Even bigger than the Stones vs Beatles conundrum is the Devo/Wall of Voodoo dialect. They always seemed to be cut from the same cloth to me. Devo were more cerebral/conceptual, while Wall of Voodoo had a more SoCal noir feel to their storysongs, but they both had that young curmudgeon/malcontent feel to them, which is why I seem to always end up listening to one after the other.
Devo, tho – what the fuck happened to them? I think they realized they’d gone as far as they could being misfit weirdos, and knew they’d have to start playing by the record company rules if they wanted big time fame and a chance to crawl out of their awesome little niche. Unfortunately, all their music sucked once they decided to go down this disastrous path. Now, they can release all the albums they want and people can mention the word “comeback” ‘til they’re blue in the face, but the band will never be anything but a nostalgia act. No one goes to any of their concerts these days wanting to hear anything but “Whip It”, “Satisfaction”, “Mongoloid”, etc etc.
They make me sad with their lingering ways.
On the bright sad, Dawn loved the “Satisfaction” video when I showed it to her, and “Mongoloid” always makes her smile.
Wall of Voodoo was a much cleaner break. Their first ep was very good, and both their albums with Stan Ridgway kicked righteous ass. Don’t know why he left the band, but it took no time at all for me to realize that neither Ridgway solo nor WOV without him singing was anything I wanted a part of. It was a very clean break. Are they still around doing anything? None of them ever call, so I really don’t know.
But now I have to make a quiche, and pop in Seefeel's Quique for obvious reasons.
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