The New Music Mondays: Devo "Through Being Cool"

Devo an American band formed in Akron, Ohio in 1973. While they are best known for their 1980 hit "Whip It", which made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the band has successfully maintained a cult following since early in their career. Devo's music and stage show mingle kitsch science fiction themes, deadpan surrealist humor, and mordantly satirical social commentary via sometimes-discordant pop songs that often feature unusual synthetic instrumentation and time signatures, and their work has proved hugely influential on subsequent popular music, particularly New Wave, industrial and alternative rock artists. Devo was also a pioneer of the music video, creating many memorable clips for the Laser Disc format, with "Whip It" getting heavy airplay in the early days of MTV.

They were making short films before MTV debuted so were a natural for the music video medium. They made an appearance singing this song in the movie "Heavy Metal." Since I spent the weekend at a science fiction convention I thought it appropriate. The song is the one that they play in the movie.

More music here: http://www.myspace.com/devo and www.clubdevo.com