- - ‘Weird Al’s One Mean-Spirited Parody Really Ticked Off This Singer

JM McNabDecember 6, 2025 at 10:00 PM

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Unless you have an intense hatred of Hawaiian shirts and/or words that rhyme with lasagna, it’s pretty tough to get mad at “Weird Al” Yankovic. After all, the song parodist has been a beloved staple of pop-culture for four decades now, and has seemingly made no major show business enemies during that time – with the possible exception of George Lucas’ attorneys.

A big reason why Al has ruffled so few feathers is that he makes it a policy to get each artists’ permission before recording any song parodies. The biggest controversy created by a “Weird Al” parody came when he recorded “Amish Paradise,” mistakenly believing that his reps had secured permission from Coolio. But the rapper then complained that Al “desecrated” his “Gangsta’s Paradise.” And even those two eventually worked things out.

But back in 1993, Yankovic ticked off Grammy winner and star of the world’s most disappointing Marvel comic book, Billy Ray Cyrus.

Al’s longtime drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz recently guested on The Joel Martin Mastery Podcast and answered a listener's about whether or not the “Eat It” singer ever offended any famous musicians. “There was one artist that was angry – or not happy, I should say – about Al’s parody of his song,” Schwartz said, “and that was Billy Ray Cyrus, (who) was not happy about the parody of ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’”

While most of Al’s parodies are about topics unrelated to the original source material, “Achy Breaky Song,” was specifically about “Achy Breaky Heart,” Cyrus’ chart-topping country music monstrosity.

Unlike other similarly self-referential “Weird Al” songs like “Smells Like Nirvana” and the Lady Gaga parody “Perform this Way,” “Achy Breaky Song” was unrelentingly harsh.

The premise of the track is that the singer keeps begging his radio DJ not to play “that achy breaky song” which he calls “nauseating” and “the most annoying song I know.” He also claims that listening to it is less preferable than hearing nails on a chalkboard and getting a “pitchfork in the brain.”

“That was maybe the one song where Al took a poke at the original artist, or the original song,” Schwartz admitted, while also pointing out that it was a “well-deserved poke.”

“The problem is, Billy didn’t write the song. So he wasn’t asked for permission,” Schwartz explained. “Al got permission from the writer or writers of the song, and that’s why we did it.” It’s true, “Achy Breaky Heart” was actually written by Don Von Tress. And while Von Tress seemingly approved the parody, Billy Ray Cyrus “didn’t like it.”

“But there was nothing he could do about it,” Schwartz added. “I don’t know if he publicly went out and made a stink about it, (because) that would have just made him look bad.”

To be fair, Cyrus may have been extra-sensitive about the parody since Yankovic’s “comedic” premise about threatening radio stations to not play the godawful track, actually happened in real life.

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Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”