D E V O - Thats Good (letterman)

D E V O performing 'Thats Good' on letterman in 1982

Happy 30 years Dave!

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People & Blogs

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• DEVO

[xNapalmChrisx]

Because it's better quality than the other one on youtube?

[tegoarcanadei]

Crickey! Uber performance from a quality band! Pioneers of technopunk, Devo was an original, brilliant but somewhat weird outfit. It brings great memories from my high school days in Lima Peru.

[paulieflipper]

@tegoarcanadei Me too at highschool in Christchurch new zealand. Devo rocked!!

[ZackTorrence]

@RocketRevenge Listen to Mark's vocal, you can hear he's singing over the backing track.

[RocketRevenge]

Uh guys... that was entirely lip-synced and mimed. The keyboard he's wearing is a Roland SH-101, which could only produce one note at a time (no chords, like he was playing) and all of the instruments were not plugged into any amplification. Great song, but you can tell that they were booked for the novelty and appeal to the younger audience, not for their playing abilities like other artists that year. Sad.

[mickeymousebiker1]

When I was a kid, I watched Saturday morning cartoons. In the early 1980s, I watched MTV for these guys. Pure geek sugar! This band should do a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon and company would fit in perfectly with these guys.

[mickeymousebiker1]

@conureluva It's just a small talent I have (spotting nuances such as hair-styles from film and music video). This tune/video came out a few years following Cuckoo's Nest. It's possible that Mark took his hair-styling cues from Brad D. in Cuckoo's nest. Mark M. was (and remains) a big fan of well-crafted (and thought-provoking) film.

[conureluva]

@mickeymousebiker1

u r correct,

i never noticed the hair doo connection!

[WARSORE666]

@mickeymousebiker1 Hahahahaa YESH!!!

[McLarenMercedes]

@MEATYOKERRable

Devo is a prime example of an overlooked band from this era. To the broad public they were only known for "Whip It" (which in my mind is far from one of their betters songs) and they weren't "commercially viable" enough to become more than just a cult band.

To get a clue what happened during the mid 80's listen to Dead Kennedy's "MTV-Get off the air!". Not saying all the commercial bands of the 80's were bad but a lot got way more airtime than they deserved for their talent.

[McLarenMercedes]

@MEATYOKERRable

The reason the 80's are being made fun of is because it was the first decade in which manafactured pop-puppets more famous for looking sexy in a music video on MTV than the actual quality of their music became the norm.

A lot of avantgarde and innovative new music styles were pioneered during the 80's but most of it never reached the ears of the broad public. It was all commercialism and for this reason people only remember the dreadful "bands" that the kids listened to.

[mickeymousebiker1]

I dig Mark's Billy Bibbit hair-do. Remember Brad Doriff's character in the movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?