Proud to be from Summit County
I've long since resigned myself to the fact that people will think I'm some goofy 80's nostalgiac (how's that for inventing a word?) when I list Devo as one of the treasures originating from Summit County. I know they've only heard "Whip It," and I know that a good number of the people who have actually sat down and given an honest listen to Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and Duty Now For The Future know the subtle greatness of Devo. After all, bands like Pussy Galore, Nirvana, and This Moment In Black History don't cover songs by subpar 80's one-hit wonders.
I'll also readily admit, though, that for every "Be Stiff," "Uncontrollable Urge," or "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" there's a "Disco Dancer," "Post Post-Modern Man," or "That's What He Said" credited to the Devo name. I'm not necessarily saying that the later songs are really horrible, just that Devo's later output was inconsistent, and a lot of it is best appreciated by the "super Devo-ted."
I write this because the new Devo song, "Watch Us Work It," is a pretty nice return to form for the band from Akron, Ohio. I haven't seen the Dell commercial that the song is featured in (one of the benefits, I guess, from having cut down my television consumption), but in a world where bands like Wilco use commercials as a marketing device, I suppose this may be the best way for Devo to get the music to the proverbial people. And isn't debuting a new song in an ad for laptops kinda just another way for Devo to actually make its artistic statement? After all, this is the band that pioneered the music video. Don't believe me? Take a look at this excerpt from The Truth About Devolution, which (even on a minimum budget) sure beats the hell out of those ridiculous dream sequences from Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same, which was produced around the same time (1976):
Anyway, the song itself is typical mid-period Devo stuff. Really, I think "Watch Us Work It" could easily fit on Freedom Of Choice, which I think is a good thing. The guitar-synth sound is there, and the lyrics are straight out of the Devo playbook:
Hey, I thought I heard somebody say, "That dog ain't going home until he gets his bone."
Hey, they said that way he'd be ok, so when he's home alone he'd bark, "Ain't nothing wrong."
Now watch us work it.
Like I said, the dog/bone motiff comes right out of "Freedom of Choice," and the whole theme on the tragedy of the human situation in the Western world is all over everything Devo's done. Thirty-some years later, it's a good thing that Devo is still singing lines like "How low can you go? / That's really up to you."
For better or for worse, "Watch Us Work It" isn't earth-shattering stuff. It is, though, a good song with some substance to it. It'll be interesting to see if the rumored new Devo album arrives any time soon. Until then, "Watch Us Work It" is worth the 99 cent download on iTunes.
