"Fat" is a song by

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

. It is a parody of "

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...

" by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

and is Yankovic's second parody of a Jackson song, the first being " Eat It", a parody of Jackson's "

Beat It "Beat It" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produced by Quincy Jones, and co-produced by Jackson. Jones encouraged Jackson to ...

". "Fat" is the first song on Yankovic's '' Even Worse'' album. The video won a

Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video was an award that was presented to recording artists at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988, and the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989, for quality, concept music videos. The Grammy Awards (Grammys) is an annual ...

in 1988.

Background

Yankovic was inspired to create "Fat" while watching the "Bad" music video, when he had an epiphany that a parody of that song titled "Fat" would be a good sequel to " Eat It" (a previous Weird Al Michael Jackson parody). While watching the "Bad" video, he imagined an obese version of himself trying to get through the turnstiles on a subway, and resolved that he would do it.

Concert version

When performing in

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

, Yankovic wears a costume that makes his body appear pudgy, along with a mask that makes his face look fat. Due to undergoing laser vision correction surgery, he no longer needs to wear glasses, though he wears glasses with non-prescription plastic lenses in order to help hold on the mask. Yankovic elected not to perform the song or his other Jackson parody, " Eat It", during the Strings Attached Tour in the wake of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

documentary ''

Leaving Neverland ''Leaving Neverland'' is a 2019 documentary television film directed and produced by Dan Reed. The documentary focuses on two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege they were sexually abused as children by the American singer Mich ...

'', in which two men claimed Jackson had sexually abused them when they were children. "I don't know if that's going to be permanent or not," Yankovic said of the decision. "But we just felt that with what's happened recently with the HBO documentaries, we didn't want anybody to feel uncomfortable."

Track listing

# "Fat" – 3:36 # "You Make Me" – 3:04

Music video

Directed by Jay Levey, the video for "Fat" parodies various elements of the "Bad" video by Jackson; Yankovic was able to get permission from Michael Jackson to use the same subway set from "Bad" for the video, which had yet to be struck in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

. Jackson had built an exact replica of the original set for the movie ''

Moonwalker ''Moonwalker'' is a 1988 American experimental film, experimental anthology film, anthology musical film starring Michael Jackson. Rather than featuring one continuous narrative, the film expresses the influence of fandom and innocence through ...

'' to be used in the segment called "Badder", and before striking it, he offered to allow Yankovic to use it. The fat suit was created by Camilla Henneman. The circumference of the suit was . The makeup was created by

Kevin Yagher Kevin Yagher (born June 23, 1962) is an American special effects technician, known for Freddy Krueger's makeup and The Crypt Keeper creature. Career His company, Kevin Yagher Productions, has created effects for '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: ...

, who later worked with Yankovic on the film ''

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

''. Latex bladders were glued to Yankovic's face, along with similar air pockets through his clothes.

Personnel

According to the liner notes of The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic: *

– lead & background vocals * Jim West – guitars * Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums, tambourine, maracas *

Kim Bullard Kim Bullard (born May 6, 1955) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, record producer, and film composer. He has been making music since the 1970s and has performed extensively as a keyboard player with musical acts such as Elton John and Crosb ...

– synthesizer

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1988 singles 1988 songs American pop rock songs Cultural depictions of Michael Jackson Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video Music videos directed by Jay Levey Scotti Brothers Records singles Songs written by Michael Jackson Songs with lyrics by "Weird Al" Yankovic "Weird Al" Yankovic songs Body image in popular culture Self-censorship Works about obesity