Devo - (I Can't Get Me No) Satisfaction

Wanting to start this blog off with a bang, and what with Devo scheduled to perform their seminal 1978 debut album Q: Are We Not Men A: We are Devo as part of ATP's Don't Look Back season on 6th May, I thought it would be a good time to pull this classic 7" out of its sleeve and give it a spin.

Issued in summer 1977, this was Devo's second release, following the 'Mongoloid/Jocko Homo' single from earlier that year. Issued on the band's own Booji Boy Records label, and distributed in the US by Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records, this includes a cover of the Rolling Stones' '(I Can't Get Me No) Satisfaction' backed with the Devo original 'Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Getting)'. A UK edition of the single appeared in April 1978, distributed by the legendary Stiff label. The single was even able to dent the UK charts, hanging on for 8 weeks and peaking at the dizzying height of #41. Fame beckons!

As an aside, I've got to say that the Bomp sleeve triumphs over the Stiff sleeve. Take a look: fake boobs, wacky new-wave glasses and nudey models (with a very distinct possibility of a nip-slip) were always going to win out over a bunch of guys in sleeping bags being gawped at by someone's gaudy cartoon Mum. It looks like a 1977 sleepover - Devo style:

Even the back cover of the US version is cool. It has an attitude and edge that the band's later promo shots (as great as they are) are missing. Jerry smokes! Outrageous!

Both of these songs were re-recorded for their 1978 debut album; so how do they sound without the magic knob-twiddling of Brian Eno? Well, in the case of 'Satisfaction,' not a whole lot different. In terms of sound quality, it bridges the gap between the album version and the early demo version that was later released on the excellent Hardcore Devo Vol. 1 compilation, but in the most part it’s pretty much the same. Devo had been playing this song for years and so by 1978 they had it down pat. If somehow you’ve never heard any versions of Devo covering this song, then I suggest you get yourself on YouTube right now!

I’ll never forget the shock, my absolute incredulity at hearing it for the first time. Although seemingly somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and despite raising a laugh for the sheer audacity of being a rock staple covered in such ludicrous fashion, the track transcends novelty due to its inventive deconstruction (or as the band would say, ‘de-evolution’) of the original and its confrontational yet clinical reimagining as a track ushering in a new wave of rock music. The track is stripped down to the basic elements; all the bluster and crowing of the original is gone. In live appearances, instead of Mick Jagger strutting about like a rooster (notice I avoided the temptation to simply type ‘cock’ there) we have Mark Mothersbaugh and co. jerkin’ back ‘n’ forth in robotic fashion. Sadly, most of Devo’s future covers never made it out of that ‘novelty’ territory (I’m looking square at you, ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’) simply applying the formula perfected on Satisfaction to other rock classics, hence never sounding as fresh and exciting as here.

It’s well documented that Mick Jagger is a fan of the track. Here’s Jerry on the experience of clearing permission to use the lyrics:

“Yeah, even though we had completely changed the song and it sounded nothing like the Stones, he had to give his okay before we could release it. So we go to meet him at his hotel in New York and he's in this huge suite, wearing a 3 piece suit and a paisley tie and sitting in this overstuffed club chair, drinking some expensive scotch. And we go and play it for him and for a little terrifying while he's just listening and slightly nodding his head. Then he gets up suddenly and starts singing along and dancing around the room like the Mick Jagger you see on TV.”
http://sfburning.com/devo.html

Oddly enough, fellow avant-garde rock experimentalists The Residents had released a pretty crazy cover of 'Satisfaction' as a 7” single a year prior. Are you telling me both bands arrived independently at this concept? Did they also have to seek permission from the Stones by playing them a copy? I’d love to hear the story of what Mick Jagger thought when four guys in eyeball masks and top hats turned up in his hotel suite playing this demented song. Whilst it is definitely ‘out there’ and beats out Devo in the weird stakes, it features none of the wit or musicianship of Devo’s version.

Onto the B-side: 'Sloppy' is a great track; catchy and weird like most of the material on Q: Are We Not Men... that is synonymous with the classic Devo sound. Mark spouts out typical pop song platitudes, “I saw my baby yesterday/She spent her money on a car,” before shifting into a bizarre falsetto for the creepy chorus, “She said ‘Sloppy, I think I missed the hole.’” This single version is more synth-driven than the Eno-produced album version, and with slightly more demented ‘la’s’ on the chorus is well worth tracking down if you’re a spud. Things get stranger when you check the label and find that Jagger/Richard get a writing credit for this song. I’m certain the Stones never did a song called 'Sloppy,' and if they did, I’m pretty sure it would be a left-over from Sticky Fingers and probably doesn’t bear thinking about. Similarly, Devo get a credit for writing 'Satisfaction'. Oops! Looks like someone was having a bad day at Bomp! The label itself is something to behold, with a charming little illustration of Booji Boy himself peering out at us. You can almost hear him crying “We’re ALL Devo!”

The record later got a 12” release the next year in the UK, on Stiff once again, and both tracks were included on the beautiful and brilliant 1978 EP Be Stiff. Both of these records are long out of print, but Satisfaction resurfaced on the Greatest Misses compilation. 'Sloppy' doesn’t seem to have made it onto any CD compilations or reissues, so if you want to hear it in its pre-Eno form, you’ll have to hunt down a copy of the vinyl. Or find an mp3, of course. But what fun is that?

I wonder how both songs will sound live on May 6th... a mere 32 years later?!