Shout by Devo

Shout, Devo's sixth album, arrived on Warner Bros. in October 1984, and it's the sound of the band handing the keys to a machine. They produced it themselves at the Record Plant, and the shiny new toy was the Fairlight CMI Series IIx, a digital sampling synthesizer whose glassy clatter is all over the record. The synth-pop sheen of the previous few albums is still in place, just colder and more crowded.

Inside the camp, tempers were fraying in a way they never had before, and most members later admitted they weren't happy with how it came out. It flopped with critics and buyers alike, Warner Bros. dropped them, and drummer Alan Myers walked after its release, fed up with a job increasingly handed over to drum machines and programming. Devo went quiet for four years afterward.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.