Something for Everybody (Devo album)

Production and recording

Though a new Devo album had been considered as far back as the band's 1996 reunion, efforts by Devo's co-founder and bass guitarist Gerald Casale to get one off the ground were repeatedly unsuccessful. Devo produced some new material in the late 1990s and early 2000s, mostly for soundtracks and commercials, and toured regularly, but a new album had not been forthcoming. In interviews, Casale described the situation as "a cocoon of silence" and his solo project Jihad Jerry & the Evildoers was an attempt to spawn new Devo material. However, following the 2007 release of the non-album single "Watch Us Work It," Casale indicated that the band might be ready to work on a new album. That same year, LA Weekly, in an article on lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh's production studio Mutato Muzika, reported that, "After touring sporadically over the past decade but not releasing any new material, Devo are spending December at Mutato trying to create an album’s worth of new material and contemplating a method of dispersal in the post-record-company world."

In a later interview, Mark Mothersbaugh revealed a song title from the in-progress album ("Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)"), but hopes were briefly deflated when Jerry stated that Mark had "killed the project" and that there would be no new Devo album. Casale eventually stated that Devo would "finish what we started" and later interviews confirmed that Devo would complete their new album. The "Studio Notes" section of the November 27th issue of Rolling Stone stated that "Devo are working on their first album of new material since 1990's Smooth Noodle Maps. 'We have about 17 songs we're testing out,' said Mark Mothersbaugh. 'We've already been contacted by 20 producers—including Snoop Dogg, Santigold, and Fatboy Slim.'" Fall 2009 was confirmed as a possible release date at the time.

Devo announced in early 2009 that they would be performing at the South by Southwest International Conference in Austin, Texas on March 20 with a warm-up show in Dallas on March 18. At these shows, Devo performed a new stage show utilizing synchronized video, similar to what they had done for their 1982 tour. They also debuted new costumes and three new songs: "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)," "What We Do" and "Fresh." All of these songs included a video backdrop, with the band performing in front.

On Friday, April 10, 2009, Devo debuted the music video for "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)" on their website, through Vimeo. In an interview for the website "Subba-Cultcha", Casale stated that "regardless of the final [album] title, it will be 'Fresh'!" This statement led to speculation among fans that Fresh would be the new album's title. According to the "In the Studio" section of the June 2009 Rolling Stone, the album was pushed back to 2010 to allow for "radical remixing".

In late 2009, Devo announced that it had signed a new contract with their original label, Warner Bros., to release their new album. In an interview with Gerald Casale in late October 2009, he announced that Devo's new album would be picking up from where they left off: "We think it's the best record that we'd ever done although we're not certain that Fresh will be the title. There are more good songs on this album than any other record that we've made. We're aiming for a spring release." In January 2010, Billboard wrote a preview of the upcoming album, stating that it would be released in April 2010. In the interview, it was stated that Casale hoped to call the album "Something for Everybody, despite the publicized working title of Fresh." The final track listing was still being decided but was likely to feature the high-energy (and "focus group-approved," according to Casale) "Please Baby Please" as well as tracks produced by Greg Kurstin and John Hill.

On January 17, 2010, it was announced that Devo would be performing on the second day of the 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. On February 22, 2010, Devo performed at one of the 2010 Winter Olympics victory concerts at Whistler Medals Plaza, in Canada. They returned to the SXSW conference in Austin, TX on March 11 to conduct a panel entitled "Devo, The Internet & You."

On April 17, 2010, the same day as both their performance at the Coachella festival and Record Store Day, Devo released a 12" vinyl single of "Fresh" backed with "What We Do." A sticker on the sleeve confirmed that the title of the new Devo album would be Something for Everybody. On April 20, Devo released the Song Study EP on iTunes which contained the same tracks as the "Fresh" single, along with the addition of the "Song Study Video." That night, Devo performed "Fresh" and "Whip It" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where it was announced that the album would be released on June 15. Devo also performed "Fresh" on the Late Show with David Letterman on June 16, 2010.

For one week beginning on June 10, the album was streamed online through Colbert Nation.

On April 19, 2011, a video based on "What We Do" was released on Mashable.com. The video features an interactive 360° camera, which can be set on "auto pilot" or controlled by the viewer, allowing them to choose which part of the scenery to watch and to click on items to buy at the band's merchandise website. A non-interactive version was released to YouTube on April 20.

In August, 2012, Gerald Casale announced plans to release a collection of demos from the sessions of Something for Everybody, with potential titles being Devo Opens the Vault, Gems from the Devo Dumpster, or Something Else For Everybody.

Promotion

Starting in early 2010, Devo began marketing the new album through a series of satirical videos and communiques from Greg Scholl, a former executive with NBCUniversal, now billed as the Chief Operating Officer of "DEVO, INC." Devo also began working with a newly opened Los Angeles branch of New York City-based marketing group Mother New York to produce a number of videos designed to satirize the use of focus groups in marketing research and radio programming. The first of these was released in February to determine the new color for the band's famous energy dome headgear and asked participants what sound colors made and how they made them feel. Ultimately, blue was the color that was selected. Other videos used focus groups to arrive at conclusions like "'Fresh' alleviates aches and pains" and "3 out of 5 people would hold 'Fresh' with their feet for more than 3 minutes."

On February 22, "Fresh" was made available as a free download, following the band's performance at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Devo returned to the SXSW conference in Austin, TX on March 11, 2010 to conduct a panel entitled "Devo, The Internet & You." During this panel, a "focus group study" was conducted in which a total of four potential titles for the album were revealed: Fresh, Something for Everybody, Devolution and Excuse Our Mess. It was also announced at SXSW that Devo would be conducting a "Song Study," an interactive online survey created to determine the final 12 songs (out of 16 total) to be included on the new album. The survey ended on May 3, 2010 and the results were revealed on May 18, 2010 via Ustream at 12pm Pacific Time. The track listing of the Song Study Version was announced.

The song "Human Rocket" was featured in the trailer for the film Paul.

Tour

A tour promoting the album was held from 2010 until mid-2013. Three songs from the album, "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)", "Fresh", and "What We Do" were performed live. After the tour "Fresh" and "What We Do" (along with "Secret Agent Man") would never be played again.

The last show of the tour took place on June 9, 2013 at the Museum of Natural History, and featured a one-off performance of an older song, "Jerkin' Back and Forth." This concert marked the final time Bob Casale played with the band, before his February 2014 death.

Tour setlist

1. Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)
2. Peek-a-Boo!
3. What We Do
4. Going Under
5. Fresh
6. That's Good
7. Happy Guy
8. Girl U Want
9. Whip It
10. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
11. Secret Agent Man
12. Uncontrollable Urge
13. Mongoloid
14. Jocko Homo
15. Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA
16. Gates of Steel
17. Devo Corporate Anthem
18. Freedom of Choice
19. Gut Feeling (Slap Your Mammy)
20. Beautiful World

Critical reception

Andy Gill—writing for The Independent—gave the album four out of five stars comparing it favorably to Freedom of Choice. BBC gave the album a more mixed review.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, except where noted.

Personnel

Something Else for Everybody

On July 23, 2013, Devo released Something Else for Everybody, a digital collection of eleven tracks from the Something for Everybody sessions that didn't make the final album. Alan Myers, Devo's third and most prominent drummer's death came a day before the release of the album. The album was released on CD by Booji Boy on May 20, 2014.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, except where noted.