Line #12 Music/Yazoo


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yazoo_fourpieces_pressphotograph.jpg]]
2
3	Yazoo ([[MarketBasedTitle known in America]] as Yaz) were an 80s SynthPop duo comprised of Vince Clarke (former Music/DepecheMode, future Music/{{Erasure}} keyboard player) and Alison Moyet.
4
5	The duo formed in late 1981 after Clarke responded to an advertisement Moyet placed in a British music magazine, although the pair had known each other since their schooldays. Over the next 18 months the duo released two albums, ''Upstairs At Eric's'', containing the hits "Only You" and "Don't Go" (and in the USA, "Situation", a B-side in the UK) and ''You and Me Both'' (containing the hit "Nobody's Diary"). Both received critical acclaim for their production, particularly the blending of Clarke's synthesizer melodies with Moyet's blues- and soul-influenced vocals.
6
7	Despite their success, the duo split acrimoniously in May 1983 as a result of what they would later attribute to a combination of Clarke's reluctance to make more records under the Yazoo name, a clash of personalities, and a lack of communication between the pair. Although their musical career was short, Yazoo's combination of electronic instrumentation and soulful female vocals has been cited as an influence on the house music scene that emerged in the mid-1980s, as well as on bands such as Music/LCDSoundsystem (who name-checked the duo on their debut single "Losing My Edge"), Hercules and Love Affair (whose leader Andy Butler has said that "Situation" was his biggest musical inspiration), Shiny Toy Guns and Blaqk Audio.
8
9	In 2008, 25 years after splitting, Clarke and Moyet reconciled and reformed Yazoo to play a successful tour of the UK, Europe and North America in support of the reissue of Yazoo's two studio albums and a box set of their material titled ''In Your Room''. The pair later further reunited briefly in May 2011 to play three Yazoo songs at a music festival organised by their record label.
10	----
11	!!Tropes related to Yazoo:
12
13	* TheSeventies: the subject of a massive TakeThat in "Goodbye 70s".
14	-->''To your credit to the thirty faces you created\
15	To your headache to the shape of the 1980's\
16	I'm glad that we don't hear you any more\
17	I'm tired of playing in your fashion war''
18	* ArmiesAreEvil: "Unmarked" doesn't particularly paint a flattering picture on joining the Army.
19	-->''Go and join the army\
20	Said the father to the son\
21	See the world around you boy\
22	And learn to use a gun\
23	Think you're something special\
24	Well, we'll make you just the same\
25	There's nothing wrong in dying\
26	After all, it's just a game\
27	Just a game''
28	* BrokenRecord: The second half of "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" is just repetitions of the title and the phrase "All night".
29	* MarketBasedTitle: The band was known as Yaz in the U.S. due to a lawsuit from a record company with a similar name.
30	* RhymingWithItself: "Unmarked" rhymes "on our side" with "the other side".
31	* SpokenWordInMusic: The lyrics of "I Before E Except After C" are spoken normally as opposed to singing.
32	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Vince sings "Happy People", his only lead vocal in any of the bands he's been in.
33	* SynthPop: One of the key "fire and ice" duos (cold synths with passionate vocals) of the second wave of SynthPop.
34	* VocalDissonance: Alison's voice is so deep, it's not uncommon for people hearing Yazoo to assume the singer is male.
35	* WordSaladLyrics: Good luck trying to guess what "Situation" is about.
36	-->''Now, he's in control, he is my lover\
37	Nations stand against him, he's your brother\
38	Been a long time, been a long time now\
39	I'll get to you somehow, yeah''

Context Music / Yazoo