Ahhh,
Devo. One of the finest
musical accomplishments of the
80s, in my own
humble opinion. Mixing the
robotic bleeps and bloops of
synthesizers with an energetic
rock and roll sound and even
elements of punk, Devo was a
monstrous amagalm of epic proportions. They were a musical
B2 bomber with the cargo hold
filled to capacity. What did it contain, you ask? The theory of
de-evolution.
A good description of Devo's
theme, if you can
pin one down, is this:
the plight of the individual in an increasingly
mechanized world and the
symbiotic relationship between
rational thought and
irrational lust (from the historic booklet included with the new anthology,
Pioneers Who Got Scalped, out on
Rhino Records). The group, like many other great
rock and roll bands, was full of
marvelous contradictions. They stressed the importance of
individuality and
non-conformism, yet they all
dressed the same. It was impossible to
figure them out at the time, and in many ways it still is.
The greatest
tragedy of the Devo
saga is that their
later works are completely
lacking in substance as compared to their brilliant early accomplishments. They lost the all-important element of
angry, hormonally-charged rock and roll and became
bogged down by corny, ineffective synth sounds. Where once the synthesizer had been a tool used to
enhance their sound and help to cement their
vision and
imagery into their music by adding a
cold, robotic ingredient, it was now simply an overwhelming, cliched
engine powering an outdated vehicle.
However, we will always have their early work. Anthems like "
Jocko Homo", "
Be Stiff", "
Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA", "
Beautiful World", and even the breakthrough smash (and actually rather brilliant song) "
Whip It" will continue to play on the
stereos of
spudheads around the world as we remember the
glory of a once-mighty
force in the battle against a quickly approaching
unsympathetic future.