Sigue Sigue Sputnik vs. Devo

I'm a fan of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. I don't think there's a whole bunch of us out there, but there are enough. I was pleased that the Kinky Wizards in High Fidelity were caught shoplifting a copy of Flaunt It. I think every new band or musician should listen to Flaunt It. Sigue Sigue Sputnik's contributions to modern music have been overlooked because they were over the top and cartoonish. But one place their influence really pops up is in Devo's new record, Something for Everybody. Devo, even though they predate, clearly influenced, and, to an extent, preconceptualized SSS's schtick, borrowed from SSS's example in promoting their new album.

If you're unfamiliar with Sigue Sigue Sputnik you can read the wikipedia article above or check out their official page. But it boils down to Tony James from Generation X being kind of ticked off and looking to form a new band after Billy Idol ditched the group to go off on his own for big money. Looking at the examples of people like Malcolm McLaren and seeing that the music industry was basically a big shake down, Tony James decided to take it to nth degree. Tony was able to use hype to start a bidding war between the labels that were trying to sign the band. He got the band a big advance from EMI and then auctioned off advertising in the album itself. One song promotes Atari and Vidal Sassoon commercials pop up throughout the record. It was a nice statement about the commercialization of the industry and the art. They frequently refer to themselves as a corporation and prophesize a distopian monopolized future. They released a second record that didn't do very well, and in my opinion they shouldn't have. They were a one trick pony. But the important lesson was that the music industry has nothing to do with art, it's just a money making venture that hides behind claims of creating art, etc. We all clearly see that no one is promoting Justin Beiber because they believe in his artistic vision. They promote him because they can sell overpriced t shirts to tween girls.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik made their point in an artistic, ironic, and compelling way. And the music on Flaunt It was engaging, even though commercials for hair product popped up in between songs. Conceptually it was great, and important.

I got the new Devo record, Something For Everybody, about a month ago and I'm very happy with it. It is a logical follow up to The New Traditionalists and has none of the self indulgent "we're just here for your money" that other recent come back records(cough cough The Weirdness cough) have had.

I participated in a lot of the run up hype to the record. You can still see some of it at Devo's website. What I found interesting about Devo's marketing is how much more it relies on Sigue Sigue Sputnik's distopia than Devo's own. Instead of focusing on the devolution of the species, incessantly mired in some form of World War III waged by the dumbing down and monetization of culture, the new record comes from the point of view that that has happened. We are not fighting some post Reagen society of devolved conservatism. It's here. Most people in their early thirties, late twenties, think adbusters is kind of tired and Noam Chomsky is passe. It's over, we lost, now pay up.

So there are goofy surveys, "focus groups", etc. to create a meme of consumer participation, that is real, but is also poking fun at the lack of actual choice or real options available to people who have devolved beyond the point where they can make any meaningful choices. Does it really matter that people responded more positively to blue power domes than red ones? But they'll let you click your mouse and voila, blue power domes. You, the consumer, win!

Devo now seems to be saying, "The way we are marketed to is hoky crap, and you put up with it." The corporations have won. There is no longer a way to fight back against the corporate co-opting of culture. And so they're poking fun of it. The world/market they're now operating in is post devolutionary. It's the world of Sigue Sigue Sputnik and all that's left is to give you a wink and nudge while they market to you. It's a world where they run through the procedures of the governing corporate structure to create "art" for the youth market.

It's fascinating to me. Here's the video for the single, Fresh, off of Something for Everybody.