1981 - 40 Years Ago

1981 Devo released their fourth album. It was originally packaged with a bonus 7" single of the band's cover of "Working in the Coal Mine." The record company didn't want it on the album, then the band was then approached by the makers of the animated film Heavy Metal and asked if they had a song to donate for a sequence in the film involving a house band in outer space. Devo offered them the unused "Working in the Coal Mine," and as a fluke the song ended up being the only charting song on the soundtrack album. Since the song was now a "hit," (#43) Warner Bros. pressed up thousands of two-sided 7" singles and included them with initial copies of the LP. Later most CD and cassette pressings include it as a bonus track.