Sure, the musical parody artist “Weird Al” Yankovic is known for writing rather silly songs, and not for being some sort of peer-reviewed, evidence-based science performer (unlike, say, Baba Brinkman). But, after analyzing his music, he ain’t exactly one of them woo-woo, pseudoscience followers, either. His general attitude seems quite supportive of science and skepticism, in fact.
His main weapon of choice, in this manner, is sarcasm. Take these lines from his song, “Your Horoscope for Today”:
Now you may find it inconceivable, or rather very least a bit unlikely, that the relative position of the planets and the stars could have a special, deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you.
But let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true.
If taken at face value, they’d seem to support the claims of astrology. However, the tone of his voice and his style of ridicule make it quite clear that he doesn’t really take any of it seriously. Playing the role of a true believer is just one of the things Al does for the sake of comedy.
“Horoscope” is on the Running with Scissors album, which contains two other songs in the same vein , making it his most skeptical album to date. This is somewhat offset, though, by the fact that it also contains probably the most woo-leaning song Al’s ever produced — “Grapefruit Diet,” a parody of “Zoot Suit Riot” by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. It seems to imply such a diet would help one lose a significant amount of weight, a claim with very weak support. Perhaps it was intended to be a farce through its temporal connection to the original song: both zoot suits and the grapefruit diet originated in the 1930s. But I still feel like a true follower of the diet might enjoy humming along to this tune.
A lot of Al’s most educational content has been produced outside of his albums. In 2009, he recorded “The Brain Song” for an Orange County Fair exhibit. In 2014, he took on the role of Sir Isaac Newton in an Epic Rap Battle against Peter Shukoff’s Bill Nye the Science Guy. And long before all that he threw together a few rare pieces for PBS educational shows.
One particular recording of his that would almost seem to poke fun at skepticism is “Everything You Know is Wrong”, which is styled after some of the music from They Might Be Giants (who published an entire children’s album of science songs). Though, I think the tone of the song is silly enough that skeptics need take no offense at it.
And finally, I’d like to mention that “Dare to be Stupid” is not really daring people to be stupid. That was also sarcasm. Or, at least I hope it was.
The following is a table of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s most skeptical-leaning and/or science-based works, to date. It does seem that most of his more skeptical-leaning songs are not parodies, but rather original songs in the style of other artists. Not sure if there is any significance to that fact, though.
| Song | Album | Relevance to Science or Skepticism |
| The Check’s in the Mail | “Weird Al” Yankovic (debut album, 1983) | This song could help train your brain to be wary of some of the slippery things con artists might say. |
| Midnight Star | In 3-D (1984) | Ridicules headlines of tabloid newspapers, such as Weekly World News and The National Inquirer. |
| Trigger Happy | Off the Deep End (1992) | Ridicules the views of gun nuts. At first listen, this might not seemed to have aged well, but if you think of it as only a slight exaggeration of actual gun enthusiasts, then it can still sorta work. |
| Talk Soup | Alapalooza (1993) | According to legend, this was originally written to be an official theme song for a show called Talk Soup on the E! Network, but was ultimately rejected. Today, it just ridicules such shows as that. |
| Your Horoscope for Today | Running with Scissors (1999) | Completely and utterly satirizes the very idea of astrology. |
| Germs | Running with Scissors (1999) | It’s science-based! This is a little ironic, since Al is portraying a germophobe, and they usually aren’t very conscientious of science. |
| Jerry Springer | Running with Scissors (1999) | Draws some attention to how exploitive The Jerry Springer Show could be, of troubled people. |
| Pancreas | Straight Outta Lynwood (2006) | Learn actual science facts about your pancreas! (And, for some reason, gravity.) |
| The Brain Song | Originally from a short film from Orange County Fair, in 2009. Now found in Medium Rarities (2017) | Al educates you on another important organ of the body. Not terribly comedic, though. |
| TMZ (parody of “You Belong to Me” by Taylor Swift) | Alpocalypse (2011) | Mocks how undignified and exploitive that annoying show can be. |
| My Own Eyes | Mandatory Fun (2014) | One could try to argue that this ridicules eye witness testimony, kinda? But, maybe that is a little bit of a stretch, to be honest. |
| Foil (parody of “Royals” by Lorde) | Mandatory Fun (2014) | I include this song for reasons I do not wish to spoil, here. You will understand when you listen to all of it. You will understand everything!! |
| Sir Isaac Newton vs. Bill Nye | (Epic Rap Battles of History) | Learn about historically important scientists and engineers, as they verbally duke it out with each other. |
| Honorable Mentions | ||
| Everything You Know is Wrong | Bad Hair Day (1996) | Not actually skeptical, but fun for skeptics to sing. It gets bonus points for referencing music from They Might Be Giants, who once put out an entire album of science songs for kids. |
| White & Nerdy (parody of Ridin’ by Chamillionaire) | Straight Outta Lynwood (2006) | Lots of nerdy science references! |
Every February, to help celebrate Darwin Day, the Science section of AIPT cranks up the critical thinking for SKEPTICISM MONTH! Skepticism is an approach to evaluating claims that emphasizes evidence and applies the tools of science. All month we’ll be highlighting skepticism in pop culture, and skepticism *OF* pop culture.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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