Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Fever to Tell Turns 20
Two decades of a modern romance; one that does, in fact, last.
At this point, it’s hard to remember a world without “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs being in existence, yet twenty years ago yesterday, that was the reality of the world. The next day, however, April 29, 2023 changed that when the up and coming garage-punks released their now classic debut album, Fever to Tell. Following a few years of hype building, the magnetic trio of Brian Chase, Nick Zenner, and Karen O had been generating enough buzz around their hometown to force a tidal shift that would set them up as one of the most beloved acts of the past two decades and set Karen up to become one of the greatest lead singers to ever do it.
From the beginning, Yeah Yeah Yeahs seemed poised for greatness (at least by my account). Their first ever gig was opening for The White Stripes at New York’s famed Mercury Lounge and from that moment forward, the band were on a path towards stardom. Rising alongside their fellow peers in what will now be known as the Meet Me in the Bathroom scene thanks to Lizzy Goodman’s fantastic book of first-hand interviews and accounts from the era, the band was one of the first to cross the river from Manhattan to Williamsburg and bring attention to the neighborhood that would soon become the epicenter of the new millennial hipster movement. As the band became a leader of the scene, they fleshed out the tracks that would make up their debut album, the one that to me, is still the epitome of their sound and spirit, and the one that makes anything they’ve continued to do worth checking out.
Although these days they may be better known for their explosive live show, something they confirmed they still have within their powers during their phenomenal return to the stage in 2022, their debut is perhaps their strongest front-to-back album and should still be the introduction for any new comer looking to discover the band. With its onslaught of killer singles like “Y Control,” “Pin,” or “Date with the Night,” the album packed punch after punch that made it a diabolical attack of fuzzed-out, raw-boned rock and roll that seems unlikely to ever be recaptured, both by the band themselves or anyone who dares to copy their relentless energy. An electrifying dose of hell-bent rock songs led by a woman who eviscerated the stage with unparalleled energy isn’t something easily captured on tape, but with Fever to Tell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs made sure to document their unrivaled intensity with brilliant passion and the result is a the album that still stands the test of time.
Taking the same back-to-basic queues as The White Stripes, the band wasted no time in getting straight to the point with their all thrills and no frills attitude, creating a sound that perfectly reflected their style without sacrificing anything that could distinguish them as anything other than true rock stars. While Karen O is clearly the attention-grabbing frontwoman, it’s important to call out the crucial guitar and drum duo of Brian Chase and Nick Zinner for creating the electric bombast for which Karen leads. The dynamic energy between these two teeters like a see-saw with Zinner’s guitar blasts and ear-worm riffs creating the shockwaves of electricity for which Chase holds down with his anchoring rhythms. The two create chaotic musical worlds for which KO sets her razor-sharp vocals out to destroy.
The attitude and artistic styling would be one thing if the tunes didn’t back up the aesthetics, but clearly for the band, their songs went just as hard as their collective looks; the effortless cool of Zinner and Chase paired with the flamboyant antics of Karen O was already a deadly combo, but when their larger than life punk ethos matched the scale of their appearance, it was clear that this band was ready to go the distance. From the opening notes of “Rich” which trickle out like an incendiary charm before blown-out guitar picks things up, it was clear that the band meant business and once Karen’s wail blasts through the speakers, the personality crystalizes and the band’s raw intensity sharpens into focus.
Whether cutting like a buzz-saw with white hot energy or slicing with laser-focused precision, Zinner’s ripping guitar is the ideal match for Karen’s wicked howl. Her brilliant scream at times harmonizing with the savage guitar lines gives the band a jagged-edge which felt more authentic than most of their peers and hid their studio prowess which would come into play later in their career, but for their first full-length outing, they stuck to their ragged blows which exploded like a ton of dynamite. It’s the band’s most visceral sound and one that they would never truly revisit, but that’s probably because they hit the nail so squarely on the head on the first go-around, it made little sense to attempt to improve and allowed them to explore acoustic and electronic elements on future records.
Still, the impact of their blues-soaked debut would ripple across the indie world and there are times where it still feels like their impact is still making waves. Of course the triumph of their breakthrough single “Maps” is the true everlasting force that keeps the record in rotation for most and was certainly the track that made the cut for countless playlists and mixtapes for years to come and now ranks as not only their signature track, but one that came to define a generation as well. Ranking right up there with LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” as THE song of the era and one that can immediately send chills down your spine the second that opening riffs hits, “Maps” is without question their biggest and most popular single, but it’s outgrown the band’s legacy and taken on an identity all its own. Describing the feeling of hearing the song live while surrounded by your best friends isn’t one that can be best surmised in words, but rather one you need to experience first hand to understand and comprehend the real power the songs holds. It should’ve been no surprise that when the band finally got the call to play Saturday Night Live, they chose “Maps” as the second song for their performance even though the song was already six years old and the band was booked to promote their then new, third album It’s Blitz!.
Since the turn of the millennium, the trajectory of rock and roll has been shaking. The bands from the Meet Me in the Bathroom era have all gone through their various ups and downs, many have released not-so-great albums, taken extended breaks, experimented with trying to create an updated or modern take on their nostalgic tunes, broken-up, reunited, and made all sorts of various comebacks all while still trying to prove that rock still has a place in the mainstream. Many will argue that Jack White, the man for whom this band got their start opening for all those years ago, is the last true rock star, but making such a claim is truly a disservice to Karen and everything she’s come to represent. A fashion icon, a pioneer, a feminist, a badass, but first and probably foremost, she’s the perhaps the actual last true rock star we’ve seen since her debut record came out at the end of the same month in which Jack and Meg released their own opus, Elephant. Fever to Tell was the album that introduced the world to Karen O and without it, who knows what rock music would’ve looked like over the past two decades without her. Thanks to Fever to Tell, we have Karen, Nick, and Brian still rocking out and bringing these life-affirming tracks to life with the same power and tenacity as ever before. There have been many comparisons and imitators in the time since, but there’s only one Karen and only one Yeah Yeah Yeahs. For two decades, they’ve been the cool kids and they’ve proved that cool kids really do belong together.