In 2003 something amazing happened. A sound emerged that made you think, “BLOODY HELL I’M BACK IN THE 70s WITH THE STOOGES AND RAMONES!” Well, I don’t know how you felt but its how I felt. I felt like my generation had its turn to experience something so raw and unapologetic. A sound that just sparked you up inside. This sound is labelled as awfully as “indie” to the disgustingly pretentious “art-rock.” Shove your labels, they are not needed here. Its music not food product.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs blew me away with the first listen. I remember when I first heard Date With The Night, and it had this mental pogo feel to it. It felt like you could just lose your mind to this band. Just give up and give in to the trio. Brian, Nick and Karen have this presence that lures you in.

When I saw the video to Maps, I couldn’t move. I was just stuck staring at Karen O, she cried and I cried too. Quite possibly Spike Jonze’s finest work? Possibly so. Maps is fragile and beyond vulnerable. It is a heart-breaking love song at best; there has never been a song like it. I’m sure we all have someone we think of when listening to it. It is so powerful, you don’t want to listen to it because it tears you up inside. Yet deep down, you know you cannot deny how amazing the song is. Only a fool would. Only a fool would fail to see how remarkable this New York trio are.

Fever To Tell is regarded by so many to be one of the great albums of the past decade and one of the best debut albums ever, must be something in the New York City water I reckon. Fever To Tell is made up of short, powerful songs- just like the Ramones. Yeah Yeah Yeahs have this brutal sound. Karen O sings like she is smiling through every word, even if it is as hurtful as Maps.

Songs like Pin and Black Tongue are highly energetic and just wild. That is the sound of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but then you have songs like Maps and Modern Romance that just haunt you in a gentle kind of way. The way Karen sings, “Don’t hold on. Go, get strong.” just stays with you. She sings it in a way that just steals your heart forever.

Initially I wanted to write about how important Fever To Tell is, but the thing is dear reader, every album they’ve put out is important. Each album is highly influential in different ways compared to the previous release.

Show Your Bones wasn’t as lively as Fever To Tell, but it still had that Punk feel to it. As does It’s Blitz! It just must be a New York thing.

The way the Nick’s guitar grips you on Gold Lion is exactly how he gripped you on Maps. His guitar playing takes you to places you didn’t imagine you could go. Brian’s drumming excites you to the bones. As for Karen’s voice, well it’s as dominant as ever.

My favourite track off Show Your Bones is The Sweets. I love how sad it is. Some may regard it as the newer version of Maps, I entirely disagree. There’s only one Maps. They’ve never made a replica of any of their songs. Yes, The Sweets is equally as heart-breaking as Maps, but it just takes you to a different place. To be honest, I think The Sweets is my favourite song by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Everything about is so innocent and raw- the pain in Karen’s voice is so raw. The disappointment that comes through just shatters you. How can someone feel like this? It’s hurtful but comforting.

I could write thousands of words as to why I love The Sweets, but I honestly don’t think I’d get my point across the way I want to.

When Zero (first track to be released off It’s Blitz!) I got that feeling that I had when I first heard the band in 2003. That hyperactive and energetic feel was back. Again, no song is a replica of what they had done before. Each album they’ve put out has had a 3 year break in between; will they put something out in next if this is how they work? I don’t know, I can only hope.

Karen’s voice on the album is as erotic as ever. I don’t mean it in a seedy strip-club or free before midnight Freeview porn kind of way. I mean it in a classy, euphoric way. I’m fully aware me describing her voice like this is very weird, but anyone who’s properly listened to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs knows exactly what I mean. I’ll stop before I make myself out to be even more odd than usual. Let’s digress shall we?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the most important bands to have existed and without them- we’d probably be lost. Their sound is something that nobody has ever done before and nobody has ever seemed to have tried to emulate. You cannot mess with perfection now, can you? The energy that the band has is enough to inspire you to go out and start your own movement.

Karen O is quite simply one the most enigmatic and hypnotising front-women since Siouxsie Sioux. The way she moves on stage to how she sounds on record just enthrals you, you cannot deny how captivating she is.

She’s more than just a fascinating front-woman, but she is easily a fashion icon. Her clothes (that leather jacket in Zero is beyond stylish) and her hair styles have influenced the way the average woman dresses to what designers create.

This group are influential in so many ways. They provide the soundtrack to your heartbreak and to your nights out. They’re just everything to me, and then some. They justify my love for most music that comes from New York City. A new album is much needed, but if we have to wait a bit longer then so be it. As always, it will be worth the wait.