Yazoo (also known as Yaz in the United States) are a British synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of Top 10 hits in the UK charts in the early 1980s. Formed in late 1981 by former Depeche Mode songwriter Vince Clarke (synthesizer) and Alison Moyet (vocals), Yazoo were signed to Mute Records in the United Kingdom and (as "Yaz") to Sire Records in the United States.
Yazoo's debut single, "Only You" backed with "Situation", was released on 15 March 1982 and rose to number two in the UK charts. Yazoo released two successful studio albums, Upstairs at Eric's in 1982 and You and Me Both in 1983. Shortly after, Moyet and Clarke decided to break up. Moyet pursued a solo career while Clarke went on to formErasure, another synth pop duo. Yazoo reunited in 2008 with a tour in Europe and the United States and the release of a four-disc box set.
Though the band's initial run was short-lived, Yazoo continues to influence and inspire many of today's bands, including LCD Soundsystem, Shiny Toy Guns, Thomaz, Blaqk Audio,[1] Hercules and Love Affair,[2] La Roux and Gil Mantera's Party Dream.[citation needed]
Contents[]
History[edit][]
Yazoo was formed in late 1981 by Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet in Basildon, Essex, England.[3] Clarke, previously the main songwriter and keyboard player for Depeche Mode, also came from Basildon. At that point, he had recorded one album and three singles for Mute Records, including the hits "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough".[4] The name 'Yazoo', according to Moyet, came from the labels of old blues albums: Yazoo Records.[5] Yazoo was signed to Mute Records in the United Kingdom and to Sire Records in the United States. Yazoo's initial foray into the US was disastrous, after they received a £3.5 million lawsuit threat over the band's name.[5] Yazoo was renamed Yaz for the US market because the name was already in use by a small American rock band.[3]
Yazoo's debut single "Only You", backed with "Situation", was released on 15 March 1982 and rose to number two in the UK.[6] Yazoo's next single, "Don't Go", was released on 3 July 1982[6] and hit number three.[3] The video for it became popular on MTV in the United States.[7] They continued their successful streak with their first album, Upstairs at Eric's, which went platinum in Britain.[3] The band received favourable reviews for their pioneering sound. Clarke and Moyet toured briefly, while releasing a stop-gap single, "The Other Side of Love".
The duo's second (and final) album, You and Me Both, yielded more success, hitting the top of the UK charts and featuring the hit single "Nobody's Diary".[8] Commercial success in the US was initially not as strong. Both "Situation" and "Only You" were released as singles, peaking at No. 73 and No. 67 respectively. Despite the modest chart success of those singles and of Upstairs at Eric's (which reached No. 92 on the album chart), by 1989 (seven years after its release), word of mouth helped to push the album to platinum status for sales of over one million copies.
Shortly before the release of You and Me Both, Clarke and Moyet announced they were going to go their separate ways.
Break up and legacy[edit][]
Moyet signed with Columbia Records and began her successful solo career after leaving Yazoo.[9] Clarke recorded a single with producer Eric Radcliffe and Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey as The Assembly, and another with vocalist Paul Quinn.[9] Around this time, Clarke also produced "The Face of Dorian Gray" for his friend, singer Robert Marlow. Clarke then started the synth pop group Erasure with vocalist Andy Bell.[9]
Mute Records released a remixed version of "Situation" as a single in 1990, which was moderately successful, reaching No. 14 on the charts. A compilation entitled Only Yazoo — The Best of was released in 1999 and was preceded by a re-release of Yazoo's debut single, "Only You", featuring a new remix of the title track and several more of "Don't Go". The band's output was book-ended with yet another release of "Situation", accompanied by many remixes. Clarke was tapped to remix Moyet's 1994 single, "Whispering Your Name" and, with Erasure, Clarke and Moyet tried to record her single "This House" as a duet. This project never came to surface because Sony Music Entertainment would not permit it.[citation needed]
The band's songs have appeared in a number of films and television shows. In 1988, "In My Room", "Ode to Boy", and "Only You" were used in the film The Chocolate War (the adaption of the book of the same title). "Only You" was used in the film Napoleon Dynamite, the BBC television series The Office, the film Can't Hardly Wait and the Fringe episode Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11; a cover version of "Only You" by Joshua Radin was used in 2007 in a J. C. Penney commercial; "Don't Go" appeared in the BBC series I'm Alan Partridge and was used in the film Tango and Cash. The song "Situation" was used in the 1990 TV movie Exile and was also used in a Nintendo commercial highlighting the classic edition of the Game Boy Advance SP and the classic NES games ported to it. In 2007, "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" was used in The Sarah Silverman Program episode "Not Without My Daughter".[citation needed]
Antony Hegarty, lead vocalist in Antony & The Johnsons, talked with Terry Gross in February 2009 about recording the debut self-titled Hercules & Love Affair album. He said he had been asked by New York based DJ Andy Butler to join the project and that the objective was or became "Let's sound as much like Yazoo as we can .... We loved Yazoo."[2]
2008 reformation and beyond[edit][]
[1][2]Alison Moyet with Yazoo in 2008
In December 2007 Side-line announced that Mute plans to reissue both albums as remastered versions. The band would also plan a live gig to promote the re-releases.[10] The promotional tour received moderate television coverage including a performance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross broadcast on 16 May 2008, a prime time BBC chat show.[11]
The news was confirmed later on including extra details.[12] In Your Room, a four-disc box set featuring the stereo remasters and 5.1 mixes of the albums Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both next to a disc with B-sides and remixes was released in 2008. Add to this a DVD featuring an exclusive short film with new interviews from Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet and the videos for "Don't Go", "The Other Side Of Love", "Nobody's Diary", "Situation (1990)" and "Only You (1999) as well as several original appearances on BBC".
The release as followed by the 'Yazoo Reconnected: Live' tour. Initially, 18 dates were announced, starting in Copenhagen on 26 May.[13] For the first three dates of the US tour, Yazoo performed in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Yazoo wrapped up the final two dates of the US tour by returning to New York City for the first time since October 1982. A limited edition vinyl 12" with new dance mixes was also to be released to promote the boxset.[14][15] A video was released in late April 2008, in which Clarke and Moyet discuss Yazoo's first single "Only You".[16] In an interview with Side-Line Magazine, Clarke announced that a live CD was also planned. The recordings were planned to take place during the band's two upcoming performances in London.[17] No live DVD is planned though.[18]
The 10 July 2008 concert that Yazoo played at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, California was recorded to be re-aired on Richard Blade's Sirius Radio Show.[19]
A live album, Reconnected Live, of their successful European and North American 'Reconnected Tour' was released on 27 September 2010.[20]
In May 2011, Moyet appeared on stage during the Erasure set at Mute Records' Short Circuit music festival, for a one-off performance of three Yazoo songs: "Nobody's Diary", "Ode To Boy" & "Don't Go" with Clarke.
Discography[edit][]
| Releases | |
|---|---|
| ↙Studio albums | 2 |
| ↙Live albums | 1 |
| ↙Compilation albums | 2 |
| ↙EPs | 2 |
| ↙Singles | 10 |
The discography of Yazoo includes two studio albums, one live album, two compilations, two extended plays and ten singles.
Studio albums[edit][]
| Year | Album details | Chart peak positions | Certifications | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK
[21] |
CAN | GER | NZ | SWE | US | |||
| 1982 | Upstairs at Eric's
|
2 | 49 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 92 | |
| 1983 | You and Me Both
|
1 | 33 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 69 |
|
Compilation albums[edit][]
| Year | Album details | Chart peak positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK
[21] |
GER | US | |||
| 1999 | Only Yazoo – The Best of Yazoo
|
22 | — | — | |
| 2008 | In Your Room
|
193[23] | — | — | |
| 2012 | Essential
|
— | — | — | |
| 2012 | The Collection
|
— | — | — | |
Live albums[edit][]
| Year | Album details | Chart peak positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | GER | US | |||
| 2010 | Reconnected Live
|
177[23] | — | — | |
Singles and EPs[edit][]
| Year | Song | Chart peak positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRT_Top_30 BEL
(Vl)] [24] |
CAN
(RPM) [25] |
GER
[26] |
IRE
[27] |
ITA
[28] |
NED
[29] |
NZ
[30] |
SWE
[31] |
UK
[21] |
US | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Dance_Club_Play US
Dance] | |||
| 1982 | "Only You" | 7 | — | — | 72 | 5 | 32 | — | — | — | 2 | 67 | — | Upstairs at Eric's |
| "Don't Go" | 6 | 1 | — | 4 | 4 | 29 | 2 | 22 | 5 | 3 | — | 1 | ||
| "Situation" 1 | — | 8 | 31 | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | — | 73 | 1 | ||
| "The Other Side of Love" | — | 9 | — | 35 | 11 | 28 | 25 | — | — | 13 | — | — | ||
| 1983 | "Nobody's Diary" | 17 | 22 | — | 18 | 5 | 14 | — | 14 | 9 | 3 | — | 1 | You and Me Both |
| "Walk Away From Love" 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1990 | "Situation '90" | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | — | 14 | — | 46 | |
| 1999 | "Only You" (1999 remix) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 47 | 38 | — | — | Only Yazoo – The Best of Yazoo |
| "Situation '99" 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| "Don't Go '99 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | ||
| 2008 | Nobody's Diary EP4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 100 | — | — | In Your Room |
| Reconnected EP4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that region. | ||||||||||||||
- 1 Released as a single only in US, Canada and Benelux nations
- 2 Japan-only single/promo single
- 3 Ineligible for UK Singles Chart
- 4 12" vinyl and digital download EP
Singles with BPI Sliver Certification: Only You, Don't Go, Nobody's Diary
Awards[edit][]
- 1983 BRIT Awards – Best British breakthrough act