*In no particular order some of my favourite musical moments. No49 Sacrilege by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
One of the truly great singles of this first quarter of the 21st century, Sacrilege by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the lead cut off the band’s fourth studio album Mosquito.
Released in 2013, it’s a deceptively simple song, given added drama by singer Karen O’s overdubbed anguished yelps and guitarist Nick Zinner‘s spiralling lead flourishes.
It’s accompanied by an equally spectacular and provocative video starring flame-haired model-turned-actor Lily Cole.
In the song O’s protagonist succumbs to the charms of an angelic creature ‘fell down from the sky,’ while her treated screams might be the angry cries of her previous now-spurned lover, ‘in our bed!’
There’s a gospel feel to the music adding to the undercurrent of religious subversion running through the track.
The video takes the sacrilegious theme a stage further, as Cole’s promiscuous wife pays the ultimate price for an affair with a preacher in a one horse god-fearin’ town.
Made by French collective, Megaforce, the story’s told in reverse, starting with the fiery denouement and closing with a wedding officiated by guess which clergyman.
As the video unfolds we see the craven hypocrisy of the bloodthirsty villagers in the lead-up to taking their revenge.
Formed in New York at the turn of the century, the trio, featuring Brian Chase on drums, generally inhabit the more art rock fringes of post-punk.
Sacrilege is a fully realised creative triumph, commercial without betraying their avant-garde ethos.
*Got a Great Musical Moment you’d like to share? Send me your suggestion via the contact form and if I like it, I’ll feature it and give you a mention. Looking forward to hearing from you.
