Down The Dumper – The 80s Part 31.

This is another group who had a brief moment of fame on the UK chart in the late-80s. Yello are a group whose main members are Dieter and Boris, and they formed in Switzerland in the late-70s. I can’t think of many other successful groups from that part of Europe. There was the woman who released songs as Do Piano who I looked back at recently, but that’s about it really.

They became known for their rather unusual songs that bent the boundaries of pop music, and their first album was released in the early-80s. Dieter was also the director of a lot of their rather odd music videos. Most of their hit singles made the lower end of the chart though, the first being June 1983’s “I Love You”. Billy Mackenzie from The Associates provided backing vocals on some of their songs too.

The moment they hit the big time was in August 1988 when “The Race” was released, which reached no. 7, and is their first and only Top Ten single in the UK. This partly became famous because the lyrics where somewhat indecipherable. This also made the Top Ten in New Zealand. Their only other UK Top 40 hit was in March 1989 when “Of Course I’m Lying” reached no. 23.

It is a surprise to discover that “Oh Yeah” was never a hit single in the UK. This, along with “The Race”, featured as the background music to seemingly every other TV show and advert in the 80s and 90s. However, this was their only single to make the Top 100 in America, and this also made the Top Ten in Australia. Their final 80s hit was in July 1989 when “Blazing Saddles” reached only no. 47.

Yello have had 12 hit singles in the UK. In 1992 “The Race” was re-released alongside “Bostich” (another famous song of theirs that had been around since 1981 but hadn’t previously made the chart). Their final hit was October 1994’s “How How”. They are still together though, and they have now made 14 albums that always sound little like anything else that’s around.