Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group consists of vocalist/pianist Karen O, guitarist/keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase; they do not have a bassist but have been complemented in live shows by David Pajo and Imaad Wasif.[1] The band is known for energetic performances and a blend of genres, including art rock and dance-rock.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs found commercial success with their debut album, Fever to Tell (2003), which is cited as the band's best work. It produced four singles, including "Maps", which became one of the band's most recognizable songs. They issued a second album, Show Your Bones (2006), and shifted to dance-punk with their third, It's Blitz! (2009). Both records received positive reviews, and the latter spawned the hit single "Heads Will Roll". The band's fourth album, Mosquito (2013), became their highest-charting record in the United States but did not match the reception of its predecessors. The group went on a hiatus the following year and returned in 2017, performing live for the rest of the 2010s. Their fifth and most recent album, Cool It Down, was released in 2022 to critical acclaim. It produced the digital hit "Spitting Off the Edge of the World".
Yeah Yeah Yeahs officially formed in 2000, naming themselves after a New York City vernacular expression.[3]Karen Orzolek (who would henceforth be known as "Karen O") and Brian Chase first met as students at Oberlin College in Ohio in the late 1990s. Karen O then transferred to New York University and met Nick Zinner, a student at Bard College, in a local bar, where they formed an "instant connection". During this time, they also shared a loft with future members of the Canadian band Metric.[4] Karen O and Zinner formed an acoustic duo called Unitard but soon decided to "shake things up a bit" by forming a "trashy, punky, grimy" band modeled after the art punk bands Karen O had been exposed to at Oberlin; they added Chase as a drummer and became a trio.[5]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs wrote a slew of songs at their first rehearsal and soon wound up supporting the Strokes and the White Stripes, earning a significant buzz for their arty and garage punk sound. In late 2001, they released their self-titled debut EP, which they recorded with Boss Hog's Jerry Teel, on their own Shifty label.[6] Early the next year, they stepped into the international spotlight, appearing at SXSW, touring the U.S. with Girls Against Boys, and Europe with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, as well as headlining their own British tour. Wichita Recordings distributed the group's EP in the U.K., and Touch and Go reissued it in the States.[7]
Fever to Tell and Show Your Bones (2003–2007)
In 2003, the band released their debut album, Fever to Tell, which received several strong critical reviews and sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide. The album's third single, "Maps", received significant airplay on alternative radio. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked "Maps" as 386th in their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and at 101th in their 2021 revised list. The same publication placed Fever to Tell in 377th place on their "Top 500 Albums of All Time" list. The video for the band's 2004 single "Y Control" was directed by Spike Jonze. In October 2004, the band released their first DVD, Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow. The DVD included a concert filmed at The Fillmore in San Francisco, all of the band's music videos to date, and various interviews. In November 2009, NME rated Fever to Tell the fifth-best album of the decade.[8]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing in 2006
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' second album, Show Your Bones, was released on March 28, 2006. Karen O told online zineDrowned in Sound, "Show Your Bones is what happens when you put your finger in a light socket", crediting "9-year old antigenius wonder-kid Drake Barrett for the insight".[9] The first single from the album, "Gold Lion", came out on March 20, 2006, reaching No. 18 on the UK Singles Chart. The band toured throughout Europe and the United States during much of 2006 and also helped to curate an edition of the British All Tomorrow's Parties festival. In December, Show Your Bones was named second-best album of the year by NME,[10] and "Cheated Hearts" was voted tenth-best song. Rolling Stone magazine named Show Your Bones the 44th-best album of 2006,[citation needed] while Spin ranked it number 31 on their 40 best albums of 2006.[citation needed] The same year, the band were featured in Scott Crary's documentary Kill Your Idols.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' third EP, titled Is Is, was released on July 24, 2007. It includes five previously unreleased songs and a short film, which was recorded and filmed at the Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The songs were written in 2004, during the Fever To Tell tour, and performed live often.[11] Three of the five tracks were featured on the Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow DVD.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' next album was released in March 2009 and titled It's Blitz!.[12] The band stated the album sounds different from their previous ones but "still [sounds] like Yeah Yeah Yeahs". It was originally set to be published on April 13, but following an internet leak on February 22, the band's label, Interscope, pulled the release date closer to reduce the leak's impact.[13] The album spawned three singles: "Zero", "Heads Will Roll", and "Skeletons". It's Blitz! was named second-best album of 2009 by Spin and third-best by NME. The track "Zero" was ranked as the best track of the year by both.[14][15][16][17]
On December 9, 2011, Karen O reported to NME that she had been working on new music with the band, hinting a new album was possibly in the making.[18] On January 14, 2013, Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced on their Facebook page that the new record would be titled Mosquito. It was released on April 16 of the same year.[19] The album features production by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, Nick Launay, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy.[20] The first single, "Sacrilege", came out on February 15, 2013.[21] "Despair" was issued as the second single, on July 23.[22] In December 2014, the band went on hiatus.[23]
Return and Cool It Down (2017–present)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing in 2018
In 2016, Yeah Yeah Yeahs received writing credits on the Beyoncé single "Hold Up".[24] On June 20, 2017, the band announced that they would be headlining the Austin Sound on Sound festival on November 10, adding: "Watch for more news coming soon".[25] The festival was subsequently cancelled.[26]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs released a deluxe remastering of their debut album on October 20, 2017, through Interscope / UMe. It features previously unreleased demos, B-sides, and other rarities from the era.[27] In a press release, the band stated, "A friend of a friend kept asking if we were ever gonna put Fever to Tell out on vinyl as it hasn't been on vinyl in 10 years. That's not right. So here it is on vinyl for the first time in 10 years plus a time capsule of photos, demos (1st ever recorded,) a mini film documenting our near downfall and other fun memorabilia, from the turn of the century NYC, made with love + the usual blood, sweat + tears of Yeah Yeah Yeahs." To celebrate the reissue, the band performed a small series of shows in October and November at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California, the Fox Oakland Theatre in Oakland, California, and Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. On May 26, 2018, they played at All Points East in London.[28]
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