The dodgy subject of Devo

TAE

All you have is now
Yesterday my grand daughter asked what is Devo? Guess my son in law had said she was EMO cause she was getting upset and she misunderstood what he said...

Prompted me to explain what Devo was...well that they were a band from the olden days that made some fun songs...

That prompted me to google that old band and alls I can say is wow!

I mean I liked several of their hits but I never bought an album.....

By chance in the late 80's a buddy called last minute and said he had a spare ticket to see them at a restaurant / club close to my shack and said said sure.

I mean under like 150 people...Holy shit what a show....They were bad ass...the energy they created and fun they exuded was really surprising....and the chicks..Yikes like 80% and most were pretty attractive...Since it was a very small venue after the show they had to kind of just meander through the restaurant....Mark Mothersbaugh girlfriend was stunningly gorgeous...like how can that be?

Watching their devolution, a few songs and Letterman show videos those knuckleheads really were cutting edge clever bastards.. Just thought I'd throw out the topic here on whatchya all thing of that whacky band....
 
I have fond memories of MTV at the time 'Whip It' debuted there. That was the only song of theirs I had heard (and liked, btw) and I never pursued the group after that. MTV had so many good artists appearing from day to day I just went with the flow and never looked back.
 
They were nuts. The UK late 1978 and the music appeared all over the place. You had old prog rock Genesis. Disco with Chic. Grease. The lasts of the Punk bands.

Then late at night I watched these nutters singing ..... 'Are we not men......We are Devo'. They were wearing plastic jump suits, welders googles and flower pots for hats I think.

I dont think you could categorize them at that time. But it was different, new and electronic sounding. Kind of a Sparks type of 'out there' type of band doing there own thing.
 
Yeah, the dawn of MTV made it all about videos and visuals and plain old radio was on it's way out. There weren't too many ordinary, everyday looking people in the music videos. Devo was certainly an eye-catcher.
 
I was a huge fan. The outfits and schtick were attention-getting, like Zappa. Actually, I think they had a lot in common with Zappa.

And I think it's like me and country music. I don't like country (and a lot of the people associated with it) so if there's a song that I might like or agree with the sentiment, I'm not likely to hear it, or if I do, since I'm not a fan of that kind of music, I'm not likely to pay attention to it.

But for all of you Zappa fans, or folks who think that government and society as a whole are going in the wrong direction, give a listen to the album 'Freedom Of Choice', paying particular attention to the lyrics if New Wave wasn't your thing.

What they were trying to say was that for all of the progress that humanity has made, all of a sudden we are allowing ourselves to 'de-evolve' (Devo) into less intelligent forms of life, partly due to technology and the relative ease of life it has brought.

I also liked their particular brand of 'new wave'. They had some great hooks. And that's all great guitar riffs are anyway, just great hooks played on guitar.
 
I've seen a shit load of great bands in my life....Like I said previously I like a lot of their tunes but I'd of never purposely gone to a Devo concert...That said I have to say I was really blown away with the energy that was created that night....just didn't expect it...They owned the crowd and seriously just put the place on fire...I mean all the great bands put out some great energy...Zep, The Who, Zappa, The tubes, Rory Galagher, Alvin Lee, Jo Jo gunn, Golden Earing, Robin Trower, Fog Hat, Alman Brothers, Thin Lizzy, Atlanta Rhythm section, CSNY, Alice Cooper, Tull, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd and many many more that I have seen,, ...Early Elton man I swear lightning bolts were shooting out of his fingers...But really Devo surprised the hell out of me...one of the most energetic powerful bands I can remember seeing.. kinda weird
 
Many people including my girl friend at the time loved them. I never got into them at all.

What did one of them go on to invent?
 
I saw a documentary that Devo and Neil Young were good buds and they helped him write Hey, Hey My My.

Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) - Wikipedia

"Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" is a song written by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Combined with its acoustic counterpart "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", it bookends Young's 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps. The song was influenced by the punk rock zeitgeist of the late 1970s, in particular by Young's collaborations with the American art punk band Devo, and what he viewed as his own growing irrelevance. "
 
I saw a documentary that Devo and Neil Young were good buds and they helped him write Hey, Hey My My.

Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) - Wikipedia

"Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" is a song written by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Combined with its acoustic counterpart "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", it bookends Young's 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps. The song was influenced by the punk rock zeitgeist of the late 1970s, in particular by Young's collaborations with the American art punk band Devo, and what he viewed as his own growing irrelevance. "

Like I said, great hooks.
 
I'm watching horror movies each night this October. Tonight was the EXCELLENT "Island of Lost Souls" with Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, and the beautiful exotic Kathleen Burke -
kb.jpg

Criterion has excellent special features and one with the two leaders of DEVO. It turns out that "Are We Not Men" is the rhetorical question the man-beasts ask while reciting the laws. This movie heavily influenced the group.

A second special feature was their short film (2 or 3 song music film) and it only took a few seconds to remember why I hated them. Oh did they suck.

I know, you all love'em. But, I seriously hate them. I put them with The B52s. The only thing that impressed me about them was, I was in a record shop in Greenwich Village where I used to get all my Nina Hagen records. Fred came in and bought a Nina album. Besides that, I HATE THEM. I had to sit through them twice.
 
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