Devo - Freedom of Choice (35th anniversary)

Tomorrow (May 16th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Freedom of Choice, the third studio album from Devo. The album went to number 75 in Canada, number 47 in the UK, number 22 on the US Billboard Album chart, number 9 in New Zealand and number 5 in Australia.

For more from this 1980 release, click here.

For more from Devo, click here.

Devo - Shout

Today (October 9th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Shout, the sixth studio album from Devo. In Canada, it peaked at number 92. Here in the US, it spent six weeks on the Billboard Album chart with a top spot of number 83.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (35th anniversary)

On this date (August 28th) back in 1978, the new-wave band Devo posed the question and answered it with Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!. Today we mark that debut album's thirty-fifth anniversary.

Click here to explore this album in detail.

Doctor Detroit (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

Tomorrow (May 6th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Doctor Detroit, an American comedy film. It tells the tale of a professor named Clifford Skridlow (Dan Aykroyd) from a college with financial problems. He meets four prostitutes (played by Fran Drescher, Donna Dixon, Lydia Lei and Lynn Whitfield) that change his life. Unfortunately, their pimp Smooth Walker (Howard Hesseman) has problems of his own with a Chicago mob boss known as "Mom" (Kate Murtagh) and decides to use Skridlow as his patsy. Skridlow comes up with a fake identity named Doctor Detroit.

The Last American Virgin (soundtrack)

Can you believe I actually missed some albums from 1982 on the blog last year? Turns out, I did, but I am going to rectify things a bit with today’s edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In the summer of 1982, The Last American Virgin hit screens across the globe. This remake of Eskimo Limon, a 1978 Israeli film, was set in present-day suburban Los Angeles and starred Lawrence Monoson, Joe Rubbo, Diane Franklin and Louisa Moritz. The film did not set the box office on fire at all (most likely due to having a cast of relatively unknown actors); it only made $5.8 million domestically.

Devo - Oh No! It's Devo

Happy Halloween, readers. Are any of you going to a party in a potato costume?

Today we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Oh No! It’s Devo, the fifth studio album from Devo. It went to number 57 in Australia and number 10 in New Zealand; here in the US it climbed as high as number 47 on the Billboard Hot 200. By this point, the Akron, Ohio, band had moved more to a synthesizer-based electronic sound.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday. Today (July 14th) is the sixtieth birthday of Bob Casale, guitarist and keyboardist for the Akron, Ohio, new-wave band Devo.

Gerald Casale was attending Kent State University in the late 1960's along with Bob Lewis; they both knew people killed in the May 4th, 1970, shootings on that campus. They felt that event marked a devolution in societal ways. A few years later, they formed a band with brothers Mark and Jim Mothersbaugh, and Gerald's brother Bob. By the time group, who called themselves Devo, signed to record an album, Alan Myers replaced Lewis on drums.

Toni Basil - Word of Mouth (30th anniversary)

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Word of Mouth, the debut album for singer, coreographer and actress Toni Basil. This April 1982 record included the number one smash hit single "Mickey".

For my review of this album, please click here.

Toni Basil - Word of Mouth

Toni Basil came from a family of entertainers. Her mother was a vaudevillian acrobatic comedian and her father was an orchestra conductor. She started out dancing at a very young age but later got into doing choreography for TV variety shows and concerts for the likes of David Bowie, Bette Midler and the Talking Heads. She was also an actress and appeared in a number of films including Five Easy Pieces, American Graffiti and Easy Rider. Her recording career actually began back in 1966 when she recorded a single for the short film Breakaway.

But most people will know her for the hit single "Mickey" from her April 1982 debut album Word of Mouth. The album sold very well on the strength of that one song, peaking at number 22 on the US Billboard 200 chart and achieving a Gold certification in sales.

Devo - Freedom of Choice

People tend to consider this band from Akron, Ohio, as an 80’s band but Devo actually got their start in the late 70’s. When the new decade ushered in, they greeted it with their third studio album Freedom of Choice. With this May 1980 release, the band moved to a more obvious synth sound, though guitars were played a big part too. The record did fairly well on the Billboard album charts, peaking at number 22 with a total run of fifty-one weeks. It also hit number 75 in Canada, number 47 in the UK, number 9 in New Zealand and number 5 in Australia. It also contains one of the band’s most well-known songs.