The 15 Best Yeah Yeah Yeahs Songs

Album: Mosquito

Karen O's voice is so versatile. She can go from maniacal, reckless howling to carefree, glitter-covered partying to gentle balladry with consumate ease, and that interplay between wild and vulnerable have given Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans some wonderful moments. While Mosquito lacks some of that electric energy that the band were first known for, it replaces it with some excellent slower moments, most notably "Subway," which uses the repetetive sound of a train on the tracks for percussion.

With Karen's soft falsetto at its centre, the song's overall tone and mood perfectly captures those slow night-time journeys lost in your own thoughts, and is sure to be a highlight of the live show, along the lines of "Maps'" slow moving splendour.

Album: Show Your Bones

This Show Your Bones standout is arguably the album's most effectively dramatic track. The song possesses this tangible emotional exhaustion that's explicit in Karen O's vocals, as she teeters between defiant and defeated. On top of that is a dizzying spiral of guitar progressions, a layer that very much musically mirrors the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped in a failing relationship that is depicted in the lyrics.

Album: It's Blitz! (Deluxe Edition)

Released as one of the four acoustic bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of It's Blitz!, this version of "Hysteric" sees Karen at her most vulnerable, taking what was already one of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' gentler songs, and stripping away the electronics and percussion which held her voice in place. What really elevates this acoustic take to the next level is the addition of a violin, which adds a melancholy emotional weight to the beautiful simplicity of this song.

Album: Is Is (EP)

At five tracks long, Is Is was the often overshadowed but equally fantastic release between critical darling Show Your Bones and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' following full length, It's Blitz! Of those five tracks, the conflicted anthem "Down Boy" easily acts as the EP's centerpiece. It begins poignant and self-reflective, as Karen O's subdued vocals coo, quietly drawing you in. Then, as if a storm has suddenly erupted, you're greeted with an explosion of distorted guitars and thumping drums while O shifts to her signature shrieking vocals. It strikes that delicate balance that's so hard to achieve, but which they often make seem effortless.

Album: Mosquito

In a world that has become increasingly critical, even of its most beloved acts, this track would set the tone for how we'd receive the rest of the album. Yet within the first few seconds of "Sacrilege," it became clear that the trio would not disappoint.

"We would love for this music to make our fans feel something, for it to stir some shit up inside of them, whatever that may be," Karen O recently said, and between O's emotive vocal performance, the intricately lush layers of instrumentation and the 24-piece gospel choir accompanying her, we'd have to be half dead to not feel something with this song.

Album: Fever To Tell

"Date With The Night" not only served as Fever To Tell's first single, but was also the first taste many listeners had of the band. And what a ferocious introduction it was. The track is a scorching production with Karen O's screeching, yet magnificently controlled vocals, Nick Zinner's blazing progressions and a haze of percussion from Brian Chase. It helped cement the idea that Yeah Yeah Yeahs were not just going to be another new band in rock n' roll, but a musical force to be reckoned with.

Album: Fever To Tell

One of the most defining qualities Yeah Yeah Yeahs have is the ability to seamlessly blend a bittersweet message with a more upbeat tempo. Such is the case with "Y Control," a melancholy track in which Karen O vacantly states "I wish I could buy back / the women you stole" that's paired with bouncy guitar riffs and pounding percussion. It's an unexpectedly haunting song, a combination that the band have mastered so well.

Album: It's Blitz!

Arguably the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' most widely known song, the disco backbeat and more polished edges of "Heads Will Roll" propelled it to chart success, and provided a vehicle for one of Karen O's most diva-esque performances. Though it is a far cry from the jagged, reckless abandon of the band's first album or early EPs, the song, and in fact whole album, showed the trio maturing, experimenting, and successfully introducing new sounds into their armoury.

Album: Yeah Yeah Yeahs (EP)

Panting and muscular, see-sawing riffs have never sound this good. "Miles Away" takes a little bit of time to get going, but when you reach the chorus with its pounding drums and manic energy, you can almost smell the beer-soaked, sweaty crowd losing their minds at one of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' early gigs.

Album: Show Your Bones

Where "Gold Lion" was a rather unexpected offering off the outfit's follow-up to Fever To Tell, "Phenomena" makes a little more sense. It's a relentlessly exhilarating production that incorporates a marching drum line and the blistering guitars Zinner was so well-known for on the last record, with Karen O's sexually-charged vocals. "Something like a phenomena, baby / You're gonna get your body off," she proclaims, and with a track as hypnotic as this, you'd be hard-pressed to disagree.

Album: Fever To Tell

Up until "Modern Romance," the band had handled the sensitivity and emotional vulnerability of love with a distinct roughness. They still spoke of heartbreaks and relationships, but always masked by a musical ying to that yang, with fuzzy guitar solos and bouncy percussion. Their love songs didn't really ever feel like love songs. Yet with "Modern Romance," the band slows the pace down, strips the heavy instrumentation and lets Karen O's quivering vocals take forefront. It's a brilliant rendition of the rock n' roll ballad.

Album: It's Blitz!

At its core, the beauty of this song lies in its ability to be unapologetically human; to have Karen O impulsively question "what's the time / what's the day/ gonna leave me?" in such a way that you feel she's terrified to ask it, but more terrified to never know. It's this unconventional fearlessness in "Soft Shock" that shows the full range of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' rock n' roll power. Instead of tip-toeing around emotions we all are terrified to face, they confront them head on, and in the process make it okay for all of us to as well. That level of relatability isn't just rare in music, it's inspiring.

Album: Show Your Bones

While "Gold Lion" is drastically different from anything Yeah Yeah Yeahs had done previously, it's arguably one of their most important songs. With "Gold Lion," the trio provided a more mainstream, accessible side to their music that showcased their incredible range as a band, but in a way that was still was true to who they were. The track steadily marches its way along, with Karen O at the helm, leading the charge until the last 30 seconds when the track erupts into the perfect storm of Zinner's sizzling guitars, Karen's high-pitched wails and Chase's masterful drum work.

Album: It's Blitz!

While there had been some (unfounded) criticisms suggesting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had lost their way, and some of their electric energy, on their sophomore album Fever To Tell, the opening one-two punch of "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" set the tone for It's Blitz!'s rushing, post-disco, alt-pop extravaganza. With a hypnotic beat, Karen's vivid imagery, and a majestic crescendo about half-way through, "Zero" is built for festival headline slots and sold out stadiums, and that's exactly where it has shone most brightly.

Album: Fever To Tell

A spine-tingling, timeless ballad, that has no doubt been the soundtrack to many a gig-born romance, "Maps" shows the tender side of Karen O, the side that comes out after the party is over, the beer has all been drunk, and the city is washed in a pale pre-sunrise light. On top of the brilliant songwriting, and the (mostly) restrained perfection of Zinner's wistful melodies, much of "Maps'" impact comes from its sudden change of pace, as it is a moment of calm and reflection which comes on the heels of the searing "Cold Light" and choppy "No No No."

With songs  like "Maps" in their back catalogue, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have left a legacy of music that is most certainly more than a passing fad, and with their new album still sinking in, and more music to come from the band, here's to another decade of restless, experimental rock from Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase.