Context

This line is from the song "Whip It" by Devo, from the album Freedom of Choice (1980).

The quote pops up in the chorus of the song and is repeated a bunch of times. In case anybody was confused about what they were saying, Devo reinforces the idea by having Mark Mothersbaugh whip the clothes off a woman while singing. No, seriously. That's what happens in the video. Check it out. (You gotta love the '80s.)

Before you go thinking this is all just total randomness, though, know that Devo was actually inspired by smart-guy author Thomas Pynchon's poetic parodies in his novel Gravity's Rainbow. Like Pynchon, Devo is skewering that all-American desire to succeed. So, all the weirdness in the song and the video is supposed to scream out, "Hey guys, this is all kind of a joke!"

Where you've heard it

"Whip It" cracks its whip on any radio station that plays '80s stuff, because... come on, how could those stations avoid it? The video was wildly popular during the dawn of MTV, so anytime you see one of those remembering-the-'80s-type shows on VH1, "Whip It" is going to whip you into shape all over again.

The song also inspires a full-on Devo dance party, complete with Devo hats, in the movie Raising Helen. (Check it out here.) Oh, and let us not forget Dr. Evil's famous "Zip it. Zip it good" from that classic of classics Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me. The chorus has also been mutated into commercial jingles (actually sung by Devo) for a bunch of companies: Swiffer, Gateway, Twix, Pringles. Hmm… we wonder what Thomas Pynchon would think of that.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Quoting Devo might get you an eye-roll, just because the song is so well-known that the reference you thought was original and funny, just… like... isn't. Still, this is a pop culture 101 shout-out, so nobody's going to call you pretentious. (Unless you mention the Pynchon connection.)