29-01-2025
Devo founding member makes $1M from this '73 single each year. Here's how
Even those who are not familiar with the energy-dome-wearing, synchronized dancing and anti-capitalizing New Wave band Devo, have likely heard the catchy lyrics of the band's most popular single, "Whip It." The song, which encourages listeners to "whip it good," hung on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 consecutive weeks in 1980. Despite the single's widespread success, it's another song from the band that rakes in high-dollar figures.
Released on Devo's first album in 1973, "Uncontrollable Urge," known for its energic opening refrain, "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" makes founding Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh around $1 million in royalties each year, Anita Greenspan, Motherbaugh's wife and manager told Rolling Stone.
"Uncontrollable Urge" boasts 30 million streams on Spotify − compared to the 175 million streams of "Whip It." Artists make anywhere between $0.003-$0.005 per stream on Spotify, according to multiple media reports, so looking at the high end of this spectrum, "Uncontrollable Urge" has likely made around $154,000 from the streaming platform.
But that's only a fraction of $1 million.
"Uncontrollable Urge" became a moneymaker after it was selected as the theme song for MTV's television series "Ridiculousness," hosted by Rob Dyrdek. The comedy series, which debuted in 2011, features more than 1,500 episodes over 40-plus seasons, and new episodes continue to be released each Wednesday night, according to IMDb.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The episode count alone is a feat, but it's the reruns that have resulted in such large paychecks. Rolling Stone reported that the show may be aired on MTV as much as 14 hours a day and amid the pandemic, Variety reported that during its peak, the show was aired 113 hours of MTV's 168-hour lineup.
Greenspan Kohan, the company that manages Mothersbaugh, did not immediately respond when contacted by USA TODAY, and MTV was unable to confirm why "Uncontrollable Urge" was chosen as the theme song for "Ridiculousness."
An unexpected feat
In addition to his role as a founding member of Devo, Mothersbaugh is an accomplished, award-winning composer. He composed the theme songs for "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" and "Rugrats," in addition to the scores for countless television shows, movies and video games, from Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" and Netflix's pandemic hit "Tiger King" to animated series like Cartoon Network's "Regular Show."
'I've written so many other songs for films and television shows. I would've been shocked (years ago) if you told me this is the one that would become this prime source of income," Mothersbaugh told Rolling Stone of "Uncontrollable Urge."
The MTV irony
When MTV launched in 1981, not many artists were producing music videos to accompany their hit singles. Devo was one of the few thinking ahead, releasing several videos in the late 1970s. For this reason, Devo's music videos were played regularly on MTV for the television channel's first few years.
But as time went on, Devo continued to push what was socially acceptable in their music and videos and MTV wasn't a fan.
Evie Nagy, author of the "Devo's Freedom of Choice," said when she interviewed Gerald Casales, own of the band's founding members, he said one of the turning points was the music video for "That's Good," released in 1982. In several instances throughout a video, an animation of a French fry goes inside the hole of a doughnut.
"MTV stopped playing their stuff. They thought it was too suggestive, too controversial, and that, at the time, was very frustrating for Devo because MTV had relied on them so much for material, and then as soon as more people started making videos, they suddenly got all puritanical about it and decided to not play their stuff anymore," Nagy told USA TODAY. "It's a very fraught relationship, so the fact that this song ('Uncontrollable Urge') earns Mark Mothersbaugh more than even 'Whip It,' or any other single that they ever put out, is kind of hysterical."
MTV did not comment on the channel's relationship with Devo when contacted by USA TODAY.
Who is Devo?
Founded in 1973, Devo hails from the midsize town of Akron, Ohio. The band's original lineup featured Motherbaugh, his brother Bob, Casales and his brother Bob, and Alan Myers. Today, the band is made up of the Motherbaughs brothers, Gerald, John Freese and Josh Hager.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@
