POLKA CD, a master of SOURCE

This puzzles was originally posted on the NY Times games forum

Finally, a puzzle dedicated to WEIRD AL. Yep, in the list below, half of the items are encoded songs from WEIRD AL. The code is the same for all 9 songs. Each of the songs is a PARODY of another song; the other 9 items are the performers of these other 9 songs, and have been translated into a different code (but the code is consistent throughout all 9 performers). Both WERID AL and PARODY will translate into a name and a word which better explain this paragraph.

1. JAMES BROWN
2. JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
3. MADONNA
4. MICHAEL JACKSON
5. DON MCLEAN
6. DONNA SUMMER
7. AMISH PARADISE
8. LIKE A SURGEON
9. LIVING WITH A HERNIA
10. COOLIO
11. GREG KIHN BAND
12. I LOVE ROCKY ROAD
13. I LOST ON JEOPARDY
14. EAT IT
15. JURASSIC PARK
16. THE SAGA BEGINS
17. NIRVANA
18. SMELLS LIKE NIRVANA

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