WHY GOD CREATED YOUTUBE™: Through Being Cool by Devo

The first time I heard a complete Devo album was when I was in the seventh grade and my friend Ray gave me a cassette copy of New Traditionalists that he'd shoplifted.

Ray was my friend from "the wrong side of the tracks." He used to wait for me in an alley behind my house every morning and we'd walk to school together. Mostly we talked about music. I remember he was the first person I met who legitimately liked both Hall and Oates and AC/DC. One of the last times I saw Ray, we stood on a street corner listening to his newly-stolen cassette of Wall of Voodoo's Mexican Radio on my Walkman. We didn't keep in touch after I went to high school, but I found out years later he'd been arrested for mailing naked photos of himself to the daughter of a police officer. Ray never did have all the spots on his dice, if you know what I'm saying. But I can't fault his musical taste.

This video has always made me laugh hysterically ever since the first time I saw it back in the day, especially the very last scene where the Kennedy wig zombies are chasing the jogging family down a palm tree-lined street. Absolutely classic.

I wonder if Ray's still in prison.