Since inspiring a Yankovic parody has been touted as a sign that a band has made it, we asked several local rockers on the rise which of their songs the comedian might have the most fun lampooning.

Eric Diedrichs says he couldn't bear letting Yankovic get his hands on the work he does as Cari Clara. "Those songs all came from a really dark place for me. To have somebody make light of it would really, really hurt," he says.

But Diedrichs wouldn't mind a send-up of "I'm a Balloon," one of the power-pop tunes he wrote with his former band, the Simpletons. "It could become 'I'm a Buffoon,' or something," he says.

"So many of my lyrics sound like 'Weird Al,' anyway; I'm always doing parodies of our songs," says Dave Storm of the Screaming Mimes.

"I think he'd do a great polka version of our song 'TV.' But I bet he'd do a better food reference version of our song 'Never Be Enough,' about eating too much at an all-you-can-eat buffet or something.

"Heh, I'd like to hear that one."

Dan McCabe of Campfire Crush says "Cheap Thrills" is "very dramatic and ripe for parody."

"It's a very recognizable song and one of Campfire Crush's oldest," he says. "The chorus comes around a lot: '... did you know this is all I need.' 'Cheap Thrills' could become 'Drink Spills': '...did you know this stain isn't my pee.' "

Rick McCarty, whose multiple projects include Light Wire and Ampline, says the dark, serious nature of Light Wire's numbers make them excellent fodder for Yankovic. But "Weird Al would never have the (guts) to cover an Ampline song," he says.

C.E. Hanifin