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Underground > Radio & Music >

Yeah Yeah Yeahs : "as a fuck son, you suck"

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Matthew Fluxington

19:08 / 01.07.03

I can't believe they made "Pin" a single. I just don't get it - everyone who hears the record (including the band itself) agrees that "Maps" is the best song on the album. So why not make that a single? "Pin" is such a throwaway. What's the point? Are they trying to make people think they suck, or something?

The singles for the record should've been, in this order:

"I'm Rich"
"Maps"
"Y-Control"

Tryphena Absent

19:45 / 01.07.03

I'm going to agree with Flux very enthusiastically- Maps is the best song on the album by far. I know this because I get an uncontrollable urge to turn the volume up everytime it comes on and it still manages to sound like a lullaby.

Tryphena Absent

19:52 / 01.07.03

Oh and it's far too good to be a single anyway. Singles are meant to be trash, that's why we refer to them as singles, they're like the processed cheese slices to the more expensive lump of cheddar.

Matthew Fluxington

20:57 / 01.07.03

I don't agree that singles should be disposable trash. I genuinely believe that the best, most accessable songs should be hits. "Maps" should be a radio hit, everyone should know it. It's that good. It should belong to everyone, not just the people who bought a record with two lame singles on it, as it is now.

09:13 / 02.07.03

"Are they trying to make people think they suck, or something?" its all your opinion still, just because you say so doesn't mean that it is true flux. you like coldplay and the new pornographers, that stuff is just too tarty for me. and I really don't like maps so much or at least as much as you guys do, yeah its a good song but Y-Control is better for me. maps is what it is, a nice love letter to her boyfriend.
the pin single wasn't at the Wherehouse or Borders that I checked at today, what gives?

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:43 / 02.07.03

I'll concede that 'Pin' may be a bit of an odd choice for a single - it's not one of the most obvious choices, and probably not the one I'd have chosen. But I certainly wouldn't call it "lame", and to imply that 'Date With The Night' is a bad choice for a single is very perverse, I think: you may not like the song, but it's a no-brainer as a first single off the album. 'Pin' has a chorus that's catchy as hell - you don't even need to know the words! - but I do think that while it works really well in the context of Fever To Tell as the point where the album starts to slide from raucous party to subdued comedown, this 'in-between' quality hinders it as a single. I would have preferred 'Rich' or 'Tick', both of which are different enough from 'Date With The Night'.

Bear in mind that they may well be saving 'Maps': I don't know about the US, but in the UK bands often deliberately plan their sequence of singles so that the big ballad comes near the end... Call me crazy, but if I were planning these things I might also hold 'Maps' back until the weather started to turn a little colder - it's such a wintry song.

Running through the desire (of myself and others) for 'Maps' to be a single, aside from the desire for as many people as possible to hear a great song, may be the idea that the band need to dispel the image of them as ultra-hip, ultra-hedonistic New York fashion casualties - hence, show off the heartfelt, yearning love song. But I think I prefer them not to give a fuck about that pressure.

Matthew Fluxington

13:19 / 02.07.03

I guess "Date With A Night" is a perfect single if you want to sell your band as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with a female singer.

Did you know that I never leave the house without a Coldplay t-shirt?

nedrichards is confused

13:49 / 02.07.03

Flux is that wearing it or just secreted about your person?

Matthew Fluxington

14:35 / 02.07.03

I wear it like a cape.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

17:45 / 02.07.03

I merely reply to this thread to report that flux's last comment had me pissing my pants. Literally.

Now I shall send you my dry cleaning bill.

I guess I should say something about the yyy's now. Um, Pin is a rubbish song, their album completely fails to interest me, they should have released an ep of the best songs instead of an album which seems to be full of filler.

Ha.

Regrettable Juvenilia

18:24 / 02.07.03

They did an EP. Then they did an album. I'm counting to ten and being very restrained.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

18:32 / 02.07.03

They shouldnt release albums then, clearly.

Has that made it better?

Matthew Fluxington

21:06 / 02.07.03

See, I am sure that Suedehead wouldn't feel this way about the band if they had released "Maps" or "Y-Control" as a single instead. Knowing his taste, I bet he'd really like those songs. But all he knows are the lame, lame, boring singles.

See? This is what happens.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

22:00 / 02.07.03

Actually flux, I have the album. What makes me feel this way about the band is that I think the album is severely lacking but could have been fantastic.

The singles, well that I just don't understand. Pin is a b-side if ever I heard one.

I think they could be a very good band. I just don't think they are yet, and I think they might just manage to miss it completely by doing exactly the same thing again and again and again. They kind of bore me already, despite having some very good songs. Hidden amongst the dross.

Matthew Fluxington

22:06 / 02.07.03

I think the Yeah Yeah Yeahs should record another album/ep, and then break up so that the guitarist and drummer can be in better bands.

Matthew Fluxington

22:07 / 02.07.03

And dude, you shoulda bought Sister instead!

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

22:16 / 02.07.03

Flux, don't worry, Sister is winging it's way to me as we speak. As we speak!

Someone gave me a copy of the yyy's album. That's the good thing about modern technology, you don't have to buy the album to find out it's shit. But you get the good songs out of it. That aren't released as singles.

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:06 / 03.07.03

So which songs are the "dross", "filler" tracks, Suedehead, and why? I genuinely don't get it. The only one I even have a slightly dubious opinion of is 'No No No' (and 'Cold Light' isn't as good on the album as I've heard it elsewhere, but what the hell).

I also don't get the implied Karen O slating behind that comment about the other two joining "better" bands, Flux. Whose cat did the poor woman run over?

Matthew Fluxington

11:40 / 03.07.03

I don't think Karen O is much of a singer. I get the feeling that she holds the other two guys back creatively because she has a very limited range musically and emotionally. I think that she is the weak link in the band, even though she's the reason why most people are attracted to the band.

I'm sure the other two guys are fine with it now.

05:11 / 04.07.03

"I think the Yeah Yeah Yeahs should record another album/ep, and then break up so that the guitarist and drummer can be in better bands." and "don't think Karen O is much of a singer. I get the feeling that she holds the other two guys back creatively because she has a very limited range musically and emotionally. I think that she is the weak link in the band, even though she's the reason why most people are attracted to the band." hahahhahahahahaahahhaha HEY MAN, you're frickin hiLARIOUS!!! what else? what's more? oh shit thats hilarious, and you're not even trying to be. oh yeah and "Did you know that I never leave the house without a Coldplay t-shirt?" you leave your house?
hey wait I don't understand why they should even record another ep or album, why not just disband immediately? so they could make another song like maps for you?

07:05 / 04.07.03

UP THA PUNKS,err well....
man they fuckn rock. tha EPs are tha best fever to tell was good, but tha whole love thing kinna sucks. and flux c'mon Maps, its ok at most. there are so many better songs by them. Bang, Mystery Girl, Our time, Y-control.........
any ways, there great, and should release more songs like tha ones off tha Master EP and the other EPs.
oh, and
YOU GUYS NEED LIVES seriously

nedrichards is confused

08:42 / 04.07.03

No Skull Cowboy, I think what you'll find I need is a Coldplay tshirt.

Matthew Fluxington

13:57 / 04.07.03

Method Man, let me walk you through this.

I don't have a Coldplay t-shirt, and I don't wear it like a cape. I'm not much of a Coldplay fan, actually. I do find it really amusing that my taste would be reduced to "Coldplay fan" after defending them in another thread. So, I was teasing you.

I definitely think that some bands have a shelf life, particularly punk bands. I think it would definitely be in the best interest of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to not stick around too long, because it doesn't suit their collective personality. They should stick with this romantic art-punk thing that they've got going on, and quit while they are ahead, like many other classic art-punk groups. I really don't think they have much room to grow within their rather narrow set of aesthetics, so it seems rather likely that their future records may suffer from a bad case of diminishing returns.

Really, most of the same qualities that make people like the band so much are the same qualities which would indicate that the band indeed has an expiration date, and that they know it - the mix of over-the-top romanticism and urgency is the dead giveaway, I think.

20:11 / 04.07.03

ah really! uh I thought you DID have a coldplay t-shirt, I really did believe you! ah dang and shucks flux, your impeccable wit has completely gone right over my head! I too find it amusing that your defending a band in another thread would make one come up with the conclusion that you would like the said band hahahaha look at me hahaaahhaah-thanks for the walk through by the way-ahhahaahh..eheheh...

whooooooooo

now that that's out of the way
uh I never did say that you were a coldplay fan did I? I think I just said that you liked them and the new pornographers and then teased you about not leaving your house. I really couldn't give a fuck if you do or don't like coldplay.
and I already posted that they wouldn't last long a while ago and why(yeah Karen almost quitting the band and admitting that maybe she "should just not do it" is a dead give away too). everything else is still just you, unless of course you've got a time machine that you jump into from time to time to predict the future.

21:30 / 09.07.03

according to the bang fansite flyboy was right they are going to release maps later, in september.
got a import of the pin single, its alright, was anticipating nick on the guitar not on a casio on the mr your on fire mr cover, irregardless, they fucking rock.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:58 / 06.10.03

Thought it was worth bumping this thread in light of the discussion of the band, and particularly 'Maps', which has been going on over in the Strokes thread.

I really like the somewhat impressionistic response to this song that can be found here (but the archives seem to be screwed so you'll have to scroll down):

"...that guitar, so clean, so clear, and the crisp sound of the drums, a ten years late "fuck you" to grunge wanting purity through eating dirt, and her voice, as a solitary tear slides, almost unseen, down her cheek and she gives water to the dead, the dead relationship and she doesn't understand how it could be over... Her voice, the voice of the universe in slow torturous heat death, spinning slowly back to oblivion in the blak hole at the centre of creation, how could we possibly choose oblivion over her? Because they can't love us like she loves us. This is the language of the twenty-first century, bewilderment, pain, loss. "How can they hate us so much?" recast as the breakdown of a love affair...

This from a member of the board who admits they weren't too fond of the band before, so anyone who thought this song would win people round had a point...

06:31 / 07.10.03

I fucking love that video, its definitely my favorite music video, its definitely a powerful moment when that first tear drops, gives me the shivers or something. what a gorgeous song.
what about countdown? I like that song. the only songs I don't like by them are "man" and "graveyard"
and fuck, I actually met Nick and Brian at the second night of the white stripes show in los ahnhelles, me and my cousin just got too bored before jack and meg's encore, and talked a little with Nick but he left a little after Karen did and then we had like a actual like full conversation with Brian, he was cool. they're a very cool band and very nice. both have got iron grip handshakes too.
and had to buy a import of maps, apparently "made in England" again, which sort of sucks but whatever.

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