I have thought a lot about your comment and I guess one of the issues that Devo has always dealt with is not simply how to subvert anything, but what it means to be critical. In the pre-punk 1970s the rock-led counter culture offered plenty critique but slowly mutated into an easily coopted movement of singer-songwriters and progressive rock. Devo simply rejected this path. For Devo there was no hope in the counter culture. In fact, since they held out a firm belief in regression, the question was how to move forward into sets of new traditions that had very little to do with a counter culture that somehow embraced a variety of agrarian styles and traditions (see “folk music” and “communes”). Indeed, Devo let the way in the popularization of synthesizers and were among the first bands to be explicit about their sale of merch. I still have a vinyl copy of “Oh No, It’s Devo” and the record sleeve has an order form where you can buy energy domes and suits. In this sense they aren’t winking and nodding. They never have been and that is something that many people don’t understand. It feels “jokey” but the truth is Devo finds no hope in countering capitalism.
For example, many musicians and people like myself see this as a specific period in history where musicians have a chance to develop a “middle class” life through independent entrepreneurialism. No doubt, Devo, with their brand, understanding of technology and devotion to merch, could do this. However, they have elected to go with a major. Given that all majors these days are offering 360 deals, this means Devo has most likely decided to give up some merch income in return for the support of a transnational media conglomerate. This is both perplexing and exciting. Do they really want to return to global dominance? I honestly don’t know. Yet it is something to think about as they release their new record and consider as they mock and celebrate corporate practices such as focus groups. Sure, there is irony. But it is irony that may be cloaking a particular brand of “positive nihilism” that celebrates not the progress of humanity but the progress of mutations.
]]>