DEV0 and David Byrne

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Who came first? DiD Byrne copy devo or vice versa? They are not exactly the same but I hear a lot of similarity. I also wonder why David Byrne has become so sue-crazylately. he sued his bnand members and sued some band who wanted to make a song that sounded like atalking heads song. What is his deal>

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

neither copied either

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 01:46 (twenty-two years ago)

JBR speaks the truth. They both had a little jerk to their movements, but Devo's thing was more robotic, more Kraftwerk inspired, to draw a highly dubious comparison. Byrne in the early CBGBs days was just balls-out nuts. He would damn near scare the crown. Dude wasn't quirky, he was insane. That's not Devo's thing.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 01:48 (twenty-two years ago)

crown = crowd

The Queen was appalled!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this is a rare example of parellel development in which the similarity was purely conicentaly...initially, at least.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)

What would david byrne do to scare the crowd?

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

his eyes rolled back in their sockets and his head turned red with blood and fell off and an enormous jet of flame erupted from his neck. it was like that bit at the end of "raiders of the lost ark"

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 21 May 2003 07:36 (twenty-two years ago)

hahahaha!

Are you sure he didn't just turn up in a big suit?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 07:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess I'd like to think they developed in parallel. Brian Eno produced Devo's first record- could he have some sort of magic gas to make people sing like that?

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Thursday, 22 May 2003 00:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Devo was first, but I don't think it means anything.

― hstencil, Thursday, 22 May 2003 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, Devo was better!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Are you sure he didn't just turn up in a big suit?
Last time I checked, he was going ultra-exclusively in the other direction...instead of too much suit...too little skin.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 22 May 2003 01:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, let me clarify that last post: He was in a bodystocking with "musculature" painted onto it. He looked like he had no skin on his body.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 22 May 2003 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

it actually is his musculature. he has to peel his skin off in order to eat your soul

― bob snoom, Thursday, 22 May 2003 08:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, let me clarify that last post: He was in a bodystocking with "musculature" painted onto it. He looked like he had no skin on his body.

You mean like Slim Goodbody?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 22 May 2003 09:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Kinda, but you don't see guts and lungs...just the muscle layer

it actually is his musculature. he has to peel his skin off in order to eat your soul
Well...he has been hanging around Brazil alot, maybe he gotten "inhabited" by Xipe Totec.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Between Dave's Luaka Bop label & Mark Mothersbaugh's soundtracks-to-Wes-Anderson films, they're both doing quite well at putting out albums that I love that they don't play on whatsoever, and if you were to go to my house this very moment, the two LPs you would find at the top of the stack next the the rekkid player = Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO! and More Songs About Buildings & Food. Take from this what you will.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

It means you have taste, nick. Taste.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 22 May 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Still, though, early Devo albums had a stronger sense of URGENCY than early Talking Heads. That's not to say that Talking Heads are a shitty band, but just that Devo -- initially, at least -- had more going for them (in my opinion). On Q:Are We Not Men? and the immaculate Duty Now for the Future, Devo actually R O C K, a feat the Talking Heads had a harder time mastering.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 15:57 (twenty-two years ago)

well Devo had a better rhythm section.

― hstencil, Thursday, 22 May 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh that Alan!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

wouldn't better comparisons be devo v. gary numan, or david byrne v. xtc?

neither devo nor david byrne have put out any music in recent years that's worth a damn.

― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 22 May 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Alex has a definite point about the momentum in the music; Talking Heads' first few albums (which I absolutely love, fyi) didn't really have the same sense of urgency as Devo's first few did...I think the Heads' music didn't really pick up that sort of freight-train-going-downhill steam until Remain in Light or Fear of Music, whereas Devo's music always had a very strangely uninhibited rowdiness ('strangely' uninhibited only because the music itself was so specific and angular, whereas most acts considered 'uninhibited' generally have a much more slop-infused style).

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 22 May 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

well nick I think that 'uninhibited' sense comes from those elements of Devo taken from 60s surf/garage. People always think of them as tech nerds or something (akin to Kraftwerk) but they were a rock band first and foremost.

― hstencil, Thursday, 22 May 2003 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, talking heads were quite capable of rocking ("I'm Not in Love", specifically the breakdown at the end)

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 22 May 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

devo drew on pere ubu, talking heads drew on television, maybe?

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 22 May 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

i think devo are pretty akron, and not cleveland. they were also contemporaneous (not that that would stop influence). devo and tin huey, etc, mine a more nerdy, quirky pit

― jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, talking heads were quite capable of rocking ("I'm Not in Love", specifically the breakdown at the end)

Rock-wise, compared to Talking Heads, Devo sound like fuckin' Motorhead on those first two albums.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but understand that that does not automatically equal better, unless you're a damn stinkin rockist. The Talking Heads accomplished exactly what they set out to do on those early albums. The first one is wistful and creepy. The second one is angry and creepy. The third one is... well, you get the idea. And they're great albums. I guess Devo did have more "urgency," but at bottom that only means they were louder and faster.

Whatever. This is a bad comparison, anyway.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

neither devo nor david byrne have put out any music in recent years that's worth a damn.

I like Mark Mothersbaugh's recent Joyeux Mutato album, but I doubt anyone here would agree with me.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

To dismiss Devo's ability to conjure more energy, mania and ecstatic hyperkineticism than Talking Heads by saying they were simply "louder and faster" is to do them a disservice. Don't get me wrong, I love Talking Heads too, but they're simply a different breed (which I believe you're in agreement with). Don't wheel out that old "rockist" tag just because Devo packed a bit more punch than the `Heads (initially, at least).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I have the red-felt-covered Joyeux Mutato, but I don't believe I've ever played it more than once.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Figured.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 22 May 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

well Devo had a better rhythm section

What?!??!??!?! Tina Weymouth is my 2nd favourite white bass player, after Holger Czukay.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 22 May 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah but her husband wasn't the most versatile of drummers. I mean, I'd like to see him play out a fast beat like the one on "Smart Patrol" with one hand while taking off a plastic yellow jumpsuit with the other!

― hstencil, Thursday, 22 May 2003 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't wheel out that old "rockist" tag just because Devo packed a bit more punch than the `Heads (initially, at least).

I wasn't calling you a rockist. I disagree that Devo packed more punch. It's just a different kind of punch. A louder and faster kind.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 22 May 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Call me a rockist. I consider it a compliment.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I would like to interject that the critically maligned "Total Devo" is in my opinion great. There is a song that goes " I'd cry if you died". THats great. I love the way he expresses his feelings. And "Disco Dancer " is infectious. Also, many of the otehr songs have catchy hooks and good lyrics. The industrial soudns are a turn off at first but the more you listen the more they sound like fun, silly noises.

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Thursday, 22 May 2003 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Industrial sounds? On Total Devo?? Don't remember those. "Happy Guy" is a great track, though. Still, Devo pretty much lost their momentum circa Oh No!It's Devo.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 May 2003 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)

unlike what seems to be everyone else on ilx i think Q/A album is generally piss poor - was criminally badly produced by eno - it sounds undernourished & 2-dimensional & dried-up & full of holes: and not in a way that's 'the point' of it, not in a way that makes it sound 'urban' or 'modern' or 'dehumanised' or - other stuff of the period was managing that without draining all the fluid from your ear canals (not least the eno-helped berlin trilogy, a connection which made this all the more disappointing)
the live bootlegs knocking around at the time showed how blisteringly psychoneurotic the material could have been

'shrivel up' works - the song's nature and casale's delivery are much more in line with the anaesthetised sound - most of the rest (barring maybe 'satisfaction' and opening of 'gut feeling') is a washout

most ilx'ers also seem to prefer the first 3 or 4 albums then feel they started to go downhill - but i think Devo suited the technology-driven tightness of timing and clarity of sound that 80's pop-tech gave them, so while i do own and like those first 4 albums i think both Oh No! & Shout are actually their strongest work - they are both GREAT electronic pop albums, packed with strong melodies and hooks in among still-interesting timings/arrangements, ear-candy production, and (esp in Oh No!) a bizarre cartoonish quality.

Total Devo and (especially) SNM sound weaker to me - i think there is a more mundane & stodgy quality to many of the songs that isn't rescued by the sounds (many of which have that 'bolted on' quality reminiscent of a complex synth-preset getting a 'wow we must use that noise' response - but then Devo weren't alone in falling prey to the musical consequences of the great shift to S&S-based instruments stuffed with hundreds of generic-context sounds)
but anyway even those 2 have their moments - about half the tracks on TD sound good to me, and iirc 2 or 3 on SMN too (though i have not listened to it for years....must listen to it again this weekend)

i don't think byrne or devo copied each other - they were maybe both in the same ballpark for a while but were playing different games. devo don't sound to me like they were ever interested in any of the 'world music' or cross-cultural stuff that byrne/t.heads touched upon in material or themes - they were much more western-tech-gonzoid-consumerism driven

the nature of the divergence from early 80's onwards shows this

(think byrne moved from jangly soundtracks for uptight western lifestyle neuroses to songs about beliefs and hearts and hopes
devo stuck with pointing at absurdities and celebrating misfits)

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Friday, 23 May 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

yarrrghgh
own first 4 but LIKE albums 2,3 & 4....

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Friday, 23 May 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

the thing is I think Devo were much better at being a rock band than at making electronic pop

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 23 May 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

What I like about some of Devo's post-Oh No! work is how it sounds more like maximal '80s dance music than it does the more beat-oriented end of new-wavey "electronic pop" (like Scritti, maybe) -- the groove is never forsaken.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 23 May 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean it sounds like is dance music, not simply dabbling in it.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 23 May 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, see that's actually my problem with it - they lost some heft, but didn't gain any lightness somehow (um, er). it sounds like what people who thought devo were just electropop cheez thought they sounded like. the lyrics became clever instead of smart too, and (most importantly) the tunes less catchy. somehow they get topped by information society, whereas as rockers they hold their own (and more) with talking heads in their prime.

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 23 May 2003 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

A little of the heft, yeah (and I might agree w/ you about Information Society if I knew more than just their big hit single), but part of the joy I get from something like Total Devo is how fully incorporated into mid-to-late '80s uberculture it seems; it's like a time-capsule of the most quotidian sort of incidental music (commercials, end-credits themes for big-budget comedies without real "soundtracks" -- not much of a stretch considering that's the path they were headed down ANYWAY) (but the songs are good once you live with them a while and accept that they're not "Smart Patrol" or "Mongoloid").

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 23 May 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

They did quotidian-'80s (in the '80s) the way Boards of Canada now try to do quotidian-'70s. They should be lauded for this.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 23 May 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

One thing I've often wondered about Devo--when did they form? I've heard about four different years, ranging from 1970 to 1976.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo (cindigo), Friday, 23 May 2003 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

'72.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 23 May 2003 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo (cindigo), Friday, 23 May 2003 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Sonically and visually, Devo were Captain Beefheart inspired and made no secret of it, deliberately copping the Magic Band's on-stage moves (especially those of Zoot Horn Rollo and Rockette Morton). Listen to Devo's "Satisfaction" and the Magic Band's "I'm Gonna Booglerize You, Baby" back-to-back and you'll see what I mean.

Talking Heads were sonically inspired by 60s soul and funk, especially James Brown and Booker T. and the MGs, and simply attempted to present that music as they were.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Saturday, 24 May 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

JBR - have you written any articles/reviews about Devo
i'd like to read them
(although i hear scritti (c&P'85 & 'provision' i assume you're referencing) as a different kind of thing again - much more in the propaganda-mould: almost celebratory hi-tech in means of expression but serving essentially romantic ends)

james - yes i think what you say is true of Total Devo (as is what JBR sez, but the factors she identifies are less of a +ve for me than for her) - i have just relistened to it and am reminded of how it sounded more hamfisted & cheaply sleazier to me at its release - but i am however very fond of half the tracks - and subsequently hearing more powerful live versions of 'disco dancer' & 'happy guy' on the 'now it can be told' album made me appreciate them more in particular

but the trilogy of 'new traditionalists' -> 'oh no!' -> 'shout' (peaking in the middle) get the balance right i find - i think the arch-smirk-satire elements of devo benefited from heading into the deftness that electro-pop gave them
even though the rougher edges they had earlier do indeed work as a 'heftier' form of snark

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Saturday, 24 May 2003 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

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