@clubdevo Gerald breaks down “Whip It.” Watch and share this with a fellow Spud. Keep cracking that whip, and tag us for a chance to be featured. #WhipIt #WhipItChallenge #NewWave #80smusic #BehindTheSong ♬ Whip It - Devo
Were you one of the many people who were wrong about what the song was about?
To see lot of examples of these kids today enjoying the old song — just doing a little dance on TikTok — go here.
And here's the original official video (from 1980). Remember, they're satirizing motivational speakers:
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17 comments:
I was too young to think it was about anything other than playing with a whip. Which was cool enough for me. I’m a little disappointed that it’s about something. And if it has to be about something, why did that something have to be motivational speakers?
I took nasty pleasure from seeing that sagging, jowly face topped with the Devo hat. Like the cool kids say, once a dork, always a dork.
What do you suppose this guy's 'normal day' looks like, now?
I liked devo. They were old enough to be fresh in a constrained way. In that time you could get laughs by just appearing onstage and acting dumb. And the existence of de-evolution implies that you can also inherit bad genetic traits from your parents as well as good ones.
I took it to be something about the inhalation of nitrous oxide. I wasn't a devotee of that particular mind bender, so didn't parse the words in the song very closely.
Love the song, hate the song, don't give a crap about the song, hard to argue that they were wrong about de-evolution.
"Whip It" got heavy rotation on MTV. That accounts for a lot of it's popularity. It was far from DEVO's best song. Try "Gates of Steel", "Uncontrollable Urge", or their cover of "Satisfaction".
I saw this band live a dozen times between 1978 and 1990 and they were one of the most entertaining live acts of their time, IMHO.
Their politics absolutely suck, but the experience in attending some of their earliest shows was what I imagined a Nazi Youth Rally would be, if it was more festive, lol.
Liking the Who, Zep that whole era and then watching this. It was a big letdown.
Devo had their moments, including this undeniable bon mot
Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want
As one of their competitors noted, same as it ever was.
… whip it good :-)
The "whipping off the dress" scene told everyone what they needed to know about its meaning. Lyrics served as cover for the double-entendre-packed sex & drugs & rock & roll era.
Contemporary Hollywood art:
Weird Science
Porky's
Animal House
Revenge of the Nerds
Love at First Sting
etc.
That whip it video is based off a live cowboy act, where this whip-master would whip the clothes off his wife. That's sort of like William Tell, except with whips.
I agree with Limited blogger, not their best, but still good. If it wasn't good, MTV would have limited it's airtime. I think I have some DEVO vinyl in the basement. The Satisfaction cover is tremendous. I can't believe it was from 79, I though it later.
Talking Heads kicked Devo's ass, in my view.
Who is old enough to remember MTV parties?
Premium channels like MTV used to be pretty expensive, and no one had ever seen anything like it before. American Bandstand was yesterday's news after seeing MTV. For a few years after it came out, which coincided with my final years of high school and first years of college, you could throw a house party with no theme other than watching MTV videos, and be certain that it would be packed with girls.
I was a dance DJ back in 79-81. This was a popular dance tune with the college crowd, at least in southern Ontario. Quaestor is right, you'd get the dorkiest dancers. We had a 'new wave' mix where we'd play this song and "Cars" by Gary Numan and a couple of other synth-y pop songs, and this was the only mix where some guys would get up and dance by themselves.
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