17 tracks · 61 min
Oh, No! It's Devo is the fifth studio album by Devo. By the time of its 1982 release, Devo were a full-fledged synth-pop act, with guitar-based New Wave sounds pushed more towards the background. Most of the music on Oh, No! was created by electronic means which gave it a much different sound than, for example, their 1978 debut Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, which relied more on guitars than synthesizers. This alienated some fans despite the band stating since at least 1978 that their goal was to "de-emphasize" guitars. The album was produced with prominent producer Roy Thomas Baker, who had famously worked with both Queen and The Cars, among many others. In recent interviews, Devo's Gerald V. Casale has stated that the album was born out of critical reviews in which the band were alternately described as both "fascists" and "clowns." In response, the band decided to make an album that would answer the question, "what would an album by fascist clowns sound like?" The song "I Desire" brought the band controversy because the lyrics were taken from a poem written by John Hinckley, Jr. (the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in a bid to impress actress Jod…