Oh Yeah (Yello song)

{{Short description|1985 single by Yello}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Oh Yeah

| cover = Oh yeah single cover.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Cover art for 1987 European release

| type = single

| artist = Yello

| album = Stella

| B-side =

  • "La Habanera"
  • "Oh Yeah (Indian Summer Version)"

| released =

  • {{Start date|1985|7|12}} (US)
  • {{Start date|1987|9|28}} (Europe)

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

  • New wave{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2023/09/how-instrumentals-become-infectious-hits|title= Insert Lyrics Here Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=Slate|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=September 15, 2023|access-date=October 3, 2023}}
  • electronic

| length = 3:08

| label = Mercury

| writer =

| producer = Yello

| prev_title = Desire

| prev_year = 1985

| next_title = Goldrush

| next_year = 1986

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|6jJkdRaa04g|"Oh Yeah (1987 version)"}}}}

}}

"Oh Yeah" is a single released in 1985 by the band Yello and featured on their album Stella. The song features a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals. The song gained popularity after being featured in the films Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Secret of My Success, and being the theme for Duffman in The Simpsons, among others. It is a popular staple in pop culture.

Production

{{listen |filename=Yello - Oh Yeah excerpt.ogg |title=Oh Yeah |description=Opening seconds of the song}}

Describing the composition of "Oh Yeah," Boris Blank said: {{bq|First I did the music and then I invited Dieter to sing along, and he came up with some lines which I thought, 'no Dieter, it's too complicated, we don't need that many lyrics'. I had the idea of just this guy, a fat little monster sits there very relaxed and says, "Oh yeah, oh yeah". So I told him, 'Why don't you try just to sing on and on 'oh yeah'?... Dieter was very angry when I told him this and he said, 'are you crazy, all the time "Oh yeah"? Are you crazy?! I can't do this, no no, come on, come on.' And then he said, 'some lyrics, like "the moon... beautiful", is this too much?!' and I said, 'no, it's OK', and then he did this 'oh yeah' and at the end he thought, 'yeah it's nice', he loved it himself also. And also I wanted to install lots of human noises, all kind of phonetic rhythms with my mouth; you hear lots of noises in the background which are done with my mouth.{{sfn|Warstad|2013|p=28}}}}

Personnel

Yello{{sfn|Warstad|2013|p=15}}

Additional personnel

Charts

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+Chart performance for "Oh Yeah"

!Chart (1987–1988)

!Peak
position

scope="row"|Australia (Australian Music Report){{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=345}}

|align="center"|8

scope="row"|Germany{{cite web |url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/titel-details-7168 |title=Yello - 'Oh Yeah' |website=Offizielle Deutsche Charts |access-date=October 15, 2018 }}

|align="center"|47

scope="row"|United States (Billboard Hot 100){{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/yello/chart-history/hsi/ |title=Yello: 'Oh Yeah' |magazine=Billboard |access-date=October 15, 2018}}

|align="center"|51

scope="row"|United States (Dance Club Songs chart){{cite book |title= Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=285}}

|align="center"|36

The song (and others) has been aggressively shopped around, the group going so far as to produce a special "All Time Classics" CD for advertising, television and movies.{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/Yello-Best-Of-Yello-All-Time-Classics-For-Advertising-Tv-And-Movies/release/3946999 |title=Yello – Best Of Yello – All Time Classics For Advertising, Tv And Movies |website=Discogs |quote=CD handed out to promote using Yello songs for advertising, tv and movies From liner notes |access-date=January 6, 2017}}

The song has been wildly successful, and was the basis for Dieter Meier's investment fortune, which as of 2017 was valued at an estimated $175 million.{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/oh-yeah-the-song-from-ferris-buellers-day-off-is-catchy-irritating-and-the-origin-of-an-investing-fortune-1485531358 |title=A-HED 'Oh Yeah,' the Song from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' Is Catchy, Irritating and the Origin of an Investing Fortune |quote=The quirky techno tune, which accompanied Ferris's Ferrari escapade and loads of other advertisements and Hollywood comedies, helped create a lucrative investment career for its Swiss co-creator |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |first1=John |last1=Letzing |date=January 27, 2017 |location=Zurich |access-date=January 29, 2017}}

Remix

A remix of the song, entitled, "Oh Yeah Oh Six" went to No. 1 on the US dance charts in 2006.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/dance-club-play-songs/2006-04-15 |title=Hot Dance Club Songs |magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc |date= April 15, 2006|access-date=November 15, 2021}}

Legacy

File:Dieter Meier on October 15, 2011.jpg, vocals]]

After its use in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off {{mdash}} an "incredibly infectious song" from which it became virtually known as 'the Ferris Bueller song'{{cite web |url=http://931jackfm.cbslocal.com/2012/04/19/yello-oh-yeah-aka-that-ferris-bueller-song-lyrics-music-video/ |title=Yello – "Oh Yeah" (AKA That Ferris Bueller Song) |publisher=Jack FM, Sparknet Communications |date=April 19, 2012 |access-date=January 2, 2017}}{{cite web |quote=Of its inclusion in the movie, writer and critic Jonathan Berstein claimed its use by John Hughes illustrated the "mouthwatering must-haveness of Cameron's dad's Ferrari. Since then, it has become synonymous with lust." |title=The 20 Most Overused Songs In Movies And TV |first1=Boston |last1=Blake |website=Screen Rant |date=August 19, 2016 |url=https://screenrant.com/most-overused-songs-in-movies-and-tv/ |access-date=April 17, 2018}} {{mdash}} the song was used in various other film soundtracks through the end of the decade and developed a reputation as a 1980s Hollywood cliche.{{cite web |url=http://www.empireonline.com/movies/secret-success/review/ |title=The Secret of My Success Review |first1=William |last1=Thomas |date=January 1, 2000 |publisher=Empire |quote=...and a soundtrack that has been hand-picked to get an audience on side.|access-date=December 31, 2016}}{{cite web |url=https://seanmunger.com/2013/10/10/remember-this-song-from-the-80s-bount-bount-chickachicka/ |title=Remember this song from the 80s? "BOUNT BOUNT…(chickachicka)!" |date=October 10, 2013 |publisher=Sean Munger |first1=Sean |last1=Munger |quote=Though it didn’t make much of a splash when it was first released, "Oh Yeah" became enshrined in popular culture and its history by its inclusion in the 1986 John Hughes movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. How a simple song like this came to almost epitomize an entire era is a pretty fascinating phenomena. |access-date=January 2, 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/351-the-secret-of-my-success-distills-1987-down-to-its/ |title=The Secret Of My Success distills 1987 down to its awful essence. |first1=Nathan |last1=Rabin |author-link1=Nathan Rabin|quote=[The soundtrack presents] an upbeat montage set to Katrina And The Waves’ "Walking On Sunshine," the official anthem of both the 1980s and the popular drug cocaine; and Yello's "Oh Yeah," the other official anthem of both the 1980s and the popular drug cocaine. |work=The Dissolve |publisher=Pitchfork Media |date=January 10, 2014|access-date=December 31, 2016}} It was prominently used in the 1987 film The Secret of My Success.{{efn-ua|Although it did not appear on the soundtrack album.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093936/soundtrack |title=Soundtracks for The Secret of My Success |publisher=imdb.com |access-date=June 5, 2012}}}} It was also part of the soundtrack in She's Out of Control.{{hsp}} In 1990, Faith No More frequently included samples of the song on the tour for their album The Real Thing.https://fnmlive.com/1990

Film critic Jonathan Bernstein observed that despite never reaching hit status, the song "has become synonymous with avarice and lust. Every time a movie, TV show or commercial wants to underline the jaw-dropping impact of a hot babe or sleek auto, that synth-drum starts popping and that deep voice rumbles, 'Oh yeah…".{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/prettyinpinkgold00bern |url-access=registration |quote=Ferris Bueler impact on culture. |title=Pretty in pink: the golden age of teenage movies |first=Jonathan |last=Bernstein |location=New York NY|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-312-15194-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/prettyinpinkgold00bern/page/198 198]}} A 2014 article on The Dissolve website, suggests the song is used to metaphorically represent lust (in various forms) and cocaine. The song became a conceit on The Simpsons, being used when Duffman appears; an idiomatic staple in video games; and a repeated choice in television advertisements.{{cite video|people=Oakley, Bill|date=2006|title=Commentary for "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season|medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}

The song's use in The Secret of My Success is referenced in the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode "Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack", with character Ronald "Mac" McDonald referring to it as "The 'Day Bow Bow' Song"; he and his friend Charlie then proceed to sing the song themselves briefly, using the aforementioned phrase, and the song features across several more points in the episode from then on.

Matthew Broderick reprised his Bueller role in a Honda commercial aired during the Super Bowl XLVI, in which "Oh Yeah" was featured.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/filmvideo/9050065/Ferris-Bueller-stars-in-Honda-Super-Bowl-advert.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201224321/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/filmvideo/9050065/Ferris-Bueller-stars-in-Honda-Super-Bowl-advert.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 1, 2012 |date=January 30, 2012 |title='Ferris Bueller' stars in Honda Super Bowl advert |newspaper=The Telegraph |format=Article, Video |access-date=January 5, 2017}} A teaser for the ad had appeared two weeks prior to the Super Bowl, which had created rumors of a possible film sequel.{{cite web |url=http://www.today.com/popculture/oh-yeah-ferris-bueller-honda-ad-recreates-film-1C7100933 |title=Oh yeah! 'Ferris Bueller' Honda ad recreates film

|date=January 30, 2012 |first1=Gael Fashingbauer |last1=Cooper |work=Today |publisher=NBC |access-date=January 5, 2017}}{{cite web | url = http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ferris-bueller-ad-story,0,5397206.story | title = Honda releases complete Ferris Bueller ad | work = Chicago Tribune | date = 2012-01-30 | access-date= 2012-01-30 | first = Rob | last = Manker }} It was produced by Santa Monica-based RPA and directed by Todd Phillips.{{cite news | title = Honda Unveils Ferris Bueller Ad, and It Is Awesome | date = 2012-01-30 | url = http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/honda-unveils-ferris-bueller-ad-and-it-awesome-137831 | work = AdWeek | access-date = 2012-01-31}} Adweek's Tim Nudd called the ad "a great homage to the original 1986 film, with Broderick this time calling in sick to a film shoot and enjoying another day of slacking." On the other hand, Jalopnik's Matt Hardigree called the spot "sacrilegious".{{cite web | url = http://jalopnik.com/5880570/save-ferris-from-hondas-sacrilegious-super-bowl-ad | title = SAVE FERRIS From Honda's Sacrilegious Super Bowl Ad | work = Jalopnik | date = 2012-01-30 | access-date= 2012-01-30 | first = Matt | last = Hardigree }}

References

=Notes=

{{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}

=Citations=

{{Reflist|30em}}

=Bibliography=

  • {{cite book |first=Jonas |last=Warstad |title=Stella: The Story Behind the Album |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4949-3420-0 }}

{{Yello}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh Yeah (Yello Song)}}

Category:1985 songs

Category:1985 singles

Category:1987 singles

Category:Yello songs

Category:Mercury Records singles

Category:Novelty songs

Category:Songs written by Boris Blank (musician)

Category:Songs written by Dieter Meier