The Girl Band U Want
Knowing that I am always on the lookout for the next Huckapoo [Isn't Huckapoo the next Huckapoo? -ed], Cinetrix alerts me to the awesomeness that is Devo 2.0. That's right, it's a group of, I'd say, 12-14 year old kids performing Devo songs. Or at least, that's what it appears to be.
In fact, it's Devo themselves. The band (partnered with Disney) has reunited and re-recorded its favorite songs (plus two new ones), only this time with a tween girl singer. I have no idea if that girl is actually Nicole, who stars in the band's videos, or if she's just there for the cameras the way the kids pawing at the instruments behind her are. Either way, I'm smitten. Sadly, DEV2.0 (catchy, huh?) is not, as my post title implies, an all-girl band. It's two girls and three guys who just look like girls.
Say what you want about the musical results, there's no denying that the concept is totally punk rock. It wouldn't have been so hot if they'd made Nicole a typical cool chick, but watch the videos and you'll see she totally embraces the spastic Devo aesthetic. The devolution starts now!
Comments
love it. reminds you how great devo was. the lead singer girl definitely pulls it off.
Posted by: adn | January 24, 2006 10:50 AM
An amazing act of cultural aggression. Good for them. Also reminds me of occasional Morricone warbler Don Powell and other stars of phonetic English-language singing.
Posted by: TG Gibbon | January 24, 2006 1:51 PM
Too bad they changed the lyrics to "Beautiful World" from "It's a beautiful world for you...it's not for me" to "It's a beautiful world for you...I guess me too."
Posted by: Francis | January 25, 2006 1:58 AM
I didn't notice that. Yeah, that blows. I mean, I'm not surprised they dropped Mongoloid from the repertoire, but the idea that kids today can't acknowledge that it's not always a beautiful world for everyone is kind of scary, but I guess that's Disney for you. Have you checked for other "dark" lyrics?
It also looks like they changed Girl U Want to Boy U Want (although it's still girl on the video version). I guess they thought it sounded too lezzie for a girl to be singing about a girl, but I'm not sure why -- it's not Girl I Want, after all.
Posted by: radosh | January 25, 2006 10:15 AM
They have changed/omitted quite a few lyrics. What bothers me even more is how they've sanitized the videos. The original (and hilarious) video to "That's Good" showed a cartoon french fry (or maybe a cruller?) trying to penetrate a doughnut.
The original video for "Beautiful World" showed clips depicting starvation, war, atomic bombs, etc. The new "Beautiful World" video shows a cartoon woman holding a globe and smiling. What up with that?
Posted by: Arthur | January 26, 2006 4:07 PM
Reminds me of that video for "Burning Down the House," where the Talking Heads playing is interspersed with kids playing in the same poses - then later they're crawling all over the Heads as they try to continue playing their instruments.
Well it does.
Posted by: Vance | January 26, 2006 11:59 PM
uhh... this is so totally depressing... i feel like my childhood has been raped by disney... they ARE the most evil company on earth...
Devo was one of the first "rock" bands i ever got into (as in not classical music)... and even as a ten year old I was fully able to appreciate the dark lyrics... we are so fucked now... forget the wmds... this is the end...
Posted by: jake | January 27, 2006 1:12 PM
Jocko Elmo!
Posted by: Jim Treacher | January 27, 2006 4:50 PM