DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh Makes $1 Million Per Year from Ridiculousness Theme Song
Consequence.net
Posted on: January 20th, 2025
Posted on: January 20th, 2025
DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh says he makes $1 million per year from the theme song to MTV's Ridiculousness, which is a reworking of
Uncontrollable Urge.
Outside of DEVO, co-founder and vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh has carved out a lucrative niche for himself by scoring films and creating music for TV shows. However, it’s his work on the theme for one of the most-aired shows of all time, MTV’s Ridiculousness, that’s been the biggest earner, bringing in about $1 million per year.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Mothersbaugh spoke about the success of the reworked version of DEVO’s Uncontrollable Urge in comparison to his other themes and his group’s best-known song, Whip It.
"I've written so many other songs for films and television shows," Mothersbaugh said. "I would’ve been shocked [years ago] if you told me this is the one that would become this prime source of income."
He continued, "MTV stopped playing us but we came to the other side of the circle. 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."
Outside of DEVO, co-founder and vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh has carved out a lucrative niche for himself by scoring films and creating music for TV shows. However, it’s his work on the theme for one of the most-aired shows of all time, MTV’s Ridiculousness, that’s been the biggest earner, bringing in about $1 million per year.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Mothersbaugh spoke about the success of the reworked version of DEVO’s Uncontrollable Urge in comparison to his other themes and his group’s best-known song, Whip It.
"I've written so many other songs for films and television shows," Mothersbaugh said. "I would’ve been shocked [years ago] if you told me this is the one that would become this prime source of income."
He continued, "MTV stopped playing us but we came to the other side of the circle. 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."