In the 20 years since the last album from these Ohio New Wave satirists, the world has become a much more Devo place: The synthesized dance rock the band pioneered with hits like "Whip It" is everywhere, and its theory that civilization is becoming dumber through de-evolution no longer seems far-fetched. Combining the punk-funk fury of Devo's earliest recordings with synth pop, this ninth disc is frantic and wall-to-wall catchy (particularly "Human Rocket"). Tossing around goofy buzz-speak like "Don't tase, me, bro," Devo have held on to their core belief: If you want to be subversive, be utterly, unrelentingly pop.

“The Pretender”

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."