“The Race” (1988) – Yello * Written by Boris Blank and Dieter Meier * UK 45: “The Race (video mix)” / “The Race (sporting mix)” / “Another Race” * Produced by Yello * Label: Mercury * Charts: UK singles (#7), US dance (#33)
When you attach the description of “dance duo” to images of the two severe-looking Swiss men who formed Yello, you laugh. The music’s funny, too, but the humor never diluted any of their muscular club-clout. When “The Race” revved up in 1988, with its myriad remixes, clock-in times, and a video showcasing their distinctive visages, they’d already become global discotheque vets with such tracks as “I Love You” (1983) and “Oh Yeah” (1985). Its instrumental hook came directly from Gino Soccio’s “The Dancer,” a disco smash from 1979, which either accounted for Yello’s dance chart success or confirmed Soccio’s absence from recent memory.