Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Yipes! first appeared on Big Hits of Mid-America Vol. 3, the watershed Twin/Tone compilation. Their two albums are filled with sprightly, hard-edged power pop given distinction by energetic, cliché-free music, witty songs and Pat McCurdy’s expressive, gangly vocals. The first includes such neat originals as “Russian Roll” and “The Ballad of Roy Orbison,” while the inferior A Bit Irrational has “Ballad of Rudolf Kaiser (Einstein)” as well as covers of the Supremes’ “Come See About Me” and the Beach Boys’ “Darlin’.” What makes Yipes! worthwhile is their spirit of good fun, an avoidance of obvious derivativeness and well-conveyed enthusiasm.
Yipes! singer /guitarist Mike Hoffman went on to form E*I*E*I*O and then Carnival Strippers.