Post by BoomHow could that be? They had 5 big light boxes behind them as a set
for FOC. Nutra was a giant elaborate temple. Even if they used the
light boxes, they still built a buttload of stuff around them.
It wasn't made of marble. The light boxes were the pillars. It was painted
pieces of wood attached to the front. It's not that elaborate.
Post by Boomthey probably needed 3-4 guys just to put up that set.
Yeah, but this was a major tour of a Warner Brothers act.
Post by BoomStill, setting up a couple amps on a bare stage is a lot cheaper.
Yeah, but they wanted to go beyond the normal thing. They didn't want to be
like every other band.
Post by BoomI don't know...I would have just as soon seen them with a bunch of
amps as a backdrop.
I'd prefer a show with an interesting set, instead of a generic rock band
set.
Post by BoomI went to see them for the music and the
showmanship, not the lights. I'll go see a laser show if I want to
look at fancy lights.
The set was part of the show. The whole presentation was great. It has
nothing to do with just fancy lights. That's exactly what they wanted to get
away from. If you think the Nutra tour was about "fancy lights" then you
probably didn't see the tour. It was the greatest show they ever did, and
maybe one of the greatest shows any band ever did.
Post by BoomHell, I know tons of acts that don't sell any albums
at all anymore and make good money touring with a $5,000 per show
budget or less.
Devo can't make a living just being Devo. It's basicly a side hobby for them
which yields them some pocket change.
Post by BoomDevo apparently wanted to compete with bands like
KISS and Genesis for production values.
They deserved to have a bigger audience then that bogus crap. Devo had
interesting ideas and concepts. They wanted you to think, and that was their
sin. The public wants to be spoon fed vauous pablum
Post by BoomWhich is fine if your albums
sell millions one after the other
Again, they delivered quality albums and tours and expected that they would
be rewarded for that.
Post by Boombut it just wasn't practical.
If they were practical they would have just conformed to the same standards
as everyone else. They paid the price for being unique.
Post by Boomyou ditch the sets,
bring a sound guy, a light guy, one merch guy, and let the promoter
hire out the sound and lights, and you shlep your gear yourself in a
mid-size bus and trailer. It's what they're doing now, except they
fly in and use rented backline. Which is also a cost effective way to
do it.
I saw the New Traditionalists tour, and I saw them in Central Park last
year. Guess which show was better? Every penny they spent back then was
worth it. They delivered quality, and they did it their way.
Post by BoomJust barely, and only because Bob 1 didn't play keyboards. I don't
think Bob 2 ever played guitar on anything after the 3rd album.
"Whip It" was their biggest hit, and it had as many guitars on it as any of
the later songs on the last few records. There is no correlation between
using guitars and selling records. FOC and Nutra outsold the first two
records, and the first two had more guitars.
Post by BoomMaybe if the songwriting backed up the programming. It was
interesting, and even good at times, but it never measured up to the
earlier stuff.
Of course not, but most groups earlier songs are better than their later
work. It was still better than what most groups were delivering.
Post by Boomthey lost a lot of fans after the music became programmed.
They got very little promotion. Oh No! would have sold, but Warners turned
it's back on them. The music was never entirely programmed. It was a mix. If
a song is good it will be good programmed or not.
Post by BoomAlan was
right. The music was a lot more real when they were people pretending
to be robots instead of letting the robots do the work.
There is more than one way to create. You can be creative with programmed
music. There's no rule that says only a guitar band is good. Wall Of Voodoo
and Kraftwerk used drum machines and they were incredibly creative. It's the
ideas that are important, not the equipment. Devo wanted to get away from
the sameness of every rock band in the world. they wanted to use technology
together with human interaction. Kraftwerk and Wall Of Voodoo were a lot
more creative than Kiss who always used a real drummer. Kiss did lots of bad
records with a real drummer and no programming. It has nothing to do with
it.
Post by BoomI think they see that now.
Not really. They play only occasional short shows. If they put out a record
tomorrow, and did a major tour they would still lose money. They still have
a small fan base. You seem to believe they blew it somehow, but really it's
about the fact that only a limited amount of people are going to understand
what they are trying to get across.
Post by BoomCommon sense says don't spend money you don't have.
They had the money. People chose to spend their money on crappy groups, with
worse records, who did cliched tours with fancy lights.
Post by BoomYou know, a lot of people say stuff like that about the general
public, but Devo had a pretty big core audience going that they mostly
alienated with the machines.
No, they had a hit song that attracted people who only go to see acts that
have a hit song. Very few were ever going to be long term fans. The hit song
buzz fades with every album that dosen't have a hit on it. It had nothing to
do with "machines".
Post by BoomIt's fine for some rap act or some bimbo
like Ashlee Simpson, but not for a band known as humans playing music
like robots.
If music with "machines" sells so well, then why didn't Devo's later albums
sell? Which is it? Does a real drummer mean sales, or does a drum machine
mean sales? Ashlee Simpson is making money. She has a real drummer. He's
the one who started the wrong lip sync tape. A drum machine is a great tool
for a band trying to sound like a machine. I could kick Peter Criss' ass
with my drum machine. I can program in time signatures he never dreamed of.
It's not the tools - it's how you use them.
Post by BoomPost by Gary ChildsIt was out of their control. Keeping more guitars on the records or doing
smaller tours wouldn't have saved them. It was a total fluke that they ever
got as far as they did. They were only meant for a select market.
It sounds like you're trying to counter what I was saying, but you
just made my whole case for me.
Not at all. You think Devo flopped commercially because of less guitars, bad
records, and expensive tours. As I proved, it wasn't lack of guitars because
"Whip It" had only one guitar. It wasn't bad records, because their albums
were still better than the competition's albums. The tours weren't as
insanely expensive as most rock acts, and the money they spent was justified
for the kind of attention and money that was coming in at the time. It's
funny that you think that they were blowing all this money, when critics at
the time said that they were greedy, and were ripping off the public with
all their merchandise. When the audiences got smaller, Devo spent less money
on stage sets. They were never careless witn money. They did what they
wanted to do, but they did it on a budget, and gave good value for a dollar.
Post by BoomPost by Gary ChildsQuality does not equal sales. People will buy crap, and often do. Devo's
later records were far better than much of the garbage that outsold them.
Not really. Was it better than the Police?
Yes really. The Police only did 5 albums, then broke up. So, it's not a good
comparison. If The Police had stayed together they would have put out bad
records, because Sting was becoming a pretentious, pompous ass. Devo's first
5 were good, and so were the Police's (I'd give Devo the edge, because the
Police used a lot of filler on their records). Ashlee Simpson sells - is she
good?
Post by BoomOr the Clash?
I don't know much about The Clash so I can't comment.
Post by BoomIt was the takeover by the machines and the lack of
quality songwriting that it brought.
Programmed music can sell. Bad records can sell if promoted. Devo's later
records were better than other albums that made lots of money in the late
1980's.
Post by BoomIt's alright for the Human
League to program beats because they were lame musicians.
You have an obvious bias towards guitar based music. It's not the equipment
that makes good music, it's the ideas. The Human League made better songs
than hundreds of bands with guitars and real drummers. What's lame is being
another generic rock band that looks and sounds like everyone else. If you
take the makeup off Kiss, all they were was another cliched rock band.
Post by BoomSo why program?
It was a new way to create music. Devo wanted to use new technology. If you
listen to the things they programmed you'll notice some interesting sounds
that guitars can't make.
Post by BoomOh really? Please allow me to introduce you to Fabian. Fabian still
makes big bucks off of a few thousand old ladies who thought he was
cute when he was a teenager. He can't sing and his songs are lame.
Yet they still come out for him.
That's pretty sad. So that's what you want Devo to be? Fabian is one guy
with a backup band. How can you compare Fabian to Devo? It's ridiculous.
Devo deserved to be more than to be an oldies act.
Post by BoomNope, sorry. Every show was about 40 minutes of new stuff and a
smattering of songs from the older albums.
That's what they do now. Just the "smattering" part.
Post by BoomFor the Oh No tour, Devo
did 8 songs from that album, and dropped lots of favorite stuff like
Blockhead and Mongoloid.
And it was a better show than what they do now.
Post by BoomPost by Gary ChildsThere are lots of groups out there who did it all for the money, but would
you really want to listen to them?
Sure. I love KISS.
Well I don't.
Post by BoomSeems to be working now.
They are an oldies act now. I don't call that working. It's existing. I'm
glad they are still around, but I wish they had the economic power to do
much more.
Post by BoomAnd I wouldn't call having no sets "shoddy."
Devo didn't need sets. They were excellent entertainers.
The sets enhanced their shows. They interacted with them.
If you could go back in time would you go back to 1980 and see their show,
or back to last year and see their show?
Post by BoomBut make it real.
Devo was real at first and let it slip away.
So only guitars are real? You are prejudiced against electronic music. You
wanted Devo to be a guitar band forever, but they had to move forward and
explore technology. They didn't let anything slip away. The audience slipped
away because they lacked imagination. They wanted the same old guitar hero,
while Devo was showing them the future.
