DEVO: AN 80S ONE TRICK PONY BAND BEATING A DEAD HORSE

Devo was on the Letterman show the other night. They were pushing a new release that sounded eerily like their most famous hit 'Whip It', and that is not a good thing.

The big question was whether Devo was on Letterman as a comedy act or a band, because these guys were always about a cartoon/punk sound.

They came on stage with plastic face masks that covered the fact that the boys are not exactly on the youngish side these days. Clownish behavior has dogged these guys ever since they appeared onstage with flower pots on their heads.

That was the exact moment when we knew that Devo was not a serious band in a Weird Al kind of way. But at least they wrote their own material-such as it was.

Letterman is a subtle guy, so it would stand to reason that Devo was on his show as a novelty act. Mission accomplished on that front.

A little math indicates that the boys with the flower pots on their heads are pretty close to Letterman in age. Maybe Dave really dug the Devo sound during his party days when booze was a big part of his life.

Bands always sound better under the influence of a good buzz when the only requests are "LOUDER LOUDER" and "PLAY SOME AC/DC".

One thing is written in stone-you don't see people who are pushing 50 yelling at a bar band to play some classic Devo... 

Whatever the reason, Devo got to visit Dave and they were armed with a light arsenal of guitars and the ever-present synthesizer keyboard. The keyboardist cracked the whip with the right keys and suddenly Devo had revisited a long (and best) forgotten era of music from thirty years ago in the rear view mirror.

The fact that Devo has some life left in a pretty unremarkable career is probably a sign of optimism- or the Apocalypse- depending upon your point of view. Is it well past the logical time to put actual flowers in those pots or can this aging circus act still crack that whip on a stage?

Maybe Dave Letterman can answer that question better than us.

COMMENTS

DENNIS:"Flash backs from his coke fueled, metrosexual, "Disco" past. With his ratings going in the tank more each week, It was probably the cheapest "has been" band his keepers could afford.