Comments on: Devo Now, More than Ever

By: Josie Encalade

Josie Encalade — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:04:10 +0000

Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.

By: Josh Shepperd

Josh Shepperd — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:13:16 +0000

‘Their firm belief in regression’–nicely stated. That does seem to be one of their major themes, further complicated (as you point out) by their being a major label band. If Devo believes consumerism has culminated to the point that we’ve counter-plateaued, it does make some sense that a performance of embodied ‘positive nihilism’ would represent the next step in deevolution. This speaks to my concern that our recent cultural move to ’embodiment parody’ is just a reactionary practice. But I still wonder if there’s something to Devo 2.0 that intends to lampoon irresponsible comedic performance, which in light of a general lack of critical movements in popular music or mainstream culture would make their (expectedly contradictory) return even more prescient.

By: Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:45:55 +0000

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.

By: Jeffrey Sconce

Jeffrey Sconce — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:22:41 +0000

I couldn’t agree more, both with Devo and you assessment of their continuing relevance. Their first album was marketed under the tagline:
“The Important Sound of Things Falling Apart.” I can’t think of a better motto for the new American century.

By: Josh Shepperd

Josh Shepperd — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:37:08 +0000

This seems to be a theme with a lot of recent aesthetic production. From the 60’s to the 80’s the mantra of counterculture music, media, and even academic production was ‘overt critique’. Devo was of course the most subversive and clever major label band with wide distribution. More recently patterns of ‘critique’ seem to have shifted into the realm of ‘parody’ by way of emulation. In other words, a lot of good (and bad) creative work gets its message across by simply reproducing taken-for-granted tropes and aesthetic embodiments, assuming that a performance conducted with ‘snark’ suffices to expose inherent contradictions. Devo I trust to reveal layers of irony. Other times, though, I worry that this trend unwittingly celebrates and reinforce dominant commercial culture, quashing possibilities for transformative aesthetic experience. I wonder if, as you allude to in your post, this is exactly why Devo are taking this route with their new material? It’s a critique of corporate culture, but perhaps also a critique of the current state of ‘Family Guy-esque’ matter-of-fact subtextual performance?

By: Jeffrey Jones

Jeffrey Jones — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:56:12 +0000

This is great (and “…Windows Vista…”, that’s inspired! 😉