Re: Genius? cynical cash in? both? neither?

Was just at Target and saw THIS on display:

[www.clubdevo.com]

DEV2.0 - a Walt Disney product featuring a children's Devo cover band, apparently with the full cooperation of Devo themselves.

Devo blurred the line between art and commerce so much that you could never figure out what was a satire of corporate life and what was just plain moneygrubbing disguised as a satire of corporate life - a brilliant concept if ever there was one, since no matter what they ever did to merchandise they could declare it to be just part of the satire. So I suppose that a Disney sponsored Devo cover band comprised of children is a logical step for them.

The fact that I can't figure out how I actually feel about the whole thing is probably a sign that it's an utterly genius thing to have done.

Totally bizarre. Can't wait to hear their version of "Slap Your Mammy."

When I wrote about this on my blog it drew a lot of comments, mostly negative. I mean, a 12 year old girl singing about her "uncontrollable urge"? Censoring lyrics: no more "eliminate the ninnies and the twits," the line "I'm a man with a gun" from "Big Mess" becomes "I'm a girl having fun," and perhaps most egregious, they change the ending to "Beautiful World"!

The sound samples reveal arrangements that hew fairly close to the originals, only wimpier, reducing their sound to routine Disney product. One reader said, yeah, but Devo always said that everything's getting shittier!

I hope they don't use "de-evolution" as a cop-put. It all seems fairly pointless, really.

Oh, and the Go-Go's are next. Yes, it's going to be a series.

"Pink pussycat, got you in the car
Pink pussycat, got you in the backseat
wanna touch your fur
I’m gonna see you dance
slip inside you
Lick you clean"
etc.
Hey kiddies!

LOL one of my co-worker's kid auditioned for that and I thought he was yankin my warble.
Teachers and critics all dance the poot!

Devo was the first band I saw back in 1979 at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. I remember that there was no opening act as such, only these things called "videos" of the band.

P.S.: When I went back to the Orpheum to see Brian Wilson do Smile in October '04, the condition was exactly the same as in '79, despite 20 plus years of "restoration fees" added on the tickets.

I've been a Devo fan since 1981 when my brother and I read about them in a kids magazine highlighting weird bands - the line about them being descended from brain-eating apes is what hooked us. We ran out and got "Are We Not Men". We hadn't heard anything like that before and have been fans ever since. I can even say good things about "Total Devo". Having said that lately I've been wondering about the spud boys. Saw them last summer ($55 for an hour) and I recognized some of the same things that they did when I saw them in `89. I was watching the live 81 dvd and Mark even says the "Here's one you might remember" intro to Whipit, which he said in `89 and `05. Gerry's anti-Bush diatribes on the club devo sight are also a little unsettling - he's getting close to "the government is listening to what I say through the fillings in my teeth" territory.

booji boy was daddy mothersbaugh

firsty encounter?

Crypt, downtown akron (owned by buzz from Rubber City Rebels) before the first ep

they were kind of the house band...

Is this kid devo project with all the members?
It looks like Casale is the main one involved. Is Mark M on this? He does kiddie music already.
I remember reading an interview with Devo and William Burroughs where they talked about a machine they had that could produce sound waves that would make people shit their pants.
I think with this project they could get that effect without the sound machine.

I guess Mothersbaugh would have to be involved, at least somewhat, if the project is going to include his songs. (I'm pretty sure most of the songs being used are collaborations between Mothersbaugh and Casale.)

Being that Mothersbaugh has worked in kids' TV shows for quite a few years, I guess he sees this kiddie-Devo program as just one short step from what he's been doing already. Which direction that step is in, of course, is subjective.

> booji boy was daddy mothersbaugh

Nah - booji boy was Mark in a mask. Dad Mothersbaugh was/is General Boy

My initial exposure to Devo was their '78 or '79 appearance on SNL. My brother and his gf were watching too. He and I were spellbound as they played "Satisfaction."

His gf (an ardent disco fan) kept throwing sarcastic remarks like, "What the hell is this?" "Jeez, what ridiculous outfits!" "Oh, these guys really suck," and the like ... until he and I both told her, in unison, "Will you SHUT UP!"

I saw Devo in 1982 on the *New Traditionalists* tour; smashing show!

As long as we're reminiscing about first exposures to Devo, my earliest memory of them is seeing the "Jocko Homo" video on "Don Kirschner's Rock Concert", or whatever that late-night music show was called. Woulda been in '79 or so, I guess.

Anybody else remember that show? Who WAS that guy anyway?

Don Kirschner was the mastermind behind the Archies!

Unless you meant Booji Boy.

A friend went to oHIo and came back with the Be Stiff EP. Loved it. Still do. Then felt Q:Are We Not Men was lesser, and Duty Now lesser still. By the time Freedom of Choice came out, I couldn't get into it and felt they never made another single good track once Whip It came out. But then, elsewhere I've described it as an irrevocable false turn. But, again, Be Stiff rules.

Paul Shaffer as Don Kirschner was a classic.



Post Edited (02-15-06 18:53)

Last night I was listening to "Penetration In the Centerfold" by Devo and "Big Eyes Beans From Venus" by Capt. Beefheart & you could tell that the Spuds were fans of the good Captain

When we were high school sophomores, my buddy lived in an apartment complex near a girl who dated a late night KGON DJ named Kerry Kerrigan (then, KGON was the only hard rock station in Portland).

For some reason, Kerry kind of took us under his wing and used to pass us free concert tickets that nobody at the station was interested in.

This largesse resulted in perhaps the worst concert I ever attended:

Molly Hatchett (well after the Flirtin' With Disaster heyday)

And the best (at least most memorable):

Devo- December 1981, New Traditionalsists tour with the plastic hair and treadmills.



Post Edited (02-16-06 17:51)

I ran the Club Devo link by a musician I'm acquainted with. He and his band did have a major-label contract, releasing two albums on Elektra in the early '80s (about the same time that Devo was hitting it big). They've since put out three albums and an EP on smaller labels.

Truth to tell, a lot of us who post to this site probably never have pursued a "career" in music. While we can talk about a favorite artist selling out, we never have walked in their shoes. This guy is a working musician, who has experienced first-hand how exciting and promising it can be, and then how bad it can get. He and his band are still at it today, albeit on a smaller scale.

It is with his permission that I quote him here:

"I heard they were doing some stuff, but had no idea about this. But hey, why not, really. Anything a musician can do to make money, I'm all for it. Devo were almost childish anyway, and they never got caught playing with Mr. Fun in an adult movie theatre, which killed Peewee and would have killed Devo. So, scandal-free and a chance to get back in the bigs with Disney? Shit, sign me up."

Feh. Doesn't mean I have to listen to it, or like it. And since their Mutato Mutando company has been so succesful scoring countless TV shows and commercials, I don't think they're hurting for cash. Sorry, I don't buy that excuse, not this time around at least.

The Go-Gos, on the other hand, I can understand...

> Feh. Doesn't mean I have to listen to it, or like it.

Of course it doesn't, Fab. The same would be true of the latest release by the most principled, stalwart indie-rock band. That wasn't really the point of that "excuse."

I certainly don't intend to purchase the Devo 2.0 CD. I listened to the samples on the web site, and it sounded like – words fail me here – a bunch of pre-teens playing Devo songs. I don't have to listen to it or like it either; it clearly wasn't made with Devo's original fans in mind.

Besides, anyone who paid attention to Devo in the '80s knows that the band was never shy about making money. They included order forms in their albums, for everything from the standard t-shirts and buttons to replicas of the stage outfits they wore. From the yellow radiation suits to the energy dome hats, to those white collars they wore in 1982 that looked so much like toilet seats – it was all available to any record-buyer with a pen, a stamp and an envelope, and most importantly, the money to spend. (Those order forms also included the EZ-Listening Devo remakes, on cassette, that the Birdman Fan mentioned above.)

Speaking of which, the time I saw Devo, they performed as their own opening act, in a kitsch parody of an easy-listening lounge band. Brilliant parody? Ironic, post-post-modern move? Or a way to save money on an opening band? Only Devo know for sure, I guess.

Just genius in my book, does anyone remeber ezlistening Devo ? I think ryko did a cd of it along with 2 volumes of hardcore devo and 1 cd of hardcore devo live. Great cuts on the hardcore devos, best devo around, all pre-label stuff and the ezlistening disc is devo turning thier tunes into muzack.

Given the unholy alliance between mark mothersbaugh and nickelodean ( a US kids network ) and the above mentioned ez listening disc, such a thing as a devo album ala disney seems logical.

Like the rugrats, Dog town & the Z Boys understand Devo.