Here’s how DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh makes $1million per year from ‘Ridiculousness’ theme song
DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh has revealed that he makes $1million per year from the Ridiculousness theme song alone.
The vocalist and co-founder of the iconic band has made a name for himself outside of the line-up, going on to develop music for TV series and scores for movies. Now, in a new interview he has revealed that it is the 20-second-long theme tune for Ridiculousness that is his biggest source of income.
The comedy series – which is hosted by Rob Dyrek – has been on the air since 2011 and showcases a selection of viral clips that have been making the rounds online. Its theme song is a reworked version of the DEVO track ‘Uncontrollable Urge’.
“I’ve written so many other songs for films and television shows,” the artist told Rolling Stone. “I would’ve been shocked [years ago] if you told me this is the one that would become the prime source of income.”
His wife and manager, Anita Greenspan, also reflected on the huge success the show – and therefore the theme song – has had on MTV throughout the years, and explained how there is a sense of irony with the track being so prominent on the channel.
“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,” she said. “[Their 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.”
Mothersbaugh reiterated the comments and revealed that the theme for Ridiculousness alone brings in around $1million each year. “MTV stopped playing us but we came to the other side of the circle,” he said. “It’s a nice ironic twist because this was one of the songs we never even made a music video for. And now it’s maybe the most-played song ever on MTV.”
While the show has been broadcast on the channel since 2011, outlets including The Ringer have highlighted how there was a point in 2020 when the network aired nothing but reruns of the show for 36hours straight. It also reported that today’s schedule (January 17) still features over 10hours of airtime for the series.
Elsewhere in the interview with RS, Mothersbaugh looked back at other on-screen projects he has gotten involved with. These include the theme for Pee-wee’s Playhouse, as well as music for children’s shows like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Beakman’s World, and Santo Bugito.
As well as working on huge projects for the big screen, including four Wes Anderson films, The Lego Movie, and Thor: Ragnarok, he also revealed that one of his biggest paying jobs was developing the theme song for Rugrats – a job that paid for his home back in the ‘90s.
In other news, last summer David Byrne and DEVO shared an unearthed collaborative song called ‘Empire’.
The track was originally written by the pair for the former Talking Heads frontman’s fifth solo album, 1997’s ‘Feelings’, but it didn’t make the final cut. A version of the tune appears on Byrne’s 2004 record ‘Grown Backwards’.
Before then, Mothersbaugh spoke to NME in 2022 and reflected on the huge praise they have received from other artists over the years – especially after first trying to get the band off the ground. “College radio would play us and there were a few stations throughout the country that played us, but we didn’t really chart,” he said. “We felt you had to be an artist or in college to even be aware of DEVO.”
The post Here’s how DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh makes $1million per year from ‘Ridiculousness’ theme song appeared first on NME.
Liberty Dunworth
NME
