Devo -

Devo are an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, best known for the 1980 hit “Whip It” and their iconic red-dome stage costumes. Between 1978 and 1984, they released six albums on Virgin and Warner Bros.

They emerged from the art department at Kent State University. By 1976, the lineup stabilized with brothers Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald and Bob Casale, and drummer Alan Myers.

After multiple demos, two indie singles, and an avant-garde promo film, Devo cut their first album in Germany with Brian Eno. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! gathered the concert staples “Jocko Homo,” “Mongloid,” “Come Back Jonee,” and their Rolling Stones deconstruction “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

In 1979, Devo released Duty Now for the Future, a varied set with the epic “Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA” and the cult hit “The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize,” plus their comedic take on “Secret Agent Man.”

Devo multiplied their audience with 1980’s Freedom of Choice, a rhythmic synthpop set with the hits “Whip It,” “Girl U Want,” and “Gates of Steel.” Their 1981 followup New Traditionalists spawned the early MTV fixtures “Beautiful World” and “Through Being Cool.” Each album accompanied a costume change, including the spud boy look of their 1982 release Oh, No! It’s Devo, noted for the video hits “Peek-a-Boo” and “That’s Good.”

After their 1984 release Shout, Devo disbanded but regrouped for the 1988–90 titles Total Devo and Smooth Noodle Maps. In 2010, they returned with Something for Everybody.

Members: Gerald V. Casale (bass, vocals), Mark Mothersbaugh (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Bob Lewis (slide guitar, 1972-76), Coupe de Ville [Peter Gregg] (guitar, 1972), Rod Reisman (drums, 1973), Fred Weber (vocals, 1973), Bob II [Bob Casale] (rhythm guitar, keyboards, 1973, 1976-2014), Bob I [Bob Mothersbaugh] (lead guitar, vocals, 1974-present), Jungle Jim [Jim Mothersbaugh] (electronic drums, 1974-76), Alan Myers (drums, 1976-86)

Background

The nucleus of Devo coalesced in 1970 at Kent State University, where keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh met art students Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis. They gathered around the concept of de-evolution, a theory that humankind is regressing back into primitive form.

Mark Mothersbaugh (b. May 18, 1950) was the eldest of three Akron brothers borne to Mary (nee Margaret, aka “Mig”) and Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr. He graduated Woodridge High School and enrolled as an Art major at Kent State University, where he met Casale just prior to the May 4, 1970, campus massacre that claimed the lives of four students, including Gerald’s personal friends Jeffrey Miller and Allison Krause.

Mothersbaugh and Casale had a mutual friend, fellow student Chrissie Hynde, Mark’s bandmate in a campus group named Sat. Sun. Mat.

Casale (b. Gerald Pizzute; July 28, 1948) grew up in Kent; the son of an adoptee, Robert Edward Pizzute. When Gerald was four, Robert reclaimed the Casale family name. Gerald graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and played bass in an early lineup of the Numbers Band (15-60-75). Despite their experimental nature, they balked at his wish to make musical use of commercial jingles.

Gerald enrolled as a Performing Arts major at Kent State, where he met Miller and Krause at the university’s honors program. On May 4, Casale stood just feet away from Krause as National Guardsmen opened fire on student protesters.

The Kent State shootings were the catalyst for “de-evolution,” a theoretical concept Casale developed with Robert Lewis (b. March 4, 1947), a poetry student and National Merit Scholar who became KSU’s first anthropology graduate. Their theory posited that humanity entered a downward trajectory with the dysfunctional hive mentality of Western Culture.

Early Activity

In 1971, Casale and Lewis teamed with a third musician, Peter Gregg, on three demoes: “I Been Refused,” “I Need a Chick,” and “Auto Modown,” recorded above Guido’s Pizza Shop in Kent. Mothersbaugh introduced them to Jock-Homo Heavenbound, a 1924 anti-evolution pamphlet by Philly minister Bertram Henry Shadduck. Meanwhile, Casale and Lewis wrote a de-evolution treatise for the Los Angeles Staff, a short-lived underground publication devoted to the anti-war cause.

On April 4, 1973, Devo played its first concert at the annual Kent State Creative Arts Festival. The lineup for this event was Mothersbaugh, Lewis (guitar), Gerald (bass) and his brother Bob Casale (guitar, keyboards). They delegated vocals to ex-Lacewing singer Fred Weber. Devo’s inaugural set featured nine songs: “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” “Mr. Jingeling,” “Private Secretary,” “Wiggle Worm,” “Beehive Flash,” “What Comes Around Goes Around,” “Subhuman Woman,” “River Run,” and “Sun Come Up Moon Go Down.”

Devo returned for the next Creative Arts Festival on April 23, 1974. The lineup now featured Lewis, the Casale brothers, and Mark and his two younger brothers, Bob (b. August 11, 1952) and Jim Mothersbaugh. Bob and Jim played beforehand in Jitters, a high school covers band. The setlist for Devo’s second Kent State show retained “Private Secretary,” “Subhuman Woman,” “I Been Refused,” and introduced “The Rope Song,” “Pigs Waddle,” “Be Stiff,” “Androgyny,” “O No,” and “All of Us.”

Over the next two years, Devo recorded numerous demos, later comped on their two-volume Hardcore Devo series. Bob Mothersbaugh assumed the lead-guitarist role while Lewis stepped back into management. Meanwhile, they performed at various spots in Kent (The Kove, Shelly’s Book Bar, J.B’s) with assorted early pieces, including “Fraulein,” “The Death of Lt. Casanova,” and “Midget.”

On October 31, 1975, Devo supported Sun Ra at a WMMS-FM Halloween Party with a set that featured old favorites (“Subhuman Woman,” “Bamboo Bimbo,” “I Need a Chick”) and the first performance of “Jocko Homo” (ape-human), a two-part epic inspired by Shadduck’s title.

1976–1977

In May 1976, Devo shot a nine-minute mini-film, The Truth About De-Evolution, which showcases two songs: the Johnny Rivers cover “Secret Agent Man” and the Mark original “Jocko Homo.” The film features Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr. as General Boy.

Jim Mothersbaugh cleared for drummer Alan Myers (b. December 29, 1954), a Jewish Akron native with a jazz background. The five-piece Devo lineup of Myers and Mothersbaugh brothers Mark and Bob (1) and Casale brothers Gerald and Bob (2) lasted for nine years.

Between December 1976 and March 1977, Devo played ten shows at The Crypt, a converted bar on Akron’s industrial side, where the typically supported Cleveland stars Pere Ubu or local hopefuls King Cobra, a glam-metal precursor to the Rubber City Rebels.

1977 Singles

Devo released their first single, “Mongoloid” (b/w “Jocko Homo”), in March 1977 on Booji Boy, a DIY label named after the mascot featured in the film.

On March 24, 1977, Devo made their Cleveland debut at the Pirate’s Cove, where they returned eight times through mid-year between shows at the nearby Eagle Street Saloon. On May 23, Devo hit New York City with a two-nighter at CBGB’s and one night at Max’s Kansas City, both magnates of the East Village new wave scene. On July 6, Devo played a showcase at the Philly Hot Club. Three weeks later, Devo landed in California for two-nighters in West Hollywood (July 25–26: Starwood) and San Francisco (August 2–3: Mabuhay Gardens). By now, their setlist contained the entirety of their eventual first album and four originals (“Clockout,” “Timing X,” “Smart Patrol,” “Mr. DNA”) reserved for their second.

In September 1977, Devo released their second Booji Boy single: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” a kinetic reinvention of the Rolling Stones classic backed with “Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’).”

Between Sept. 10 and October 31, Devo bounced between shows at Starwood, Mabuhay, and Hollywood’s Whisky-A-Go-Go. In San Francisco, they visited Different Fur Studios, a converted fur trading headquarters owned by synthesist Patrick Gleeson, who engineered two Devo songs (“Come Back Jonee,” “Shrivel Up”) for their eventual album.

On November 14, Devo reappeared in New York for a Max’s two-nighter. Pre-show, they met David Bowie, an early champion who learned of the band through a demo sent by the wife of Tin Huey guitarist Michael Aylward. Bowie introduced Devo’s set and announced his plan to produced their album in Tokyo.

In December, Devo hit the Philly Hot Club and Cleveland’s Agora Ballroom. After a second Max’s two-nighter, they closed out 1977 with a New Year’s Eve show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

1978

Devo played a January 6–7 two-nighter at the Mabuhay Gardens, which now hosted a fertile Bay Area scene (The Avengers, Crime, The Nuns). On Jan. 27, they returned to the Pirate’s Cove in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Brian Eno offered Devo the chance to make an album in Germany, where Bowie was stationed but tied to a film project. Eno co-produced Bowie’s two recent Berlin albums (Low and “Heroes”) and knew of the singer’s scheduling conflicts. He summoned Devo to Cologne for sessions at Conny’s Studio, owned by Krautrock legend Conny Plank. Confident in their prospects, Eno funded the unsigned band’s airfare and studio costs.

In February, the Booji Boy versions of “Jocko Homo” and “Mongoloid” appeared in the UK on Stiff Records. After sessions wrapped in Germany, Devo made their UK debut on March 8, 1978, in Liverpool at Eric’s Club, the hub of the second Mersey wave (Deaf School, Big In Japan, Yachts). Devo swung through Leeds University and the Manchester Free Trade Hall and played their first London show on March 12 at the Roundhouse.

In April, Stiff Records reissued the second Booji Boy release — “(I Cån’t Gèt Mé Nö) Såtisfactiön” (b/w “Slöppy (I Såw My Baby Gétting)”) — as the second UK Devo single. Casale and the Mothersbaugh brothers co-wrote the b-side with Gary Jackett, an Akron musician and graphic artist who illustrated the 1971 Lacewing album cover.

After sessions wrapped in Cologne, Devo reappeared at Mabuhay for a May 27 show. Neil Young filmed the band for use in a future film project.

On June 24, Devo played the first of two Knebworth ’78 festival events in Hertfordshire, England. They opened their set with the “DEVO Corporate Anthem” and played six proper songs from their upcoming album plus three (“Wiggly World,” “Pink Pussycat,” “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA”) reserved for their second. The all-day event also featured sets by the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Brand X, Genesis, Jefferson Starship, Roy Harper, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

Devo’s industry endorsements from Eno, Bowie, and fellow Berlin recording artist Iggy Pop helped the band secure contracts with Virgin Records (UK) and Warner Bros. (US).

As the release date loomed on Devo’s album, Stiff Records issued two further 1977 demos — the title-sake “Be Stiff” (b/w “Social Fools”) — as the band’s third UK single (on yellow vinyl). Stiff also placed both songs on B Stiff, a six-song EP with the two prior UK singles.

Meanwhile, a Devo EP titled Mechanical Man appeared on Elevator Records, an alleged ‘bootleg’ proxy of Virgin Records, routed through a US RCA pressing plant. Mechanical Man contains two 1975 demos — “Mechanical Man” and “Auto-Modown,” the latter appended with “Space Girl Blues” — and early versions of “Blockhead” and “Clockout” (titled “Blackout”). The limited-run EP appeared in a plain sleeve in four pastel color variations.

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Devo released their debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, on August 28, 1978, on Warner (North America, Japan, Oceania) and Virgin (UK, Europe). The album contains eleven songs from their established setlist, including new versions of the earlier singles sides “Mongoloid,” “Jocko Homo,” “Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’),” and the Rolling Stones cover “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

Gerald Casale wrote “Mongoloid” and co-wrote collaborated on select songs with Bob Mothersbaugh (“Space Junk”), Mark Mothersbaugh (“Praying Hands,” “Come Back Jonee”), and both (“Shrivel-Up,” “Gut Feeling / (Slap Your Mammy)”). Mark wrote “Uncontrollable Urge,” “Jocko Homo,” and “Too Much Paranoias.”

On Are We Not Men and subsequent albums, Mark plays ornamental guitar and sings principal lead; shared at times with bassist Gerald. Both split keyboard parts with Bob Casale, whose rhythm guitar counters the lead work of Bob Mothersbaugh.

Musically, Are We Not Men features guitar-based, uptempo new-wave rock (“Uncontrollable Urge,” “Space Junk”) with odd synth infusions. Alan Myers’ varied percussive background fuels the stop/start velocity of “Praying Hands” and the galloping “Come Back Jonee.” Devo tackle epic form on “Jocko Homo,” a manifesto song-within-a-song; and “Gut Feeling / (Slap Your Mammy),” a kinetic rocker turned pogo-pulse punk tune. Rhythmic jolts pervade “Uncontrollable Urge,” “Too Much Paranoias,” the Stones cover, and shorter passages across the album.

A1. “Uncontrollable Urge” (3:08)
A2. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (2:38)
A3. “Praying Hands” (2:47)
A4. “Space Junk” (2:13)
A5. “Mongoloid” (3:42)
A6. “Jocko Homo” (3:38)

B1. “Too Much Paranoias” (1:56)
B2. “Gut Feeling / (Slap Your Mammy)” (4:54)
B3. “Come Back Jonee” (3:46)
B4. “Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’)” (2:37)
B5. “Shrivel-Up” (3:05)

Sessions occurred in February 1978 at Conny’s Studio in Cologne, where Brian Eno produced Are We Not Men between Before and After Science, his fourth vocal solo album; and More Songs About Buildings and Food, his first with Talking Heads. Conny Plank engineered the Devo tracks in sequence with fellow studio clients Kraan, Joachim Kuhn, Michael Rother, and Ultravox. David Bowie made random visits for additional mixing.

Two songs (“Come Back Jonee,” “Sloppy”) date from the October 1977 Different Fur sessions with Patrick Gleeson.

Are We Not Men sports graphics by John Cabalka, a veteran behind psychedelic art for late-Sixties Mercury acts (HP Lovecraft, Linn County, Genesis) with concurrent Warner visual credits for Al Jarreau, Candi Staton, Chaka Khan, and Curtis Mayfield. Flight illustrator Joe Heiner procured the cover image: an altered Fifties-era portrait shot of Puerto Rican golfer Juan “Chi-Chi” Rodríguez. Warner vetoed Devo’s original wish to use Chi-Chi’s image, hence the facial alteration. Despite this, Stiff used the golfer’s likeness unaltered for the “Be Stiff” single.

The inner-sleeve contains an image still from the “Satisfaction” video and multiple stills from The Truth About De-Evolution. Virgin copies of Are We Not Men use different cover images — Mark (front) and the others (back, stocking masks) — both sourced from the “Jocko Homo” portion of the De-evolution film.

Virgin lifted “Come Back Jonee” as a UK single, backed with a non-album Cologne recording of “Social Fools.” On August 28, Devo performed in Hollywood at the Roxy Theatre, where footage was filmed for the “Come Back Jonee” video.

Warner issued “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” as a single, backed with an edit of “Uncontrollable Urge.” Devo performed “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Jocko Homo” on the October 12, 1978, episode of the NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard (Silver Streak, America 2-Night).

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! reached No. 7 in New Zealand, No. 12 in the UK, No. 57 in Australia, and No. 78 on the US Billboard 200.

Devo launched their tour behind Are We Not Men on October 9 at the Starwood in Hollywood. They played a four-set two-nighter at New York’s Bottom Line (Oct. 17–18), followed by stops in Dover, Boston, Montréal, Toronto, Grosse Pointe, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, Minneapolis (11/3: Walker Art Center), Tempe, and San Francisco.

On November 15, Devo launched the European leg at the Kant Kino Theatre in Berlin, followed by dates in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Paris, The Hague, and Brussels. The UK leg covered Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Bristol. They rounded the tour with a stateside swing through Detroit, Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, and New York, where they rang in 1979 with a New Year’s Eve show at Avery Fisher Hall. The tour wrapped in the Pacific Northwest with January 10–12 shows in Portland (Paramount Theater), Seattle, and Vancouver, BC (Commodore Ballroom).

1979

On May 22, 1979, Devo hit Japan with a four-date tour that covered Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Tokyo, where they played a May 28 show at the Nippon Budokan Hall. Devo next stopped in Hawaii for a June 2 show at the UoH Campus Center Ballroom in Honolulu.

Meanwhile, Mark Mothersbaugh sang “Rhythmic Itch,” a spastic marimba-laden track on Nosferatu, the debut solo album of Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell, recorded in collaboration with Magic Band drummer Robert Williams.

Duty Now for the Future

Devo released their second album, Duty Now for the Future, on June 1, 1979, on Warner and Virgin.

The album contains fresh versions of early setlist staples (“Clockout,” “Timing X,” “Blockhead”) mixed with five new songs: “Strange Pursuit,” “S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain),” “Triumph of the Will,” “The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize,” and the recent concert number “Red Eye.” Side B includes a new revision of “Secret Agent Man,” first adapted for The Truth About De-Evolution.

Mark Mothersbaugh wrote “Timing X,” “Surprize,” “S.I.B.” and co-wrote two songs (“Blockhead,” “Pink Pussycat”) with brother Bob Mothersbaugh, who co-wrote “Wiggly World” with “Clockout” composer Gerald Casale. Gerald co-wrote “Strange Pursuit,” “Triumph of the Will,” and “Red Eye” with Mark, who collaborated with both Casale brothers on the epic two-parter “Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA,” an established showpiece.

Musically, Duty Now mixes guitar-driven velocity (“Clockout,” “Wiggly World”) with synthesized innovations (“Strange Pursuit” “S.I.B.”) and moments of novelty (“Pink Pussycat”), humor (“Triumph of the Will”), and the climactic “Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA,” a sci-fi adventure appended with the soaring “Red Eye.”

A1. “Devo Corporate Anthem” (1:14) was inspired by the “corporate hymn” played before games in the 1975 dystopian film Rollerball.
A2. “Clockout” (2:45) Bob Casale on bass
A3. “Timing X” (1:11)
A4. “Wiggly World” (2:42)
A5. “Blockhead” (2:58)
A6. “Strange Pursuit” (2:42)
A7. “S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain)” (4:28)

B1. “Triumph of the Will” (2:16) is titled after a 1935 Nazi propaganda film by German director Leni Riefenstahl.
B2. “The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize” (2:41)
B3. “Pink Pussycat” (3:08)
B4. “Secret Agent Man” (3:35) was a 1966 hit for LA singer Johnny Rivers; co-written by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri as the theme for Secret Agent, a 1964–66 British spy series aired in the UK as Danger Man. Bob Mothersbaugh on vocals.
B5. “Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA” (6:02)
B6. “Red Eye” (2:51)

Devo commenced work on Duty Now for the Future in September 1978, one month after their delayed first album hit shelves. After their autumn/winter tour, sessions reconvened in January 1979 at Chateau Recorders, a three-year-old North Hollywood facility used for recent albums by Seawind, Dixie Dregs (What If), Happy the Man (Craft Hands), Stanley Clarke, and Jean-Luc Ponty.

For Duty Now, Devo recorded each instruments separately to a click track with pre-Eno Bowie producer/engineer Ken Scott, a soundman on Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, and classics by Van der Graaf Generator (Pawn Hearts), Elton John (Honky Château), and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Birds of Fire). Scott completed Duty Now ahead of the debut by the Montrose-spinoff Gamma, assisted on both by audio engineer Phil Jost, the former Jake Jones organist.

Devo conceived the cover concept for designer Janet Perr, known for her colorful and geometric schemes on 1979/80 covers for Flash and the Pan, The Proof, and Quincy. Duty Now reuses the four-color Devo logo, placed above a group pic by SoHo Weekly News photographer Allan Tannenbaum. The backdrop consists of phony UPC barcodes, a satire on the recently adopted retail industry practice. Original copies had punch-out holes around the group pic, which buyers could use as a postcard.

The back cover (upper-left) shows Devo’s “science boy” logo: a Fifties atomic age icon with a silhouetted figure, illustrated by one George L. Kaufman for a 1956 science emblem contest hosted by the Cleveland Press. Devo first discovered this logo in 1976 in a local pamphlet (without attribution) and adopted it for media, suffixed with Gerald’s now-titular phrase “Duty Now for the Future.” Virgin copies (UK, Germany) use the science boy icon as a full-scale frontal image.

The inner-sleeve contains purple monochrome pics and the album’s lyrics within a justified text block. It also includes the address where fans could order Devo-vision, a planned videocassette of live numbers filmed at the Starwood, Budakon, and Walker Art Center dates of their recent tour. Warner halted the video’s release over perceived anti-music-industry content but relented by 1981, when the video appeared as The Men Who Make the Music.

On June 1, Virgin lifted “The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize” as a UK/European single, backed with “Penetration In the Centrefold,” an Eno-sessions outtake witten by Mark and Gerald. In late August, Virgin lifted “Secret Agent Man” as a second UK single, backed with Mark’s “Soo Bawlz,” a Scott-sessions outtake. In the US, Warner issued “Surprize” as a promo 7″ (b/w “Smart Patrol” and “Strange Pursuit”) followed by a proper release of “Secret Agent Man” (b/w “Red Eye”).

Duty Now for the Future reached No. 13 in New Zealand and peaked inside the UK Top 50.

’79 Tour

Devo promoted the album on a 32-city North American tour, launched on June 21, 1979, at the Max Bell Arena in Calgary, Canada. The tour moved down the West Coast with shows in Seattle (6/25: Palace Tavern) and San Francisco (6/29: Warfield Theatre) before swings through the Great Plains, Midwest, Northeast, and Deep South. After three stops in Texas, the tour wrapped on August 26 at the UoC Campbell Hall in Santa Barbara.

On September 22, 1979, Devo appeared at the New-No-Now-Wave Festival, a weekend event in Minneapolis at the University of Michigan Field House. Spread across two eleven-hour days, the festival featured sets by multiple local acts (Curtiss A, Fingerprints, The Suburbs, Suicide Commandos) and cross-country bands (The Brains, The Feelies, The Contortions, The dB’s, The Fleshtones, Skafish, Suicide, Tuxedomoon), plus two from England: The Records and the Monochrome Set. In Sunday’s lineup, Devo performed four songs — “Praying Hands,” “Shrivel Up,” and covers of Bob Dylan (“Gotta Serve Somebody”) and the Carter Family (“Worried Man”) — under the anagram Dove, their green-suited xtian rock alter ego.

As work commenced on their next album, Devo performed four songs — “Blockhead,” “Secret Agent Man,” “Uncontrollable Urge,” and “Mongoloid” — for the October 2 broadcast of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.

On December 31, Devo rang in the new decade at Long Beach Arena, where they opened the show as Dove, followed by a proper set that included four numbers from their album in-progress amid Duty Now material, plus the early rarity “Fountain of Filth.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM released a Devo tribute album, Devotees, comprised of multiple covers from Are We Not Men and one (“Blockhead” by The Doguloids) fron Duty Now. Most contributors were ad hoc bands assembled for the project. Several songs are Devo-style parodies, including cuts by The Firemen (“Jocko Bozo”), Y-22 (“Music Inspired By Space Junk”), and The Bakersfield Boogie Boys (“Okie From Muskogee”), the last of those comprised of KROQ staff. One contributing act, The View (“Uncontrollable Urge”), released a 1982 synthpop EP on Videoview Records.

1980

In early 1980, Devo demoed thirteen songs, including two embryonic tracks (“Red Shark,” “Luv & Such”), two abandoned pieces (“Time Bomb,” “Make Me Move”), one eventual b-side (“Turn Around”), and eight songs earmarked for their next album.

Devo contacted Robert Margouleff, the electronic music pioneer behind Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, named after TONTO, a hybrid arsenal of synthesizers used by Stevie Wonder and associated acts (Minnie Riperton, Syreeta). Margouleff’s background in electronic and soul-funk music made him ideal for Devo’s current vision: a fusion of Mark Mothersbaugh’s increased preference for synthesizers and Gerald Casale’s renewed love for R&B, an influence from childhood radio.

The band commenced work with Margouleff on a new album under the working title Time for Devo. Ahead of its release, Devo played nine shows in Japan between May 8 (Ohtemon Hall, Fukuoka) and 16 (Miyagi Kenmin Hall, Sendai).

Freedom of Choice

Devo released their third album, Freedom of Choice, on May 14, 1980, on Warner.

Side A contains one song each by Mark Mothersbaugh (“It’s Not Right”) and Gerald Casale (“Ton o’ Luv”) amid four co-written numbers, including the singles “Girl U Want” and “Whip It.”

Mark wrote Side B apart from Gerald’s “Planet Earth” and “Cold War,” which Casale co-developed with Bob Mothersbaugh. “Gates of Steel” stemmed from Mark’s collaboration with Akron trio Chi-Pig.

Musically, each song features sharp synth lines bound by tight beats and prominent bass lines. The band’s three keyboardists — Mark, Gerald, and Bob Casale — use Minimoog, Moog bass, and a customized Moog dubbed the “devobox.” They scored their breakthrough hit with “Whip It,” marked by a whip-crack sound played on the EML ElectroComp 500.

A1. “Girl U Want” (2:55)
A2. “It’s Not Right” (2:20) developed from a lyrically different demo titled “Red Shark.”
A3. “Whip It” (2:37) Mark pieced the music together from four song ideas, including a melody inspired by the Roy Orbison classic “Oh, Pretty Woman.” Gerald drew lyrical inspiration from Gravity’s Rainbow, a 1973 epic historical sci-fi novel by American author Thomas Pynchon.
A4. “Snowball” (2:28)
A5. “Ton O’ Luv” (2:29)
A6. “Freedom of Choice” (3:28) reflected Gerald’s concerns about the looming 1980 US presidential election.

B1. “Gates of Steel” (3:26) Mark conceived the backing track in 1978 with Debbie Smith and Sue Schmidt of the unsigned Chi-Pig. Gerald added words as work got underway on Freedom of Choice.
B2. “Cold War” (2:30) stemmed from a November 1979 after-hours studio jam between Gerald and Bob 1.
B3. “Don’t You Know” (2:14)
B4. “That’s Pep!” (2:17) has lyrics sourced from “Pep,” a public domain poem by Grace G. Bostwick, published in a 1919 issue of The American Magazine.
B5. “Mr. B’s Ballroom” (2:45) evolved from a demo titled “Luv & Such.”
B6. “Planet Earth” (2:45)

Sessions spanned six weeks in early 1980 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, where Robert Margouleff produced and engineered Freedom of Choice in sequence with titles by the Bus Boys, Randy Crawford, and The Waters; all co-engineered by Howard Seigel, Margouleff’s prior assistant on The Promise, the 1976 solo album by then-Moody Blues keyboardist Mike Pinder.

For rawness, Devo recorded live in-studio takes of the guitars and rhythm tracks. Margouleff placed the microphones at opportune spots for maximum rhythmic prominence. They overdubbed the vocals and synth parts as final details.

Freedom of Choice sports graphics and photography by Artrouble, the design firm behind recent sleeves for The Dickies, The Police, and ex-Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagen. Devo model silver Naugahyde suits designed by Gerald Casale as a visual ode to the matching sharkskin suits worn by Fifties doo-wop groups. He based the red “energy dome” hats on the light fixtures at his Kent elementary school, constructed during the Twenties Art Deco era. The hats became Devo’s most-recognized visual detail.

1980 Tour

Devo greeted the album’s US release with performances on Fridays (“Girl U Want,” aired May 23) and American Bandstand (“Snowball,” aired June 21).

Virgin lifted “Girl You Want” as the first UK/European single, backed with the non-album Mark/Gerald song “Turn Around,” a Margouleff sessions outtake. Gerald directed the video in a school auditorium, where Devo perform before children with desaturation and tone adjustments that render their dome hats purple. The Casale’s mime on the Moog Liberation, a newly released “keytar” that Devo advertised yet never used on record.

B. “Turn Around”

Devo launched the UK/European leg of their Freedom of Choice tour on June 1 at the Glasgow Apollo. They hit Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Southampton, and two London spots (The Rainbow and The Venue), then covered the Continent with shows in Paris, Munich, Zurich, Amsterdam, and multiple nights in Italy, where they mixed two-thirds of FoC with select Duty Now and AWNM numbers at Palasport arenas in Milan, Rimini, Bolongna, Rome, and Turin. They wrapped the European leg in France with June 25–27 shows in Nice (Théâtre De Verdure) and the Palais D’Hiver, Boulogne-Billancourt.

Warner lifted “Girl U Want” as the lead single in the US, where Devo launched the stateside leg on July 10 at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee. Devo swung through the Midwest, Northeast, and down the Atlantic to Florida, where local promoter Kal Rudman touted “Whip It” as a choice cut in the Friday Morning Quarterback, an industry trade magazine. Florida FM stations playlisted “Whip It” while Devo played 1-2k-seat theaters in Orlando (Great Southern Music Hall) and St. Petersburg (Bayfront Theatre).

During a three-city Texas trek, Devo made an in-store appearance at Zebra Records in Austin. Devo did a Northwest swing with shows in Seattle (8/12: The Shadowbox) and Portland (8/14: Paramount), followed by a California round that culminated with a three-nighter (Aug. 22–24) at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

“Whip It”

On August 6, 1980, Warner issued the now-popular “Whip It” as a single (b/w “Turn Around”). Mark Mothersbaugh based the video on a story he found in a 1962 issue of Dude magazine.

In the “Whip It” video, Devo (turtlenecks over mouth) perform at a canyon-side dude ranch (studio set), where the hostess and her assistant (a cross-eyed Asian girl) escort a female volunteer outside to stand motionless on the hay, where Mark (at the sound of each crack) whips away her garment layers, one by one, to the cheers of four young beer-drinking spectators. The visually impaired assistant points her gun at the crowd and shoots the beer can from the hand of one Stetson-hatted stud, who moves in for a makeout as his main girl cheers “Ride ’em cowboy.” In a play on words, the hostess whips up a bowl of whipping cream. Meanwhile, Mark whips the volunteer down to her girdle and stockings, then cracks a final (off-screen) whip as his bandmates stare in awe of the big reveal. Alan emerges from his drum kit and approaches the volunteer while the hostess shrugs “Oh, that Alan!”

As “Whip It” climbed the Billboard Hot 100, Devo performed a four-song set — “Freedom of Choice,” “Whip It,” “Snowball,” “Gates of Steel” — for the September 3 broadcast of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. On October 16, Devo performed “Whip It” and “Snowball” on The Merv Griffin Show. On November 7, as the single neared its peak, Devo performed “Whip It” and “Uncontrollable Urge” on Fridays.

“Whip It” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and No. 14 on the Hot 100. The single peaked at No. 11 in Canada and New Zealand.

Freedom of Choice reached No. 22 on the US Billboard 200 and later certified Platinum. Abroad, the album reached No. 5 in Australia, No. 9 in New Zealand, and No. 47 on the UK Album Chart.

1981

Devo appear as Dove (the Band of Love) in Pray TV (aka KGOD), a 1981 comedy satire on televangelism starring Dabney Coleman.

In March, Warner issued Dev-o Live, a mini-album with six songs from their Freedom of Choice tour, sourced from their show on August 16, 1980, at the Fox Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The EP includes renditions of “Be Stiff” and five FoC numbers: “Whip It,” “Girl U Want,” “Gates of Steel,” “Planet Earth,” and the album’s title track, here called the “Freedom of Choice Theme Song.” Dev-o Live reached No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report.

New Traditionalists

Devo released their fourth album, New Traditionalists, on September 16, 1981, on Warner (North America, Oceania) and Virgin (UK, Europe).

The album contains nine songs co-written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, including the singles “Beautiful World,” “Love Without Anger,” and the noted deep cuts “Jerkin’ Back ‘n’ Forth,” “Race of Doom,” and “The Super Thing.” They co-wrote the closing track, “Enough Said,” with General Boy (aka Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr.)

Bob Mothersbaugh co-wrote “Through Being Cool,” a popular early MTV staple. Mark lone-wrote “Pity You,” an ominous track about a subject’s cycle of dependence.

Musically, the album continues the synthpop trend of Freedom of Choice with de-emphasized rhythmic tracks, intensified socio-political lyrics, and increased use of electronic drums. The title came from the Japanese New Traditionalists party. Devo adopted the party’s name (but not their politics) to signal their desire for new traditions in place of old conventions. This was their first self-produced effort.

A1. “Through Being Cool” (3:11)
A2. “Jerkin’ Back ‘n’ Forth” (3:01)
A3. “Pity You” (2:43)
A4. “Soft Things” (3:24)
A5. “Going Under” (3:26)

B1. “Race of Doom” (3:41)
B2. “Love Without Anger” (2:34)
B3. “The Super Thing” (4:19)
B4. “Beautiful World” (3:33)
B5. “Enough Said” (3:27)

Sessions spanned December 1980 through April 1981 at the Power Station in New York, where Devo self-produced the album on 2″ tape, newly manufactured by digital-audio pioneers 3M Mincom. However, rapid disintegration along the tape edges forced Devo to digitize most tracks (everything barring “The Super Thing” and the two side-closers) through reel-to-reel transfer. Mixdowns occurred at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.

Power Station staffer Larry Alexander engineered New Traditionalists in sequence with 1981 albums by Balance, Diana Ross, and Mass Production.

New Traditionalists sports graphics by Richard Seireeni, whose use of bold color and shapes graces 1980/81 covers for Funkadelic (The Electric Spanking of War Babies), Rose Royce (Jump Street), and Scott Wilk + The Walls. Devo stand to attention (sides-to-lens) in black-sleeve blue shirts with “New Traditionalists” arm badges above an astronaut icon. They modelled their black plastic pompadours on John F. Kennedy (not Ronald Reagan, as commonly assumed).

Virgin copies use an alternate pic from the same photoshoot, where four-fifths of Devo pose around the Roman columns in red ascots (over mouth) with Boogie Boy (Mark) to the left. The photographer, Moshe Brakha, made similar use of blue tints and angled subjects on covers for Auracle (Glider), G-Force, Lenny White (Streamline), Leo Sayer (Thunder In My Heart), The Ramones (Leave Home), Ray Kennedy (ST), Roderick Falconer (Victory In Rock City), and Sparks (No. 1 in Heaven).

Original copies included a catalog insert for Devo apparel and a 33″x22″ poster credited to the Church of the SubGenius, who depict Devo in a face-off with “ninnies” and “twits” with a topiary tree for each member. Warner copies came with a bonus 7″ of “Working in the Coal Mine,” Devo’s cover of the Lee Dorsey classic. The song also appeared as a standalone on Warner’s Full Moon division (b/w “Planet Earth”).

C. “Working in the Coal Mine” (2:48) was a 1966 hit for Dorsey, written by producer Allen Toussaint. Devo recorded the song for New Traditionalists but Warner blocked it from the tracklist. Between the album’s completion and release, Devo submitted the track to the makers of Heavy Metal, a 1981 sci-fi fantasy film tied to the namesake magazine. The song’s popularity on the soundtrack album made Warner reconsider Devo’s treatment of the Dorsey classic.

Warner lifted “Beautiful World” as the album’s first proper single (b/w “Enough Said”). They also issued “Beautiful World” as a limited-edition shaped picture disc of the astronaut head illustration (b/w “Nu-Tra Speaks (New Traditionalist Man)”).

Devo performed “Jerkin’ Back ‘n’ Forth” and “Through Being Cool” on the October 9 episode of Fridays. They also performed “Jerkin’ Back ‘n’ Forth” on The Merv Griffin Show.

In January 1982, “Jerkin’ Back ‘n’ Forth” became the second US single, backed with the non-album “Mecha-Mania Boy.” In March, Warner issued a ‘dance velocity’ remix of “Through Being Cool” (b/w “Going Under”).

New Traditionalists reached No. 3 in Australia, No. 6 in New Zealand, No. 23 in the US, and No. 32 in Canada. Devo launched the promo tour on October 13 a the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Maryland. The 48-date North American tour included stops in Buffalo (10/25: Shea’s Theatre), Toronto (10/26: Massey Hall), Atlanta (11/12: Fox Theatre), New Orleans (11/18: Saenger Theater), Austin (11/21: City Auditorium), Portland (11/27: Paramount), and nine dates in California, where the tour wrapped on December 20 at Bakersfield Civic Auditorium.

1982

On January 25, 1982, Devo launched a nine-date Oceanic tour at the Logan Campbell Centre in Auckland, New Zealand. The tour hit Wellington, Christchurch, and landed in Australia for shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, and two nights at Festival Hall in Melbourne, where Devo performed “Whip It” and “Workin’ In a Coal Mine” for the February 12 broadcast of Countdown, a weekly national music program. On February 22, Devo played Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena in Honolulu.

Devo served as backing musicians on Word of Mouth, the debut album by veteran choreographer Toni Basil. The album contains three Devo covers: “Space Girls,” “Be Stiff” (both pre-Warner demos), and “You Gotta Problem” (a re-titled “Pity You”). Word of Mouth spawned a US No. 1 hit with “Mickey,” a cover of the 1979 Racey song “Kitty.”

In August, Neil Young’s long-delayed comedy film Human Highway appeared in select theaters. Devo appear in red radiation suits as “nuclear garbagemen.” They perform an updated “Worried Man Blues,” a folk traditional popularized in 1930 by the Carter Family. Young incorporated Devo influences on his 1982 album Tranz, noted for its cybernetic, vocoderized single “Sample and Hold.”

For their next album, Devo teamed with English producer Roy Thomas Baker, a former Queen soundman who just completed a four-album run with The Cars.

Oh, No! It’s Devo

Devo released their fifth album, Oh, No! It’s Devo, on October 27, 1982, on Warner.

The album contains nine co-written songs by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, including “Out of Sync,” “Explosions,” “Big Mess,” and the singles “That’s Good” and “Peek-a-boo!” On the penultimate “I Desire,” they lift a poem by attempted Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr., suffixed with a critical third verse. “Big Mess” quotes letters adressed to a gameshow host by a stalker named ‘Cowboy Kim.’

Mark lone-wrote “Speed Racer,” a reference to the Sixties Japanese manga series. The closing “Deep Sleep” features backing vocals by Annerose Bücklers, a Barnes & Barnes sidewoman.

Musically, Oh, No! It’s Devo continues the electro-pop approach of New Traditionalists but substitutes socio-political themes with humor and novel sound effects. The title comes from an oft-heard reaction whenever news broke of an impending Devo release. As a band described by naysayers as “clowns” and “fascists,” they sought to answer “what would a record by fascist clowns sound like?“

A1. “Time Out for Fun” (2:48)
A2. “Peek-a-boo!” (3:01)
A3. “Out of Sync” (3:34)
A4. “Explosions” (3:01)
A5. “That’s Good” (3:23)

B1. “Patterns” (2:57)
B2. “Big Mess” (2:42)
B3. “Speed Racer” (2:38)
B4. “What I Must Do” (2:34)
B5. “I Desire” (3:13)
B6. “Deep Sleep” (3:24)

Sessions spanned May to September 1982 at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood, where Roy Thomas Baker produced Oh, No! It’s Devo between titles by Cheap Trick and Espionage. The latter shared Devo’s current engineer, Gordon Fordyce, a soundman on 1981/82 albums by Afraid of Mice, The Boomtown Rats, Hazel O’Connor, Lene Lovich, and Linx.

Richard Seireeni designed the Oh, No! It’s Devo cover, where Mark holds a photo of the band as spud boys, a Devo archetype immortalized beforehand in “Smart Patrol.” Devo wore the “spud ring” collars with black sleeveless shirts and matching slacks on their subsequent tout.

Warner lifted “Peek-A-Boo!” as the lead single, backed with “Find Out,” a Mark/Gerald outtake from the Baker sessions. In late November, “That’s Good” became the second single (b/w “What I Must Do”). Devo perform “That’s Good” in the ninth episode of the CBS teen sitcom Square Pegs (aired November 29, 1982).

On October 30, Devo launched the Oh, No! It’s Devo tour at the Warner Beverly Hills Theater, supported by Wall of Voodoo. The filmed event used computerized moving lights and a 12-foot video screen with animated clips for each song. The concert, dubbed “3-DEVO,” was transmitted in 3-D at campuses across the US.

The 22-date tour included stops in Detroit (11/6: Fox Theatre), Washington DC (11/17: Warner Theatre), and New York City, where Devo performed “That’s Good” on Late Night with David Letterman and played two nights (Nov. 19–20) at the Palladium. After a Southern swing that hit Miami (11/27: Maurice Gusman Cultural Center) and Tulsa (12/5: The Old Lady On Brady), Devo headed West through Boulder (12/7: Macky Auditorium) and Universal City, California, where they Devo performed two nights (Dec. 10–11) at the Universal Ampitheatre. Devo performed another two-nighter (Dec. 21–22) in Portland at the Paramount Theatre. On December 31, Devo finished the tour at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco.

1983–84

Devo recorded two Mark/Gerald songs, “Theme from Doctor Detroit” and “Luv-Luv,” for the soundtrack to Doctor Detroit, a 1983 comedy film starring Dan Aykroyd and Howard Hesseman.

Archival Material

Hardcore Devo, Vol. 1: 74-77

1. “Mechanical Man” (4:23) – Mark Mothersbaugh, 1975
2. “Auto Modown” (2:01) – Gerald Casale, 1975
3. “Space Girl Blues” (1:52) – G. Casale, 1975
4. “Social Fools” (3:41) – G. Casale, 1975
5. “Soo Bawlz” (2:43) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1976
6. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (3:00) – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, 1977
7. “Jocko Homo” (2:56) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1974
8. “Golden Energy” (2:32) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1976
9. “Buttered Beauties” (3:38) – M. Mothersbaugh, G. Casale, 1974
10. “Midget” (2:41) – Bob Mothersbaugh, G. Casale, 1976
11. “I’m a Potato” (2:38) – Bob Casale, G. Casale, 1974
12. “Uglatto” (2:00) – G. Casale, 1976
13. “Stop Look and Listen” (2:33) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1976
14. “Ono” (2:46) – M. Mothersbaugh, G. Casale, 1974
15. “Mongoloid” (3:34) – G. Casale, 1977

Hardcore Devo, Vol. 2: 1974-1977

1. “Booji Boy’s Funeral” (3:59) – Mark Mothersbaugh, 1977
2. “Can U Take It?” (3:00) – Gerald Casale 1974
3. “Bamboo Bimbo” (3:16) – G. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh, 1975
4. “A Plan for U” (3:11) – G. Casale, 1974
5. “The Rope Song” (3:21) – G. Casale, Bob Lewis, 1974
6. “Goo Goo Itch” (2:17) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1976
7. “Be Stiff” (3:19) – G. Casale, Lewis, 1974
8. “All of Us” (4:53) – G. Casale 1974
9. “Baby Talkin’ Bitches” (2:25) – G. Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, 1975
10. “I Need a Chick” (2:51) – G. Casale, Peter Gregg, 1974
11. “U Got Me Bugged” (2:45) – M. Mothersbaugh 1975
12. “Chango” (3:10) – G. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh, 1975
13. “Fraulein” (3:06) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1975
14. “Dogs of Democracy” (3:25) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1976
15. “37” (2:57) – G. Casale, B. Mothersbaugh, 1975
16. “Bottled Up” (2:21) – G. Casale, 1976
17. “Working in the Coal Mine” (3:13) – Allen Toussaint, 1977
18. “I Been Refused” (3:32) – G. Casale, 1974
19. “Fountain of Filth” (3:09) – G. Casale, Bob Casale, 1977
20. “Clockout” (3:09) – G. Casale, 1976
21. “Let’s Go” (2:42) – M. Mothersbaugh, 1977

22. “Man from the Past” (3:22) – G. Casale, 1974
23. “Doghouse Doghouse” (2:40) – G. Casale, 1974
24. “Hubert House” (1:50) – G. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh, 1975
25. “Shimmy Shake” (2:57) – B. Mothersbaugh, 1975

Discography: