De-evolution for the tween set
Yesterday, I read that DEVO, one of my most favoritest bands ever, has a new kids’ CD. It’s ten of their classic songs and two new ones played by the original band and voiced by five fresh-faced tween-agers. And it’s put out by Disney. I thought, “this is just wrong on so many levels“, followed immediately by, “I must have it”.
Now I’m sure that this is an idea that Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale had had bubbling around in their heads for some time. I remember hearing about them doing some shows back in 1985 with a band called “Visiting Kids”, featuring their own pre-teen kids. And I’m sure that the fact that Disney wanted to do this was just the icing on the proverbial cake. Is this the ultimate sellout, or gaming the system from inside? Stylus magazine wonders
“Are all these questions beside the point because Casale and Mothersbaugh have produced something both funny and unsettling, just like the original Devo?”
Regardless, the kids do a good job. Lucinda likes it, and she’s their target audience. So overall, it’s a Good Thing.
Addendum: Lucinda and I watched the DVD that came with the CD. They have ten videos for the songs. Dancing animated pandas and dinosaurs. Energy domes everywhere. And spuds. Lots of spuds. I was trying to explain to Lucinda just why there were so many potatoes in the cartoon sequences. But she enjoyed it. A lot of the songs have been Disney-fied, so they’ve stripped out pretty much all of the original angst. But that in itself is tremendously funny. Songs like “Beautiful World”, which is very dark and depressing have become bouncy and happy. It’s the happiness of an idiot. And that’s very DEVO. So we’re each enjoying this in our own way.
Also, they have a web site:
http://disney.go.com/disneyrecords/Song-Albums/devo20/
