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Biography
distinguish|yellowInfobox musical artist | | name = Yello| image =| image_size =| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = Switzerland | instrument =| genre = Electronica Dance music|Dance Synthpop New Wave music|New Wave Jazz | years_active = 1979present| label = Polydor Records|Polydor , Mercury Records|Mercury , Vertigo Records|Vertigo , 4th & B'way Records|4th & B'way , Smash Records|Smash , Elektra Records|Elektra , Ralph Records|Ralph | associated_acts =| website = http://www.yello.ch/ Yello.ch| current_members = Dieter Meier Boris Blank (musician)|Boris Blank | past_members = Carlos Perσn Yello is a Switzerland|Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank (musician)|Boris Blank . They are probably best known for their singles " The Race (Yello song)|The Race " and " Oh Yeah (Yello song)|Oh Yeah ", which feature a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals, as does most of their music.
Band history
The band was originally formed by Boris Blank (musician)|Boris Blank (keyboards, sampling, percussion, backing vocals) and Carlos Perσn (tapes) in the late 1970s. Dieter Meier (vocals, lyrics), a millionaire industrialist and gambler, was brought in when the two founders realized that they needed a singer. The new band name, Yello, was chosen as a pun based on a statement made by Dieter Meier , "a yelled Hello". http://www.audiusanews.com/newsrelease.do? id=505& mid=67 Audi USA news release Yello's first release was the 1979 single "I.T. Splash". The LP Solid Pleasure , featuring the hit dance single "Bostich", was released in November 1980.
In 1983, Yello received substantial media attention with the release of "I Love You" and "Lost Again". Perσn left the band in 1983 to start a solo career. With their 1983 album You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess , the band began a working relationship with Ernst Gamper , whose "corner cut" logo would represent them for three albums, and who would design covers for the group beyond the demise of this logo.Citation needed|date=March 2008 Meier is also a filmmaker, having written and directed the films Jetzt und Alles and Lightmaker as well as most of Yello's music videos. Additionally, Meier produces his own wine on his ranch. http://www.ojodeagua.ch Ojo De Agua
In 2005, Yello re-released their early albums Solid Pleasure , Claro Que Si , You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess , Stella (album)|Stella , One Second , and Flag (Yello album)|Flag , all with rare bonus tracks, as part of the Yello Remaster Series. http://www.discogs.com/Yello-Remaster-Series/release/573648 Remaster Series release info
A documentary on Yello, Electro Pop made in Switzerland , directed by Anka Schmid, was premiered at the Riff Raff cinema in Zόrich in September 2005. http://forum.theyellosite.com/viewtopic.php? f=7& t=226 Thread on Yello site forum about the Zurich premiere of 'Electro Pop made in Switzerland' documentary
Yello was commissioned to produce music for the launch of the Audi A5 at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2007 and for the Audi A5 commercial in May 2007. http://www.audiusanews.com/newsrelease.do? id=531& mid=67 Audi USA News Release
Musical style
Yello's sound is mainly characterized by unusual music samples, a heavy reliance on rhythm and Dieter Meier's dark voice. Boris Blank has taken a couple of vocal turns; on "Swing" (from You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess ) and "Blazing Saddles" (from Flag ), and guest vocalists have included Rush Winters (the first female diva to be featured on a Yello recording), Billy MacKenzie , Stina Nordenstam , Jade Davies and Shirley Bassey . The group has shared writing credit with MacKenzie and Winters. Yello rarely uses samples from previously released music; nearly every instrument has been sampled and engineered by Boris Blank, who over the years has built up an original sample library of over 100,000 named and categorized sounds. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/dec94/yello.html Boris Blank interview in Sound On Sound
The music is composed by Boris Blank, who considers himself a percussionist. When the tracks are mostly finished, Dieter Meier adds the vocal parts when fitting.
Yello music in popular culture
Listen|filename=Yello - Oh Yeah excerpt.ogg|title=Yello - Oh Yeah excerpt|description=An excerpt from "Oh Yeah" Yello's music has been popular in the Television|TV , advertisement and movie industries.
The single "Oh Yeah" became famous after being featured in the United States|American film|movies '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off , The Secret of My Succe$s , She's Out of Control , K-9 (film)|K-9 , the short film 5 Men and a Limo . The song is used on The Simpsons as the theme for the List of recurring characters from The Simpsons#Duffman|Duffman character. "Oh Yeah" is used as the soundtrack in the game Gran Turismo 4 , where it is played after a failed license test, and in the television advertisements for Irn-Bru featuring "Raoul". A short excerpt of "Oh Yeah" is also used in the South Park episode " Hell on Earth 2006 ", namely in the making of the Ferrari cake scene. It also featured prominently in commercials for Twix candy bars and the Austin Metro , and was used extensively in commercials for the now defunct New Zealand department store, DEKA (New Zealand)|DEKA . "Oh Yeah" also appeared in Season 4 of '' It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia '' in the episode 'Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack'. The characters Charlie and Mac were singing the song and referred to it as 'Day Bow Bow'.
The song "Tied Up" was used in the opening credits of the 1990 film " Opportunity Knocks (film)|Opportunity Knocks ". A piece of the song "The Race" was also used in a scene in the film.
The song "Desire" featured in the 1989 TV movie/pilot "Nick Knight"
The songs "Desire", "Tied Up", and "Otto Di Catania" were used in the 1991 film Dutch (film)|Dutch .
The song "Tied Up" was used in the 1989 film " She-Devil (film)|She-Devil ".
The song "Oh, yeah" was used in a movie K9 and also in an episode "kak vse" of a Russian TV journal " Eralash ".
The songs "Desire", "Moon on Ice", and "Call It Love" were used in seasons 3 and 4 of the TV series Miami Vice .cite web | url= http://www.wildhorse.com/MiamiVice/music/albums.html | title=A track listing of the soundtracks of the Miami Vice seasons | accessdate=2007-06-06
A Chilean contest and music TV program for teenagers called "Extra Jσvenes" - that lasted from the late 1980s through most of the 1990s - used the song "Tied Up" as the program's intro and for its respective advertisements.
Another single, "The Race", is well-known in Germany as the theme music to the 1980s pop show Formel Eins , and was also used in the movie Nuns on the Run . It is also featured in The Cutting Edge as the music for the main skaters' short program. "The Race" is also featured in the The Pink Panther (2006 film)|Pink Panther movie of 2006. Moreover, it has been heavily used by Eurosport and numerous car related programs, as well as the theme music for a British television commercial advertising Scalextric . For many years, the BBC television programme Grandstand used the music to accompany the introduction and what's on.
Yello created the soundtracks for the British comedy film Nuns on the Run and the American movie The Adventures of Ford Fairlane , and recorded a version of " Jingle Bells " for the film The Santa Clause . A small fraction of the song " Lost Again " was used in the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles .
Swiss car firm Rinspeed produced the " Rinspeed Yello Talbo|Yello Talbo " concept car in 1996 in association with the group.cite web | url= http://www.rinspeed.com/pages/cars/yello/pre-yello.htm | title=The Rinspeed website | accessdate=2007-06-06
In 1995, Yello composed the soundtrack for Manga Video 's version of the anime movie Space Adventure Cobra released in 1982 in Japan . The soundtrack consists of "Drive/Driven", "Daily Disco", "Rubberbandman", "Do It", "Of Course I'm Lying", "Suite 909", "How How", "Night Train", "Fat Cry", "Hawaiian Chance", "Sweet Thunder", "Poom Shanka", "Blue Green", and "Dr. Van Steiner". In addition to these tracks, there were others done exclusively for the movie that would later be reused and become the song "Beyond Mirrors" on Yello's 1997 album Pocket Universe .
In 2009 the online music store Beatport held a contest allowing producers to remix two of the band's most popular songs, Bostich and Oh Yeah. Meier and Blank chose three remixes from each song to be released on Yello's label Tiger Records.cite web | url= http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/yello-remix-contest-winners | title=Yello remix contest winners | accessdate=2010-07-29
Discography
Studio albums
Year
Album
Label
UK cite book
US
Additional information
1980
Solid Pleasure
Ralph Records (re-issued by Mercury Records / Vertigo Records )
-
-
1981
Claro Que Si
Ralph Records (re-issued by Mercury Records/ Vertigo Records)
-
-
1983
You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess
Stiff Records / Elektra Records (re-issued by Mercury Records
65
184
1985
Stella
Stiff Records/ Elektra Records (re-issued by Mercury Records)
92
-
1987
One Second
Mercury
48
92
Featuring Billy Mackenzie and Shirley Bassey
1988
Flag
Mercury
56
152
1991
Baby
Mercury/ PolyGram
37
-
1994
Zebra
Fourth & Broadway
-
-
1997
Pocket Universe
PolyGram
-
-
Featuring Stina Nordenstam on "To The Sea"
1999
Motion Picture
Polygram
-
-
2003
The Eye
Motor Music
-
-
2009
Touch Yello
Polydor
-
-
Other albums
Year
Album
Label
UK
US
Additional information
1986
19801985 The New Mix in One Go
Mercury
-
-
Remix album
1992
Bostich
Full Frequency Range Recordings/ Ralph Records
-
-
Remix album
1992
Essential
Mercury
-
-
Compilation album
1995
Hands on Yello
Urban Records / Motor Music
-
-
Remix album
1999
Eccentrix Remixes
Mercury
-
-
Remix album
2007
Progress and Perfection
-
-
-
Audi A5 promo album
2010
Yello by Yello
Polydor
-
-
Compilation album
Notable singles
Year
Title
Chart positions
Additional information
UK
U.S.
U.S. D/ P
1979
"Bostich"
23
1982
"You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess/ Heavy Whispers"
42
1983
"I Love You"
41
16
" Lost Again "
73
1984
"Pumping Velvet"
12
1985
"Vicious Games"
8
" Oh Yeah (Yello song)
51
35
Re-released with new lyrics added in 1987. This version was added only in the original release of One Second .
1986
"Goldrush"
54
featured Billy MacKenzie
1987
" The Rhythm Divine "
54
featured Shirley Bassey
"Call It Love"
1988
" The Race (Yello song)
7
33
"Tied Up"
60
9
1989
"Of Course I'm Lying"
23
"Blazing Saddles"
47
1990
"Unbelievable"
22
1991
"Rubberbandman"
58
1992
"Jungle Bill"
61
40
" The Race (Yello song)
55
re-issued with "Bostich"
1994
"Do It"
46
1995
"Tremendous Pain"
7
1996
"How How"
59
28
"Jingle Bells"
44
1997
"On Track"
16
"To the Sea"
featured Stina Nordenstam
1999
"Vicious Games"
110http:/ / www.zobbel.de/ cluk/ CLUK_Y.HTM
Yello vs Hardfloor
2003
"Planet Dada"
2011
"Mean Monday"
Included in the book "Yello - Boris Blank und Dieter Meier". Released on iTunes on October 22, 2011.
References
Reflist
External links
Official website| http://www.yello.ch/ (requires browser plug-in to navigate)
http://www.dietermeier.com/ Dieter Meier's Official website (requires browser plug-in to navigate)
http://www.theyellosite.com/ The Yello Site
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Yello Detailed discography on Discogs
Yello Category:Musical groups established in 1979 Category:Dance musical groups Category:Techno music groups Category:Swiss electronic music groups Category:Swiss New Wave musical groups Category:Synthpop groups
