The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The popular audience was not introduced to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs until their appearance on the VMAs on MTV a few years back. With their performance of “Maps,” I believe MTV made a bold move and that it is one of the reasons they have a more wide variety of music on their station today. Where Rap and Rock dominates, they had finally filled a space for the not-so-normal artists to show the world that they deserved respect. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs got some negative feelings from their fans about performing on a television station which was said to be the major contributor to the slaughtering of music. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs kept on doing what they were doing, playing indie shows and appearing mostly on alternative stations. I think that without that performance, which confused and at the same time intrigued the audience that night, MTV would have not known how experimenting with style is most certainly a very, very good thing. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a musical group that oversteps many boundaries with their style, and you actually have to think deeply into their lyrics to find meanings to their songs. Some find it annoying, but most people have a brain and like to exercise it. Listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” and tell me that it belonged on MTV in 2005. You would be wrong, and that’s why it’s so utterly amazing how well the pop genre responded to this group’s talent. Believe me, I'm one of the people who get annoyed when bands sell out just for money, but in this case I do not believe they sold out at all, let alone for cash. They did it for the music and the sake of its slow evolution into something with meaning.

-Kassandra Small