The Most-Played Song On MTV Still Makes The Band Millions Of Dollars Every Year

Devo is widely recognized for their 1980 hit “Whip It,” a track that skyrocketed the band to mainstream fame. Despite its legacy, another song by the group has quietly become their most profitable.

“Uncontrollable Urge” is among the track list from their debut 1978 album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and it has turned into an unexpected cash cow. Surprisingly, this track, which was not even released as a single, now outearns any of their chart-topping hits.

How did ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ become the most-played song on MTV?

The success of “Uncontrollable Urge” can largely be credited to Ridiculousness, the Rob Dyrdek-hosted comedy clip show that’s practically synonymous with MTV’s current programming. A cover of the song serves as the show’s theme, playing at the start of every episode.

Given MTV’s tendency to air endless marathons of Ridiculousness, “Uncontrollable Urge” was heard almost constantly on the network. In fact, for January 17th alone, MTV has scheduled 20 episodes of Ridiculousness. This airtime saturation has turned a track that never charted into one of the most lucrative pieces of Devo’s discography.

How much does Devo make from ‘Uncontrollable Urge?’

According to the band’s manager, Anita Greenspan, who is also married to the song’s writer Mark Mothersbaugh, performance royalties for “Uncontrollable Urge” generate an estimated $1 million annually. This level of success remains a shock to Mothersbaugh, who has composed numerous songs for films and television throughout his career.

While reflecting on the unexpected popularity of the track, he shared that he never imagined it would become such a significant source of income. Greenspan also highlighted the irony of the song’s current success on MTV as Devo’s videos went from being a staple of the network in its early days to being too provocative for the network, leading to a decline in airtime. Decades later, “Uncontrollable Urge” plays more frequently on MTV than any of their original music videos ever did.