monkey men all in business suit, teachers and critics all dance the poot

95.





q: are we not men? a: we are devo!
devo [warner brothers, 1978]

forget "progress." forget slogging forward in perpetual motion through the sands and shards of time towards enlightenment and utopia. humanity as a whole is regressing, "devolving" into brain-dead troglodyte automatons, hepped up on hyper-consumer culture: bad TV, fast food, and a glut of unnecessary material possessions. Devo were harbingers of this harsh dysgenic reality. popular consciousness remembers them as the quirky flowerpotted "whip it" band, but, they were, in actuality, an aesthetically coherent collective of smart-ass rock deconstructionists from Akron, Ohio, a shithole hotbed of post-industrial despondency. this, their debut album, is an assemblage of herky-jerky rhythms, jagged guitar sounds, electronic blips and bleeps, and condescending, often hilarious, lyrical potshots at lazy, sex and self-obsessed American society. though this album is often labeled "new wave," is shares more musical similarities and artistic concerns with post-punk acts like Wire and PiL. the shrewd piss-take on "satisfaction" reduces the original's threatening, sexualized masculinity to robotic, sterile monotony while "come back jonee" twists the ultimate rock n' roll myth of "johnny b. goode" into a death ballad. Rolling Stone may have called them "fascists" - probably due to the unashamed insensitivity of "mongoloid" and the frenetic military call-and-resonse of "jocko homo" - but there is a sense of desperation, dread, and, dare i say it, moral concern buried underneath the irreverence. with all the bullshit that has contributed to the demise of American culture since 1978 - Reagan, the resurgence of fundamentalism, unchecked corporatism, reality television and the summer blockbuster, THE INTERNET - this album seems eerily prescient.

but have you seen my [parents'] records? moment: this album is definitely among the most surprising records in my parents' [i think my mom has assumed ownership] record collection, amidst all the Linda Ronstadt and Bachman-Turner-Overdrive. my mom actually put "satisfaction" and "jocko homo" on a roadtrip mixtape for my walkman cassette player when i was six or seven. no wonder i'm such a weird kid.