DEVO on Top Of The Pops!

[ajsmith2]

I believe that DEVO never appeared in person on any broadcast edition of Top Of the Pops. However they did tape a spot for 'Satisfaction' that ultimately wasn't used (maybe cos the song didn't chart as highly as anticipated?) This clip has finally leaked, giving a glimpse into an influential TOTP moment that might have been in a parallel 1978:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh4gVuLedko

[sevendaughters]

nice clip, shame they didn't play it live because the version they did on Fridays (I think) absolutely rips.

[a duncandisorderly]

fab. fantastic. cheered me up a bit, that has.

[kaprisky]

Wow! (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction apparently peaked at no.41 in the UK but in 1978 only the Top 30 got the TV rundown. They would have been on Stiff or Virgin at the time as well, weren't they? Other Stiff acts got chart success in this period so it could only have been on the whim of the producer that they weren't on.

[PaulTMA]

Was there ever an official policy though?  As XTC got their performance of Life Begins At The Hop broadcast the following year, and that only peaked at 54.

[Clownbaby]

Devo are precious and I adore them. I can't stop listening to Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! lately

[PlanktonSideburns]

Love

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SY2-2Rz_EzI

The sound and energy on this bootleg

Pure thrilling stuff

[JesusAndYourBush]

Could it be that the midweek chart position was higher and they were booked on the strength of that, then dropped when they went down again?

And watching that video, it seems disconcerting not to hear The Golant Pistons - Friday On My Mind come up next, because of the order the songs appeared on the "We Do 'Em Our Way" compilation that I listened to so much in the 80's. (Plus the gaps between songs were very short so each song literally crashed into the next.)

[a duncandisorderly]

And watching that video, it seems disconcerting not to hear The Golant Pistons - Friday On My Mind come up next

cracking compilation, that.