Devo‘s biggest hit by far is “Whip It.” The track, from 1980’s Freedom Of Choice, is the influential new wave group’s only top-20 hit, and it’s appeared in everything from The Simpsons to Stranger Things to So You Think You Can Dance. But over the past decade, it hasn’t been Devo’s most profitable song. That distinction belongs to “Uncontrollable Urge,” which was never released as a single, and it “only” has 30 million streams on Spotify compared to over 174 million for “Whip It.” So, how is it such a money maker?
Ridiculousness, that’s how.
A cover of “Uncontrollable Urge” is the theme song for the Rob Dyrdek-hosted MTV series, which is pretty much all MTV plays. Tomorrow alone, the channel will air 20 episodes of Ridiculousness, which is actually down from a few years ago. Anita Greenspan, the manager and wife of Devo co-founder and “Uncontrollable Urge” writer Mark Mothersbaugh, told Rolling Stone that she estimates performance royalties bring in “around $1 million” every year.
“I’ve written so many other songs for films and television shows,” Mothersbaugh said. “I would’ve been shocked [years ago] if you told me this is the one that would become this prime source of income.” Greenspan added, “It’s ironic and kind of funny. In the beginning of MTV, you saw a lot of Devo because they were early to make videos, but MTV started questioning the videos Devo were making. [The videos] were subversive, they didn’t like them, and wouldn’t play them anymore. Now ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ is easily the most-played song on MTV, so [Devo] wins.”
You can listen to “Uncontrollable Urge” below, or, y’know, just wait 30 minutes for the next episode of Ridiculousness.
