Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Rock ‘n’ roll gained another life when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stepped onstage for the first time in 2000 at New York’s Mercury Lounge. The scene: Nick Zinner attacking a reverb-drenched guitar, Brian Chase thrashing at the drums and Karen O, a thrillingly primal presence, wailing like her—and everybody’s—existence depended on it. It was the dawn of NYC’s great ‘00s rock revival, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were arguably the rawest, most magnetic band of them all. “The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were born in troubled times,” Karen O tells Apple Music. “It’s kind of our comfort zone.” That fortitude has always been at the root of the trio’s sound, starting with the fiery garage punk of 2003’s Fever to Tell—featuring instant indie classic “Maps”—through to the dizzying disco rousers of 2009’s It’s Blitz! and the transcendent synth-rock anthems of 2022’s Cool It Down. With their delicate balance of grit, glam and fragility, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have inspired a new century of rock innovators.