Oh Yeah by Yello: Innovative, Ahead of Their Time & a Little Crazy

My very favorite band ever....'Yello'. Or perhaps that should read my favorite Duo since essentially 'Yello' is nowadays comprised of only two people 'Dieter Meier' (born. 03/04/45') the slightly insane looking Swiss Millionaire/Industrialist/performance artist and would you believe professional poker player (I don't know where he finds the time) and musician extraordinaire 'Boris Blank' (born 01/15/52') one of the most underappreciated and probably unheard of musicians around. In their initial line-up a Mr. 'Carlos Peron' was also present but after a few years and a couple of albums he was gone and the tight-knit pairing who created the uber-catchy 'Ferris Bueller' famed song 'Oh Yeah' was born. A dynamic duo that has survived for well almost 30 years now.

Now although their LP/CD sales were fairly modest, commercial success did not elude this wacky partnership. The real money coming from all the commercials and films (especially from the 80's) that have used 'Yello' tracks, both in the past and right up to the present. Although I don't think they wrote specifically for film or TV their tunes were just so darn catchy that they were ripe for this kind of entertainment. Especially so with commercials where you only have a few seconds to catch someone's attention and many 'Yello' songs lent themselves beautifully to this.

The music for Yello was supplied by 'Boris Blank' whose superlative use of intricately woven rhythms and jungle-beats was a foil for the perfectly absurd 'Louis Armstrong' distorted vocal renderings of 'Dieter Meier' whose contributions to the group are his insanely dead-pan bassy voice (albeit enhanced/distorted somewhat) which is instantly recognizable as are the out-there lyrics he also provides. Their music certainly shows an affinity for the Latin side of things. Jazz, Brazilian rhythms, Salsa, Rumba. Actually any Ballroom dance music style you can think of has been manipulated and distorted by the hugely talented 'Boris Blank', with a horn here, a saxophone there and pretty much every musical sound you can imagine over the course of their 25 year + career to accompany the insanely cool (hardly ever changing) singing style of 'Dieter Meier'. You only have to check out some of their song titles to see where they draw their music influences from with tracks like 'Downtown Samba' and 'Swing'. Unafraid to delve into any musical gene-pool 'Boris Blank' also used many African tribal sounds to great effect and on top of all this were 'Dieter Meier's' ludicrously catchy and sometimes inscrutable lyrics. Always fun and always innovative they are nothing if not entertaining and always seemed to have their finger on the pulse of the dance floor.

The obvious example being 'Oh Yeah':

'Oh yeah... oh yeah... oh yeah
The moon... beautiful
The sun... even more beautiful
Oh yeah... oh yeah... oh yeah'

And that's all they needed for the catchiest, toe-tappingest song of the 80's. In the 90's the lyrics stayed in the same vein. Mostly simplified chorus lines repeated with much humor and enough dark wit to engage you, whilst keeping a smile on your face. Check out the lyrics to 'Who's Groove'

'Robo who, robo gone, robo what, robo one
Robo where, robo never, robo why, robo clever
Robo hi, robo ho in he sky, robo no'

No-one and I mean no-one else else could get away with singing a song like that. It's all about the delivery and 'Yello' could always be relied upon to do that with mucho style. They were and are all about having fun with a zest for life and a huge dose of humor. They aren't averse to being completely non-sensical with their lyrics but always in the most entertaining ways. They have run the gamut from the almost punk attitude of their 1st LP 'Solid Pleasure' in 1980' through the Electro-Pop stylings of the 80's 'One Second' album in 1987' right up to the 90's with Techno stylings of 'Zebra' in 1994' and 00's with the Eye' in 2005'. 'Boris Blank' can program the most insanely complicated beat patterns and rhythms but with the most sophisticated and assured of touches so that whatever rhythmical patterns he creates always compliments the songs style. There was always a crazy kind of soulfulness to it all and the signature 'Yello Sound' was evident on every track.

Unfortunately for the band/duo (call them what you will) they aren't the most photogenic pairing in the world and their atrocious and hammy music video acting skills didn't do them any favors in the Pop-Video world. If you check out some of their songs on 'You-Tube' you will no doubt cringe (as did I) although with toes firmly tapping. However, with much verve, imagination and skill this group/duo has managed to entertain for nearly three full decades. If your looking for a group with imagination, verve and humor. A band who can weave rhythms and beats into toe-tapping, can't get em' out of your head ditties. A band that can melt Latin salsa with rock guitar, throw in some Techno and Jazzy vocals during the course of one song then do yourself a favor and check out this wonderful group. 'Oh Yeah' was only the beginning. After you listen to some of their albums you too will be saying.............'Oh Yeah!!!'.