Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Uncontrollable Urge (1978)
When Devo first burst onto the scene in the early '70s, they must have really blown some minds. They've always been unrepentantly weird in the best way possible, which at that time was pretty rare. Hell, even by the end of the '70s, people didn't know what to make of them.
The band got its start at Kent State University in Ohio, when keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh joined forces with Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis. Casale and Lewis were art students who had introduced the concept of "de-evolution," or the regression of mankind. The first version of Devo played at the 1973 Kent State performing arts festival, with Casale, Lewis, Mothersbaugh, Gerald's brother Bob Casale and friends Rod Reisman on drums and Fred Weber on vocals. That was the only performance with that lineup; a year later, the group featured the Casale brothers, Lewis, and brothers Mark and Jim Mothersbaugh.
They played around the Akron area and put together a 9-minute short film called The Truth About De-Evolution, which won a prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1976. David Bowie became aware of the film and helped Devo get a contract with Warner Music Group. The following year, Neil Young asked the band to participate in his movie Human Highway; it wasn't released until 1982, but featured the band as "nuclear garbagemen."
Devo released their first single, "Mongoloid," in March 1977, with "Jocko Homo" as the B-side. They followed that up with a robotic cover of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Originally, Bowie had planned to produce the band's debut album, but the job ended up going to Brian Eno because Bowie was working on a movie (although he did help Eno with some of the production). The band had already debuted all the songs in concert and didn't want to deviate from their demos, despite Eno's suggestions.
The songs were written by Mark (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Bob Mothersbaugh (lead guitar, vocals) and Gerald Casale (vocals, bass, keyboards) between 1974 and 1977; those three were joined by Bob Casale (rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Alan Myers (drums) on the album. Called Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, the album was released in August 1978.
The band was written off by many critics as a novelty act, largely thanks to their yellow suits, herky-jerky rhythms and decidedly unserious demeanor. But Devo was a major influence on many bands to follow, whether they were punk, new wave or art rock.
The opening track, "Uncontrollable Urge," just reaches out and grabs the listener, a high-octane song about sexual frustration that has Mark Mothersbaugh getting right in your face.
"Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!/Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!/Got an urge, got a surge and it's out of control/Got an urge I wanna purge 'cause I'm losing control/Uncontrollable urge, I wanna tell you all about it/Got an uncontrollable urge that makes me scream and shout it."
The other band members chime in: "He's got an uncontrollable urge (I've got an uncontrollable urge)/He's got an uncontrollable urge (I've got an uncontrollable urge)."
When the band would play the song live, they choreographed their movements to pivot in place, jump during the synth part and then get into a tight formation at the end.
"It's got style, it's got class/So strong, I can't let it pass/I gotta tell you all about it/Make me scream and shout it/I got an uncontrollable urge, I wanna tell you all about it/An uncontrollable urge, make me scream and shout it."
The album, which featured a painting of golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez on it (who at that age bore a slight resemblance to Tom Brady), got to #78 on the Billboard 200. Devo was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in 1978, playing "Satisfaction" and "Jocko Homo" and getting a whole lot of exposure. They released Duty Now for the Future in 1979, but their mainstream breakthrough came in 1980 with the album Freedom of Choice, which had their best-known song, "Whip It." The video, which featured the band wearing their red "energy dome" hats (which resembled flower pots), became a hit and the song hit the top 40.
They released a few more albums before 1984's Shout, a synth-pop album that fared poorly critically and commercially. The album is dominated by the Fairlight synth and it ultimately led Warner Bros. to drop the band. Myers left the band and Mark Mothersbaugh began composing music for the Pee-Wee's Playhouse TV show. Devo reformed in 1987 with a new drummer and released two more albums before splitting up in 1991.
Mothersbaugh began composing music for TV and films and Gerald Casale began directing music videos for bands including Rush, Soundgarden and Foo Fighters. Devo reunited in 1996 at the Sundance Film Festival and on part of the Lollapalooza tour. The band has played occasional tours since, releasing a new album in 2010. Bob Casale died of heart failure in 2014 at the age of 61; Myers died the year before.
Devo toured this past May, with a lineup feature Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, Josh Freese on drums and Josh Hager on guitar and keyboards, and earlier this year, a documentary on the band was released.
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