Weird: The Al Yankovic Story finally premieres on The Roku Channel this Friday, Nov. 4, and ahead of the film’s release, star Daniel Radcliffe and the man Weird Al himself participated in a joint Reddit discussion to answer burning questions from fans. During the chat, Yankovic revealed a possibly never before heard anecdote about a run-in he had with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain after the release of his 1992 parody song modeled after the band’s hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
Yankovic famously would never record a parody without getting the permission of the artist, being the notoriously agreeable guy he is, and such was the case with “Smells Like Nirvana.” When asked if he had any run-ins with Cobain or bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl beyond getting their blessing, the 63-year-old recalled an unusual request.
“I met Kurt Cobain in person a few months after my parody came out. We were both eating in the same restaurant in L.A., and I noticed him at a nearby table with some friends. I timidly went over and thanked him profusely for letting me do ‘Smells Like Nirvana,’ and told him I was now obligated to do any favor that he wished. He turned his head and extended his hand, and said, ‘Polish my nails.’ I loved that guy.”
While it’s unclear whether Cobain ever took him up on his offer, that story is only the addendum in Yankovic’s quest to obtain permission to use the song. As the story famously goes, which the singer-comedian opened up about in a 2012 oral history about “Smells Like Nirvana,” his manager was initially unable to reach the band.
However, it was only after Nirvana appeared on Saturday Night Live in early 1992 that Yankovic asked his friend and UHF co-star Victoria Jackson, who was a cast member at the time, to get Cobain on the phone.
“I told her, if you ever get Kurt Cobain alone in a room, put him on the phone, because I’d love to talk to him — and she did! Directly! He was sweet and he got it in like five seconds and said, ‘Of course you can do a parody.’ The famous quote from him was, ‘Is it going to be a song about food?’ because at that point that’s primarily what I was known for. And I said, ‘Well, no, it’s going to be a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics.’ And he said, ‘Oh, sure, of course, that’s funny.’ That’s one of those phone conversations I wish I had recorded. I’d love to hear that myself.”
And the rest is history. At the time, Yankovic’s career had stalled after UHF wasn’t the blockbuster Orion expected it to be, and he was faltering for new material. Thankfully a new zeitgeist was on the horizon, both changing the landscape of music in the early ’90s and giving Yankovic the creative juice he needed.