Information about Yazoo (band)
Yazoo (known as Yaz in the U.S.) was a short-lived but highly successful English synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex that had a number of top ten hits in the British charts in the early 1980s.
Heavily influenced by earlier bands like Kraftwerk, Yazoo expanded upon the synthpop formula by Alison Moyet's bluesy and emotional vocals with Vince Clarke's clinical electronic hooks. Its sound referenced disco but added a more disaffected attitude that disco lacked. Their second album saw greater songwriting input from Moyet, adding a rather more mature and soulful flavour, particularly on the hit single "Nobody's Diary."
Its debut single "Only You" backed with "Situation," was released in April 1982 and rose to number two in the UK. Clarke had offered the song as a parting gift to his former bandmates in Depeche Mode, but they declined. Yazoo quickly scored another hit with the next single, "Don't Go," which hit number three, and became popular on MTV in the United States thanks to a Frankenstein-themed video. They continued their successful streak with their first album, Upstairs at Eric's, which went platinum in Britain. The band received favourable reviews for their pioneering sound. Clarke and Moyet toured briefly, while releasing a stopgap single, "The Other Side of Love."
The duo's second and last album, You and Me Both, yielded more success, hitting the top of the UK charts, and spinning off one single. The album's success was tainted by Clarke and Moyet announcing they were to go their separate ways shortly before its release.
Moyet decided to venture off on a solo career, signing to Columbia Records, where she would enjoy a great deal of early success. Vince Clarke recorded a single with producer Eric Radcliffe (the same "Eric" from the title of Yazoo's debut album) and Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey as The Assembly, and another with vocalist Paul Quinn. Clarke then founded the highly successful pop group Erasure with vocalist Andy Bell.
Mute Records released a remixed version of "Situation" as a single in 1990 to moderate success. In 1999, a compilation was released, entitled Only Yazoo - The Best of and was preceded by a re-release of Yazoo's debut single, "Only You", featuring a new remix of the title track and several more of "Don't Go". The band's output was bookended with yet another release of "Situation", accompanied by many remixes.
Clarke was tapped to remix Moyet's 1994 single, "Whispering Your Name" and with Erasure, Clarke and Moyet tried to record her single "This House" as a duet. This project never came to surface, because Sony Music Entertainment would not permit it.
The band's songs have appeared in a number of films and television shows. "Only You" was used in the Napoleon Dynamite, the BBC television series The Office, and the film Can't Hardly Wait; a cover version of "Only You" by Joshua Radin was used in 2007 in a JC Penney commercial; "Don't Go" appeared in the BBC series I'm Alan Partridge, was used in the movie Tango and Cash, and can be heard in the video game ; the song "Situation" was used in the 1990 tv movie "Exile" and was also used in a Nintendo commercial highlighting the classic edition of the Game Boy Advance SP and the classic NES games ported to it. In 1997, "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" was used in the Sarah Silverman Program episode, "Not Without My Daughter".
The Bayside Boys remix of Los Del Rio's "Macarena" samples the laughter of Alison Moyet from Yazoo's 1982 single "Situation." The laughter has been sampled in dozens of tracks over the years.
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Heavily influenced by earlier bands like Kraftwerk, Yazoo expanded upon the synthpop formula by Alison Moyet's bluesy and emotional vocals with Vince Clarke's clinical electronic hooks. Its sound referenced disco but added a more disaffected attitude that disco lacked. Their second album saw greater songwriting input from Moyet, adding a rather more mature and soulful flavour, particularly on the hit single "Nobody's Diary."
Overview and history
The group was formed in 1981, using a moniker that Alison Moyet, veteran of a number of southeast Essex based punk and rock bands, had seen on the labels of old blues albums: Yazoo, although Clarke would later confess that this came from mis-hearing the name of the mouth instrument Kazoo which was popular in the late 1970s. Clarke had been the main songwriter in Depeche Mode, who at that point had recorded one album and three singles for Mute Records, including the hits "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough". Clarke surprised many by quitting Depeche Mode just as they were beginning to reap success, claiming that they "just weren't getting on, really", forming Yazoo with the then relatively unknown Moyet. Mute Records continued to release the output of this new Clarke project. The band was licensed to Sire Records in the United States.Its debut single "Only You" backed with "Situation," was released in April 1982 and rose to number two in the UK. Clarke had offered the song as a parting gift to his former bandmates in Depeche Mode, but they declined. Yazoo quickly scored another hit with the next single, "Don't Go," which hit number three, and became popular on MTV in the United States thanks to a Frankenstein-themed video. They continued their successful streak with their first album, Upstairs at Eric's, which went platinum in Britain. The band received favourable reviews for their pioneering sound. Clarke and Moyet toured briefly, while releasing a stopgap single, "The Other Side of Love."
The duo's second and last album, You and Me Both, yielded more success, hitting the top of the UK charts, and spinning off one single. The album's success was tainted by Clarke and Moyet announcing they were to go their separate ways shortly before its release.
Moyet decided to venture off on a solo career, signing to Columbia Records, where she would enjoy a great deal of early success. Vince Clarke recorded a single with producer Eric Radcliffe (the same "Eric" from the title of Yazoo's debut album) and Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey as The Assembly, and another with vocalist Paul Quinn. Clarke then founded the highly successful pop group Erasure with vocalist Andy Bell.
Mute Records released a remixed version of "Situation" as a single in 1990 to moderate success. In 1999, a compilation was released, entitled Only Yazoo - The Best of and was preceded by a re-release of Yazoo's debut single, "Only You", featuring a new remix of the title track and several more of "Don't Go". The band's output was bookended with yet another release of "Situation", accompanied by many remixes.
Clarke was tapped to remix Moyet's 1994 single, "Whispering Your Name" and with Erasure, Clarke and Moyet tried to record her single "This House" as a duet. This project never came to surface, because Sony Music Entertainment would not permit it.
The band's songs have appeared in a number of films and television shows. "Only You" was used in the Napoleon Dynamite, the BBC television series The Office, and the film Can't Hardly Wait; a cover version of "Only You" by Joshua Radin was used in 2007 in a JC Penney commercial; "Don't Go" appeared in the BBC series I'm Alan Partridge, was used in the movie Tango and Cash, and can be heard in the video game ; the song "Situation" was used in the 1990 tv movie "Exile" and was also used in a Nintendo commercial highlighting the classic edition of the Game Boy Advance SP and the classic NES games ported to it. In 1997, "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" was used in the Sarah Silverman Program episode, "Not Without My Daughter".
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | UK | GER | US |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Upstairs at Eric's | 2 | 14 | 92 |
| 1983 | You and Me Both | 1 | 15 | 69 |
| 1999 | Only Yazoo - The Best of Yazoo | 22 | - | - |
Singles
| Year | Song | UK singles | GER | US Hot 100 | US Dance | Australia | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Only You" | 2 | 72 | 67 | - | 7 | Upstairs At Eric's |
| 1982 | "Don't Go" | 3 | 4 | - | 1 | 6 | Upstairs At Eric's |
| 1982 | "Situation" 1 | NR | NR | 73 | 1 | NR | Upstairs At Eric's |
| 1982 | "The Other Side of Love" | 13 | 35 | - | - | - | Upstairs At Eric's (Re-Release) |
| 1983 | "Nobody's Diary" | 3 | 18 | - | 1 | 17 | You and Me Both |
| 1990 | "Situation" (1990 remix) | 14 | 36 | - | 46 | - | - |
| 1999 | "Only You" (1999 Mix) | 38 | - | NR | NR | NR | Only Yazoo - The Best of Yazoo |
| 1999 | "Don't Go"/"Situation" (new remix)1 | NR | NR | - | 1 | NR | Only Yazoo - The Best of Yazoo |
| 1999 | "Situation" (new remix)*2 | - | - | NR | NR | - | Only Yazoo - The Best of Yazoo |
- 1 US-only single
- 2 Ineligible for UK singles chart
- NR - Not released in that country
Awards
- 1983 BRIT Awards - Best British breakthrough act
References
LCD Soundsystem, the musical project of producer James Murphy, in "Losing My Edge," the first track on the second disc of his self-titled album LCD Soundsystem, references Yazoo in the following manner:- "I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator, and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record."
The Bayside Boys remix of Los Del Rio's "Macarena" samples the laughter of Alison Moyet from Yazoo's 1982 single "Situation." The laughter has been sampled in dozens of tracks over the years.
Trivia
- Smash Hits did an interview with Yazoo on May 13, 1982. The interview was conducted by Neil Tennant, who would later make it big as half of the Pet Shop Boys four years later.
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
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"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit (French)
"God and my right"
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No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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Dieu et mon droit (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It is most closely associated with the era between the late 1970s and early to middle 1980s, although it has continued to exist and develop ever since.
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Essex
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Status Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
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Region East of England
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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"Dieu et mon droit" [2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Kraftwerk (pronounced [ˈkʁaftvɛɐk], German for "power station") is a German musical group from Düsseldorf that has made immense contributions to the development of improvisational rock and electronic music,
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Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It is most closely associated with the era between the late 1970s and early to middle 1980s, although it has continued to exist and develop ever since.
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Alison Moyet (born Genevieve Alison Jane Moyet on 18 June 1961), is an English pop singer/songwriter noted for her bluesy voice [1] .
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Early life and career
Moyet was born in Billericay, Essex, England to a French father and English mother...... Click the link for more information.
Vince Clarke (born Vincent John Martin, South Woodford, London, England, July 3 1960) is an English pop musician and songwriter, who has been involved with a number of successful pop groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure.
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Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs (discothèques) in the mid-1970s. Disco songs usually have soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern
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Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI
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Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI
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Status Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
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Region East of England
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Geography
Status Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
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Region East of England
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Rock 'n' Roll (short for Rock and Roll), is a genre of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the world. It later spawned the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock music'.
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Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that most often follows a twelve-bar structure. It emerged in African-American communities of the United States from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants,
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Yazoo Records is a record label founded in the late 1960s by Nick Perls. It specializes in early American blues, bluegrass, jazz, and other rural American genres (collectively known as "roots" music).
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kazoo is a simple musical instrument (membranophone) that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one hums into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton - a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.
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Depeche Mode (IPA: /dəˌpɛʃˈmoʊd/) are an electronic music group that formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex, England.
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Mute Records is a record label formed in 1978 by Daniel Miller primarily to release his own single, T.V.O.D./Warm Leatherette, under the moniker The Normal.
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B-side(s) "Shout!"
Released June 13 1981
Format Vinyl record (7" and 12"), CD (1991 box set)
Recorded 1981
Genre Synthpop
Length 3:43
Label Mute Records
Writer(s) Vince Clarke
Producer(s)
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Released June 13 1981
Format Vinyl record (7" and 12"), CD (1991 box set)
Recorded 1981
Genre Synthpop
Length 3:43
Label Mute Records
Writer(s) Vince Clarke
Producer(s)
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B-side(s) "Any Second Now"
Released September 7 1981
Format Vinyl record (7" and 12"), CD (1991 box set)
Recorded 1981
Genre Synthpop
Length 7" - 3:41
12" - 6:43
Label Mute Records
Writer(s) Vince Clarke
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Released September 7 1981
Format Vinyl record (7" and 12"), CD (1991 box set)
Recorded 1981
Genre Synthpop
Length 7" - 3:41
12" - 6:43
Label Mute Records
Writer(s) Vince Clarke
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Sire Records Company is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records
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Label history
Beginnings
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Released April 1982
October 7, 1996 (CD reissue)
August 23, 1999 (remix)
Format 7", 12" (1982)
12", CD (1999)
Recorded 1982
Genre Synthpop
Length 3:12
Label Mute - MUTE 20
Producer(s)
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October 7, 1996 (CD reissue)
August 23, 1999 (remix)
Format 7", 12" (1982)
12", CD (1999)
Recorded 1982
Genre Synthpop
Length 3:12
Label Mute - MUTE 20
Producer(s)
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Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 331
Dish Network Channel 160
Cable
Available on many cable systems Check local listings for channels
MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City.
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Satellite
DirecTV Channel 331
Dish Network Channel 160
Cable
Available on many cable systems Check local listings for channels
MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Frankenstein
Frankenstein flees "the creature"
1831 edition, inside cover.
Author Mary Shelley
Country England
Language English
Genre(s) Gothic horror, Science fiction novel
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Frankenstein flees "the creature"
1831 edition, inside cover.
Author Mary Shelley
Country England
Language English
Genre(s) Gothic horror, Science fiction novel
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Upstairs at Eric's
(1982) You and Me Both
(1983)
Upstairs at Eric's (1982) is Yazoo's first album produced by the band and E.C. Radcliffe with assistance from Daniel Miller. It reached # 2 in UK and # 92 in US.
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(1982) You and Me Both
(1983)
Upstairs at Eric's (1982) is Yazoo's first album produced by the band and E.C. Radcliffe with assistance from Daniel Miller. It reached # 2 in UK and # 92 in US.
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