POLYSICS: In the spirit of Devo

When watching television, I never really pay attention to any of the commercials that come on. Even if they are interesting and "creative" commercials, they just never grab my attention. During commercial breaks I typically just zone out into another dimension where my thoughts are filled with images of finnish disco dancers and contemplation of whether to indulge in a seedless naval orange or a piece of toast.

Recently one commercial did succeed in catching my attention and dragged me away from my wandering thoughts within a nano-second. On my television screen I saw a group of 10-13 year old kids dressed up in Devo-esque costumes and singing clips of Devo songs. Turns out that this quintet, entitled Devo 2.0 (and also DEV2.0) auditioned for this gig. Their album of Devo covers (with many lyrics rearranged to be more kid friendly) and accompanying DVD of videos was put out by Walt Disney Records. It just seems like an absurd concept to me. Especially considering that the band's name stems from "de-evolution". Who knew that kids these days were so interested in de-evolution?

No, actually it might just make a little more sense that the age of parents who might buy these records and DVD's for their kids are around the perfect age to have listened to Devo back in the day in their own youth. Also, the musician kids in DEV2.0 apparently didn't record the tracks. Instead, original members of Devo did. I'm sure that the members of the band don't mind receiving some money for their efforts of selling their songs to Disney. Clearly, they had no problem letting Swiffer use "Whip It" a couple years back. I'm not offended that the members of Devo would stoop to such lows that are in fact, probably the exact antithesis of the principles they once held back in the mid 70's through the mid 80's. These guys are aging and probably need the cash. Let them have it. It's better than when Devo decided to re-unite a few years back. Who wants to pay to see aging, fatty, nerds dressing in silly costumes? That was just sad. I moreso just find it bizarre that many Devo songs are not child-appropriate, and many are filled with sexual innuendo. But that's cool. Go ahead and change a song entitled "Uncontrollable Urge" to being a song about snack food cravings. I suppose that could work...

Question: What's far more interesting than ten year olds dressed in Devo costumes? Answer: POLYSICS. I had first heard of Polysics a couple years back, when they had been described to me as "the Japanese Devo". Indeed, they are the perfect band for any nerd who loves Devo and has a fetish for anything Japanese. Despite the fact that I DO like Devo, and that I also like a lot of Japanese things, I sort of forgot about Polysics... until today. A friend of mine ordered that I watch the Polysics video for the track "I My Me Mine" off of their 2006 release Now is the Time! She advised that it would do me a lot of good to watch it, and that is honestly the best advice anyone has given me in probably three years. That video is fucking otherworldy, it's that good. Ten year olds dressed up in Devo costumes pretending to play instruments? No thanks. Even small children would probably benefit more from listening to a Japanese band that wears kooky costumes and plays music in the "spirit of Devo".

P.S. I love the baton twirler in this video.