Originally Posted by
Brian Krashpad
It's no biggie, I can see how people not really exposed to a lot of the music can look at something like the "Whip It" video and just see a "novelty" song by a "joke band." In fact, however, from the standpoint of doing things that were new and out of the norm, Devo were one of the most punk bands of their day. Now, I know that today they'd be thought of as "new wave" rather than punk, but that's historical revisionism caused by record companies trying to sell records to people afraid of the "punk" label. Bands on both coasts, such as Suicide in NYC and the Screamers in LA, had been considered part of punk despite being synth/keyboard-based, it was only when record companies came up with "new wave" that slightly later bands like Devo lost all their punk points in the eyes of many.
Devo was in fact a serious band (albeit one with a great sense of humor) with an intricate, thought-out, rather dark, band mythology, "de-volution." Some of the stuff they were doing with video as an early band stuck in, of all places, Akron, Ohio, was not only seriously weird, but light years ahead of its time.
+1
Devo were among the American pioneers of "post-punk" and a huge influence on any number of bands looking to push the boundaries of punk rock.
The only point on which I'd differ with you is the "new wave" thing and really, I'm not sure we differ more than it's just a matter of phrasing as you clearly know your punk music history.
It wasn't really record companies that came up with "new wave," they simpy stole the phrase from the handful of critics/journos trying to cover the punk scene and then turned it into something almost entirely different.
The first use of "new wave" was in reference to what was going on at places like CBGBs when bands like Television, the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, et al were creating the scene.
I find it amusing when people think of "new wave" as being a synonymous term with "80s music" because they're not even close to the same thing. Problem is, the styles of bands like Blondie and Talking Heads evolved into something else and people of a certain age or without an interest in exploration of a band's origins have little to no idea that both of these outfits were essentially punk bands in the beginning.
Anyway, I got way off topic there, but thanks for sticking up for Devo. They're so much more than "Whip It".
"I happen to have perfect situational awareness, Lana. Which cannot be taught, by the way. Like a poet's ... mind for ... to make the perfect words." - Sterling Archer