Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo (formerly of

Slint Slint was an American Rock music, rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986 after the dissolution of two local bands, Squirrel Bait and Maurice. It initially consisted of guitarist-vocalist Brian McMahan, guitaris ...

and

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

), who joined as a touring member in 2009 and replaced Imaad Wasif, who had previously held the role. According to a 2004 interview that aired during their appearance on ABC's ''Live from Central Park SummerStage'' series, the band's name was taken from modern New York City

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

. The band has recorded five studio albums; the first, ''

Fever to Tell ''Fever to Tell'' is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on April 29, 2003, by Interscope Records. It was produced by David Andrew Sitek and mixed by Alan Moulder. Four singles were issued, the first bei ...

'', was released in 2003. The second, '' Show Your Bones'', was released in 2006 and was named the second-best album of the year by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. Their third studio album, '' It's Blitz!'', was released in March 2009. All three albums earned the band Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Music Album. Their fourth record, ''

Mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

'', came out in April 2013. In September 2022, they released '' Cool It Down'', and the album was also nominated for a Grammy award.

History

Formation and ''Fever to Tell'' (1990s–2004)

Karen Orzolek and Brian Chase first met as students at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in Ohio in the late 1990s, where Chase was a jazz student at the conservatory. Karen then transferred to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and met Nick Zinner, a student at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, in a local bar, where they formed an "instant connection". During this time, they also shared a loft with future members of the band Metric. Orzolek 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 student, avant-punk bands Karen O was exposed to at Oberlin. After the drummer they initially recruited bowed out, Chase joined the lineup. The band wrote a slew of songs at their first rehearsal and soon wound up supporting

the Strokes The Strokes are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1998. The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikola ...

and

the White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

, earning a significant buzz for their arty and garage punk scene. In late 2001, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their self-titled debut EP, which they recorded with Boss Hog's Jerry Teel, on their own Shifty label. Early the next year, they stepped into the international spotlight, appearing at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, touring the U.S. with Girls Against Boys, and Europe with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and headlining their own U.K. tour. Wichita Recordings distributed the group's EP in the U.K. and Touch and Go reissued it in the States. In 2003, the band released their debut album, ''

'', which received several strong critical reviews and sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide. The album's third single, "

Maps A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

", received significant airplay on alternative radio. In 2010, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked "Maps" as 386th in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The video for their 2004 single " Y Control" was directed by

Spike Jonze Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (), is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television. 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. Later the same year, they were featured in Scott Crary's documentary '' Kill Your Idols''. In November 2009, ''

'' rated ''Fever to Tell'' the fifth-best album of the decade.

''Show Your Bones'', ''Is Is'', and ''It's Blitz!'' (2005–2009)

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' second album, '' Show Your Bones'', was released on March 28, 2006. Karen O told online zine Drowned 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." The first single from the album, " Gold Lion", was released on March 20, 2006, reaching number 18 in the Official 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 2006, the album was named second-best album of the year by ''

'' magazine, and "Cheated Hearts" was voted tenth-best song. ''

'' magazine named ''Show Your Bones'' the 44th-best album of 2006, while '' Spin'' magazine ranked it number 31 on their 40 best albums of 2006. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' third EP, titled '' Is Is'', was released on July 24, 2007. It includes 5 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. Three of the five tracks were featured on the '' Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow'' DVD. Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Glastonbury 2009

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' next album was released in March 2009 and titled '' It's Blitz!''. The band stated the album sounds different from their previous ones but "still oundslike Yeah Yeah Yeahs". It was originally set to be published on April 13, but following an

internet leak An internet leak is the unauthorized release of information over the internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, a ...

on February 22, the band's label, Interscope, pulled the release date closer to reduce the leak's impact. The album spawned three singles: "

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

", " Heads Will Roll", and " Skeletons". ''It's Blitz!'' was named second-best album of 2009 by ''

Spin Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps as ''SPIN'') is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. ...

'' and third-best by ''

'', along with "

" from the album listed as the best track of the year by both.

''Mosquito'' and hiatus (2011–2016)

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. On January 14, 2013, it was announced via their official Facebook page that the new album would be titled ''

''. It was released on April 16, of the same year. The album features production by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, Nick Launay, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy. The first single, "

Sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

", was released on February 15, 2013. "Despair" was released as the second single on July 23, 2013. Yeah Yeah Yeahs Ventura

In December 2014, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs went on hiatus. In 2016, the band received writing credits on the

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

single " Hold Up". Yeah Yeah Yeahs Corona Capital Guadalajara

Return, reissue of ''Fever to Tell'', and ''Cool It Down'' (2017–2022)

On June 20, 2017, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced that they would be headlining the Austin "Sound on Sound" festival on November 10, adding: "Watch for more news coming soon" The Sound on Sound festival was subsequently cancelled. On May 26, 2018, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played at All Points Festival in Victoria Park, London. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released a deluxe remastering of their debut album ''Fever to Tell'' on October 20, 2017, through Interscope / UMe. It features previously unreleased demos, B-sides, and other rarities from the era. In a press release, the band announced, "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. In June 2022, the band announced that they would be releasing the album '' Cool It Down'' on September 30, making it their first record in nine years. They released the first single, "Spitting Off the Edge of the World", featuring Perfume Genius, on June 1. On September 29, 2022, the band performed their second single, "Burning", on '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' as part of the show's weeklong residency at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

Musical style

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' style has been described as "an art-rock trio who made an edgy post-punk, dancefloor-friendly racket that mixed up Blondie, Pretenders, and

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

Band members

* Karen O – vocals, piano, keyboards * Nick Zinner – guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizers * Brian Chase – drums, percussion

Awards and nominations

Antville Music Video Awards , - , rowspan="2" , 2006 , rowspan="2" , "Gold Lion" , Best Cinematography , , - , rowspan="2" , Best Performance Video , , - , rowspan="4" , 2013 , "Despair" , , - , rowspan="3" , "

" , Video of the Year , , - , Best Narrative , , - , Best Editing , BMI London Awards , - , 2007 , " Gold Lion" , Pop Award , Best Art Vinyl !Ref. , - , 2022 , '' Cool It Down'' , Best Vinyl Art , , D&AD Awards , - , 2005 , " Y Control" , Direction , , - , rowspan=2, 2014 , rowspan=2, "

" , Cinematography , , - , Editing , Grammy Awards , - , style="text-align:center;",

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, ''

'' , rowspan="4", Best Alternative Music Album , , - , style="text-align:center;",

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, '' Show Your Bones'' , , - , style="text-align:center;",

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, '' It's Blitz!'' , , - , style="text-align:center;" rowspan=2,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, '' Cool It Down'' , , - , "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" , Best Alternative Music Performance , , - International Dance Music Awards , - , rowspan="3", 2010 , Themselves , Best Artist (Group) , , - , '' It's Blitz'' , Best Artist Album , , - , " Heads Will Roll" , Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track , Libera Awards , - , rowspan="2",

, "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" , Video of the Year , , - , ''Cool It Down'' , Marketing Genius , MTV Video Music Awards , - , rowspan="4",

, rowspan="4", "

" , Best Art Direction , , - , Best Editing , , - , Best Cinematography , , - , MTV2 Award , , - ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, " Heads Will Roll" , Breakthrough Video , , - , rowspan="2",

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, rowspan="2", "

" , Best Direction , , - , Best Cinematography , MVPA Awards , - , 2005 , " Y Control" , Best Alternative Video , , - , 2006 , " Gold Lion" , Best Cinematography , , - , 2009 , "

" , Best Rock Video , mtvU Woodie Awards , - , 2004 , Themselves , Woodie of the Year , , - , 2009 , " Heads Will Roll" , Best Video Woodie , NME Awards , - , rowspan="2", 2003 , Themselves , Philip Hall Hot New Band Award , , - , rowspan="3", Karen O , rowspan="3", Hottest Woman , , - , 2005 , , - , 2007 , , - , rowspan="2", 2010 , "

" , Best Dancefloor Filler , , - , Themselves , Best International Band , , - , 2011 , Karen O , Hottest Woman , New York Music Awards , - , 2011 , " Heads Will Roll" ( A-Trak Remix) , Best Dance Remix , Rober Awards Music Poll , - , rowspan=4, 2009 , rowspan=2, Themselves , Best Rock Artist , , - , Band of the Year , , - , "

" , Song of the Year , , - , " Heads Will Roll" ( A-Trak Remix) , Best Remix , Shortlist Music Prize , - , 2003 , ''

'' , Album of the Year , UK Music Video Awards , - , rowspan="2", 2013 , rowspan="2", "

" , Best Rock/Indie Video , , - , Best Editing , Virgin Media Music Awards !Ref. , - , 2004 , Themselves , Most Innovative Act , , Žebřík Music Awards !Ref. , - , rowspan=2, 2009 , Karen O , Best International Female , , rowspan=2, , - , Themselves , Best International Discovery ,

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (2003) * '' Show Your Bones'' (2006) * '' It's Blitz!'' (2009) * ''

'' (2013) * '' Cool It Down'' (2022)

References

External links

*
BBC artist page

early list of links to interviews, photos, etc.
"Yeah Yeah Yeahs: The Love Cats"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2000 establishments in New York City Alternative rock groups from New York (state) American art rock groups American dance-punk musical groups American post-punk revival music groups Art punk groups Female-fronted musical groups Fiction Records artists Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Interscope Records artists Mixed-gender musical trios Musical groups established in 2000 Musical trios from New York (state) Modular Recordings artists Polydor Records artists Rock music groups from New York City Secretly Canadian artists Touch and Go Records artists Wichita Recordings artists