It’s one of the most memorable moments in John Hughes’ movie history. Exactly 26 minutes into his 1986 classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” a nervous Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) shows Ferris (Matthew Broderick) his father’s car and says, “The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT, California,” before they climb in and embark on their wild shenanigans around Chicago.
It’s a line fans of the film know by heart — but few are aware that the Ferrari’s theme song, “Oh Yeah” is by the experimental Swiss electronic duo Yello. The slick, funky groove punctuated by the iconic “chik-chika-chika” payoff line represents the car’s allure and has come to symbolize swagger and flashiness across pop culture ever since.
Singer Dieter Meier and founding member Boris Blank still intermittently record as Yello, but on Tuesday the now 69-year-old Meier will release his first solo album, “Out of Chaos,” an atmospheric and stylistically varied collection he describes as “a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist.” But as Meier is happy to admit, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” remains the movie he is still most associated with.
As one half of Yello, Meier describes his input as adding vocals and melody to Blank’s “sonic paintings,” but “Oh Yeah” was one piece that initially didn’t inspire him. “Boris had to explain it to me,” recalls Meier.
“He said, ‘Imagine you are a king, sitting on a beautiful island, and there’s a nice breeze, and someone offers you a fantastic drink as you look into the sunset. What would you say?’ I said, ‘Ohhhh yeah!’ That’s how the song came about!”
As it happened, John Hughes was a big Yello fan, and his decision to use “Oh Yeah” helped Blank and Meier expand their profile, allowing them to perform live in the US for the first time in 1986 and scoring them a minor Billboard hit in 1987.
“We became very popular overnight,” recalls Meier. “The song is about total, unconditional happiness in that moment, so it works very well in the film when the boy [Cameron] is stealing his father’s car.” Hughes also used another Yello track, “Lost Again,” in 1987’s “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
Since “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” popularized it, “Oh Yeah!” has been heard in many more films, commercials and TV shows, including “Glee” and several episodes of “The Simpsons.” Meier doesn’t need the money (he hails from a very wealthy background) but says the royalty checks pale in comparison to the cultural kudos. “To this day, whenever someone says, ‘Oh, you’re a musician — have you done anything I should know?’ I’ll say, ‘Ohhhh yeah!’ and they will almost faint!”