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Stella, Mercury Records, 1985    BILLBOARD CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:                             Club Play:  # 35                       Maxi-Singles Sales:  # 45                        Hot 100 Singles:  # 51        GLOBAL CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:                            # 47  in Germany                      Top 30 at  MATT RADIO             View the all-time countdown here!

Although their first two albums were met with moderate success, the Swiss tandem of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank, better known as Yello, cashed in with 1985's Stella and its biggest hit, the quirky and techno-ridden "Oh Yeah."  Yello's electronic club sound was always the main ingredient in their repertoire, but "Oh Yeah"'s frantic energy and Keystone Kop-styled rhythm is the most commercially appealing piece that they've ever done.  As an album, Stella compiled nonstop tempos, crisp beats, obscure sounds, and vocal effects, and it cleverly manufactured congeries of electronica to produce one of the most fascinating albums of the decade.

"Oh Yeah"'s flair stems from its uniquely overcompensated baritone vocals, with the rest of the song pouring in around it for pure effect.  Not only is the cartoon-like charm of the music attractive, but the repetitive whisper of "chika chikaaa" that pops up time and again is just as catchy.  The song nearly achieved novelty status because of its peculiarity, which is the same reason it was added to the soundtrack of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and to "The Secret of My Success."  Popularized by its colorful music video, "Oh Yeah" gained acceptance by those who had never showed an interest in techno or electronic music before, and even today it stands as one of the most renowned hits of the 1980s.  Yello kept making albums throughout the rest of the decade and into the early '90s, but none of their tracks could match "Oh Yeah"'s popularity.

With 1981's Claro Que Si, Yello made its first forays into music video.  Their clip for the single "Pinball Cha Cha," directed by Meier, garnered considerable acclaim and in 1985 was selected as one of 32 works included in the Museum of Modern Art's Music Video Exhibition.  Visual accompaniment remained a pivotal component of the duo's work after they signed to Elektra in 1983 for the LP You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess, as the videos for "I Love You" and "Lost and Found" received heavy airplay on MTV.

1985's Stella proved to be Yello's commercial breakthrough: while the singles and videos "Desire" and "Vicious Games" found success upon their initial release, the duo enjoyed a delayed hit with the album track "Oh Yeah," which reached the U.S. singles chart after being prominently featured in the films "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Secret of My Success."  After the remix project 1980-1985: The New Mix in Go, Yello recruited diva Shirley Bassey and ex-Associate Billy McKenzie for 1987's One Second.

Despite the success of 1988's Flag, which contained the international hit "The Race," over the course of the next several years Yello grew increasingly involved with film projects: after scoring the comedy "Nuns on the Run," Meier directed his own feature, 1990's "Snowball."  In 1991, the duo resurfaced with Baby, followed three years later by Zebra.  1995's Hands on Yello compiled reinterpretations of the group's songs by the likes of Moby, the Orb, and the Grid, while Pocket Universe, a collection of new material, appeared in 1997.

source:  Mike DeGagne, Jason Ankeny, allmusic.com