Oh, No! It’s Devo is quirky and almost exclusively synthpop. The record is catchy and super-fun, as is Devo’s MO. My favorite song is the single “That’s Good” which sort of charted: it went to #104 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart but did hit #6 on the Dance chart. The video for the track was slated for censorship by MTV and the story behind that is pretty hilarious. From Wiki via the Devo book Devo’s Freedom of Choice: “We got this call from [MTV co-founder] Les Garland, He was like, ‘Look, we know what you’re trying to do here.’ I go, What do you mean? He goes, ‘Ya know, when that cartoon French fry glides through that cartoon donut and then it’s with the girl looking happy. You can have the French fry, or you can have the donut, but you can’t have the French fry and the donut, Otherwise, you can’t cut to the girl.’ And I go, ‘But what about when the French fry hits the donut and breaks in half and she’s sad?’ And he goes ‘Alright you little smart ass.’ It was horrible. Then I go, ‘What about that Billy Idol video you have and the girls are in skin-tight pants and their asses are full on in the screen and his head is between her legs and then somebody slaps her ass? What about that?’ He goes, ‘we’re talking about you, we’re not talking about them.”

Another track that brought controversy to the band is “I Desire,” the lyrics to which are credited to Reagan would-be assassin John Hinckley, Jr. I also like the other single from Oh, No! It’s Devo, “Peek-A-Boo!” which, like “That’s Good,” got only onto the Bubbling Under chart (at #6) and the Dance chart (#13). The weirdest song goes to “Speed Racer” – the lyrics and their delivery are just bonkers.

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We finally got a chance to see Devo play most of these songs live this past fall in Las Vegas at Punk Rock Bowling. It was incredible! They’ve been around for well over 40 years and are truly master performers. A full-on spectacle complete with a light show, video loops, multiple costume changes and choreographed routines (I won’t go as far as to say “dancing”) all in perfect sync.

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In a master stroke of great timing/awful circumstances, Devo revealed this past week the production of the Devo Energy Dome hats pictured on Freedom of Choice’s album cover repurposed as PPE shields in the time of the global pandemic. I really really really want one of these.

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Devo “Q:Are We Not Men? A:We Are Devo!” released 40 years ago today, August 28th, in 1978. Our copy, on red vinyl, is the UK release on Virgin Records; the US version has the more familiar album cover.

Devo’s debut album hit #12 in the UK and #78 in the US and, in later years, has been hailed as one of the most significant post-punk/new wave/art rock releases of the 70′s. Ever the forward thinkers, both David Bowie and Brian Eno vied for production duties on Q:Are We Not Men? after hearing Devo’s demos; Eno won the position but Bowie did help out with some of the work and ended up remixing many of the LP’s tracks.

Many of my favorite Devo songs appear on Q:Are We Not Men? including their first single “Mongoloid” (released first on Booji Boy Records and then Stiff Records in ‘77,  Devo then rerecorded it for the LP) and its B-side “Jocko Homo” which introduced the call-and-response “Are we not men?” / “We are Devo,” which is considered to be Devo’s anthem. I also love the jerky-jerky danceable chaos of “Uncontrollable Urge,” the offbeat – literally – cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction (I Can’t Get Me No)” and the bass-driven new waver “Praying Hands.”

Allmusic says about Are We Not Men? “Produced by Brian Eno, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was a seminal touchstone in the development of American new wave. It was one of the first pop albums to use synthesizers as an important textural element, and although they mostly play a supporting role in this guitar-driven set, the innovation began to lay the groundwork for the synth-pop explosion that would follow very shortly. Q: Are We Not Men also revived the absurdist social satire of the Mothers of Invention, claiming punk rock’s outsider alienation as a home for freaks and geeks. While Devo’s appeal was certainly broader, their sound was tailored well enough to that sensibility that it still resonates with a rabid cult following. It isn’t just the dadaist pseudo-intellectual theories, or the critique of the American mindset as unthinkingly, submissively conformist. It was the way their music reflected that view, crafted to be as mechanical and robotic as their targets. Yet Devo hardly sounded like a machine that ran smoothly. There was an almost unbearable tension in the speed of their jerky, jumpy rhythms, outstripping Talking Heads, XTC, and other similarly nervy new wavers. And thanks to all the dissonant, angular melodies, odd-numbered time signatures, and yelping, sing-song vocals, the tension never finds release, which is key to the album’s impact. It also doesn’t hurt that this is arguably Devo’s strongest set of material, though several brilliant peaks can overshadow the remainder. Of those peaks, the most definitive are the de-evolution manifesto “Jocko Homo” (one of the extremely few rock anthems written in 7/8 time) and a wicked deconstruction of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which reworks the original’s alienation into a spastic freak-out that’s nearly unrecognizable. But Q: Are We Not Men? also had a conceptual unity that bolstered the consistent songwriting, making it an essential document of one of new wave’s most influential bands.”

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Allmusic says about Freedom of Choice: With Freedom of Choice, Devo completed their transition into a full-fledged synth-pop group, producing arguably their most musically cohesive effort in the process. Synthesizers are now fully integrated into the band’s sound, frequently dominating the arrangements and at least sharing equal time with the guitars. Everything is played with a cool, polished precision that mirrors the stylized uniformity of the band’s visuals; the dissonance is more subdued than in the past, and the uptight rhythms are no longer jarring, instead locking the band into a rigidly even keel. Oddly, even though the music is the least human-sounding Devo had yet produced, their social observations were growing less insular and more sympathetic. Several tunes – like the oft-covered “Girl U Want” – have a geeky (but pragmatic) romantic angst that was new to Devo albums, although the band’s view of relationships is occasionally colored by their cultural themes of competition and domination. Those preoccupations also inform their breakthrough hit single, “Whip It,” but elsewhere, they’re finding enough connection with the rest of the world to moderate their cynicism, at least a little bit. Songs like “Gates of Steel,” “Planet Earth,” and the title track reveal a frustrated idealism under their irony, one that can’t quite understand why Americans don’t use more of their freedom to search for happiness. Altogether, there’s a little less of the debut’s energy, and a little less variety as well. But the songwriting is a match for consistent quality, and moreover, the music on Freedom of Choice is the sound that defines Devo in the minds of many. In the end, that makes it the band’s only other truly necessary album.

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So many great tracks of spazzy dissonance, the melding of rock guitar with scientific new wave synth and subversive social commentary lyrics.  “Uncontrollable Urge” and “Satisfaction (I Can’t Get Me No)” – the lyrics to which are not present on the inner sleeve unlike all the other songs, guess they couldn’t get permission to reprint their Stones’ cover? – as well as “Mongoloid” and “Jocko Homo” are all favorites.

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