To those of us of a certain age growing up punk rock in Chicago in the late 70's and early 80's, hearing the word "DEVO" screamed at you out of the loud mouths of various muscle-head jock-offs and liquored-up bigots was pretty much a regular occurrence. And, ohhhh, those especially colorful days when it was punctuated with the occasional empty/slightly-full bottle of Old Style or Miller High Life being whipped at one's head at a high velocity mid-stride. Ah, Good times, indeed. It became quite obvious, that to their sad wee, ignorant minds "Devo" was an uber strange punk-techno-new wave-whatever weird band...soooo, any human being walking around who didn't quite fit the norm -- aka looking like a strange punk-techno-new wave-whatever-kind of weird person -- should OBVIOUSLY be labeled a DEVO and, of course, were only worthy of being shouted at from passing cars or EL platforms.
Still...I wouldn't go back and change one damn thing (well....except for those fast-flying airborne beer bottles and the more combative jockos who felt empowered to try for more up-close interactions, aside from speeding past in their shiny Novas and Pintos). I was a serious DEVO-tee way back when...right down to sending in for my own red dome and black shirt with white letters. My love for Devo started with their unbelievable Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! LP. I'll be honest, by the time I really started to hear the choruses of "HEY-you-effin'-DEVO" being hurled out of those passing Novas and Pintos, I'd already begun to roll my eyes because "Whip It" had begun to climb the charts and play
endlessly on Mtv in 1980.
I still remember watching them on Rock Concert (78 or 79?) in the early days before Mtv and being so in awe of what I saw. Their experimental/conceptual stuff hit me as hard as the early punk rock/no wave and other underground stuff I had been falling in love with. I remember how big Pink Floyd's The Wall was in 1979 around the same time as I bought Devo's Duty Now for the Future album. It was such a huge contrast. There was no contest in my mind for which band was more progressive and groundbreaking for me. Punk rock had already blown the doors way off of mainstream music and stadium rock/arena rock shows anyway. We'd had enough of the 3 minute guitar and drum solos. Much more radical things were being born. And the 80's had barely started.
Bob 2....thank you for helping us all to wake up and think of what having a "beautiful world" could really mean. Rest well x0x0x
Still...I wouldn't go back and change one damn thing (well....except for those fast-flying airborne beer bottles and the more combative jockos who felt empowered to try for more up-close interactions, aside from speeding past in their shiny Novas and Pintos). I was a serious DEVO-tee way back when...right down to sending in for my own red dome and black shirt with white letters. My love for Devo started with their unbelievable Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! LP. I'll be honest, by the time I really started to hear the choruses of "HEY-you-effin'-DEVO" being hurled out of those passing Novas and Pintos, I'd already begun to roll my eyes because "Whip It" had begun to climb the charts and play
endlessly on Mtv in 1980.
I still remember watching them on Rock Concert (78 or 79?) in the early days before Mtv and being so in awe of what I saw. Their experimental/conceptual stuff hit me as hard as the early punk rock/no wave and other underground stuff I had been falling in love with. I remember how big Pink Floyd's The Wall was in 1979 around the same time as I bought Devo's Duty Now for the Future album. It was such a huge contrast. There was no contest in my mind for which band was more progressive and groundbreaking for me. Punk rock had already blown the doors way off of mainstream music and stadium rock/arena rock shows anyway. We'd had enough of the 3 minute guitar and drum solos. Much more radical things were being born. And the 80's had barely started.
Bob 2....thank you for helping us all to wake up and think of what having a "beautiful world" could really mean. Rest well x0x0x
| Clubdevo.com / Jules Bates / Artrouble / February 18, 2014) |
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