Take Devo Inc.’s Color Study

I’ll never forget the first time I saw Devo. I was in the early stages of my black-clad nihilistic teen years, when no-one had started calling me or my friends “punk” yet. It was on Saturday Night Live of all places, and there is a very strong probability – given my age and the fact that it was late on a Saturday – that there was at least one drug influencing my perception. I remember thinking it was too bad they were so theatrically dorky, because I liked the way they had re-worked what I thought of as dinosaur rock at the time, i.e.: Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. I wish now I’d given them a better listen back then; my friends and I always kind of thought of them as “that nerdy Ohio New Wave band”, and “New Wave” was kind of anathema to whatever it was we thought we were doing. With hindsight, not only did they record a few of my favorite songs from the era (Satisfaction, Girl U Want, and Workin’ In The Coal Mine) but I really admire what they were trying to do with their ironic anti-corporate marketing message. I say ironic, when I should say meta-ironic, because their schtick – much like Ali G or Die Antwoord – makes it really hard to tell where the parody begins and ends. And they’re at it again; while I love the parodic nature of their Color Test marketing campaign and the fact that they released the first single Fresh for free (you missed it, it was only free for 24 hours), the fact that they’re signed to Warner and played the Olympics pretty much guarantees that the fan videos below will be pulled in no time by WMG. No matter. I’ll still get a weird satisfaction from watching the aging clever guys from Ohio dance around in weird suits. It’s the next natural step in their Devolution.

You can still at least listen to Fresh for free:

The three tunes I like…

This fan vid from the Olympics will probably be pulled in no time:

The infamous Booji Boy: