Capitalism is DEVO
Joe Escalante ·
Jul 2, 2010 at 10:18am
Last night, 10,000 people and the beer vendors at Hollywood Park proved that 37 years later, capitalism is still DEVO. Honestly, people couldn't get enough beer from these guys in their blue Devo Energy Domes. And the best I've seen DEVO play in decades.
- Comment (11)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
From Youtube, where everything ends up, but sometimes not for long:
DEVO live 7.1.10 - What We Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rtYuURa3pI
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
I don't know why I'm admitting this but my friends and I started a "Club DEVO" in high school. A math teacher was our sponsor and our club activities ranged from listening to DEVO to vandalism of the Glee Club posters.
And now I get my DEVO fix mostly by watching Mark Mothersbaugh on Yo Gabba Gabba.
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
I love DEVO as well - although working in a bar that had "Whip It" on the jukebox made me tired of that tune quickly; every frat lad with a popped Izod-collar shirt who wanted to show he was also "new wave" would play that one, followed by Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" to show he was also hip to reggae, and deeply interested in the Government Down in Trenchtown. But in the Star Tribune yesterday, Mothersbaugh talked about the roots of DEVO, now it was formed after the Kent State Shooting (!), and said this:
"Make" and "shouldn't"? Ads can't make you do anything, and "shouldn't" is rather subjective.
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
Mollie Hemingway: I don't know why I'm admitting this but my friends and I started a "Club DEVO" in high school. A math teacher was our sponsor and our club activities ranged from listening to DEVO to vandalism of the Glee Club posters.
And now I get my DEVO fix mostly by watching Mark Mothersbaugh on Yo Gabba Gabba.
That. Is. Awesome.
James Lileks: But in the Star Tribune yesterday, Mothersbaugh [...] said this:
"Make" and "shouldn't"? Ads can't make you do anything, and "shouldn't" is rather subjective.
Well, can make is different from make, right? And yes, shouldn't is subjective...but I think Mothersbaugh is hinting that a super-ad-driven society will market everything, and in a world where everything's for sale, there must be some things you shouldn't buy...or do...or think. An exaggeration vision, but, perhaps, an illuminating one.
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
Agreed, James - I'd be splitting hairs to argue, and missing his point. I just instinctively bristle when people suggest advertising uses some all-powerful brain-beam to strip us of our will and make us march, arms outstretched, to the mall to obtain The Item. Just because it's shiny and well-marketed doesn't mean I fall into some strange spell from which there is no escape.
Sent from my iPad
May '10
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
In the middle of my gym hang four video screens, connected to some service with assorted channels. I think it's kind of like satellite radio, but videos. When the 80s channel is on 'Whip It" is in the rotation. It's..... strange.
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
James Lileks: Agreed, James - I'd be splitting hairs to argue, and missing his point. I just instinctively bristle when people suggest advertising uses some all-powerful brain-beam to strip us of our will and make us march, arms outstretched, to the mall to obtain The Item. Just because it's shiny and well-marketed doesn't mean I fall into some strange spell from which there is no escape.
Sent from my iPad · Jul 3 at 3:22pm
But the device is magical! Gaze into its magic! Rise...purchase...obey! I'm kidding, of course. We can tell you are right because we all laugh most at the ads that act most as if you were wrong.
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
Mollie Hemingway:
And now I get my DEVO fix mostly by watching Mark Mothersbaugh on Yo Gabba Gabba. · Jul 2 at 6:28pm
Mollie,
Have you ever noticed that the lessons in grace and courtesy are almost always imparted by Plex the robot? And that the songs Plex sings are the most Devo-like in tone and melody?
As I've told James before, and at the risk of understating its brilliance, Yo Gabba Gabba is the towering cultural achievement of our time.
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
Matt Frost
Mollie Hemingway:
And now I get my DEVO fix mostly by watching Mark Mothersbaugh on Yo Gabba Gabba. · Jul 2 at 6:28pm
Mollie,
Have you ever noticed that the lessons in grace and courtesy are almost always imparted by Plex the robot? And that the songs Plex sings are the most Devo-like in tone and melody?
As I've told James before, and at the risk of understating its brilliance, Yo Gabba Gabba is the towering cultural achievement of our time. · Jul 7 at 8:16am
If only someone would explain at greater length exactly why and how this is so!
May '10
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
Oh, no you di'int! Seriously! Whenever my preschooler asks to watch YGG, I flee from the room as quickly as I can. Having had a modicum of musical background, I can't take the repetitive, a-tonal tunes coming from the freaky beasts. They give me a brain worm!
Re: Capitalism is DEVO
FeliciaB:
Maybe it's just Stockholm Syndrome talking (my triplets love the show, and sometimes it gets us through that last pre-dinner hour), but the music has always seemed remarkably non-terrible to me, occasionally great. The "Goodbye" song always gets me right here, for example. Production constraints mean that it's all too synth-y but they break that up with "live" performances by real bands with real instruments.
Of course, I like DEVO, too, so "atonal" isn't a problem for me.
Brain worms need love too.