Through the years no genre or musician has been safe from the parodies of “Weird Al” Yankovic. He’s targeted Michael Jackson, Eminem and Avril Lavigne among many others.

With the release of his latest album, Straight Outta Lynwood, there are a slew of parodies to make Yankovic fans drool.

Although it’s been several years since he’s released a CD, he hasn’t forgotten how to do the type of clever parodies that made him famous.

The artists parodied on this CD include Chamillionaire, Green Day, Usher, R. Kelly and the newest American Idol, Taylor Hicks.

Straight Outta Lynwood opens with the parody of Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone’s “Ridin'” titled “White and Nerdy.” Virtually every stereotype of a nerdy person is included, and it’s done hilariously when mixed with the beat and song.

“Do I Creep You Out,” the parody of Taylor Hicks’ song, “Do I Make You Proud?” is about what obsessive people can be like. He sings, “Your restraining order’s out / still the only question with me now / is do I creep you out?”

The parody of Green Day’s “American Idiot” is titled “Canadian Idiot,” about Canadians. In it, Yankovic pokes fun at things like their accents, their love of hockey and reading temperatures in Celsius.

The best parody, however, is of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet.” Yankovic managed to turn Kelly’s crazy, long narrative set to music into a song about what to eat for dinner titled “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” – and it’s very funny. It’s nearly 11 minutes of Yankovic’s best work.

Along with the parodies, there are original songs about computer viruses, lawsuits and illegally downloading music. The song called “Don’t Download this Song” is the funniest by making fun of the whole issue of pirating. He sings, “Don’t download this song / or you’ll burn in Hell before too long / go and buy the CD / like you know that you should / oh, don’t download this song.”

“Weasel Stomping Day,” takes a playful, almost childish beat and accompanies that with disgusting lyrics and sounds of stomping and squishing weasels.

Although a few of the songs are annoying, like “Pancreas,” where he sings about vital organs and what they do for the body, many of them are laugh-out-loud funny.

Contact ALL correspondent Ryan Haidet at [email protected].

“Weird Al” Yankovic Straight Outta Lynwood Released on Zomba Label Group Stater rating (out of five): ????