Seven Devo Songs

Its the first Monday of October! 

You know what that means, right?

Good.  Glad I don't have to explain that to you.  I hope you make it count.

I'm fond of my name, did you know that?!

I keep it pretty well under wraps and would never do something so foolish as name a blog after myself.  Not to mention have my car's license plate be my name.  I would never dream of starting a business using my name and I absolutely wouldn't fantasize about naming all of my children after myself.  Oh wait...I guess that is me completely to a T. 


I'm very fond of things that are reminiscent of my name too, kinda like the band Devo.  Herc is back and gonna tell you about 7 awesome songs of theirs today for Music Monday!


7 Devo Songs
[part of ongoing series 7 Song Playlists]

Devo was seen by many as a novelty, a cartoon-ish band with only one song, “Whip It”. But those of us who are into their music know that they actually have more than a few good songs. They crashed onto the scene with a punky, robotic reading of the Rolling Stones classic “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. Their look and sound evolved with each release until they finally broke up in 1990. Rediscovered by nerds and hardcore geeks in the dawning of the cyber-age, the band has reunited several times, most recently last year, when they released their first new album in 20 years, with band member in their sixties, but still sounding the same musically, lyrically and vocally. And if you ever watched Rugrats (don’t lie), all the music was written and performed by Devo’s chief songwriter and lead singer, Mark Mothersbaugh. His original music has been featured in hundreds of other movies and television shows as well.

Devo-tify!

“Girl U Want” [1980]
A quirkier rewrite of The Knack’s “My Sharona”, “Girl U Want” was actually the first single off the Freedom Of Choice album. It has been covered several times in varying tempos, cementing the song’s lyrics as universal truths.

“Whip It” [1980]
The second single from Freedom Of Choice, this is the group’s biggest hit and therefore the one Devo song almost everyone knows leading to its inclusion on several One-Hit Wonder lists. Combining a guitar riff cribbed from Roy Orbison’s classic “Oh, Pretty Woman” with a fully mechanized rhythm track, “Whip It” should not be taken at the face value of it’s lyrics. It is not about kinky stuff. It is a positive song about overcoming adversity and challenge.

“Beautiful World” [1981]
Although it failed to crack the Hot 100, “Beautiful World” and its accompanying video of wonderfully sequenced film archive footage are beloved by fans who enjoy the cold, detached vocals ironically singing about “a sweet, romantic place”. The lyrics paint a pretty picture but the ultimate meaning is revealed in one of the final lines.

“Through Being Cool” [1981]
After the success of “Whip It”, Devo gained many pop music fans who were unaware of the band’s “de-evolution” beliefs. They wrote this song in direct response to all these trendy band wagoneers, alerting these fairweather fans that the band was indeed “through being cool” and they planned on eliminating the “ninnies and twits”.

“Jerkin’ Back And Forth” [1981]
This was the song that hooked Herc on the band. He witnessed their glorious performance on an episode of the late night comedy show Fridays as an impressionable youth. Those wild Devo dudes were performing live on treadmills DECADES BEFORE OK Go even attempted their flashy choreography in a video.

“Going Under” [1981]
Released on a special three song 12” to club DJs along with the above two songs, the herky jerky “Going Under” actually made the Disco Charts. But it wasn’t until the song was featured in the second episode of Miami Vice that it was permanently placed in Herc’s rotation. There are some sweet, rumbling bass notes so beware.

“That’s Good” [1982]
A single from the spudniks fifth album, “That’s Good” found the boys completely immersed in electronic music making. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who is best known for producing Queen and creating the ultra-clean sound of The Cars, the song was featured on an episode of Sarah Jessica Parker’s first (and best) series, Square Pegs. The video for this song actually was banned from MTV for a time thanks to a “suggestive” french fry, donut and naked lady.

Devo-tify!





I love Devo.  I love this playlist and Spotify is so very cool.  I really hope you are on that bandwagon guys, its pretty awesome.  Tell us what you think!