As the 80's progressed, Devo attempted to stay relevant among a sea of other massive acts. This brought them to a change in musical style with their 1984 album, Shout. While the transition in musical style had begun somewhat with their previously released, Oh, No! It's Devo (1982), this new record would see a further embrace of synthesizers, and less reliance on drummer, Alan Myers. Shout, instead, utilized the popular Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer. Those of you familiar with the Purple Rain era of Prince And The Revolution will easily pick up on its unique drum sound.
However, fans of Devo were not looking for Prince, and the end result was an album which was poorly received. Further not embraced was the music video for the Jimi Hendrex cover, Are You Experienced? The band would controversially depict a white Hendrix, played by Randy Hansen, emerging from a coffin in the video, drawing criticism as tasteless and disrespectful. Of this, Gerald Casale would later state that it was the lawyers who now run Hendrix estate who simply didn't understand the video and thought they were making fun of the iconic guitarist. He would further elaborate stating, "That's like saying Whip It makes fun of cowboys. This is so stupid it's unbelievable."
Devo ended up not touring in support of Shout, which perhaps hurt album sales further. Its release continued the decline of the band's overall popularity, lacking any charting singles, and as a whole peaking worse than previous records.
The musical shift is very noticeable from the start. Gone are the very clear and previously present drums of Myers, and in its place a more recognizable 80's pop sound. Depending on your tastes, that could be a good or bad thing.
Personally, I thought it was a good evolution for the band, and one which felt inevitable as the decade progressed. By 1986, new wave was declining, and tastes were shifting towards the emerging glam metal, alternative rock, and dance-pop. Devo was gravitating naturally to the latter as the only genre they would have really fit into at the time.
Much like its predecessor, it takes a couple tracks for the album to really pick up momentum, but this does begin to happen (for me) starting with Don't Rescue Me, and continuing with The Fourth Dimension, and C'Mon. Though things do seem to decline a bit from there. Not necessarily to "bad" territory, but definitely more forgettable. Towards the tail end I also enjoyed Please Please.
The album closes with Are You Experienced. First and foremost, I have to preface, I don't know the original from Hendrix and company. As such, I can't compare it. What I will say is that as a standalone track, it's not very good. Honestly, I don't see a problem with the music video either.
With repeated decline in sales from album to album, and minimal hits which didn't leave lasting marks, not to mention the noted controversy from their video and lack of touring, Warner Bros. made the decision to part ways with Devo in 1984. From the band's perspective, the label didn't understand their avant garde artistic style, and instead kept pushing for pop hits to replicate the success of Whip It. Despite this, the band would return to the label in 2010, but we'll go into that more tomorrow.
Feeling his role as a drummer had been diminished by the overuse of synthesizers, Alan Myers opted to leave Devo in 1986. Gerald Casale would beg him to stay, but these pleas fell on deaf ears. Myers ultimately left the music business behind upon his departure, moving into construction and running his own electrical contracting business in the Los Angeles area.
Following all of this, Mark Mothersbaugh would turn his attention to composing for the TV show Pee-wee's Playhouse. Additionally, he would release the solo album, Musik for Insomniaks through Tra Project. As for the Devo, they would take an extended hiatus until 1988's Total Devo. It was their final album for the 80's, and where I'll pick up tomorrow.
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