Devo - Uncontrollable Urge (Live On Fridays) 

@John Barber Oi!

between them and the movie Revenge Of The Nerds , things changed for us geeks :)

Great one sentence summation of this band.

LoL yep😂🤗

Only if you are a dork. Long live the jocks...oh wait, it isn't 1984 anymore. Whatever

Yes like a song collage, a de-evolved quilt of sound, teehee ♥

Spot on. Saw them at the Punch & Judy Theater In Grosse Pointe in October 1978, just as you say. The hall was like a giant costume party (maybe it was because near Halloween) and the band was super-tight. One of the great concerts I have ever been to, up there with Stones, Who, etc. Devo's roots are in Akron-Kent Ohio, an underappreciated musical hotbed in the 1970s and 1980s, nurturing folks like Chrissie Hynde, Trent Reznor, etc.

The drummer was what kept them so tight. He was like a human metronome.

@@jamesmeil3666 Reznor was "nurtured" in Clevo, not Akron-Kent, for what it's worth. Close, but no cigar.

they have de evolved. they are devo

+Spotnicks...well not actually, but Devo's dress style owes a lot to the Spotnicks, though.

X2

Well Stated!

B -52$ and Talking head's?

Dude that is so accurate!

They WERE my high school years! Them and the Cars too.

The Talking Heads. Pere Ubu, Patti Smith. Blondie. and so on.

Talking Heads??????

The Talking Heads. Devo had a similar origin to them being arts students at a university. These two groups were obviously more educated than is usual. As Weird Al sang, dare to be stupid.

@@nedludd7622 I was expressing surprise at Talking Heads being left off the original commenter's list.

I concur

There was a visual/ conceptual art aspect to them that set them apart and basically made them legendary and almost overshadowed the fact that they rocked. They'll always be hip.

Yes - I would consider the Residents for this title as well

Dressing up like monsters is in no way as cool as Devo was.

I saw Devo play a few weeks ago. They're way before my time (born in '89). Not having been there at the time I don't know what their concept was and their impact on the musical landscape.

I have it in grey swirl vinyl somewhere.....

No doubt, but I stand by saying that Duty Now For the Future was their best work.

Well. They only had one bona-fide hit, But I don't think that being top 40 was what they were shooting for.

@@DerangedResponse what? I can name 3: Whip It Satisfaction Uncontrollable Urge I guess it depends on what you consider a bonafide hit.....

I have this one on 8-track! Uncontrollable Urge was track 1,song 1.Satisfaction was next IIRC.

Spoken like a true Spud Boy. Just use your freedom of choice and you will whip it :D

Been wearing my "Duty Now for the Future" mask this week. Devotee 4 Life!

That’s your freedom of choice.

@@stevious7278 Whip it real good

I'll do the same but first I have to shove the poles in the holes

And in 2024

1970's!

Not Punk. New Wave, there is a difference. I know. I was into both genres in 1977 when I was 21 back then.

@@undergroundwarrior70 they're not "new wave". this is as punk as anything, if you understand that punk is attitude, not a sound/genre

@@mj.l DEVO were not punk rockers they were a New Wave band. Real punk bands were not into using pianos, keyboards, synths, horns, violins or violas. They hated those type instruments. Punk bands only played guitars bass (three basic chords) and drums. DEVO did play keyboards & synths, and I did see them in concert in 1980 in my hometown. The only band that was accepted and very popular with the punk rockers were 'The Stranglers' from England. For one, they were in their 30's, except for drummer Jet Black, he was in his 40's, and Dave Greenfield (may he Rest In Peace) played keyboards & synths. I saw 'The Stranglers' in concert in my hometown around mid 80's or so. They opened up for 'Roxy Music'.

@@undergroundwarrior70 Plenty of early punk bands use brass instruments (the Saints), keyboards (the Clash, the Damned, even the Pistols on some records.) The Stranglers were nowhere near the only ones.

. My favorite is Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy

@@subwaygoddess1 omg me too

THE most underrated band of all time.

@Joey COCO fuck - few rocked like them then, I don't think I knew a single punk who didn't like DEVO.

Man alive! They rock that one hard!

I know people "have heard" of them, they can name one song, "Whip It". They think they are a one-hit wonder band. They have no idea of the scope and the brilliance of their entire body of work. So yes, they certainly are underrated.

@jms1963 Na! That will always be SPARKS as most underrated

...not the best analogy.

@@MarkGoding Noted.

r/lewronggeneration

@@sonicgrub One word triple entendre in the wild people. Best comment of the thread.

@@NOX-ID47 Thanks

Lesbian school graduation tomorrow and you are invited

nah, thank Devo. stop giving a lazy god credit. He had time to give you devo, but lets children stave .... as the saying goes... "good god"....

@@morbidmanmusic Nah, God gives us DEVO, Satan starves the children. Beer is proof that God loves us, and hangovers are proof that Satan is a dick. God helps us get into the hottest barfly's pants, and Satan makes it sore and leaking later...

GS Grant obviously

We were witnessing Fn GREATNESS. We had never seen anything like it.

Some dont realize how different and cool they were, to be awkward and geeky as band

I know right? They were even nominated this year!

Really, u have anger issues.

Lucky!

Indeed!! Go ahead millenials and say "OK, Boomer" ... but we were there. And it was GLORIOUS! hehehe

Me 2. Devo was probably the coolest concet I EVER saw, including the Stones, the Who, etc. etc. etc.

Ditto

Right after WB dropped them they toured in 1988. 175 seat club. Epic to see them upclose.

Awesome spud boy story. 😂

I remember them saying that people should get some 3D glasses for their 2D lives. Stunningly brilliant spud boys!

They sacrificed for their art!

@@zregime, Did they? They appeared to be enjoying performing.

Where's the red flower pot hats?

Yellow hazmat suites !!

Oh my God, you genuinely made me giggle

As Garth would say, "Good call!"

Couldn't agree more, similar to how Dolly Parton is the country version of Slayer and Slayer is the speed/death metal version of Dolly Parton.

Except the Ramones knew just 3 chords.

Devo was definitely punk. Not only that but one of many to pioneer synthetic music in that genre and era. Check out The Screamers, definitely not as digestible but one of many examples. I would say however that Devo may have been the most talented

This song has a very "Rock n Roll High School" type riff. I agree!!!

Check out a new band called Snapped Ankles.

The synchronized treadmills.... sensational all around.

Well said. Definitely takes the experience of a live show to a new level, wouldn’t work so well for certain genres though

Really, it all got going in the mid/late 70s, when the radio & clubs were saturated in stadium rock, brainless disco, and schmaltzy ballad pop. These bands, and others (Ramones, The Clash, Joe Jackson, The Stranglers, etc.) found their niche by countering the dumbed-down & over-produced corporate pablum with pared-down rock with basic music featuring raunchy guitars & angry social commentary, or they created snappy, tight, pared-down rock laced with witty (often tongue-in-cheek) lyrics, or by embracing technology & creating spare but imaginative synth rock/pop (Gary Newman. etc), or by returning to the roots of R&B & in some cases, injecting spoken word over pared-down R&B. ☺ Sadly, the cycle would repeat itself in the mid-80swith creative & edgy New Wave increasingly being replaced by dumbed-down, politically inert, over-produced music. Eventually, only Rap remained 'controversial' & politically-outspoken, until Grunge came along in the late 80s/ealy 90s...

All of those bands' best work was recorded in the 70s. You were just late to the party discovering them in the early 80s.

Or rather the mid-to-late 1970s. I started my freshman year of college in Fall of 1980, and the best of Devo and The Police was already in the rearview mirror. The Police's "Roxanne," "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely" were 1978, and "Message in a Bottle" was 1979. Some of the best of The Cars was in the late 70s too, including Just What I Needed, My Best Friend's Girl, Good Times Roll, Let's Go and It's All I Can Do. Of course they continued into the 1980s and The Talking Heads was all 80s onward, but if you listen to the other groups' 70s tunes you hear a bit more of that 1970s New Wave sound to them, as 80s New Wave was generally more pop and mainstream and less punk than 70s New Wave. If you like that sound don't miss The Knack's "Good Girls Don't" 1979 and Cheap Trick's 1978 album "Cheap Trick at Budokan." Honestly, back in the actual 1970s, more people sang along with Cheap Trick's "Surrender" than ever sang along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." But it's got to be that Live at Budokan version of the song, no studio version or any other version, only that one version off of that one live album. "I Want You To Want Me," on that same album, was another song that became a big sing-along at a lot of drunken high school parties. (And there were a lot of those back then, remember, something close to half of all high school seniors turn 18 during their senior year, and that was legal enough to buy alcohol in the 1970s. AS IF anybody cared enough to really care much in those days, so yeah, often enough16 and just looking 18 was good enough. That and at bars, even when bartenders actually cared, then they only cared that the person actually paying for the pitchers was 18, even if the rest of the table was younger, like late Jr. High on up, everybody had a glass in front of them, just the person paying had to be 18. So there were high school hangout bars.) You almost have to have lived the 1970s to really get it, BUT realize that at the time, in the actual 1970s, Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" charted two places higher in America than Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" did. It wasn't until SNL's Wayne's World in the 1990s that "Bohemian Rhapsody" became such a big deal. In the actual 1970s it was Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" and " Surrender" that drunken high schoolers liked to sing. And some other songs here and there. Maybe some Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd, but Queen, not so much, honestly. Anyway, you call all of those groups 1980s, even when for some of them all of their best was in the 1970s. That, and apparently how people today like to think of the 1980s and 1970s is often somehow quite different than how either of those two decades actually were. SNL's Wayne's World was SNL's Wayne's World, but in the actual 1970s people were like at least 10 times more likely to sing along with something off of the Rocky Horror Picture Show album than anything Queen did.

The jam the clash the damned early u2 etc

Elvis Costello, XTC, Flock of Seagulls, Thompson Twins.

Yep. And it was a damn shame they basically phased out his great talents as the 80's wore on and they de-evolved (intentional pun) into a tepid dance-beat band.

RIP Alan Meyers.

More accurately he called him the human metronome.

Saw them live and the drummer was absolutely great. So underrated that almost no one knows who he is.

Best devo drummer he could play anything! Rip to Alan!!

stereopolice surely it's irrelevant when you get it?

Me too I was 16 in 1976 what an incredible time to be part of this new wave punk scene in NYC Jersey philly I consider myself blessed.

RU-vid is your time machine

Can I take my skateboard with me?

@@mikeysclips Absolutely! I have a "Back to the Future" skateboard I bought on clearance at Kmart.... Unfortunately, I trimmed the width to narrow it, so it's no longer 100% original. They are valuable.

Don't forget the B-52 !

well said - this is nothing short of otherworldly

Yeah! 😨😨

Still tight as fuck! Like an elastic band waiting to snap back into place! Feel the TENSION!!

There's another great video of them performing this which is equally amazing, along with another two songs from the same set - go check out the youtube user DaisyPumpkin23!

It seems like the guitars aren't plugged in. Idk maybe they were bluetooth, but at the time it was very common for only the vocals to be live. Or only the instruments. Kinda strange now that I think about it.

Yes! I remember watching this very episode as it aired... and also the Stray Cats on Fridays. FANTASTIC memories.

@@stephenbianchi7141 Nady wireless.

Damn Alan died? He was an amazing drummer. Extremely underrated. You can’t play eccentric time signatures unless you’re gifted

Agreed.

Yes it is very hard to do that tight choreography and also play guitar.

RR HOF is a joke with regard to who got in early, who is just getting in, and who's not in. I refuse to visit and I love Ohio (HTC80)

Mark Mothersbaugh said in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF that the riff for Uncontrollable Urge was a take on "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the "Yeah yeah yeah" was from "She Loves You." John Lennon saw them at Max's Kansas City in the 70s, and after the show, after the band had loaded up the van and was ready to go, Lennon came over to Mark, who was in the van, and through the window screamed "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!" Mark said that after that happened, "That was it. I could just drive off an enbankment, and it would be fine."

It's a parody of Ped Zep. I left the "o" out of that first word.

Shame I only found them after their main touring days. I'd have given anything to see a proper live show.

Unless you count Weird Al making the most perfect Devo pastiche

I was there too!

True and the ultimate compliment

Love their cover of Satisfaction!

So true they rocked! Mark plays a little synth at the beginning, but otherwise this performance is all guitar. And the guitarist does that little Chuck Berry move at one point.

@@ricrox67 Bob 1

Electronic punk

You can feel the old school rock elements in the song, and yet they are destroyed by Devo's energy and talent. It's fused together in a way only Devo can present it.

In the early 80s I thought they were ok, most people sorta laughed nervously out of confusion, a lot of people simply didnt 'get' them or fully appreciate this band until later. Once a little perspective was added you quickly realized just how unique, innovative and great these guys really were, hindsight being 20/20. Now I love them and I'm stunned by their originality and how much these guys ROCKED. ...and it really pisses me off because I had several opportunities to drive a few hours and see them live back then! 😩

Thank you Born 6/62

Born in '65. I used to think the 80's were the most amazing, but, the more I've listened to 60's music, I have come to feel that they were at least the equal of the 80's, and possibly even more creative.

Have you heard the Devo cover of Satisfaction ?!!

@@PP-kp4dd Yes I have. I like it.

I have a mate who's a synth addict and a programmer who we call Devo

@@md-vq8sp Hell yes :)

1970s. They formed in 1972. Their first two (and best) albums were released in 1978 and 1979, respectively.

@@mournblade1066 Exactly. You beat me to it. I hate it when people talk like DEVO never existed before "Whip It".

@@Brewzerr Yeah, to be honest, I find their third album, _Freedom of Choice_ (on which "Whip It" is a track), to be the least of their first four albums. I like _New Traditionalists_ (their fourth) much more. I mean, it's got a few great tracks--"Girl U Want," "Whip It," and "Freedom of Choice," but it pales in comparison to _Duty Now for the Future_, which is my favorite.

@@mournblade1066 We're definitely on the same page. Not only do I agree that the first 4 albums are where it's at, but I also feel that Freedom Of Choice is the weakest of those 4 (though by no means do I think it's bad or weak album). I also agree that New Traditionalists was an improvement over FOC. Some really great tracks on that one. However, after New Traditionalists it all went downhill pretty fast. Aside from only 2 songs, I thought "Oh No It's DEVO" was pretty tepid and forgettable. And then "Shout" was completely forgettable. They started downplaying one of their greatest assets -- Alan Myers. Bad idea. Duty Now... is also my favorite DEVO album. That was the tour I saw them for the first time on, in the summer of '79. To this day it remains one of the greatest gigs I've ever seen by any band, and it was also a big game-changer for me.

@@Brewzerr Yeah, Jerry Casale said he begged Alan to stay, but Alan didn't feel like he had anything more to contribute as they brought in more synthetic drumming. _Oh No It's DEVO_ has a few decent tracks--"Peek-A-Boo" and "That's Good" come to mind. _Shout_. . . well, I haven't listened to that album in probably over 25 years. The only song I recall like was the title track. Their last album, _Something for Everyone_ (I think that's the title), is surprisingly good. Easily the best thing they've done since _New Traditionalists_.

Well, you have Cyraxx now.