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Devo

Two sets of brothers from Akron, Ohio, who turned a joke about human regression into jerky, synthesizer-driven new wave, from a Brian Eno-produced debut in 1978 to the hit Whip It in 1980.

Origin
Akron, Ohio, United States
Years active
1973-present
Genres
new wave, art punk, synth-pop
Labels
Booji Boy, Stiff, Warner Bros., Virgin, Enigma, Rykodisc
Also known as
Dove (the Band of Love)

Akron

Devo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 1973. The name comes from de-evolution, the idea that mankind had begun to regress rather than evolve. In the late 1960s two Kent State art students, Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis, developed it as a joke and made satirical art around it. They met Mark Mothersbaugh around 1970, and he brought a funnier tone and a pamphlet, Jocko-Homo Heavenbound, whose winged devil labelled D-EVOLUTION later inspired the song Jocko Homo. The joke is described as turning serious after the Kent State shootings of 4 May 1970, an event cited more than once as the impetus for forming the band.

After a fluid early line-up with Mark's brothers Bob and Jim Mothersbaugh, Jim left in late 1975. Bob found a new drummer, Alan Myers, and Casale brought back his brother Bob Casale. That five-man line-up stayed together for nearly ten years. Chuck Statler's short film The Truth About De-Evolution won a prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1976 and caught the eye of David Bowie. In March 1977 the band put out its own single on the Booji Boy label, Mongoloid backed with Jocko Homo, and followed it with a cover of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.

Eno and Warner Bros.

Bowie and Iggy Pop recommended Devo to Warner Bros., which signed them in 1978. Bowie could not commit to producing, so Brian Eno made Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! at Conny Plank's studio near Cologne. The sessions were tense: Eno found the band unwilling to experiment, and Bowie was brought in to remix. The album reached number 12 in the UK and number 78 in the United States. On 14 October 1978 the band played Saturday Night Live, a week after the Rolling Stones, performing Satisfaction and Jocko Homo. Tom Carson in Rolling Stone called the record a brittle, small masterpiece of Seventies pop irony.

Duty Now for the Future followed in 1979, produced by Ken Scott and pushing synthesizers further forward. It peaked at number 73 in the US. Bob Mothersbaugh said later that they may have rushed to get another album out, and Casale said Scott wanted something processed when the band wanted something aggressive.

Whip It and after

Warner Bros. gave the band a make-or-break ultimatum for the third album. Freedom of Choice (1980) was recorded in six weeks at the Record Plant in Los Angeles with Robert Margouleff. Its second single, Whip It, took off after the DJ Kal Rudman pushed it in the southeastern United States, and reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its dude-ranch video got heavy exposure on MTV. The album went to number 22 and became their biggest seller. The band wore red plastic energy domes for the tour.

New Traditionalists (1981), the first Devo album the band produced itself, was darker, and Through Being Cool showed the band ambivalent about the fame Whip It had brought. Oh, No! It's Devo (1982) was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, and Shout (1984) was received poorly. Warner Bros. bought out the rest of the contract, and Myers left. David Kendrick replaced Myers in 1987. Total Devo (1988) was not a commercial success, and Smooth Noodle Maps (1990) was the band's last album for twenty years. After a final show in March 1991 they broke up.

Return

Mark Mothersbaugh turned to composing, and Casale to directing videos. Devo reunited for a Sundance Film Festival concert in January 1996, joined Lollapalooza that year and headlined in 1997. In 2009 they played the debut album in full at the HMV Forum in London. Something for Everybody arrived on 15 June 2010. Alan Myers died on 24 June 2013 and Bob Casale on 17 February 2014, and the group toured as a quartet for the first time in 38 years, playing material written before their first album on the Hardcore Devo Tour in June and July 2014.

The band marked its fiftieth anniversary in 2023, including a London show at the Eventim Apollo, and in January 2024 Chris Smith's documentary Devo premiered at Sundance. Devo have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, 2021 and 2022. Writing in the Guardian in 2009, Pat Long said they pioneered synthesisers, the music video and multimedia concert technology, and quoted Kurt Cobain calling them the most challenging and subversive band to come from the underground into the mainstream.

Members

Records

Songs

Brian Eno, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Neil Young, Talking Heads

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Discography and data

Writing and criticism

Interviews

Live performance archives

Fan sites and communities

  • Devo Obsesso Long-running fan archive, subtitled Archiving The Truth About DEVOlution.
  • Booji Boy's Basement Archive site with audio listing pages and an order shop.

Sources

  1. Devo, Wikipedia
  2. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (review by Tom Carson), Rolling Stone (1978-11-30)
  3. We are legend, The Guardian (2009-05-01)
  4. Christgau's Consumer Guide, October 1978, Robert Christgau (1978-10-30)
  5. Devo announce only UK headline show of farewell tour for 2023, NME (2023-02-28)
  6. Mark Mothersbaugh on Cocaine Bear, losing vision and Devo's future, Akron Beacon Journal (2023-02-20)
  7. Devo discography, Wikipedia