Listening to the poor-man’s Pat Benatar is not how I had hoped to spend my Thursday afternoon. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have reached quite critical acclaim and I am still baffled upon hearing their latest album Show Your Bones. I just don’t get the appeal. This interesting trio, which hails from New York City, consists of college buddies Karen O (vocals) and Brian Chase (drummer) who decided to leave a middle-of-nowhere college in Ohio in 2000, for N.Y.U. This move would not only bring them their guitarist, Nicholas Zimmer, but also closer to the garage rock-revival.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs pulled off some sort of shocking fame in New York and it spread like wildfire. They were touring by 2001 with big bands such as The Strokes and The White Stripes. One thing to note- the bands to which the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s are assimilated all have put out one good album followed by any number of mediocre albums. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are no exception. This album bores the crap out of me.
Not only does every song sound the same vocally, lyrically and musically, but I truly believe they have the same drum beat for every song on Show Your Bones. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs try to put a certain dance-tastic spin on garage rock and it pretty much crumbles mid-song in nearly every track except for “Honeybear.” This song actually woke me up. Out of all the tracks on Show Your Bones, I found this one and the last track, “Turn Into,” to be the most impressive. I know it’s kind of ironic that my favorite songs happen to be the shortest and the last on the entire album, but that is said by no means comical.
It’s sad, really. I can tell Karen O has such influences as Liz Phair circa 1993, and some Sleater-Kinney in her as well, but this potential falls apart by ugly repetition and pure bordem set to songs I’ve heard a million times before. Not even the single, “Gold Lion,” is catchy! That’s the one song I was expecting to tolerate.
Do I feel bad for giving this album a bad review? No. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who will disagree and perhaps, even, with valid reason; but this album could easily be a preface to a eulogy. If you feel like there is nothing more boring or more fitting than a long, long nap, Show Your Bones fits in perfectly with your repertoire. This 11 track disc was borderline torture. Pat Benatar would be ashamed.