Weird Al Yankovic Credits This “Video Wallpaper” With Helping Him Create One of His Best-Known Parodies

In a 2022 interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, “Weird Al” Yankovic discussed how his parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” became popular. His spoof, “Eat It”, was released in 1984, just two years after Jackson’s release. Yankovic said it was all thanks to MTV, or as he referred to it, “video wallpaper.”

Yankovic Credits MTV for the Success of ‘Eat It’

During the interview, Yankovic discussed how Jackson’s “Beat It” was repeatedly played on MTV. At this time, MTV was still new. Many people were obsessed with it and had MTV displayed on their television screens often.

“It was like video wallpaper. They just had it on in the house,” said Yankovic, “And people were familiar with every little detail of that music video. So it was very easy to parody because people were already familiar with the source material.”

According to Yankovic, it was easy to craft a spoof of “Beat It” given its popularity and coverage on MTV. Since most knew the song, most could easily recognize Yankovic’s inspiration.

Yankovic typically chooses popular songs to create parodies for the same reason.

Turning Popular Songs Into Silly Spoofs

Yankovic creates silliness quite thoughtfully. He uses the beat and rhythm of a popular song, puts it to silly lyrics, and frequently includes the use of an accordion.

“Accordion music was always considered extremely safe to the point of being corny,” Yankovic told NPR, “It didn’t have a very hip reputation in the ’60s, which was when I started taking my accordion lessons.”

As for the lyrics, they are random and mean nothing to the original song, making it undoubtedly hilarious.

For example, Jackson’s “Beat It” opens with:

“They told him, ‘Don’t you ever come around here’ / ‘Don’t wanna see your face, you better disappear’ / The fire’s in their eyes, and their words are really clear / So beat it, just beat it.”

Yankovic’s “Eat It” opens with:

“How come you’re always such a fussy young man? / Don’t want no Captain Crunch, don’t want no Raisin Bran / Well, don’t you know that other kids are starving in Japan? / So, eat it, just eat it.”

Yankovic takes songs that many people know and love to create recognizable, silly songs.