Yello is a popular Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They are probably best known for their single Oh Yeah, which featured a rich mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals. The song became famous after being featured in the American movies Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Secret of My Success. The song is the theme for Duffman on The Simpsons.
Yello was originally formed by Boris Blank and Carlos Peron in the late 1970s. Dieter Meier, a millionaire playboy with a very versatile career, was brought in when the two founders realised that they needed a singer. Meier and Blank joined forces in 1979 to release a single called I.T. Splash. The LP Solid Pleasure, featuring the hit dance single Bostich, was released the following year. It wasn't until 1983 that Yello received substantial media attention, with the release of I Love You and Lost Again. Peron left the band in 1983 to start a solo career.
Yello takes great pride in their original sound, which is mainly characterised by weird samples, a heavy reliance on rhythm and Dieter Meier's dark voice. Every track on a Yello album has been created by the band from scratch. 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.
Yello's music is often described by its fans as very visual, creating dramatic movie-like visions in their minds. This quality has made Yello popular in the TV, advertisement and movie industries. The single Oh Yeah has been featured in numerous TV commercials, used as the soundtrack for American Football on US TV and included in at least five different Hollywood movies, while another single, The Race has been heavily used by Eurosport. Yello also 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.
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. He has also directed videos for Alphaville (Big In Japan) and Trio (Da Da Da).
In 2005, Yello re-released their early albums Solid Pleasure, Claro Que Si, You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess, Stella, One Second and Flag, all with rare bonus tracks, as part of a re-master series.
A documentary on Yello, Electro Pop made in Switzerland, directed by Anka Schmid was premiered at the Riff Raff cinema in Zurich in September 2005
Released albums
- Solid Pleasure (1980)
- Claro Que Si (1981)
- You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess (1983)
- Stella (1985)
- 1980-1985 The New Mix in One Go (remix) (1986)
- One Second (1987)
- Flag (1988)
- Baby (1991)
- Essential Yello (compilation) (1992)
- Zebra (1994)
- Pocket Universe (1997)
- Eccentrix (remix)(1999)
- Motion Picture (1999)
- The Eye (2003)
- Solid Pleasure - Remastered (2005)
- Claro Que Si - Remastered (2005)
- You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess - Remastered (2005)
- Stella - Remastered (2005)
- One Second - Remastered (2005)
- Flag - Remastered (2005)
Notable Singles
- "I Love You"
- "Bostich"
- "Oh Yeah"
- "The Race"
- "Of Course I'm Lying"
- "Goldrush"
- "Jungle Bill"