Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Fever to Tell

8/10

I resisted so hard. Feeling the musical environment changing the last few years of my time in college, I resisted. I didn't like garage rock, and the early 00's garage rock revival felt like some type of corporate memo fulfillment. White Stripes, The Vines, The Hives, The White Vines, The Hive Stripes, whatever they were, I wasn't into it. Then, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs got me.

I don't know what happened there. I heard a couple of their songs at some point, probably one of them being "Maps," liked them, but thought listening to them more would be selling out. I can best point to two separate car rides with girls in 2004 that made me feel safe to get into this band. The first was with my wife, Crystal. Back then, she was just my friend who had a boyfriend. One day after work, she gave me a ride to my car. I noticed Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs' debut,  Fever to Tell, on her dashboard. 

"You bought this cuz you saw them on MTV didn't you?" I said mockingly..

"Yeah. You're not cool enough to listen to them, though."

We still talk this way to each other. I'm not sure if that's healthy or not, but that's the whole conversation we had about Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. If she had their CD, they must have been pretty good.

The second was a few weeks later with my cousin Amber. Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs music was coming out of my car speakers, and I said, 

"I wish I didn't like this. I know it's trendy."

"It's okay to like things," she answered. "This music is fun."

So there you go. That's why I have Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's entire catalogue, and not really any other stuff by "garage rock revival" bands. But then again, I have every Interpol album. Turn On the Bright Lights is one of my favorite albums of all time. I like TV on the Radio. Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio produced Fever to Tell. I guess that whole early 00's, post-9/11 New York vibe is appealing to me. I don't know. Maybe I should stop overthinking this.

Fever to Tell is a good album. This trio is noisy, they make music that makes you want to move around, and Fever to Tell has a nice emotional arc. The first 1/2 is fairly straightforward, noisy rock, with a great, buzzing guitar tone, and tom-heavy drums, vocalist, Karen O, shrieking and snarling. Right past the halfway point, though, the song lengths start stretching out, and the band start adding more atmosphere and melody, with Karen O strictly singing instead of utilizing her more wilder affectations. This culminates in a pretty stunning final trio, kicked off by "Maps," still the band's best and most impactful song, the ultimate. indie ballad of the early 00's. Then you've got "Y Control," which adds a more dancey, trancey vibe. That December, at a graduation party (not mine, but I had also graduated just days before), Amber's then boyfriend (and still my friend), Daniel, got really drunk, and I played this song on the party sound system while I piled chairs on him until Amber made me stop. I also got designated "champagne bottle opener" because everyone else was too scared to do it. That was a pretty fun party.

Crystal and I played Fever to Tell's closer, "Modern Romance," at our wedding. 

I guess this album is pretty good.


2003 Interscope
1. Rich 3:36
2. Date with the Night 2:35
3. Man 1:49
4. Tick 1:49
5. Black Tongue 2:59
6. Pin 2:00
7. Cold Light 2:16
8. No No No 5:14
9. Maps 3:39
10. Y Control 4:00
11. Modern Romance 7:28