Yeah Yeah Yeahs (EP)

Last updated

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (EP).jpg
EP by
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
ReleasedJuly 9, 2001
Genre
Length13:44
Label Self-released
Producer
  • Jerry Teel
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs chronology
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
(2001)		 Machine
(2002)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs (often mistitled as Master) is the debut extended play (EP) by the American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was self-released on July 9, 2001. After forming in 2000 and building a reputation with their live shows, Yeah Yeah Yeahs recorded and produced the EP with Jerry Teel, a member of Boss Hog. It is a garage rock record featuring the band's early punk rock influences.

Contents

In April 2002, Touch and Go and Wichita reissued Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. It became a sleeper hit in both countries, topping the UK Indie Chart and exceeding sales of 71,000 units in the United States. The EP was favorably received by music critics; it placed second on NME 's list of the best singles of 2002, and 42nd on Paste's list of the greatest EPs ever made.

Composition

Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a garage rock EP that features the band's early punk rock sound. It consists of five tracks and runs for 13 minutes and 44 seconds. [1] A primary influence on the record was the rock band ESG, whom lead singer Karen O said they were "trying to be like... with guitar instead of bass." [2]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs begins with "Bang", a song about an unsatisfying sexual encounter Karen O had with an ex-boyfriend, emphasized by the repeated lyric, "As a fuck, son, you suck(ed)". [3] "Mystery Girl", co-written by the band and Jack Martin, continues these themes of sex and masturbation. [4] "Art Star" begins with a spoken word piece and continues with screaming vocals from Karen O, two elements that distinguish it from the band's later releases. [5] The EP closes with "Our Time", an inspirational anthem with lyrics that were believed to motivate New Yorkers to persevere after the September 11 attacks. [6]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 73/100 [7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Blender Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Pitchfork Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Stylus C+ [12]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs was self-released by the band on July 9, 2001 through their own label, Shifty. [1] It was reissued in April 2002 by Touch and Go Records in the United States and Wichita Recordings in the United Kingdom, becoming a sleeper hit. [13] [14] It reached number one on the UK Indie Chart, [15] number nine on the ARIA Heatseekers Chart, [16] number seven on the Tracklisten's Denmark Singles Chart, [17] and number 56 on the Swedish Singles Chart. [18] It was reported to have sold over 71,000 copies in the United States by early 2009. [19]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs was received positively by critics, with the British press in particular lauding the record. [13] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the EP received an average score of 73, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [7] Heather Phares of AllMusic believed it cemented the band as "the artiest and most challenging" group in the 2000s garage rock revival, [8] while Blender's Rob Kemp said it made Karen O the most exciting rock star of the time. [9]

Though Chris Dahlen from Pitchfork mocked the general rock movement, he was satisfied with the EP and said it demonstrated a "sharp survey" of the band's capabilities. [10] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone took issue with its sound quality and felt it dampened its potential, [4] though Sasha Frere-Jones from the same publication was more positive in her retrospective review for The Rolling Stone Album Guide . [11] Stylus's Kurt Deschermeier praised the first and third tracks but felt the other songs were unremarkable. [12]

In 2002, NME ranked Yeah Yeah Yeahs second on their list of that year's best singles. [20] In 2024, Paste ranked it at number 42 on their list of the "100 Greatest EPs of All Time". [6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, except "Mystery Girl", written by the band and Jack Martin.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Bang"3:09
2."Mystery Girl"2:57
3."Art Star"2:00
4."Miles Away"2:20
5."Our Time"3:23
Total length:13:44

Notes

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from Yeah Yeah Yeahs's liner notes. [1]

Charts

Chart performance for Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Chart (2001–2002)Peak
position
Australia Hitseekers (ARIA) [16] 9
Denmark Singles (Tracklisten) [17] 7
Swedish Singles (Sverigetopplistan) [18] 56
UK Indie Chart (OCC) [15] 1

References

  1. 1 2 3 Yeah Yeah Yeahs (CD liner notes). Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Shifty. 2001. SH05.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ↑ "Karen O: soundtrack of my life". The Guardian . August 29, 2014. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  3. ↑ True, Everett (August 2002). "An ancient interview with Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Thought you might enjoy reading it". Collapse Board. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Sheffield, Rob (July 16, 2002). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on December 27, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  5. ↑ Gray, Julia (June 1, 2018). "The 10 best Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs". Stereogum . Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  6. 1 2 "The 100 Greatest EPs of All Time". Paste . September 25, 2024. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  7. 1 2 "Reviews for Yeah Yeah Yeahs (EP) by Yeah Yeah Yeahs". Metacritic . Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Phares, Heather. "Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Yeah Yeah Yeahs". AllMusic . Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Kemp, Rob (July 9, 2002). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". Blender . Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  10. 1 2 Dahlen, Chris (July 3, 2002). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on March 18, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  11. 1 2 Frere-Jones, Sasha (2004). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p.  894. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  12. 1 2 Deschermeier, Kurt (September 1, 2003). "Master". Stylus Magazine . Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  13. 1 2 Breihan, Tom (July 9, 2021). "The Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP turns 20". Stereogum . Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  14. ↑ Breihan, Tom (March 31, 2010). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bright Eyes help Wichita celebrate 10th anniversary". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on January 26, 2025. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  15. 1 2 "Chart Log UK: Rachael Yamagata – Malik Yusef". Zobbel.de. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
  16. 1 2 "ARIA Report: Issue 868" (PDF). ARIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  17. 1 2 "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". danishcharts.dk. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Economic downturn claims Chicago indie label". February 21, 2009. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017 – via uk.reuters.com.
  20. ↑ "NME's best albums and tracks of 2002". NME . October 10, 2016. Archived from the original on January 24, 2025. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
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