20 years of Devo-lution

It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since Devo put out an album (and even longer since they put out a good one). Maybe that’s because so much of the commercialism and conformity they railed against has sapped into every facet of our daily lives. Sometimes it seems like we live in a Devo-predicted world.

The band’s new album, “Something for Everybody,” is very aptly titled. The band focus-grouped every aspect of the album and let fans choose which songs would be included on the album, with an 88 percent focus-group approval listed on the packaging.

Though that move blurs the line between satire and standard operating procedure, the album turns out surprisingly well. The single “Fresh” manages to rock out and be danceable in an era when Devo has to compete with other synth-enthusiasts like Lady Gaga.

Some tracks, like “Please Baby Please,” are just annoying and sound more like a parody of Devo than the real thing. Other tracks (“Human Rocket”) are pretty damn funky.
“Something for Everybody” isn’t quite at the level of the first few revolutionary Devo albums, but it’s a surprisingly coherent and enjoyable piece of subversion.