Devo

Editorial Review

30 years later, Devo are still weird. There's no getting around it.

Event Details

Music Type:

Pop

Editorial Review

We assume everyone's familiar with Devo's 1980 hit, Whip It. The track became an early MTV staple and helped propel Devo to International stardom. While most people assumed Devo to be a novelty act, there was far more to the group then just a catchy single and some stupid outfits.

The group was founded by Ohio arts students Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh in the early '70s. The pair got the name Devo from the concept of 'de-volution' - the idea that people were actually getting stupider rather than evolving. In mid-1970's Ohio that may well have been the case. Anyway, serious music journalists will try and tell you all about how the band's music utilised 'rigid, repressive and mechanical music' to reflect their views on society. That may well have been the case, but the point was lost on most MTV viewers who simply loved the pop sheen of Whip It and bought the subsequent Freedom of Choice.

In the end, Devo proved a little too clever for their own good. The follow-up albums, New Traditionalists and Oh, No! It's Devo were considered far too dark by mainstream media, and the band attempts to use poetry written by Ronald Reagan's would-be assassin as lyrics didn't really help matters. The group's career stalled soon after and they called it a day by the time the decade had ended.

Despite this short-lived, pop appeal, Devo have become cult favourites in more recent years, and their music, ideas and styling have found new audiences. Whip It is still considered one of the defining songs of the new wave moment and captures that late 1970's/early 1980's vibe like few others.
Mikolai, June 2008