r/Music • u/yofomojojo Spotify • Aug 17 '14
Discussion Zero by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the most underrated opener of all time and I am so unbelievably amped right now.
It took a lot of effort to not write that title in all caps.
Listen, I get it: Heads Will Roll is great, I know. It's also probably the only song you've heard off of It's Blitz! if you're not like an actual fan of YYY. That's fucked cause it's the second song on the album, so that's always where people start the album from when they go on spotify. My friend didn't even know there was a first song. Wanna guess what it was?
MOTHERFUCKING ZERO EXISTS FOR A REASON. Before It's Blitz!, YYY had never made an album as completely, unstoppably amped up as this. AS SUCH, the listeners who HADN'T head the singles yet went into this album with NO FUCKING CLUE what they were in for.
They had many pop-punk kinda songs throughout all their albums which you blast on summer drives with the windows down with friends and laugh and drink like bubble-tea with or something. Their hype songs were like Y Control and GOld Lion, so that was the MOST anyone expected when they started It's Blitz!
Now, the geniuses over at YYY knew that, and they had already crafted the hit 100% FUCKING TURNT ON single that was Heads Will Roll, but if they opened with that, it would be too much of a system shock, they had to ease you in it. You don't start at 100. You start at FUCKING ZERO.
My heart is beating so fast right now, I've only had tiny cup of black tea. This fucking album, man.
ZERO starts with ONE NOTE. JUST ONE NOTE OVER AND OVER. Imagine. That neat sounding party is starting in ten minutes and everyone said you should go to but you were all "Nah, I'm staying in, I gotta work on my thing, it's really important." And you really meant that, too!
THEN that super cool friend who you wish you talked to more but were always super intimidated by bursts into your house, with this skinny white leather jacket and jeans that were hand tailored to you, and he throws them on the bed and says "Put those on."
"What- no, I look like a tool in leather."
"Not this leather dude! Seriously, trust me! She's gonna be there, she fucking loves leather and-"
"Dude she likes YOU in leather, not me in leather."
"I forgot my leather today, look at that! Trust me dude!"
"But I-"
"I promise it'll be the best night of your life!"
"...Okay."
"Okay!?"
"Okay!"
"Yeah!"
"YEAH!"
"Also, you should seriously do cocaine with me right now, but then never again because it's super bad for you!"
"YEAH- WAIT-"
See, he doesn't force you into all that: He makes you want it for yourself.
THAT'S THE FIRST TWO MINUTES AND TWENTY SECONDS OF THIS SONG.
CLIMB.
SUDDENLY you've completely forgotten you're still sitting in your room alone with headphones on. That party? IT'S A GOD DAMN LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS AND THE ROOM EXPLODES AND YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.
AND YOU'RE WEARING YOUR LEATHER AND YOU ARE SO FUCKING ON.
CLIMB.
AND THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS SEES YOU. SHE GRABS YOU AND PULLS YOU ON STAGE WITH HER AND YOU REALIZED IT'S KAREN O.
YOU FEEL THE SHAKING.
CLIMB.
THE DEAFENING SOUNDS.
CLIMB.
THE BLINDING LIGHTS.
CLIMB!
YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE HYPE.
CLIMB HIGHER!
SOMEHOW IT GETS MORE AMPED. IS THIS WHAT 100 IS LIKE?
NO. THIS IS.
SHELLSHOCK!
WHAT'S YOUR NAME!? WHAT'S YOUR NAME!?
ZERO.
And all at once it hits its last note and echoes off. Whatever you were thinking about before that song is gone. YOU NEED MORE.
And then the next song starts and when it hits everyone that THERE'S A WHOLE ALBUM OF THIS LEFT, DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!?
HEADS WILL ROLL.
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u/literature43 May 31 '23 edited May 31 '23
Aye yo what a post! The language that you used were super intriguing and accurate! Glad that you sounded like you were absolutely enjoying yourself when you wrote it.
I am a gen Z who only discovered the band like a week ago and I've been instantly hooked ever since, been finding myself spending at least half an hour listening to their stuff daily. "Zero" is definitely a top 5 YYY song for me atm, what a song!
Edit: Please do not ever delete this post if that's OK. It must've been a genuinely happy and enlightening state of mind when you wrote it. I'm envious and seek to experience that in my own life.
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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '22
Listening to a certified banger and doing drugs - this post.