It doesn't have anything to do with Ventura, but I thought I'd mention it for a few moments.
About three years ago, while watching "Sky High" on the Disney channel with my kids, I heard "Through Being Cool," as part of the soundtrack. My kids liked it, and I dug out a Devo greatest hits cd to play. Listening to all their old songs, I remembered how much I really liked them.
I then came across a Japanese box set on a blog and downloaded it. Putting it on in my car, I realized that I remembered all the songs, and thinking about it, I had every one of their records (including the Stiff Records version of "Be Stiff"). But for some reason, I never got around to replacing them all on CD, so hadn't heard most of the album sides in 15 years or so. But they had all stuck in my mind.
Having Devo in the car meant that I could really listen. Yes, the songs were really quirky and filled with dark humor, but they were catchy. It took me a day to figure it out, and a few more days to believe what I had realized.
The drummer cooked!
Sure, a jazz term, but that seemed to apply to Alan Meyers more than the term "rocked." There are rhythms and counter-rhythms, and tracks that just use a tom-tom and cymbal, others with heavy snare and bass drum. Nothing is a straight 4-4, but nothing is so abstract that you can't tap your foot to it.
Alan Meyers, though described as a human metronome, was far more human than that, and without his distinctive style, Devo would have been very much a one-trick pony.
I don't have a good reason for never seeing them live. I would catch them whenever they appeared on TV, including their October 1978 appearance on Saturday Night Live. Back then, the first musical performance came on at about 11:57, and the final one at 12:54. After watching their frenzied rendition of "Satisfaction," at the beginning of the show, I went and woke up my ever-patient mother for their show closing number, "Jocko-Homo."
I just rewatched that clip, and it's a good example of what Alan Myers did for the band. The bass drum keeps the beat steady (even when Myers is taking of the yellow jacket), while he does some very interesting fills with the rest of the kit. It really anchors the song.
If you haven't listened to Devo in a while, pull out those old cd's, and remember there's more than just "Whip It."
Alan Myers, Rest in Peace.
From Rolling Stone
(Updated Aug. 2, 2014 to go to Willard's Wormholes for the "This is the Devo Box," which is now unavailable. Willard's has lots of great music, and you should check it out).
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