Thomas Pynchon and DEVO
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2025 5:36 amThe NY Times asked various fans of Thomas Pynchon to describe the effect of Thomas Pynchon on them. Here is what Gerald Casale said:
Gerald Casale
Musician, Devo
It’s been 45 years since I read “Gravity’s Rainbow.” What I remember is the insanely dense and layered descriptions and the sex and drug narratives all blending together in a nonlinear way. It was a literary acid trip interspersed with intentionally silly poems that satirized the Horatio Alger, “You can do it, there’s nobody else like you”-style Americana hokum. It was those short, twisted nursery rhyme intrusions that inspired me to try to write a Pynchonesque “poem” of my own. That attempt became my lyrics for Devo’s hit song, “Whip It.”
Gerald Casale
Musician, Devo
It’s been 45 years since I read “Gravity’s Rainbow.” What I remember is the insanely dense and layered descriptions and the sex and drug narratives all blending together in a nonlinear way. It was a literary acid trip interspersed with intentionally silly poems that satirized the Horatio Alger, “You can do it, there’s nobody else like you”-style Americana hokum. It was those short, twisted nursery rhyme intrusions that inspired me to try to write a Pynchonesque “poem” of my own. That attempt became my lyrics for Devo’s hit song, “Whip It.”