Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 36

Yello - "Oh Yeah"



(Single Release: July 1985)
I've come to a startling realization. Yello's once ubiquitous hit, "Oh Yeah," best known for playing during the closing credits of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, was essentially our generation's "Double Rainbow." Okay, maybe it was a bit more utilitarian in that it was a big dance hit as well as doubling as a pop culture symbol for material excess. After Ferris, the song was used in commercials, shows, and other films to denote awe, greed, or even lust. It was almost the soundtrack for the seven deadly sins all by itself. The song only has thirteen words total. Let me double check: oh, yeah, the, moon, beautiful, so, sun, even, more, such, a, good, time. Yep, thirteen. Even so, more people probably remember the "chk, chk, chk-chka," a vocal percussion, as compared to the slowed down monologue. What does it mean? I'm kidding. I don't really care what it means, but you can see how it compares with the fairly recent meme. More than anything, this song showcases the power of John Hughes' soundtracks. In this case, I give credit to Tarquin Gotch, the music supervisor on Ferris. At first I thought he did all Hughes' films, and would thus call him an outright genius, but he has credits on Some Kind of Wonderful and She's Having a Baby. Though that pair exist as two of my favorite soundtracks, it doesn't include Pretty in Pink, quite possibly the best soundtrack album ever compiled. I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that "Oh Yeah" is a novelty song, but it gets pretty darn close. Though this Swiss band has had a fairly long and productive career, most people would only know them from this song. Their other tracks might not have been chart hits, but they've had plenty of exposure in other media. "Oh Yeah," however, is a hallmark. When people hear it, they think about a particular time or recall particular images. It certainly does that for me. Well, I have to rush off to work. "Gummi bear? It's been in my pocket; they're real warm and soft."