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Trivia / Yello

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  • Better Export for You: Because "Planet Dada" wasn't released as a single in the US, the American edition of The Eye included the CD single edition as a bonus disc. While the original version of "Planet Dada" is absent from the bonus disc (due to it already being on the main album), the US release compensates for this by including a video file for the song's music video, which was absent from the single.
  • Black Sheep Hit: Despite being their only song to become popular in the US, "Oh Yeah" is also the least representative of their output, being an unmelodic and percussive industrial song with sparse lyrics. Their other material, while also experimental, is decidedly more melodic and lyrical, with greater focus on synths and samples than percussion.
  • Channel Hop: The band have hopped between multiple labels over the years. They put out their debut single, "I.T. Splash", through indie label Periphery Perfume before signing with Vertigo Records in continental Europe, Ralph Records in the US, and Do It Records in the UK. In 1983, they moved over to Elektra Records in the US and Stiff Records in the UK; in 1985, they moved over to Elektra in the UK as well. Vertigo's sister label, Mercury Records, bought out Yello's US & UK contracts that same year, resulting in both them and Elektra releasing their own editions of Stella simultaneously. Shortly after, they moved over to Mercury worldwide, briefly hopping onto Fontana Records for Flag. Yello stayed on Mercury for the remainder of the 20th century in the UK & Europe, while in the US they moved over to sister label 4th & Broadway in the mid-'90s. Afterwards, the band put out The Eye through Motor Records (in conjunction with Radikal Records in the US) before moving over to Polydor Records, where they remain to this day.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Progress and Perfection was made as part of a promotional deal with the car company Audi and was given a limited release for Audi employees in Germany in 2007. It's never been reissued since then, not even digitally, resulting in it becoming a fairly coveted rarity.
  • Late Export for You: The Eye wasn't released in the US until 2005, two years after its European release.
  • Milestone Celebration: Touch Yello was made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the band's founding in 1979.
  • No Export for You: Progress and Perfection was only released in Germany, owed to its nature as a promotional gimmick for Audi.
  • One-Hit Wonder: While it never cracked the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (only hitting No. 51), "Oh Yeah" is Yello's only song to achieve widespread recognition and popularity in the United States thanks to it becoming a Standard Snippet for lust and decadence.
    • In Europe, however, "The Race" is arguably their biggest hit or at the very least on par with '"Oh Yeah" and has become a quintessential jock jam for Euro Racing.
  • The Pete Best: Founding member Carlos Perón left the band shortly after the release of their third album, You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess, in 1983 in order to focus on his budding solo career. Two years later, however, Yello earned their first No. 1 album in their native Switzerland with Stella, which also generated their first international hit (and only US hit), "Oh Yeah". They've remained commercially successful at home and a cult favorite abroad ever since, while Perón's solo career is seldom remembered.
  • Post-Release Retitle:
    • The single version of "Bostich" was retitled "Bostich (N'est-ce Pas)" when it was included as a bonus track on the 2005 remaster of Solid Pleasure.
    • Essential Yello, the band's first Greatest Hits Album, was retitled Essential Christmas: The Singles Collection when it was re-released in 1995 to promote The Santa Clause. The original title, however, is still present on the jewel case inlays.
  • Release Date Change: Stella was originally intended to come out on October 1, 1984, but delays in production caused by Creative Differences with engineer Tom Thiel over the album's mixing resulted in it being pushed back to January 29, 1985 so that it wouldn't be crowded out during a busy holiday season.
  • Similarly Named Works: In the music world alone, Toy shares its name with albums by David Bowie, A Giant Dog, Funkadelic, Uri Cane, and the band Toy, as well as songs by Spandau Ballet and Netta Barzilai.

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