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DEVO ON FRENCH TV: GIRL U WANT

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This month in 1980, Devo performed to a playback of “Girl U Want” on French TV.

Promoting their newly released third album Freedom of Choice, Devo appeared on the French TV show Le Collaro Show to mime to “Girl U Want”, their current single.

The French crowd didn’t quite know what to make of the group—then again the Devo phenomenon was a pretty new thing in Europe.

Stripped of the quirky spikiness which characterised Q: Are We Not Men? Freedom of Choice was more of a whole than previous albums. Packed with eminently danceable rhythms and eminently memorable melodies, the 12 tracks here found Devo eschewing lead-guitar breaks for bursts of punctuative rhythm guitar.

Photo: Tumbral.

According to the main songwriter, Mark Mothersbaugh, “Girl U Want” was allegedly inspired by the song “My Sharona” by the Knack, although Devo bassist and co-writer Gerald Casale has denied this claim. The lyrics, in typical Devo style, describe a relationship marked by unrequited love/lust for a woman.

Greg Prato of AllMusic called the song as one of the most overlooked gems to surface from the early-’80s new wave movement.

“Girl U Want” has been covered by Robert Palmer, Soundgarden, Superchunk, Doomriders, and a few other indie acts.

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Text via Decade 77-87, AllMusic, and Wikipedia

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Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.
Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.

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