Who Knew the Empire State Building Was So Hip?

In its 82-year history, the top of the Empire State Building has been the site of countless family outings, marriage proposals and, of course, one very memorable date gone awry. But as near as we can tell, it had never been the site of an indie rock performance, not a preapproved one anyway.

Then one windy night in April, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the New York trio led by the glittering dervish singer Karen O, positioned themselves on the observation deck 86 floors up. Brian Chase had his drum kit, Nick Zinner his guitar. From 2 a.m. until just past sunrise, they performed one of their latest songs, as a crew of just two dozen watched.

The group was recording the video for “Despair,” the second single off their new album, “Mosquito.” For logistical an creative reasons, the shoot was a well-kept secret. It began with a sort of cinematic preparty in a nearby Irish pub and ended with a helicopter buzzing the skyline. A clip is above; the full video will premiere on Monday on Noisey, Vice.com’s online music channel.

It’s the first music video shot atop the Empire State Building. And to hear Anthony E. Malkin, the president of Malkin Holdings, operator of the Empire State Building, tell it, it’s about time. “The way I look at it is, why hadn’t this been done before?” he said. “Credit to them for having the gumption to ask.”

Mr. Malkin said he agreed to the video to garner some cool points for his landmark. “To make sure that the Empire State Building isn’t frozen in people’s minds in ‘An Affair to Remember’ and ‘Sleepless! in Seattle’ â€" we’re live, we’re vibrant, we’re 82 years young,” he said.

Courtesy of Patrick Daughters Karen O, lead singer of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, filming a music video on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

For Karen O, filming there presented a capstone to her musical career in New York.

“It’s definitely not just another cool day in the life of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” she said Thursday. “It was definitely an iconic moment. It’s hard to do something like that and not to feel like it’s symbolc - it’s like the American dream for us, singing your song on top of the Empire State Building, feeling like: man, where were we 10 years ago, when we were sitting around in some punk rock dive bar, thinking about what to name our band, and New York City, and now here we are at the top. It really felt dreamlike.”

She added: “I feel like I want to stop talking, because I think anything I say is not going to do justice to how cool it was.”

Ms. O had never been to the top of the building; nor had Patrick Daughters, the video’s director. “I don’t like heights,” he said. Fear aside, filming on the narrow deck proved technically challenging, so a crew was dispatched to a helicopter to shoot concurrently.”

The video starts with the band members converging on the building via subway and taxi. The idea, Mr. Daughters said, was that it would feel “like the end of an epic night out in New York City.”

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Though! music videos typically involve lip-syncing and mock instrument-playing, in this case the band really went for it, as they performed on risers around the building. “It was plenty loud,” Mr. Daughters said. “I don’t think they had to worry about the neighbors.”

The idea to film at the Empire State came from an executive at Vice, which co-produced the video via Noisey. Other groups have approached the building’s managers to shoot there, but none met its strict production requirements, Mr. Malkin said.

“It was not casual,” he said of approving the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. “We did review the lyrics, we understood what the song was about, we understand the treatment. It had to be appropriate for the building, and it was.” (Don’t count him as a follower of the group, though: “Never heard of them before in my life,” he said. He vetted them with his 20-something children.)

Mr. Malkin said despite its title, “Despair,” to him, was an uplifting song, a sentiment Ms. O agreed wih. “It’s about overcoming despair,” she said, “acknowledging that it’s always going to be there, making room for it. Unhappiness is just another form of happiness, is what I read in a book recently.”

“It’s a pretty appropriate song to be singing into the wind up there,” she added.

The shoot was nearly canceled, though, when a tourist jumped off the observation deck earlier that night. He fell one floor, and survived. For Mr. Daughters and the band, this added an unexpected resonance as they filmed into the dawn.

“We’re all on the edge,” Ms. O sings. “There’s nothing to fear, nothing to fear, inside. Through the darkness and the light, some sun has got to rise.”