The Real Thing But You Knew It All Along

Today's Chronicle has a feature on DEV2.0, a Disney-sponsored version of Devo that recasts kids as members of the band in a move they compare to "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In typical fashion the Devo members spend the interview complaining about corporate influence on the product they are supposed to be promoting. Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh on the Disney experience:

"In many cases, they were telling me what the lyrics meant that I wrote 25 years ago. In 'That's Good,' there's a parochial school nursery rhyme couplet that goes 'Life's a bee without a buzz, it's going great till you get stung.' That had to go because 'B' is slang for bitch and 'life's a buzz' means you're high. Stung means you're getting away with it until the cops pop you. I found out I was writing gangster rap lyrics. It became a Devo experiment to learn how corporate thinking works these days."

"They thought 'Uncontrollable Urge' was sexual," Mothersbaugh says. "I thought it was about fulfilling your dreams because you were inspired to change the world. They changed the lyrics to make the kids sound like they're having a snack attack, but if the kids listen to DEV2.0 they may eventually seek out Devo albums and wonder why the lyrics were changed."

: The project hasn't led to any promising news about the original version of the band as many hoped:

"We get asked all the time to write a new record and do a tour," Casale says. "So far, Mark doesn't want to. He composes all the time, but without his collaboration it's not really Devo. Limited dates will continue, like Bigfoot or UFO sightings. We'll appear and then vanish again."