Uncontrollable Urge to Sell-out!

Devo 2.0 bannerI was already deeply disappointed when I first heard that Devo was selling off song rights for two-bit commercials – something just seems lost when music you believed was critiquing mindless consumerism is being employed to hock a Twix! Below is a list excerpted from about.com regarding 80s music used in commercials (presented in About.com’s predictably insipid, “isn’t that great” logic):

Band
Song
Company
Devo Beautiful World Target
Devo Freedom of Choice Miller Domino
Devo Uncontrollable Urge Mitsubishi Galant Accident Avoidance Test 2004
Devo Whip It Gateway
Devo Whip It Twix
Devo Whip It Pringles
Devo It’s A Beautiful World Target CorporatioAA

According to about.com, even the Dead Kennedys’ “A Holiday in Cambodia” was the theme song for a Levi’s Dockers commercial (Jello Biafra and corporate America – strange bedfellows to say the least) -so, “hey kid, that’s life,” right?

Wrong- because this is what happens when bands shamelessly sell their work to the highest bidder …DEV2.0!

Warning: if you have even a modicum of respect for Devo and intend on preserving it, please don’t follow this link!

Thanks Mikhail (a precocious websurfer of thisevilempire.com fame!) who, after I complained how absurd this album was and how Mark Mothersbaugh is redefining the term sellout, said, “what if he knows it’s absurd and is having a good laugh about it?” I hate people who are circumspect!

Enjoy?

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4 Responses to Uncontrollable Urge to Sell-out!

  1. Brad says:

    It is a shame. My 4 year old loves Devo2.0. I bought it thinking it was some devo remix and it is not. It is pretty fun hearing my kid sing Peek-a-boo though. The lyric changes are pretty funny as well as a lot of devo lyrics are not suitable for children. She corrected me when I was sing Freedom of Choice and I said the dog dropped dead. She said “No, he dropped down”.

    Complete sellout from guys that complained continually about being under the cooporate thumb.

  2. jimgroom says:

    Amen, Brad. I wouldn’t be so righteous if their songs weren’t so pointed against the corporate monkey man. I guess its the logical progression – Lollapalooza, Wes Anderson, then major disney sell-out!

  3. Ben Boozled says:

    Hey! my baby said to me
    “I feel so DEVO”
    I don’t know what to do!

    Hey! It’s OK because she’s free!
    “How low can you go?”
    That’s really up to you!

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