As someone else put it: Devo have actually devolved – as they claim was happening to culture – only to produce their biggest hit. This contains “Whip It” – far and away their most famous song – and, as a result, the album was their biggest hit.
Tag: Zolo
Un peu de l’âme des bandits (1980) by Aqsak Maboul
Somehow, despite being familiar with the work of two of the guests on this record, and having listened to at least a couple Rock in Opposition albums, I had never heard of this band before. How is that possible?
Solid State Survivor (1979) by Yellow Magic Orchestra
This is some shockingly ’80s-sounding discofied synthpop. It feels like it’s miles ahead of the British synthpop bands. And if I didn’t know about Kraftwerk’s existence I might be tempted to claim it’s the birth of synthpop. But frankly I don’t have the context to properly assess music like this. When it comes to the …
Drums and Wires (1979) by XTC
I maintain that the Atlantic created a pretty different sonic difference between American and British New Wave and and, later, American and British Post Punk. With New Wave that gulf is so big that it almost feels silly to call them the same genre; compare to Elvis Costello or the Police to Pere Ubu and …
The B-52s (1979)
I first encountered the B-52s through “Love Shack” and its relative ubiquity. And then I became familiar with Kate Pierson through Out of Time. But I have never really been a fan of camp – or rather I am only a fan of selective camp – and so I thought they would never appeal to …