Weird Al says Nirvana saved his career

Weird Al Yankovic Backstage At 46th Annual Grammy Awards.

'Weird Al' Yankovic acts shocked while holding his Grammy for Best Comedy Album backstage at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles February 8, 2004. REUTERS/Mike Blake FG/JDP

In the early 1990s, Weird Al approached Michael Jackson about parodying his newest track, Black or White. The comedy singer found success with this formula before; both Eat It and I’m Fat charted in the US.

But the music icon turned him down. Weird Al says this rejection ultimately saved his career. At the time, he was desperate to capture his former glory. His 1989 now-cult classic, UHF, bombed in theaters and he had the dubious honor of being the guy who parodied Michael Jackson.

When Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit hit number one on the charts, he decided to parody that song instead. When he first approached Kurt Cobain to ask for permission, Cobain jokingly asked if the song would be about food. Weird Al assured him that it would only poke fun at how no one understood the lyrics of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Cobain thought the idea was hilarious and granted permission to cover their track.

Dave Grohl later said that Weird Al’s track made Nirvana even more popular, selling an additional one million copies of Nevermind after the release of Weird Al’s 1992 album, Smells like Nirvana. He also said that Nirvana knew they truly made it because Weird Al covered their song.