  yo la tengo (often abbreviated as ylt) is an american indie rock band formed in hoboken, new jersey, in 1984. since 1992, the lineup has consisted of ira kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), georgia hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and james mcnew (bass, vocals). despite achieving limited mainstream success, yo la tengo has been called "the quintessential critics' band" and maintains a strong cult following. though it mostly plays original material, yo la tengo is renowned for its encyclopedic repertoire of cover songs both in live performance and on record. ==history== ===formation and early history: 1984â1985=== ira kaplan and georgia hubley formed the band as a husband/wife duo in 1984. they chose the name "yo la tengo" (spanish for "i have it"; or referring to a female-gender object or person, also "i've got her") in an effort to avoid any connotations in english. the name came from a baseball anecdote. during the 1962 season, new york mets center fielder richie ashburn and venezuelan shortstop elio chacÃ³n found themselves colliding in the outfield. when ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "i got it! i got it!" only to run into chacÃ³n, who spoke only spanish. ashburn learned to yell, "Â¡yo la tengo! Â¡yo la tengo!" instead. in a later game, ashburn happily saw chacÃ³n backing off. he relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by left fielder frank thomas, who understood no spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words "Â¡yo la tengo!" as a way to avoid outfield collisions. after getting up, thomas asked ashburn, "what the he
American_experimental_rock_groups American_indie_rock_groups Arts_&_Crafts_Productions_artists Dream_pop_musical_groups Matador_Records_artists Musical_groups_established_in_1984 Musical_groups_from_New_Jersey Musical_trios Noise_pop_musical_groups People_from_Hoboken,_New_Jersey