Buy New & Used Devo Vinyl LPs

Devo has always been, somewhat purposefully, chasing its tail. As an art band to emerge from the 70s — and one that David Bowie famously called “the band of the future” — Devo established themselves under a tremendous amount of pressure to make sense of the craziness of that time. The late-1970s into the 1980s was a stretch of time in American history where the country was emerging from the Vietnam War and an insanely divisive political landscape, a period of blitzed out maximalism combined with intense consumerism. In hindsight, it makes sense that a time period of such absurdity would produce absurdists like Devo. Optimism was hard to find; the empire felt like it was crumbling. Devo literally embraced this, as they took their name from the word “devolution.” A bit on the nose, perhaps, but that was the point.

The classic lineup featured two sets of brothers — Gerald and Bob Casale and Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh (and a fantastic drummer named Alan Myers) — as they created sounds that seemed like they fell out of a computer’s motherboard, strangely confident in their coolness. The music carries an odd combo of digital and analog, these two worlds colliding in real time over creative uses of synths. Moreover, when you're enjoying Devo vinyl records, you're enjoying true artists, one of the first great musical acts to embrace multimedia, theatrical performances, narrative music videos, insane costuming, and relentless self-promotion, somewhat creating the blueprint for successful musical acts today. But what made the music so brilliant is that it was also self-aware. Devo saliently embraced silliness, donning outlandish outfits and masks while creating music that spoke against the cringe of capitalism.

Through their records Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, Freedom of Choice, and New Traditionalists, Devo gave the world hits like “Whip It!” and “Beautiful World,” two cheeky songs in their own right that commented on modern consumerism while, in a beautiful stroke of irony, financially benefited the band. The future has always sounded a bit funny, even when it’s in the past.

More Than Just Devo Records For Sale

Yes, we know you love Devo vinyl LPs and think you should grab a traffic cone, put it on your head, and listen to New Traditionalists on repeat, but if you feel like exploring other new wave artists, browse our selection of musicians like the Talking Heads, XTC, Brian Eno, David Bowie, and more.