Yo La Tengo consists of Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, James Mcnew.
Yo La Tengo is an American rock band. Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, they have demonstrated unusual longevity for the indie-rock scene. A critical favorite with a devoted fan base, they have achieved only limited popular success.
Their name comes from a baseball anecdote. During the 1962 season, Richie Ashburn, the center fielder of the New York Mets, was crashing again and again with Venezuelan Elio Chacon. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to collide with the 160 pound (73 kg, 11 stones 6 pounds) Chacon, who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!" which is "I've got it" in Spanish. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacon backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by 200 pound (91 kg, 14 stones 4 pounds) left fielder Frank Thomas who understood no Spanish.
The band wanted a name that sounded foreign in order to avoid any connotations and Kaplan is a devoted baseball fan (and a fan of the New York Mets in particular). However, it still irks them when they are asked the origin of the name.
Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, a husband/wife duo, formed the band in 1984. They went through several other bandmembers before stabilizing with Dave Schramm and Mike Lewis for their debut recording, "The River of Water". In 1986, their first LP, Ride the Tiger, was released.
Schramm and Lewis left the band, and Stephen Wichnewski joined, with Kaplan taking on the role of lead guitar. New Wave Hot Dogs ( 1987) did much to establish the band's reputation among rock critics, though it sold poorly . President Yo La Tengo ( 1989) continued this trend, with rave reviews yet poor sales.
1990 saw the release of Fakebook, an album of mostly folk tunes, including covers from Gene Clark, Cat Stevens, Rex Garvin & the Mighty Cravers, the Escorts, the Flamin' Groovies, the Scene Is Now, the Kinks ( 1990), the Pastels, and several songs by Yo La Tengo themselves. May I Sing with Me ( 1992) included new bassist James McNew (of Christmas and Dump), who has stayed with the band ever since. Painful ( 1993), Electr-o-Pura ( 1995) and I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One ( 1997) marked a steady progression towards a sprawling, multi-faceted style, which included such disparate elements as folk, punk rock, shoegazing, long instrumental noise-jams and electronica oriented songs. During these years their cult grew and thanks to almost constant touring and unrelenting critical praise they became one of the most prominent American indie rock bands. They released And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out in 2000 and Summer Sun in 2003.
