Dare to be DEVO
This picture is funnier if you consider that the ice cream cones are likely colored mashed potatoes (which can be your friend!).
One could argue that every new song or musical creation is a parody of what came before it. Dr. Lily Hirsch writes that parody “offer[s] comment on an initial work, paying tribute to or mocking that foundational work or its related culture and convention” (p. 23). Based on that definition, musicians and songwriters merely accept or reject music they’ve listened to when creating their own sound, creating a a type of sonic goulash. For one example, Bruno Mars’ hit Uptown Funk is a style parody of James Brown. I would also say the same of one of my favorite Tower of Power charts.
Weird Al’s anti-anthem, Dare to Be Stupid (DTBS) is arguably a perfect style parody of the band DEVO. Everything from the vocal timbres to the extensive use of keyboards and electronic percussion just screams DEVO. Mark Mothersbaugh, a co-founder of DEVO, even genuflected that “[Dare to Be Stupid] was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. [Weird Al] sort of re-sculpted that song into something else and... I hate him for it, basically." Yankovic accomplishes to out-DEVO DEVO by utilizing two songwriting techniques I am calling Lyrical Pastiche and Tonal Allusion.
Before diving into the analysis of DTBS, I want to briefly discuss some essential concepts regarding musical genre. These broader concepts will help contextualize both Lyrical Pastiche and Tonal Allusion.
We categorize music in our minds in a way that makes one song distinct from another in a variety of ways. Every time we hear music, our past experiences cue us into what to expect throughout a song. Musical elements such as timbre, tempo, harmony, form, lyrical structure, etc. provide clues that lead us to expect certain things in music, often associated with genre. Noted music theorist David Huron, in his book Sweet Anticipation summarizes, “As psychological constructs,…genres exist as encapsulated expectation-related knowledge. The knowledge is modularized in separate schemas as the brain’s way of preventing past experience from being overgeneralized to inappropriate contexts.” Additionally, “composers who want to establish a new genre must provide adequate distinctive cues that will allow the listener to bracket the experience and begin the process of erecting a cognitive “firewall” around the new genre” (p. 214). Yankovic’s close attention to a band’s or artist’s distinctive musical cues amplify his abilities as a songwriter. For DTBS, he took the materials that constructed DEVO’s firewall and used them to create something just as distinct, and sometimes indecipherable from the original source for a casual listener.
Yankovic utilized his ability to track patterns in lyrics and melody to dial into what DEVO uses for its own genre firewalls. It is well established that Weird Al has an affinity for grammar and words. In fact, he proofread Nathan Rabin’s book, The Weird Accordion to Al; a task that included “correcting the thousands upon thousands of punctuation, spelling and grammatical errors” (p. 7) in early drafts. I’ll forgive the omission of the Oxford comma there because that was likely an editor’s decision. Any way…
Lyrical Pastiche is defined as the ability to find distinct lyrical patterns across an artist’s catalogue. For DEVO, these patterns include short bursts of lyrics (usually only about a measure long), repeated or stepwise (scalar) motion, and a robotic delivery consisting mostly of straight eighth notes. Weird Al exploits these three aspects throughout DTBS as well as referring to DEVO’s actual lyrics at times. Lyrically, DTBS most closely resembles DEVO’s Big Mess. Among the more obvious patterns can be seen in the following two sets of lyrics, the first from DEVO, the second from DTBS:
I’m a man with a mission. A boy with a gun. I got a picture in my pocket of the lucky one.
It’s like spitting on a fish. It’s like barking up a tree. It’s like I said you gotta buy one if you want to get one free.
Notably, the first two lines of each lyrical snippet are rhythmically similar, particularly with the last word landing on count one. The final, longer sentences, though differ in one key way: DEVO’s line ends on an awkward count four and DTBS’s ends on count one. By ending on count four, DEVO’s lyrics give a weak sense of closing and a little unease. Granted, “Big Mess” is a fairly dark song, so this musically uncomfortable moment was likely a conscious decision by DEVO. In contrast, DTBS resolves the phrase by landing count one, in a more satisfying resolution.
Whether Weird Al considered this difference while creating a song with DEVO’s distinctive patterns is immaterial to my larger point about how a style-parody is a reimagining utilizing specific musical elements, not an exact facsimile. What makes DTBS such an effective style parody is how it modifies the lyrical source material ever so slightly to cue the listener to the elements of DEVO, but know that it’s a completely different song.
Additionally, Yankovic’s ability to key in on distinctive timbres and tonal elements, what I’m calling Tonal Allusion, is on full display throughout DTBS. DEVO has an incredibly distinct sound that makes it unmistakable, even among bands from the 1980s. Because the band utilizes metaphors for the devolution of the human species, the music reflects a sparse, empty feeling that can feel robotic. These characteristics are reflected in short, high-pitched, and plinky synthesizer runs with very low-pitched, fuzzy bass lines that often play only to emphasize count one. in this example from DEVO’s “Big Mess,” there’s a huge gap between the bass and treble parts with very little in between, contributing to the sparse sound:
For those keeping score at home, that’s almost a three octave jump (4 if you go from the lower divisi).
Naturally, DTBS uses similar composition techniques to replicate the sound throughout. But timbrally, Yankovic’s band was challenged to match the electronic sounds of DEVO. Weird Al’s drummer, Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, purchased his first drum machine to initially replicate the percussion sounds of DEVO and plays the Simmons SDS-8 electronic drums for modern live shows. But this highlights the true unsung heroes of Weird Al’s continued rock excellence: his backing band that’s been the same since the early 80s. Jim West (Guitar), Steve Jay (Bass), and Jon Schwartz (percussion) have all been the core unit of Weird Al’s band since 1983.
Not to be outdone, though, “Weird Al” has also worked hard at imitating the vocal timbre and style of the artists he parodies. DTBS is no different as Yankovic alternates between a deeper, more resonant voice when trying to sound authoritative and his more natural, more nasally, singing voice when he’s trying to lighten the mood. Staccato vocals like this leave a lot of horizontal space between the notes, complementing the vertical space between pitches in the instrumental tracks, creating a hollow texture to the song. Attention to details like this is an admirable skill and one that Yankovic displays time and time again.
By identifying these genre-specific firewalls, Weird Al was able to tap into what makes DEVO… well, DEVO. Further, Yankovic was able to pay tribute to a band he admires by identifying the musical elements created by DEVO and reimagining them into something completely new.
Style parodies present more challenge than lyrical parodies because the songwriter must “[create] music and words that are new yet cut from a distinctive, familiar pattern” (Rabin, 2020, p. 71). So, when they’re constructed and performed at the level of DTBS, they showcase an artist’s musical acumen as well as their respect for their forebears. DTBS remains the model for all style parodies thirty-five years after its release.