Motley Crue, Art Garfunkel Name-Checked in New ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Song
"Weird Al" Yankovic may be making headlines for his hysterical video for 'Word Crimes,' another song from 'Mandatory Fun' is appealing to us classic rock lovers. 'Lame Claim to Fame' (embedded above) references both Motley Crue and Art Garfunkel in its lyrics.
The track features a narrator bragging about his many brushes with famous people, most of which are, at best, secondary. "My neighbor's babysitter dated three of the guys in Motley Crue," he sings shortly before the first chorus. Two minutes later, he adds, "A friend of mine in high school had jury duty with Art Garfunkel." Both Motley Crue and Garfunkel have yet to confirm or deny whether those lines is true.
Musically, 'Lame Claim to Fame' is a pastiche of the work of the long-running surf-punk-rockabilly band Southern Culture on the Skids, and the video's use of stop-motion animation refereences Peter Gabriel's genre-defining 'Sledgehammer' clip.
There are a couple of other possible classic rock references in the video. While that ragged-looking man who appears in several spots -- including a picture frame in the video's second shot -- resembles Neil Young, it is actually Steve Jay, Yankovic's longtime bass player. Another member of his band appears to be striking a pose similar to the cover of Elvis Costello's 'Trust' album.
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