C/D Devo 2.0

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Disney, with the aid of the actual Devo, creates a version of Devo with childern singers:

http://disney.go.com/disneyrecords/Song-Albums/devo20/

I can't tell if this is expanding or destroying the legacy.

― bendy (bendy), Saturday, 21 January 2006 00:26 (twenty years ago)

i haven't heard it yet, but i'm very excited about the possibility of children singing "she sends out an aroma of undefined lust."

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 21 January 2006 00:29 (twenty years ago)

those sound clips fill my heart with love.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 21 January 2006 00:33 (twenty years ago)

I hate teenagers.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 21 January 2006 00:45 (twenty years ago)

they played 3 shows this past weekend in Agoura Hills. i couldnt go cuz the general admission tickets were $62 !!! but i heard they kicked ass and there was a crazy pogo pit.

― howell huser (chaki), Saturday, 21 January 2006 00:53 (twenty years ago)

completely surreal.

― simon 803 (simon 803), Saturday, 21 January 2006 00:55 (twenty years ago)

they played 3 shows this past weekend in Agoura Hills. i couldnt go cuz the general admission tickets were $62 !!! but i heard they kicked ass and there was a crazy pogo pit.

What, no crunchy acoustic version of "Jocko Homo" this time? (rolls eyes)

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Saturday, 21 January 2006 01:05 (twenty years ago)

i dont know i wasnt there

― howell huser (chaki), Saturday, 21 January 2006 01:08 (twenty years ago)

do they do pink pussycat?

― whatever (boglogger), Saturday, 21 January 2006 12:13 (twenty years ago)

I'm betting they aren't doing "Bamboo Bimbo."

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Saturday, 21 January 2006 13:05 (twenty years ago)

lol @ "Boy U Want"

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Monday, 23 January 2006 02:22 (twenty years ago)

This should technically be Devo 3.0.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:16 (twenty years ago)

PENETRATION IN THE CENTERFOLD!

I also like how the press-release calls them "the first new Devo songs in 15 years" like that song on the South Park soundtrack never happened

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:31 (twenty years ago)

Whoa they're playing Musicvox guitars! I used to have one of those.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Monday, 23 January 2006 06:08 (twenty years ago)

I also like how the press-release calls them "the first new Devo songs in 15 years" like that song on the South Park soundtrack never happened

Hell, if this counts, so does the re-recorded "Whip It" they did for a Swiffer commercial...

― telephone thing, Monday, 23 January 2006 08:45 (twenty years ago)

Sounds like The Epoxies.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:56 (twenty years ago)

I believe Devo also contributed a song to the Powerpuff Girls soundtrack on Kid Rhino less than 15 years ago. I'm thinking it was an original (though a song about the Mojo Jojo character), but I could be wrong on that.

― James, Monday, 23 January 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah "Go Monkey Go" or something like that.

― Eppy (Eppy), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:07 (twenty years ago)

this wouldn't be such a bad idea really but they changed the lyric to "Beautiul World" - fuck that shit

― Mr Straight Toxic (ghostface), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:43 (twenty years ago)

I'm so confused.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Friday, 3 February 2006 22:37 (twenty years ago)

Go monkey go! Mo-jo Jo-jo! - was way better than this.

ya know - if they're gonna do this, shouldnt the tweeny boppers at least wear the uniforms and the energy domes?

― Uncle Tom (Uncle Tom), Saturday, 4 February 2006 16:21 (twenty years ago)

This is the best thing I've heard in such a long time. They didn't even update the synth tone, it still sounds completely 80s. And they didn't fuck up and use that new guitar center guitar tone that everyone uses when they want to "modernize" something. And the girl sings in a monotone. I love this. They did everything right.

― ~~~@@@, Saturday, 4 February 2006 17:28 (twenty years ago)

I can't tell if this is expanding or destroying the legacy.

destroying. i can't get the videos to work, but i can guess what disney would do to something sarcastic like "beautiful world." also where is the cover of "mongoloid", you pussies?

this would be cool if disney had no hand in this.

― |l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l| (eman), Saturday, 4 February 2006 17:36 (twenty years ago)

this would be cool if disney had no hand in this.

I haven't heard it (too painful to consider), but a friend of mine with equal reverence for Devo's glorious back catalog has -- and sadly reported that it seems utterly devoid of any subversive element. It's just a simple - and probably doomed -- attempt to cash in. It will fail, and it will forever haunt them.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 4 February 2006 18:17 (twenty years ago)

I like this because it upsets alex

you hate teenagers???????

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 4 February 2006 18:43 (twenty years ago)

I went to view a film last night of a bunch of bands playing in 1979 at a Minneapolis festival. The footage was lost for 20 years or whatever. Anyway, it had Devo playing as Dove, the only time they did that in their career, I'm told. I'm honestly not that big of a fan of Devo, but I admit what I saw was amazing. They did "It Takes A Worried Man" with these goofy sun visors on. Then the next song was some Bob Dylan cover (?) called "Serve Yourself" in which Mark had this really fucking scary mask on that covered his entire head and only ended at his neck - it was made of rubber and made him look like a pudgy child or even woman with goofy/nerdy chunky glasses on. It was just very disturbing to watch him in that mask.

― Bimble brings a lawn chair to antartica so he can sit and drink silver coff (Bim, Sunday, 5 February 2006 03:26 (twenty years ago)

After careful discussion and consideration, I have decided that I love this.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Sunday, 5 February 2006 05:02 (twenty years ago)

As much as I hate to disagree with Alex, I think this is great -- the idea of replacing themselves in the band with kids is kinda inspired, even if I'm not thrilled with the idea of Disney being in charge of this and of the lyrical changes because of that. But you know, Devo never took themselves seriously.

Ultimately, I think Smooth Noodle Maps and that crappy Adventures of the Smart Patrol video game will do far more to hurt their legacy in the long run than this.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 5 February 2006 05:05 (twenty years ago)

(I also like the fact that the band "de-evolved" from 50+ year olds into pre-teens. They are. De-vo.)

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 5 February 2006 05:33 (twenty years ago)

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), February 4th, 2006.

― America 2.0, Sunday, 5 February 2006 05:34 (twenty years ago)

Last line of "Beautiful World" in Devo 2.0's version: "It's a beautiful world/For you/For you/For you/I GUESS ME TOO!"

I am not kidding, but I wish I was.

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 5 February 2006 05:41 (twenty years ago)

my friend owns the DEV2.0 DVD and it is FANTASTIC - "subversive elements" be damned. (there's some pretty trippy computer-genreated animation in the background of each video that will probably confuse the hell out of little kids, though).

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 5 February 2006 06:40 (twenty years ago)

also the girl singer is kickass and i cannot WAIT until they play a nyc show

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 5 February 2006 06:47 (twenty years ago)

also devo did the theme for nickelodeon's 'rocket power' cartoon.

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 5 February 2006 08:24 (twenty years ago)

i hope that devo is getting paid well for this.

i know of this, but dunno whether it's any good so i reserve judgment about the actual QUALITY of the product.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 February 2006 08:56 (twenty years ago)

the project definitely has devo's blessing - the dvd has a "making-of" thing where mark mothersbaugh's interviewing/auditioning the kids.

disney's also doing a whole series of teen-geared new wave revival acts; the go-gos are next, i believe.

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 5 February 2006 09:10 (twenty years ago)

disney's also doing a whole series of teen-geared new wave revival acts; the go-gos are next, i believe.

so when do we get a disneyfied gg allin?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 February 2006 09:51 (twenty years ago)

disney's also doing a whole series of teen-geared new wave revival acts; the go-gos are next, i believe.

dear disney: please do the germs too!

― the petronas towers (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 February 2006 11:15 (twenty years ago)

i take it disney are doing only american acts?

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 5 February 2006 11:22 (twenty years ago)

First of all, must you be so fucking patronizing? Secondly, if you are familiar with Devo beyond "Whip It" and "those crazy flower pot hats", their entire ethos was about subversion. Moreover, Mothersbaugh's post-Devo commercial work often (purportedly) featured subliminal messages (i.e. "don't eat this crap" beneath breakfast cereal jingles). Most of Devo's more celebrated work had a thought process behind it beyond simply cranking out more cheese whiz for people with silly hair to dance to. What made Devo special was their entire presentation, which went hand in glove with their philosophy.

I think what I find depressing about this whole thing is that it is simply a cash-in. I sympathize with the band's plight over never having made an especially great deal of money, but I don't think that means they should compromise their art, especially at this stage in their career.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 February 2006 14:19 (twenty years ago)

http://www.clubdevo.com/mp/news_pgs/dev20.html

"DEV2.0 is a strange, Corporate-Feudal experiment that attempts to bring the original DEVO music sensibility to children in the 5 to 8 year old demographic range.

The band is composed of 5 talented kids ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old. They are able to play and sing. DEVO produced the music for them and Gerald Casale directed all of the videos for the DVD which was funded by Buena Vista Records, a division of the Disney Company.

From Billboard.com: The "Devo 2.0" CD is due March 17 via Disney Sound. A companion DVD will feature animated and live action videos for each of the tracks directed by Devo bassist and co-founder Gerry Casale."

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 5 February 2006 14:24 (twenty years ago)

Moreover, Mothersbaugh's post-Devo commercial work often (purportedly) featured subliminal messages (i.e. "don't eat this crap" beneath breakfast cereal jingles).

so ridiculous

alex in nyc, you talk and think you think, a lot, abt some ideas abt nobility and credibility in the art of music, it seems

so ridiculous 2.0

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 5 February 2006 14:52 (twenty years ago)

I'd like to think that Devo are doing this specifically to piss off fans like Alex in NYC.

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Sunday, 5 February 2006 14:56 (twenty years ago)

Last line of "Beautiful World" in Devo 2.0's version: "It's a beautiful world/For you/For you/For you/I GUESS ME TOO!"

That seems like it's a sell out, but my suspicion is that there's a lot of heavy lifting being done by the word "GUESS" there.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 5 February 2006 16:04 (twenty years ago)

I wouldn't want kids singing that it's a beautiful world but not for them

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 5 February 2006 16:20 (twenty years ago)

Considering DEVO themselves okayed this, and considering the songs they're singing, and considering the audience they're reaching, I'm just wondering if you've ever read the definition of the word "subversive" or if we're talking about two different things here?
First of all, must you be so fucking patronizing? Secondly, if you are familiar with Devo beyond "Whip It" and "those crazy flower pot hats", their entire ethos was about subversion. Moreover, Mothersbaugh's post-Devo commercial work often (purportedly) featured subliminal messages (i.e. "don't eat this crap" beneath breakfast cereal jingles). Most of Devo's more celebrated work had a thought process behind it beyond simply cranking out more cheese whiz for people with silly hair to dance to. What made Devo special was their entire presentation, which went hand in glove with their philosophy.
I think what I find depressing about this whole thing is that it is simply a cash-in. I sympathize with the band's plight over never having made an especially great deal of money, but I don't think that means they should compromise their art, especially at this stage in their career.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), February 5th, 2006.

Of course I know about DEVO's subversive message. They're called DEVO! They were a pop group named after de-evolution. They made catchy tunes about the decline of civilization. Now, wouldn't having young happy go lucky attractive kids singing the lyrics to "uncontrollable urge" surely over Disney radio to tons of youngsters who would otherwise never ever hear such things be the EMBODIMENT of subversion? You don't give the guys from DEVO nearly enough credit.

― America 2.0, Sunday, 5 February 2006 16:34 (twenty years ago)

i agree with america 2.0's assessment -- my first thought when i heard about the project was "wow! it's gonna be like the 'through being cool' video but now they're corrupting even younger minds!"

― jimmy loves maryann, jimmy wants to be her man (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 February 2006 16:48 (twenty years ago)

alex in nyc, you talk and think you think, a lot, abt some ideas abt nobility and credibility in the art of music, it seems

Drop dead

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 February 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

haha

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 5 February 2006 20:14 (twenty years ago)

well, i for one would rather the impressionable youngsters listen to devo than some dreary chart crap.

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 5 February 2006 21:16 (twenty years ago)

yeah but they're not listening to devo. they're listening to devo 2.0 (see thread title, and rest of thread while you're at it)

I wouldn't want kids singing that it's a beautiful world but not for them

-- RJG (RJ...), February 5th, 2006 11:20 AM. (RJG)

i would.

― RJGG Allin, Sunday, 5 February 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

the assumption on this thread that "the kids" are all going to be listening to Devo 2.0 is not really that likely

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Sunday, 5 February 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

All this chatter and nothing about the two new Devo songs on 2.0...

― Nigel (Nigel), Sunday, 5 February 2006 21:43 (twenty years ago)

well, i for one would rather the impressionable youngsters listen to devo than some dreary chart crap.

Yes, but it's not Devo, but rather a diluted incarnation of Devo designed to sound like dreary chart crap.

the assumption on this thread that "the kids" are all going to be listening to Devo 2.0 is not really that likely

Quite true.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 February 2006 22:12 (twenty years ago)

Yes, but it's not Devo, but rather a diluted incarnation of Devo designed to sound like dreary chart crap.

Actually, from the samples on the site, it doesn't sound terribly different, apart from the fact that the vocalist is now a young girl.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 5 February 2006 22:16 (twenty years ago)

The kids will instead be listening to Pere Ubu b sides.

― America 2.0, Sunday, 5 February 2006 22:16 (twenty years ago)

alex in nyc, maybe you should listen to devo 2.0

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 5 February 2006 22:51 (twenty years ago)

the assumption on this thread that "the kids" are all going to be listening to Devo 2.0 is not really that likely

if disney is behind it and the songs get played on radio disney, then yes the kids will be listening to it.

― jimmy loves maryann, jimmy wants to be her man (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 February 2006 22:55 (twenty years ago)

ok. i have to admit that i am loving the songs on the site. i will so get this for my kids. ahem. my 9 year old is just ready for this .. and if he turns his nose up then his dad will just have to put it in his archive.

― mark e (mark e), Monday, 6 February 2006 09:51 (twenty years ago)

if it wasn't for the disney input, would it still provoke the same reaction?

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Monday, 6 February 2006 12:19 (twenty years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SktZY_sDAzE

no idea who's responsible or why but it's ym2.0, essentially. the drummer is fab. looks like the same setup ymo uses too. any info?

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 15:56 (twenty years ago)

There's a girl in the corner with her finger in her gash!

It's only subversive if anyone notices. Being so subtle that it doesn't register means that nothing is subverted and that the status quo is affirmed. Misstep, Mothersbaugh.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 16:19 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

i think this is subversive just by pissing off die-hard crusty nerds who think (or wish) their own treasured youth is immune to the process of being co-opted

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 13 March 2006 05:42 (twenty years ago)

I don't care for it. I love the idea, but what I see on the website is dull.

― Dave NSFW (dave225.3), Monday, 13 March 2006 15:07 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

I seriously just think some of the songs sound better with these arrangements and these vocals. But you know, I guess I never really cared about Devo at all.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 2 April 2006 03:14 (twenty years ago)

...and I also think that the Duff sisters' version of "Our Lips Are Sealed" is superior to the original(s) as well.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 2 April 2006 03:19 (twenty years ago)

wow. you rebel! this is really shocking me and shaking up my established notions of "canon" and "quality." i haven't had to rethink my taste so much since i read in the guardian about how the arctic monkeys were giving a smug "up yours" to the punk generation. (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1704890,00.html)

have you read much Natalie Hanman, mp? i think she and you are almost co-thinkers in blazing the same trails across the stodgy landscape of established wisdom. and, hoo-boy, that landscape could sure use new trails!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 2 April 2006 03:46 (twenty years ago)

p.s. the a*teens are pretty great too.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 2 April 2006 03:46 (twenty years ago)

but then i always cared about abba.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 2 April 2006 03:47 (twenty years ago)

I'm not rebelling against a canon or anything so considered, Sterling! I just really like this kind of production.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 2 April 2006 03:59 (twenty years ago)

they're still great songs, even with all the weirdness & provocation carefully bleached away, but the result reminds me of that time I tried thorazine just to see what it was they'd forcibly prescribed my friend in the asylum, and thorazine isn't cool

― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 2 April 2006 04:20 (twenty years ago)

"All the weirdness & provocation carefully bleached away" is kind of dramatizing things, isn't it?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 2 April 2006 06:30 (twenty years ago)

1. This is the best music their gonna get on DsnyFM.
2. Those who like it will seek out the original DEVO.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Sunday, 2 April 2006 06:45 (twenty years ago)

Genre classification of the album on iTunes = "Pop." Awesome.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 2 April 2006 22:02 (twenty years ago)

One of the things I like about Devo 2.0 is that the singer doesn't really have a typical teen pop sort of voice - it's really more like the kind of voice you'd find in a female-fronted indie/punk band from Devo's era.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 2 April 2006 22:38 (twenty years ago)

"He who fights against monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you stare persistently into an abyss, the abyss also stares into you."

― Jack Cole (jackcole), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:20 (twenty years ago)

http://www.askmen.com/imagesmusician/feb00/jessicasimpson/jessica_simpson_150.jpg

--Nietzsche 2.0

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 3 April 2006 02:11 (twenty years ago)

http://www.filmski.net/slike/automatika/films/1313d.jpg

Sterling 1.0

― Jack Cole (jackcole), Monday, 3 April 2006 02:17 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

Revival!

http://hypefight.com/badkitty/output/20070730_160617.gif

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 22:09 (seventeen years ago)

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