What was the best album of 2009? The best song? Spin gives top honors to “Zero” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and ranks their album It’s Blitz! second (behind Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion). NME also ranks “Zero” as the best track of 2009 and ranks It’s Blitz! third. (By comparison, Rolling Stone puts “Zero” at 9 and It’s Blitz at 20, but you’ve got to question any list that puts Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” in the top 5.)
I’ve liked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for quite some time. When I saw them at the Beachland Ballroom several years back they put on a great show (as did their opening act, TV on the Radio). Karen O’s lyrics are a bit difficult to figure out (and perhaps no less difficult to fathom). The appeal is as much in the delivery than the content. In any event, here’s a bit of “Zero” (as best I can figure it out).
Shake it like a ladder to the sun
Makes me feel like a madman on the run
Find me, never, never far gone
So get your leather, leather, leather onYou’re a zero
What’s your name?
No one’s going to ask you
Better find out where they want you to go
Here’s the video and a pair of live performances (1, 2).
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs may have topped the Spin and NME lists. Who topped yours?