If you grew up in the ‘90s and early/mid-00s, you know damn well that The Lonely Island and Weird Al Yankovic were the names of parody music.
Weird Al’s approach has often been to parody specific popular radio songs. The Lonely Island comedy-trio made some of the most iconic comedy songs on Saturday Night Live-frequently featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest names like Justin Timberlake and Natalie Portman.
And now we have Kyle Gordon. A comedian who has been making a name for himself in the art of parody songwriting, taking over one genre at a time.
He released his debut album, Kyle Gordon Is Great, on March 1. The 8-song comedy/parody album is a radio-fueled road trip. Each track is a different genre, and in between the songs are scripted comedy bits that are produced as fully authentic radio banter to the station of the upcoming song's genre. And he nailed it-it’s a fun listen and really does play out like some alternate universe radio station when you’ve got it playing, and you’re stuck in traffic.
Gordon's game-changing track was “Planet Of The Bass.” Released in August 2023 under the pseudonym DJ Crazy Times, the ‘90s European dance parody appeared on the U.S. Billboard charts, received worldwide coverage, and was just added to Fortnite as a song/dance.
And for his next hit, he went emo.
Reminiscent of the 2007 Myspace glory days, “My Life (Is The Worst Life Ever)” became a viral hit on TikTok and introduced us to his emo character Raven Shadow Bane of the band Our Wounded Courtship. We had him stop by the idobi Radio studio to perform the track… and he did not disappoint. You can check out the full performance here.
As a kid who was obsessed with Weird Al Yankovic and The Lonely Island, it’s cool to see a new artist creating quality parody music and just having fun with it. It’s an awesome genre that’s often overlooked or poorly executed, but when done right… it’s laugh-out-loud funny. And Kyle Gordon is nailing it.
idobi Radio sat down with Gordon after his session and chatted about the success of his recent parody tracks, deciding which genre to parody and why lyrics and overall authenticity are so important for him to fully execute his vision.