The nice kids over at Pitchfork Media were kind enough to lend their ever-humble opinions to unenlightened masses by publishing lists of the Top100!!! of everything. (It’s like VH-1 for snobs, without the bubbly pop-up videos.) Fortunately, there’s other kids out there bored enough to compile said Top100!!! lists into easy, convenient to nick BitTorrents©. God bless ’em. It really does amount to a crash course in MuziqGeek 101.
And like the Bible and the Big Lebowski, no matter how many times you dig in, there’s always something new. Working my way through the Top100!!! Albums of the 1970’s, I chanced to ponder again that timeless question: “Are We Not Men?” I’m convinced that the answer truly is: “We Are Devo!” But is that a “Yes” or is it a”No”? And if so, what does it imply. Let’s ponder, shall we?
Returning to the text, let us remind ourselves of the question at hand: “Are We Not Men?”
The answer could be construed in two ways: “(Yes) We Are Devo!” or “(No) We Are Devo!”
This question is also not to be confused with a similar inquiry, which is simply: “Are We Men?”
Again, the answer could be interpreted as “(Yes) We Are Devo!” or “(No) We Are Devo!”
I believe the ambiguity to be intentional.
The more interesting question is this: Does the Devo know the answer? Judging by the lack of introspection displayed by the knee-jerk reaction above, my guess is that the Devo do not know where they stand in contrast to their more-evolved forerunners. As a heightened level of self-awareness is a certain criteria for sentience, one must conclude that no, the Devo are not Men.
I hearby suggest that all future reissues of this album be retitled: Q: Are We Men? A: No, We Are Devo! Wouldn’t that make things easier for all of us? Glad to put that one to bed… You can thank me later.
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(While we’re here…) A note on the music: As much as Whip-It! defines the beeping and blipping Devo aesthetic, this album charmingly churns on crunchy stratocasters. More Talking Heads than Gary Numan, you can picture Mark Mothersbaugh and the kids working this one out on a sticky stage just down route 59 from Kent State University. The included cover of Stone’s classic “Satisfaction” always troubled me until I heard it in context: Mick’s prescient ennui over the consumer age is a theme further explored on tracks like “Too Much Paranoia.” And the flower pots soon followed.
