Remember a couple weeks ago when I said I should do a column about musical genius and national treasure Weird Al Yankovic? Well I spent the week recovering from a back injury and immersing myself entirely in fun and nostalgic music so guess what: This is a column about Weird Al.

The “musical genius” descriptor above is not sarcasm, his raw talent gets underrated and overlooked due to how funny his songs are, but he’s just as good at music as he is at humor. Don’t take it from me; no less than Kurt Cobain called Weird Al “America’s modern pop-rock genius” in his private (but published after his death, because money) notebook.

Join me as I pay tribute to the man and his work, and point out some things you may not know about his greatness.

“Weird Al” Yankovic — “My Bologna”

Let’s start at the beginning. Weird Al (which started as a derogatory nickname in his dorm at Cal Poly but joke’s on them) wrote “My Bologna” in 1979 when “My Sharona” was popular. He recorded the first demo in a bathroom, sent it to radio legend Dr. Demento with whom he had an ongoing relationship, and it ended up getting noticed by The Knack lead singer and “My Sharona” writer Doug Fieger. And he loved it.

It’s probably a good sign when your first parody song gets approval from the person you’re parodying, but it wasn’t a matter of him just liking it. Fieger suggested to his label, Capitol Records, that they release it as a single. And they did. It ended up on Weird Al’s first album in 1983.

He was so huge in the ’80s that the biggest stars were among his fans. Michael Jackson loved his parodies so much that he let him use the recreation of the “Bad” music video set from his movie “Moonwalker” for “Fat,” and Madonna remains the only person to successfully pitch a song idea when she herself said he should turn “Like a Virgin” into “Like a Surgeon.”

Also, since our readership absolutely loves The Monkees, I have to point out he opened for The Monkees on one of their reunion tours in 1987. Our illustrious editor Roman Gokhman should have asked Micky Dolenz about it.

Unfortunately, the decade did not end on a high note. Even though his movie “UHF” is legitimately hilarious and a work of pure genius, it was released the same summer as Tim Burton’s “Batman,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “Ghostbusters II.” So… it did not do well, and it looked like the end of Weird Al’s popularity.

“Weird Al” Yankovic — “Smells Like Nirvana”

Nah, just kidding. He’s still wildly popular. Even the best of us gets into a slump.

He finished most of an album, Off the Deep End, but couldn’t find a single. Then he heard Nirvana’s seminal Nevermind and got inspired. Obviously from the quote in the intro, Kurt Cobain was a fan, so not only was he eager to let him use the song, but the band considered a Weird Al parody the moment it officially “made it.”

The song, and the pitch-perfect video, got his career right back to where it was in the late ’80s. While his other ’90s albums—Alapalooza, Bad Hair Day and Poodle Hat—never reached the same sales as his earlier work, the songs were still brilliant and they had a massive impact on young people of the era.

That’s not a scientific, sociological analysis mind you; I, personally, credit a large part of my love of music to those ’90s albums. Through middle and high school, the era when you’re just breaking away from your parents’ taste in music and finding your own, Weird Al was a gateway drug to the cool stuff. The lyrics to the parodies on those albums are, according to my brain, the correct lyrics for those tunes. And it’s not just me, the Presidents of the United States of America have said they often think of the lyrics to “Gump” when playing their own song “Lump.”

Finally, Alapalooza is notable in that, of its 10 non-polka and non-theme songs, only four were direct parodies. The other six were what Weird Al calls “style parodies,” which are original songs in the style of another artist. Those are really where his brilliance shines through. It’s one thing to write hilarious lyrics to someone else’s song. It’s another thing to write a song that sounds like it came from a totally different band, let alone for six different bands of very different genres, all on one album.

“Weird Al” Yankovic — “White and Nerdy”

Yes, I mentioned that his ’90s albums didn’t chart as high as his ’80s work, and you may think that contradicts my statement that he’s still wildly popular. Well, his highest-charting single wasn’t of a Michael Jackson song. It was “White and Nerdy” that peaked at No. 9 on a Billboard chart. It’s (as of this writing) his only song to go platinum, along with album Straight Outta Lynwood.

He also extended his style parody range. He wrote a song in the style of Rage Against the Machine! It’s amazing! On the same album he parodied the Beach Boys and Cake!

It’s also worth pointing out that his style parody of Frank Zappa from 2003’s Poodle Hat, “Genius in France,” featured Zappa’s son Dweezil, and the absolutely brilliant Ben Folds parody “Why Does This Always Happen To Me?” features Ben Folds.

“Weird Al” Yankovic — “Foil”

I had a reason for picking the last few but for this one I just love the brilliant video. The lighting change, the graphics on the screens, Patton Oswalt—all brilliant. Seriously, watch the video.

The album this is on, Mandatory Fun, is his 14th and most recent. It’s also the first to hit No. 1. After more than 30 years, he actually sold more copies than he did when he was new and exciting. That’s what talent will get you; not only do you keep your old fans but add new ones as your style adapts and evolves to match the times.

I could tell you about Imagine Dragons giving him tips on how to make his parody of “Radioactive” sound right, or Pharrell Williams considering it a great honor. I could point out that he looks younger in 2014 than he did in 1982. But I’ve probably said enough.

“Weird Al” Yankovic — “Angry White Boy Polka”

He hasn’t released any new music in the 2020s yet, so I’m stuck with only four entries. Fortunately, I have a favorite polka medley to close things out. And it also lets me rave about his amazing polka medleys.

Every album has one. They’re hilarious. They’re wildly entertaining as songs. But this one is my favorite because the (mostly) nu-metal songs he polkafies are so extremely not polka and yet they sound, in many cases, even better than the originals.

Also, Mr. Yankovic—Al—even if you were bored enough to click the link when you saw it on Twitter you almost definitely didn’t make it more than a thousand words in, but if by some miracle you’re still here: Please give us new music. It’s been a really long seven years since your last album, and the last 19 months alone have lasted 40 years, so the world needs you now more than ever.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis and tweet column ideas to him at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.