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Whip It (Devo song)

"Whip It"
Whip It (Devo single) cover art.jpg
Single by Devo
from the album Freedom of Choice
B-side
  • "Snowball"
  • "Turn Around"
Released August 13, 1980
Format 7"
Genre
Length 2:37
Label Warner Bros.
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Robert Margouleff
Devo singles chronology
"Girl U Want"
(1980)
"Whip It"
(1980)
"Gates of Steel"
(1980)
Freedom of Choice track listing
"It's Not Right"
(2)
"Whip It"
(3)
"Snowball"
(4)
Music video
"Whip It" on YouTube

"Whip It" is a song by the American new wave band Devo, written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale. It was the second single from the band's third studio album, Freedom of Choice (1980). There were two 7" single releases of "Whip It", one backed with a remix of the track "Snowball" (which appears on Freedom of Choice) and one backed with "Turn Around". "Whip It" was Devo's biggest hit, peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No. 11 on the Canadian Singles chart. As a single it reached No. 77 on the Australian Singles chart, but it was also the key selling point of the DEV-O Live EP, which reached number one in that country's singles charts.

It is ranked number 62 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s as well as number 15 on the same channel's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '80s.

"Whip It" is built on a motorik beat, similar to tracks by Neu!. The lead instrument is a Minimoog synthesizer. The bass is performed with a custom six oscillator synthesizer, custom made by Moog Music for Devo. The whip sound was made with an EML ElectroComp 500 synthesizer, Neumann KM 84 and U 87 condenser mics.On an episode of the VH1 show TrueSpin, Gerald Casale revealed that the lead guitar riff from "Whip It" is based on the riff from "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison with the beat moved to the back.

Gerald Casale states that the lyrics were written by him "as an imitation of Thomas Pynchon's parodies in his book Gravity's Rainbow." The lyrics evoke a working class desire to pull oneself up and to overcome adversity. The song has violent undertones, and Devo has often described it as about then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter, as Mothersbaugh describes in an interview on To the Best of Our Knowledge. According to MusicNotes.com, "Whip It" is composed in the key of E major.


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