Talk:Yé-yé

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Origins and Québec
It's great that someone has added Quebec to the article, but I think perhaps the emphasis is best placed on the term emerging from France, and being adopted by Quebec later. I presume it wasn't too long after it was referred to in France as ye-ye that the term was used in Quebec. A reference to the use of the term ye-ye in Quebec would be very welcome here, but I lack one. Perhaps the opening paragraph could benefit from being rephrased to refer to ye-ye as a term for French language rock that emerged from 60s France, and a mention of the term travelling could be placed later.

Basically the sociologist Edgar Morin used 'ye-ye' for the first time in 1963, after "La Nuit De La Nation", a concert celebrating the magazine Salut Les Copains' 1st birthday. I've not read the original article, but from what I've read about it, it seems like it was a disparaging reference to witnessing, for the first time in France, teens en masse taking on an identity influenced by American rock 'n' roll culture. (Though it's not entirely a put-down, and in large part genuine curiosity about observing this new phenomenon).

It's not inaccurate to say ye-ye emerged from France and Quebec in the 60s - because the actual ye-ye music and artists did - but I think a little more information would help emphasise that the naming of this phenomenon specifically emerged from France. The nationalistic aspect to its coinage - demonstrating a suspicion toward the influence of another culture - is integral to the history of ye-ye, I believe.

When I have time or feel I can do it in a way that does the subject matter justice (and can find some reliable references), I'll attempt to make some of these changes myself. But for now, these are suggestions that I hope might be taken up by someone who is knowledgable in this area. Spikedcandy 09:52, 10 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Regarding coinage: the first citation for the word in the Oxford English Dictionary (which defines it in part as "designating or pertaining to the modern style of music, dress, etc., associated with France in the 1960s", not limiting things entirely to music) is from the Daily Telegraph, October 24, 1960. Of course, this doesn't mean that this is when the term was coined (I should think it certainly was not; the OED is only concerned with the usage of words in English, of course), but it does mean the term was known before 1963. --Camembert 17:05, 21 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Very interesting, Camembert. It seems the few English sources on this are misleading and I'll have to check again but I'm pretty sure a French book I have said it was used for the first time by Morin. That doesn't mean I doubt you at all, just that it's hard to find a clear account of the history of this. If it was already used in 1960 - enough to have been referred to in an English paper - perhaps it was a self-described term in youth and rock 'n'roll culture.


 * Also, since writing these earlier comments, I've learned a little more. It seems Morin may not have used ye-ye unfavourably after all. As a sociologist, he was likely more interested in simply observing and analysing a phenomenon. But following his article, the press seem to have widely used the term to degrade youth culture. There is a Johnny Hallyday quote in an issue of 'Salut Les Copains' where he's thanking Morin for his thoughtful article and expressing his irritation with the rest of the press for getting it wrong. I'd have to check, but I think he does say they got Morin's ideas wrong. - Spikedcandy 11:02, 3 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I was under the impression the name was taken from the single "Yea yea" by The Kendall sisters on Ardo Records in 1958, a song which is one of the earliest songs to have that sound, but actually coming from America - Matt G 23:22, 25 November 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.99.233.116 (talk)
 * Let's see the source. --Jaan Pärn (talk) 09:04, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 08:26, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Influences
To clarify why I added 'citation needed' after the Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry sentence: I just want to be sure that listing these specific influences is based on some written evidence, rather than an extrapolation - however reasonable that may be based on either the ye-ye sound, or the fact that ye-ye was inspired by early rock'n'roll in general. Soundwise, I think Elvis and Chuck Berry are evident influences, but I think we need this confirmed by some published info. I'm a little less certain of the influence of Little Richard. I can't think of any ye-ye I've heard that sounds influenced by him; if anyone can think of examples, please share them. As for references, even individual artists discussing their influences should be adequate. Spikedcandy 17:03, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

1967 Beatles concert
The article refers to a 1967 Beatles concert in Madrid. That can't be right, because the Beatles stopped playing concerts in 1966. Anyway, I don't know exactly how the Beatles relate to ye-ye, since that wasn't their genre. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 00:55, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Wasn't it derived from their song She Loves You? Morhange (talk) 20:33, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

some distortions, I think
The term "yeye" may have come to mean "young, innocent, and cute" for some, but originally it was nothing more than an interjection meant to imitate the "yeah!" of American or English singers.

Yeye music was by no means dominated by female singers. The author mentions Jacques Dutronc, Michel Polnareff, and Serge Gainsbourg, concluding correctly that "maybe we could not properly call them yeye singers", but overlooks singers like Claude François, Richard Anthony, Frank Alamo, and Johnny Hallyday, hugely successful and worthy of the "yeye" label (although Hallyday preferred to be considered a "rockeur").Wheatonna (talk) 02:22, 2 June 2008

I'm not well enough versed in computer-stuff of yé-yé music to feel comfortable editing the main page, but the second sentence is: "The term 'yé-yé' derived from 'yeah! yeah!' yell." Wouldn't something like "The term 'yé-yé' is derived from 'Yeah! Yeah!'-- a phrase singers often yelt," be clearer? (UTC)

Québec yé-yé singers?
Would like to add some to the article, who were they? RomaC (talk) 15:23, 22 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I guess Les Beatlettes would be concidered one, there's a whole cd with girl groups from quebec, but from what I know (only having it as mp3) it's not using the term yeye. --130.241.66.89 (talk) 08:41, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

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Yéyé
The right French spelling is yéyé. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ArgosAristos (talk • contribs) 16:33, 10 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Just about every source spells it Yé-Yé. Coulomb1 (talk) 16:26, 6 June 2024 (UTC)