Is 'Gut Feeling' By Devo the best song ever?

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About once a year I have a feeling, that this song is absolutely perfect and one of not only the best tracks Devo made, but the best ever.
Now it's time of THAT feeling.
And now it's on the OST of Life Aquatic (new Wes Anderson movie) - it has been an obvious choice to put in a movie since 27 years...

― zeus, Sunday, 6 March 2005 14:26 (twenty years ago)

it's damn fine. i get it stuck in my head at least once a month.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 6 March 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

"Space Junk" and "Wiggly World" do it for me.

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 6 March 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

"gut feeling" was one of the first songs i learned how to play on guitar.

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 6 March 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

"Gut Feeling" is indeed perfect, yes. "Wiggly World" just about trumps it though.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

I'd also cite "Uncontrollable Urge" and "Praying Hands".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

oh, it's all amazing.

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 6 March 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

Another case were a song's use in a film re-aquaints me with its wonderfulness. I mean, I was at the edge of my seat!

― peepee (peepee), Sunday, 6 March 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

In a perfect world, Devo would have become president by now.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 6 March 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

Oh yes, "Uncontrollable Urge" was my favourite song for years.

― zeus, Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

I'm ashamed to say I actually didn't know this song but it really stood out in Life Aquatic. Then a few weeks ago I watched Dogtown & Z Boys on TV and the same song came on over the final credits. I totally went crazy trying to figure out what it was and where I had heard it before. That cool leslie'd piano sound that just keeps ascending up and up is so exciting!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

i love the lyrics to this song, esp the way he sings them... "something about the way you TASTE / makes me want to clear my THROAT"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

i had the same realisation recently. "are we not men .."

is a perfect - seriously Fucking Perfect album.

and Gut Feeling is indeed one of the highlights of the perfection.

― mark e (mark e), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Space Jumk is the best.

― David Allen (David Allen), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

I think the first two albums are equally genius, but after that, something changed. The de-evolution in the band's mythology, maybe. But the first two albums have some seriously confrontational guitars, which I love. Aside from excellent conceptual pieces, they're fantastic rock and roll albums.

::whistles while the "ism" flies overhead::

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

I'd be a bit kinder than Curious George and suggest that the de-evolution began in earnest after Freedom of Choice, but didn't hit its stride until after Oh No....

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

But the first two albums have some seriously confrontational guitars, which I love.

This is so true, and you're right -- sooo missing from their later work.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

"Penetration In The Centerfold" is my personal fave.

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

or "Turnaround"

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

speed racer!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

It's all good! (Except for when they were bad.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

the version of this on the devo live album 'now it can be told' from 1987 or something OWNZ--it's one of the most perfect recordings ever

― geeta (geeta), Sunday, 6 March 2005 21:36 (twenty years ago)

The best thing on Now It Can Be Told is "I Doesn't Matter to Me".

Everything Devo does is brilliant. Even at their very worst ("Disco Dancer" maybe?), they're still light years ahead of everyone else. Bless them.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

i gotta find my copy of that live cd

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

mmm... in my opinion this 'Now It Can Be Told' live version of 'Gut Feeling' is a bit disappointing.
but I agree: 'Q: Are We Not Men?' is one of the best albums ever.
Devo albums, 1-10 marks:
Q/A 10
Duty 9
F.o.C. 8 (or 8,5 rather)
NewT 7
Oh No! 8
Shout 5
Total Devo 5
SmoothNoodle 5

― zeus, Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:20 (twenty years ago)

Zeus's tally seems pretty accurate.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

The songs off 'Are we not men . .' creep back up the spine every few months or so. 'Space Junk' is the most persistent for me. Awesome band.

The later albums decline into so-so synthpop, but the first one, and the string of Stiff singles are total classics. If they'd broken up at the end of the seventies, they'd be held in the same reverence as Pere Ubu.

Has the early video stuff ever been given a proper release?

― Soukesian, Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000089QCI/qid=1110149902/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl74/102-7590244-8497760?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

RIGHT! I'm on it. Only seen 3rd generation dubs of this.

― Soukesian, Sunday, 6 March 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

Entirely essential.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 23:16 (twenty years ago)

I remember seeing Trevor Horne(yes, Trevor Fuckin' "Buggles" and "Yes" Horne, Trevor "'I invented Frankie in the studio' Horne) interviewed on some crappy C4 special on rock videos and blithely saying 'Of course, DEVO were totally fucking crap' . . glad to know I'd have been only near the front of the angry mob if he'd ever said that in public.

― Soukesian, Sunday, 6 March 2005 23:28 (twenty years ago)

Trevolr Horn said that? That's entirely unfortunate. You've just ruined Yes' Drama for me.

Seriously, if you can't recognize the genius of Devo, you're a stupid asshole.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

hahaha well said.

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

Well, Trevor was a serious chap.

Adding to the love of that DVD. Donut D. showed some of that to us at the Seattle December FAP and I picked up my copy of it a couple of weeks later -- wunnerful, wunnerful.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

my favorite devo song is "baby talkin' bitches", but i love most all of the ones listed in this thread so far

― rentboy (rentboy), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

the dvd is tops -- especially the commentary track. i already had most of those videos on the we're all devo longform, but this is even better (the only thing it's missing is the "new wave theatre" ads at the beginning).

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

is Larraine Newman still on that thing?

― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:37 (twenty years ago)

yep

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:38 (twenty years ago)

i just saw laraine on curb your enthusiasm!

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

Best song ever?

Well, there's a 50/50 chance...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 7 March 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

it's up there! i don't think i'll ever be able to unhear this

― Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the September 11 attacks (acoleuthic), Monday, 11 January 2010 02:35 (fifteen years ago)

Yes I think that would be literally not possible.

― sedentary lacrimation (Abbott), Monday, 11 January 2010 04:07 (fifteen years ago)

check out all the 1980 concert clips on youtube. amazing.

― dan selzer, Monday, 11 January 2010 13:58 (fifteen years ago)

OTM - DEVO was a monster live in the early years before the synths took over. The 1977 set on DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years is punk as fuck and made me rethink one of my all-time fave bands, I never knew they could rock that hard.

― Fahrvergnügent (herb albert), Monday, 11 January 2010 14:46 (fifteen years ago)

Seriously, if you can't recognize the genius of Devo, you're a stupid asshole.

True then. True now.

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 11 January 2010 14:47 (fifteen years ago)

yes. esp when combined with Slap Yr Mammy

― Snop Snitchin, Monday, 11 January 2010 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

Strangely, my best mate was telling me this was his favourite Devo track on Saturday.

― dog latin, Monday, 11 January 2010 15:29 (fifteen years ago)

"Stupid Asshole" (Casale, Mothersbaugh)

― Hell is other people. In an ILE film forum. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 January 2010 15:30 (fifteen years ago)

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