Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Heads Will Roll (2009)
While the early 2000s NYC is often thought of as primarily guitar rock, there was a lot more going on musically. Sure, there were bands like the Strokes and Interpol, who wore their influences on their proverbial sleeves (VU/Television/Feelies and Joy Division/New Order/Smiths, respectively). Then there were bands like LCD Soundsystem, who I wrote about last week, that focused on electronic rock. Poised in between those poles were the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Formed in 2000 by Karen O (aka Karen Orzolek, on vocals and piano), Nick Zinner (guitars, keyboards) and Brian Chase (drums), the group was initially an acoustic duo called Unitard comprised of Karen O and Zinner before they decided to go in an art-punk direction. The band played danceable punk rock, described by some critics as Siouxsie Sioux fronting Led Zeppelin. Soon they were opening for the Strokes and White Stripes and in late 2001 released a self-titled EP. In '01, they toured the U.S. with Girls Against Boys and Europe with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their debut album, Fever to Tell, in 2003 and it was a big hit, thanks to the single "Maps." Karen O was a visually striking frontwoman, making an interesting contrast with the expressionless Zinner, who wailed away on guitar alongside her. They followed up with 2006's Show Your Bones and the Is Is EP in 2007, continuing to be popular among the indie rock and dance punk crowds.
The band's third album, 2009's It's Blitz!, marked a change in direction when Zinner brought a vintage ARP synthesizer to the studio and the songs became pulsing synth-pop. The album's second single was "Heads Will Roll," a glorious paean to dancing and/or decapitation.
"Off with your head/Dance 'til you're dead/Heads will roll/Heads will roll/Heads will roll/On the floor/Glitter on the wet streets/Silver over everything/The river's all wet/You're all chrome/Dripping with alchemy/Shiver stop shivering/The glitter's all wet/You're all chrome/The men cry out the girls cry out/The men cry out the girls cry out/The men cry out, oh no."
The video for the song was pretty iconic as well, with the band performing in a club while a werewolf dances in front of them, doing Michael Jackson-esque moves (MJ coincidentally died just before the single was released and a month after the video came out). After a light flashes halfway through the song, the werewolf starts chasing the audience and kills most of them, but instead of blood, red glitter and confetti flies from the bodies. At the end of the video, Karen O keeps singing while decapitated. In the U.K., the ending was edited out.
"Looking glass/Take the past/Shut your eyes/Realize/Glitter on the wet streets/Silver over everything/The river's all wet/You're all chrome/You're all chrome/Off, off, off with your head/Dance, dance dance til you're dead."
The song went to #5 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart, #1 on the Dance Singles Sales chart and #7 on the Alternative Digital Songs chart. I swear Billboard just comes up with new charts every year. It's Blitz! hit #22 on the Billboard 200 and went gold. Of course, you have to remember that by 2009, the decline in album sales was happening for nearly a decade thanks to the internet; It's Blitz! was supposed to be released on April 13 but the release date was moved up to March 9 after the album was leaked online in late February.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released one more album, 2013's Mosquito, before going on hiatus at the end of 2014. Karen O released a solo album, Crush Songs, in September 2014 and a live album in 2015. She also released Lux Prima, a collaborative album with Danger Mouse, in 2019.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played some small shows in 2017 and a London festival in 2018, but were pretty quiet until 2022, when they released their latest album Cool It Down in September.
"Heads Will Roll" has had a resurgence of late, popping up in numerous TV shows, including Agatha All Along, The Boys, Gen V and Chucky.
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