It always amazes me to hear stories about artists that won't give him permission to do parodies (Prince, Weezer, Eminem, and the Coolio debacle).

One of my favorite stories about a Weird Al song was that Madonna actually floated the idea for "Like a Surgeon" through a mutual friend.

That's terrific. My favorite Weird Al permission story is that Mark Knopfler had one condition: that he be allowed to play the guitar part for the 'Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies' parody.

When I was a kid, I remember hearing about Weird Al's practice of always seeking permission from the artists he parodied and assuming it was just to avoid any legal unpleasantness later (even if any such case would be thrown out). It wasn't until later that I understood the motivation to truly have everyone in on the joke together, which this profile describes wonderfully.

Yeah this is great.

The fact he asks shows that he respects other artists and respects their feelings. Not everyone is happy about being parodied, especially if their work holds very personal sentimental meaning for them.

Coolio just copied Stevie Wonder verbatim, how did he get a say in the first place? Made him look like a total ass to me at the time.