If you think life is so strange today that only parodies make sense, then you should be happy. (Or are you tacky?)

Weird Al Yankovic has the number one album in the U.S., “Mandatory Fun.”

I determined I’m a fan of this album merely on two singles, the first which I’ve already written about: “Word Crimes.”

The second you can guess based on the lead of this blog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsWo8apgLys

Weird Al’s career dates back to the late 1970s, when as a Cal Poly student he played a version of the then-huge hit “My Sharona” …

… with, of course, an accordion:

The Knack’s lead singer, Doug Fieger, suggested to Capitol Records that it release “My Bologna.” But Weird Al probably hit the big time with …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI

… followed by …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notKtAgfwDA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ

In the early ’90s, Weird Al parodied Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” …

… with …

… which prompted Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain to say that he knew his band had hit it big when Weird Al was parodying them. That’s how most artists (who Yankovic always asks for permission) feel about being parodied, though not all, including Paul McCartney (who didn’t want “Live and Let Die” to become “Chicken Pot Pie”), James Blunt’s record label (even though Blunt gave the OK to have his “You’re Beautiful” become “You’re Pitiful”), Eminem (who didn’t want “Lose Yourself” to become “Couch Potato”) and Prince. (The story goes that Weird Al has asked Prince repeatedly, and been denied repeatedly. When the two were to sit in the same row for an American Music Awards, Prince’s lawyers sent a telegram demanding that Weird Al not look Prince in the eye. Note the Prince — I mean, Ƭ̵̬̊ — reference in “Word Crimes.”)

More recently, Weird Al managed to parody both a ’60s song (usually considered overwrought) and a ’90s movie at the same time:

There apparently is a movement to get Weird Al into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Weird Al isn’t. Nor are Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Judas Priest, and numerous others, including, most maddeningly, Chicago.

There also apparently is a movement to have Weird Al perform at halftime at a Super Bowl. (He couldn’t be worse than previous acts.) That prompted him to release …