Comments on: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Korn Fans

By: Feh Am Legend

Feh Am Legend — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 03:01:18 +0000

Again late to this.

For all those cries of sellout, and supporting the man, I posit that you never really "got" Devo at all. Hell, their 2nd album had a song called "Devo Corporate Anthem" fer christsake. They released an collection of Devo MIDI songs. Devo is and has always been all about "selling out", about exploiting the whatever medium by whatever means, about satirizing our culture by gleefully infecting it at every possible turn.

@Hyman Decent: While I understand your principles, once you start following the money, your only option is to pretty much live in a cave. Do you watch network or cable TV, buy any major label CDs, read books published by the major houses? Because all of it's owned by rich white dudes, who will do everything thing they can to make sure the game is tilted in their favor. If you're going to boycott artist for indirectly supporting the man, then you have to apply that same rule to all the media you consume. And honestly, there are few among us who can claim to be that indie.

By: Hyman Decent

Hyman Decent — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:28:14 +0000

"...Every time the president speaks it's a painful example that de-evolution is real."

Dude, you shoulda looked before you leapt into this. I'll repost here someone else's Stereogum comment I posted there:

Michael Dell has donated a tremendous amount of money to George W. Bush's various campaigns and to the Republican Party. Devo is now dead to me.

Consider the missives from the Korn fans instant karma.

By: El Tejon

El Tejon — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:31:33 +0000

@Cam/ron: It was his daughter.

By: iheartponeez

iheartponeez — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:40:41 +0000

While I agree that Korn's fans are amongst the dregs of society, it seems odd to want credit because Korn used the concept of devolution. David Bowie doesn't bitch at everyone who cross-dresses that they stole it from him. Black Sabbath didn't demand that any other band invoking Satan should make sure to thank Ozzy.

If there's anything to be learned from mainstream music it's that repackaging old ideas can sell, and being ahead of one's time often doesn't.

But then again, there's no denying the entertainment value of a bitchfight between a bunch of angsty post-teens stuck in a culture 5 years dead and an old guy with sour grapes.

By: FionaScrapple

FionaScrapple — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 06:15:33 +0000

“Cretinous” is an understatement.

By: dippinkind

dippinkind — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:44:20 +0000

Honda scooters, laser disc players, Target, Miller, Swiffer, Dell, Devo has been ’selling out’ for years, and their claims that they’re subverting the medium from within or whatever do always seem a little lame and I always with they’d just say they wanted the money… though it is also a little true, if you’re familiar with all the lyrics, Target using “Beautiful World” (it’s not for me) and Miller using “Freedom of Choice” (freedom from choice is what we want) does subvert the message of the commercials – but only for a tiny fraction of the viewers. I do love that the band actually re-recorded Whip It with the “Swiff It” lyrics rather than just letting some studio band do it, and DEV2.O is pretty much the most awesome concept ever, or at least it was the first Devo product that I’ve liked at all since Shout.

By: nonce

nonce — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:28:22 +0000

Marry me, Gerry Casale!

By: mike a

mike a — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:11:29 +0000

It doesn’t bother me that Devo has licensed their recordings for TV commercials. What annoys me is the way they play it off in interviews like “we’re furthering our de-evolutional message by subverting the medium of TV commercials.” Come off it, guys: just admit that a big company offered a boatload of money that at least four-fifths of you needed. We won’t love you any less for it.

By: Cam/ron

Cam/ron — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:56:26 +0000

Devo sold out twice.

They hawked Honda scooters about 20 years ago as can be seen in this clip: [youtube.com]

They produced a "Devo 2.0" version of themselves for Disney where they had kids sing and perform their songs for shopping malls.

By: Ted Striker

Ted Striker — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:48:51 +0000

(the) De(vi)ll.

Ah. I see what you did there. Pretty clever.

Moreover, you inadvertantly named Korn's new studio album. Might wanna trademark that pretty soon, skippy.