time, believed that it had the potential to be parodied on his next studio album. However, after Scotti Brothers insisted that he record a new song to promote Permanent Record, Yankovic decided to feature a Crash Test Dummies parody as the set's lead single. Yankovic later realized that by releasing "Headline News" on the Permanent Record set rather than wait to include it on his next album, he could capitalize on the topicality of the parody's lyrics. While each verse of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" told the story of a different abnormal child, the verses in "Headline News" recount three famous tabloid stories of 1993 and 1994: the American vandal Michael Fay being caned in Singapore, figure skater Tonya Harding's ex-husband attacking her rival Nancy Kerrigan, and Lorena Bobbitt severing her husband's penis with a knife. (When singing about the latter story, Yankovic substitutes the term "penis" with euphemisms like "wiener" and "Mr. Happy".) Yankovic later joked that he "wanted to write a song about these people because he didn't think they're getting quite enough media attention"—a reference to the stories' over-saturation in the news. Recording Recording for the song began on July 27, 1994, at Santa Monica Sound Recorders in Santa Monica, California. Yankovic himself produced the song. Backing Yankovic were Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, Jim West on guitar, and Kim Bullard on keyboards. Lisa Popeil provides the female backup vocals, as well as the scream of Nancy Kerrigan. The song also features idiosyncratic sonic elements to increase the humor, such as: manualist sound effects courtesy of Mike Kieffer; a chorus of kazoos, which joins in during the song's outro; and Yankovic playing a short riff on his trademark instrument, the accordion. Due to the vocal parts of the original song being in such a low register, Yankovic had to record the parody's vocal tracks early in the morning, when his voice was naturally lower. Music video The music video for "Headline News" parodies the "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" video in that it presents each news story as a one-act play on stage before an audience of people. The video was directed by Yankovic, making it his third directoral credit after 1986's "Christmas at Ground Zero" and 1993's "Bedrock Anthem". Yankovic appears as Brad Roberts, and his band appears as the other members of the Crash Test Dummies; notably, the video also marks the