"Weird Al" Yankovic is a Grammy winner, Platinum seller, MTV and VH1 staple, and writer and star of a cult classic that became a top ten DVD bestseller. But since 2004, Al's twenty-fifth anniversary as a professional recording artist, he is now eligible to receive one of popular music's highest honors, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Although Al has joked that his chances of getting in are about the same as Milli Vanili's, he is most certainly worthy of induction. He is the bestselling comedy artist in history, has the respect and admiration of many of the artists he's parodied, and with each new album he gets more and more popular (2006's Straight Outta Lynwood debuted in Billboard at #10, a record debut and chart position for him). He is also a superstar internationally, conquering countries such as Canada, Japan, and Australia.

Through both his parodies and his original works, he has tackled and mocked every aspect of popular music: rock and roll, country, rap, oldies, new wave, boy bands, swing, doo-wop, and many others. Al has earned the respect of the music world, and (as Nirvana once said) newer bands don't even consider themselves in the mainstream until they have their own Weird Al parody.

"I thought it was funny as hell. Any time you get Weird Al to parody you, it's an honor."

--Taylor Hicks on Al's parody "Do I Creep You Out"

Al has also done something that nobody else has been able to do successfully, rebel within rock and roll. Sure it's easy to bad-mouth another artist in a song, but Weird Al is able to parody the genre's own cliches and themes and deflate the pomposity of the genre in general, artists aside. If the spirit of rock and roll is to rebel, then Weird Al is a shining example.

Al is rock and roll's class clown, and it's high time that the genre recognizes that.

That is where this grassroots campaign comes in. We need to convince the Rock Hall beyond a shadow of a doubt that Al deserves a place in rock music's mecca. The Hall has ignored our requests to consider Al for nomination into the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, or 2009 classes of inductees, so we're already hard at work to get Al's name on the ballot for 2010 (which will be announced in September 2009...got it?).