ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Oh Yeah" by Yello

Todd!! What do you think of Harry Styles new album? :)

I’m late to the party but great episode! The more of these you do the more I realize that for a band to have 1 hit they almost always need to be good enough to at least be interesting. Almost always lol. Even my go to a hit wonder Little Peggy Marsh had quite the career in Europe. I do hope you’ll do “Let the Music Play” by Shannon one of these days. Probably my favorite 1 hitter from my formative days.

Loved the Throbbing Gristle and Residents shoutouts! Apt comparisons and largely overlooked influential acts.

Trevor Habig

As a philistine Swiss person I have to say that cuckoo clocks are rather German. And yes, I know it makes the Orsen Welles clip even worse, we have nothing. This episode was awesomely researched, thanks.

This was amazing. Thank you Todd!

Claire Bendix

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie(Dir: David Soren, 2017) That's all I'm saying.

Michael

Probably never.

Michael

Love Yello, and I'm so glad that you covered them (and liked them)! Oddly enough, the Residents put out their first couple records in the U.S., so I was glad to see them get a shoutout too!

Matt Keeley

Gary Glitter when?

I liked Opportunity Knocks!

For your next 1 hit wonderland you should do Stacey's Mom

I'm this weird person who hasn't seen "Ferris Buehler" (or "Secret of My Success") but I did know this song because of The Simpsons. Except I didn't know Duffman's entrance music a 'real' song. I have heard of the song, but didn't connect the two because this is such a weird song I wouldn't have guessed it was actually a song.

Josh Liller

Some may also recognize it from Gran Turismo 4, whenever you fail a license test.

I always wondered about this song, like most people I know it from the Simpsons as it tends to play whenever Duffman shows up. Secret of My Success is a good movie IMO

RedBedroomRecords

I have been a huge fan of these guys for years and even I didn't know that Dieter Meier was on Switzerland's national golf team. (The joke/observation that follows this is also the hardest I've ever laughed at one of your videos.) Also, a rogue Bryan Ferry appears for one second at 17:37!

Anthony Hansen

One of your best recent videos IMO. Had no idea who they were, now I must go learn more.

Cristina Youngren

I knew a little bit of their story like how they helped compose the soundtrack to the film "Nuns on the Run" starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, but I never would have expected their catalog to be that colorful!

Emily Malek

Oh, and appreciate the Throbbing Gristle shout-out. RIP Genesis.

Joe G

I knew a bit of the Yello story, but this deep-dive really went places I didn't expect.

Joe G

Todd is really earning his Patreon money lately. Informative, interesting, and analytical music content. I just assumed that the song was composed for Ferris Bueller as a Ferrari tie in. But two Swiss experimental artists singing about the moon makes more sense.

Gideon Weinerth

Todd makes a comment at the beginning about this being an experimental art act and "one of the most willfully bizarre acts to ever hit it big". Two nights ago, out of curiosity, I looked up the Wikipedia entry for one of the oddest songs from my youth: O Superman by Laurie Anderson, and discovered it had apparently hit #2 in the U.K. (although it never charted in the U.S. to my knowledge). In that context, Yello hitting it big is a no-brainer.

Pooga

First off, I just want to get fanboy mopey here, and thank you so much for covering my all time favorite band! This band has been a part of me since childhood, heavily influencing my personal taste, and also influencing the way I look at things artistically. It's also appearant that aside from Oh Yeah, they really are barely known for a huge majority of people, I would say even inside of Europe. And considering that Oh Yeah didn't even chart that much in the US, I never thought it would be covered here, either. So you can only have a faint of an idea how much of a shock, how loud of a gasp and then fangirl squeal, and even tears I gave out when I saw that thumbnail! I'm not exaggerating here! You hit it on the nail why they are so special and why they are unlike anything else, and in turn, what makes them so great in the end. They're not here to be popular and pop-like, despite some of their tracks actually having a more pop structure. They're here to literally play with the sounds, whether it comes from a computer or from nature, and create music around it, and be inspired by the everyday sound so that they can make more music. At first glance, they do sound like just a mish mash of noise, and one might give up, because of the lack of the well known song structure, but once someone actually pays close attention, they can hear that these tacks actually have structure, down to the very last little detail, as if they are playing out a scene in which whatever can happen. They said it once how they structure the albums as if they are a movie soundtrack, and quite honestly, I never got it why they, or even just Boris, didn't make one (the closes we got is when their existing tracks were edited together for Nuns on the Run, and a 90s UK dub of an anime movie), because each album really does have a certain theme, from the more tropical sounds on the One Second album, to a more techno/house style in Zebra or Pocket Universe, to a post-modern sci-fi of The Eye and the romantic motives of Touch. I'm not going to unleash my fanboyism too much, so I'm just going to repeat the video: do yourself a favor, check their whole discography out, and prepare for the unexpected! And also look forward to their new album, which may or may not come out this year, according to their Instagram!

Did anyone else watch this and think there was going to be an April Fool's joke? lol

That explains why the song plays whenever you failed a driving test in Gran Turismo 2.

Gilbert Cortes

Yeees! Yello! I listened sooo much to them in hight school! Always a lot of fun to hear you talk about euoropean bands, and realise how little of it actually made it big in america, lol

Ymir

When I was at camp in high school, one of the counselors was always playing this weird, interesting music. I asked what one of the songs was, and it was Yello - Move Dance Be Born. It definitely sounds like the people who made Oh Yeah, but more direct and musical. Always figured there was a lot more to these guys than one joke song. Also they have one of the best album covers ever: https://img.discogs.com/y1KY-Jq-NcAuXlHYDS7qKFhH1ec=/fit-in/600x539/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-210616-1178713318.jpeg.jpg

giascle

I always think of that Always Sunny clip, so I was happy to see it here

Skull Servant Tier 0 (Rosie)

I had never heard of this song, but I know them for "The Race".. can confirm that over here (Europe), that's their big hit.

RPGFan

I mainly associate "Oh Yeah" with failure.

Just woke up from a nightmare and watched this. Thanks for the timely post

Sierra Reppert

I thought the same thing!! I guess that explains where it came from

Sierra Reppert

Also, I can't help but notice the Turkish flag in the "Oh Yeah" music video.

Jacqueline Sailer

I became a fan of Yello a couple of years ago or so. When I discovered what they were really all about, I was enthralled. They strike a rare but delicious crossroads between the atmosphere of ambient electronica and the catchy hooks you find in dance-pop.

Jacqueline Sailer

I actually completely forgot about this song being in the scene with the car, I only remembered hearing it when Jeffery Jones is walking down the bus while the credits are rolling.

oh this is a band i NEED to listen to

This was a fun watch.

Michael Russell

I like how you always seem to post these at about midnight.

Josh Spicer