The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: NO NO NO!

WH

I was recently recommended a song by a band called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who are apparently a "big thing" with the kids nowadays. The song was called "Maps," and I was intrigued by the lyrics, which consist of nothing much more than "Wait, they don't love you like I love you."

God awful.

Just...really...

I was at a loss for words about how bad this song was, and moreso that they became popular at all. Then again, how can I be surprised when the same "hipsters" in the music business made Modest Mouse popular?

Here's my big problem with the "indie" artists of today, and this song in particular. There's no emotion in their vocals. The lyrics are rife with heartbreak and solemnity, and yet the vocalist delivers them like she's reading from a textbook about Advanced Physics.

That's what I like about artists like Elliott Smith, Thom Yorke, and French vocalist Michael Polnareff. They may not be the most technically proficient singers, but they infuse every word with a raw emotion and desperation that makes the song move you in directions it wouldn't normally move you if, say, it were being performed by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs or American Idol's resident bitchface, Kelly Clarkson.

If you are a talented, emotional singer, you deserve praise.

If you're a talented singer devoid of any emotion whatsoever, you should go on American Idol.

If you're an untalented, emotionless waste of space who looks like an idiot, you're "Karen O," the lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

It's sad when Schiavo the Human Vegetable looks more lifelike and full of emotion than you.