Taking Sides: "Pink Pussycat" by Devo vs. "My Weapon" by XTC

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http://home.rhein-zeitung.de/~tommi.s/images/devo.jpg http://www.atiza.com/entrevista/xtc/imagenes/xtc-live-june1984.jpg

Clash of the bizarrely predatory, arguably misogynist new wave pop ditties.

I suppose the misogyny isn't quite "arguable," given the violent overtones of both songs, but I find XTC's track (which they supposedly disowned once Barry Andrews -- the song's composer and vocalist -- left the band) a bit more lighthearted. There's something about the oddball spy-movie guitar and Mark Mothersbaugh's testy vocal delivery that makes "Pink Pussycat" a spastic sexpop tune to be slightely feared. Also, for the majority of "My Weapon," Barry Andrew's protagonist is the one being put upon (making the song a revenge fantasy), where "Pink Pussycat" just seems to be about a compulsion to rape and ruin ("...and tear your little ears off")

Sonically speaking, as much as I love the hiccupy lope of "My Weapon," the Devo track is just so taut and nervous (energy domes off to human metronome, Alan Meyers) that it's unstoppable....if unsettling. I was walking up Fifth Avenue today with this on my iPod, and caught myself singing along with it out loud, prompting several troubled glances.

And what exactly does "I'm so STROFFFFT" mean anyway?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 17 March 2005 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Quite besides the point, I remember reading some article in...either Uncut or Mojo or some such....that detailed a meeting between Devo and XTC, and supposedly they did not hit it off.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 17 March 2005 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha I remember playing Go2 for one of my friends, who had played Duty Now for me a few years ago. I think his bewildered reaction to "My Weapon" was the exact same one I had for "Pink Pussycat".

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Thursday, 17 March 2005 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stroft" was an ad campaign for toilet tissue, can't remember which one; a combination of strong and soft. My vote's for 'Pink Pussycat.' MEOW MEOW MEOW!

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Thursday, 17 March 2005 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"My Weapon" just sounds so damn silly that it's hard to take all that seriously, speaking as a male, of course (A female perspective might be drastically different, methinks). But the tenacious pace, urgent delivery and gradually building intensity of "Pink Pussycat" really invoke an aura of stalking prey.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 17 March 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, Daniel, cheers...thanks for that.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 17 March 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

You're welcome. Now, if I could just figure out the source of that line in 'Too Much Paranoias': Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce...

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Thursday, 17 March 2005 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Andy admits in that XTC rarities box set that he was a bit selfish about becoming the band drillmaster especially in the guise of Barry's wanting to have songwriting control. Barry similarly admits the same. (this is all in the liner notes of the box set) Both Andy and Barry are friends now, and have been for a while.

Anyway, a few of the other Barry Andrew songs that were left off Go 2 are included in the box set, and they're pretty damn good! Actually "My Weapon" is clearly the worst of his output for XTC (that I've heard at least), so it's inclusion in the album is really quite a thorn and puzzler.

I love both bands, but in this case, I choose Devo, because, well,... meow, and meow again.

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Word from Malicious Damage (who signed Shriekback recently) is that Andy Partridge is actually going to play on their forthcoming album.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't recall liking "My Weapon" very much at all. I haven't heard the second Devo album. Infact I remember when Alex posted a pic of it awhile back and I was surprised that it didn't look familiar to me. I mean I remember seeing just about every other Devo record cover before from just flipping through stacks, but don't recall ever coming across that one. God knows why.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

that being....

http://www.oldies.com/images/boxart/large/6/090431655429.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the album cover to Devo's sophomore album "Duty Now For The Future". It contains Devo's familiar text logo over a backdrop of UPC codes in square cells, along with a visage of the band members themselves overlayed by a small grid and the appropriate black eye covers to protect the identities of the artists, for good reasons...

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

(dammit, I was hoping my font tags would make my last post look Go 2-ish.)

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The photographer Alan Tannenbaum (who took the original photo) was never asked persmission for the photo's use and was never paid for the work. He's still bitter about it today.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

oh I get it donut, yeah that would have been cool

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

This is a takeoff of the Go2 sleeve. You can
tell it is, as each line finishes exactly on
the same point of each line. This isn't easy
and I have limited the length of the lines I
type in, otherwise I'd struggle to finish as
cleanly as I would wish to. Mind you, nobody
needs to read the whole thing, you're all as
free to stop as I wish now I hadn't bothered
as the amount of useful informative and keen
observation ran out long ago. If I get these
lines to look vaguely like a square when I'm
done, then that's the point where I can stop
and you can say, well there goes a lucky guy
and we can be happy Partridge and Adamson be
pals once again, water under the bridge bye.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 18 March 2005 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

which didn;t work anyway.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 18 March 2005 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Both bands are great, "Pink Pussycat" is the better song though.
Just as "Duty Now..." is a better album than Go2.
It's simple as that.

― zeus, Friday, 18 March 2005 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

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