapSpinal Tap (band)Spinal Tap is a parody heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner...
- Jo StaffordJo StaffordJo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
, with husband Paul WestonPaul WestonPaul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts...
, parodied bad lounge acts as "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards" - Sudden DeathSudden Death (music)Sudden Death is a comedy rap trio from Hardyston, New Jersey consisting of members Tom Rockwell , Steve Fernino , and Thom Uliasz .They formed in 1986 and started releasing their music in 1991....
- top rap parodists on the Dr. Demento Show - Tenacious DTenacious DTenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...
- featuring actor and comedian Jack BlackJack BlackJack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
. - Team UnicornTeam UnicornTeam Unicorn is a multi-media production team formed in Los Angeles, California in 2010. Its members are American actresses and singers Michele Boyd , Clare Grant , Milynn Sarley, and Rileah Vanderbilt . The group released their debut parody song "G33k & G4m3r Girls" a.k.a. the "Geek and Gamer...
- Tim CavanaghTim CavanaghTim Cavanagh is an American comedic musician.Cavanagh has been featured on many nationally-syndicated radio and television programs. His parody of 99 Red Balloons was the third most requested song on the Dr. Demento radio show in 1984...
- parodist known as "The One-Minute Song Man" - Tom SmithTom Smith (filker)Tom Smith is a singer-songwriter from , who got his start in the filk music community. He is a fourteen-time winner of the Pegasus Award for excellence in filking, including awards for his "A Boy and His Frog", "307 Ale", and "The Return of the King ", and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in...
- parodist and "The World's Fastest Filker" - VenetianPrincess
- "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" YankovicAlfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
- VatrogasciVatrogasciVatrogasci is a Croatian parody rock band formed in 1991 by Tihomir Borošak and Dean Parmak. The Band is known in particular for humorous songs and their often parody specific songs of contemporary musical acts....
- Croatian parody rock band - James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
- Fictional parodist - Shane DawsonShane DawsonShane Dawson is an American YouTube actor and comedian. Dawson is known for making comedy videos featuring many recurring characters , impersonations , and spoofs of popular music videos and television shows...