The Retroist » Devo

Merry Something To You

The Retroist — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 13:31:47 +0000

Whatever you celebrate this season, DEVO has a holiday appropriate song for you.

Devo’s Whip It in 8Bit

peachy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:00:55 +0000

anyone who visits the massive Juggernaut that is Retroist.com probably knows we love Devo here and if you haven’t heard their latest album Something for Everybody then you should probably give it a whirl.
**image created at C64yourself(beta)**
Even if you have never heard of Devo (shame on you) then there is still a big chance you have heard their excellent 1980 single ‘Whip it’ which works so unashamedly in 8bit I can imagine myself playing ‘Devo’s Adventure Castle’ on a NES or even Gameboy… but not on the Sega Master System ;)
This 8Bit concoction was put together buy the youtuber 8BITTS and I think you will agree it’s a mighty tune if ever there was.

“I Love Rock n’ Roll (Except When I Hate It),” by Retroist Contributor Brian Boone, Available Now!

Brian Boone — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:00:58 +0000

Hi, my name is Brian Boone. I’m a regular contributor on this site, writing primarily about forgotten junk food and obscure fads of the 1980s. All of us contributors love talking up retro stuff here, but we each also have our own thing. For example, Tupa’s a cartoonist, Peachy composes electronic music. As for me, I’m a rock nerd.

It just so happens I’ve written and just released a book of trivia and little-known stories behind classic rock and pop songs, albums, and artists. It’s called I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (Except When I Hate It): Extremely Important Stuff About the Songs and Bands You Love, Hate, Love to Hate and Hate to Love.

This is not a typical, staid pop culture trivia book. As I’m a passionate music fan, I both celebrate the moments of genius and masterpiece creation while reveling in the glorious failure of bad ideas. It’s all about the highs and lows of pop and rock, from the ‘60s through to now, so music geeks and retro enthusiasts have much to savor, such as:

• The time Disney tried to reinvent Devo as a kids band
• How bands got their names
• Working titles of classic albums
• How all bands relate to the Pixies
• The early, pre-fame missteps of Lenny Kravitz and Billy Joel; and the post-fame missteps of Garth Brooks and Peter Frampton
• The story behind the worst song of all time (it involves rap and a Beach Boy)

It’s available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, or anywhere books are sold. I hope you enjoy it.

Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Parody of “Whip It”, “Drip It”

The Retroist — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:00:05 +0000

Another great education parody from Bill Nye the Science Guy (how is this show not still on the air!) With “Drip It”, the “band”, Weflo shows off their knowledge of fluids (and funny hats) in a parody of Devo’s “Whip It”.

Submitted by Payton

1987 Hawaiian Punch Commercial with Music by Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO)

The Retroist — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:00:32 +0000

This computer animated commercial for Hawaiian Punch came out in 1987. This is the uncommon full 90 second version. The music in the commercial is by Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO). Later in his career he admitted to embedding the subliminal message, “Sugar is bad for you.”

This is a wonderful 1980s time capsule and for some reason reminds me of “Stomp”.