In 1973, at Kent State's Creative Arts Festival, six men peformed a show that was the genesis of something that would change music as we knew it, but not for a while. The show was avant-garde performance art, and totally Devo. This was Sextet Devo, the germ of what would become Devo.
The Devo story really goes back to 1966, and the artistic machinations of Gerald V. Casale, and Bob Lewis. One of a group of artists at Kent State, Gerald Casale, and Bob Lewis played about with a theory concerning devolution, drawing upon varied external sources, including a religious pamphlet entitled Jocko Homo-Heavenbound! (which would be called Devo's Old Testament). They grouped up with Mark Mothersbaugh, and toyed with the artistic value of devolution. When National Guardsmen shot four students in 1970, Gerald Casale's joke theory became concrete. Devo become real. Three years later, Sextet Devo took the stage in front of a shocked and confused audience.
Over the next five years, Devo had a shift of lineup changes, dropping from a Sextet, to a quartet (mostly Mothersbaughs), then to a quintet. They honed their sound and visual identiy. They calmed the dissonance of their early shows into a slick synthesized rock & roll. They made films to provide their sounds with a visual element. Then, they signed to Warner Brothers, and that was truely the beginning of the end.
To tell the full story of Devo would take a book, two books, perhaps, as the one book that is out manages to compress Devo post 1980 into merely a few chapters. Neverless, it is an interesting read. Devo was more than a band, they were artists. They played with philosophy, and with sound. To think of Devo as just the guys who did Whip It, sells them far too short. Grab a copy of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, put it in your CD player, and listen. This is the important sound of things falling about.
We're all Devo!
Devo Discography of Major releases:
1978: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
1979: Duty Now For The Future
1980: Freedom Of Choice
1980: Dev-O Live
1981: New Traditionalists
1982: Oh, No! It's Devo!
1984: Shout
1987: E-Z Listening Disc
1988: Total Devo
1989: Now It Can Be Told: Devo At The Palace 12/9/88
1990: Smooth Noodle Maps
1991: Hardcore Devo Volume 1
1992: Hardcore Devo Volume 2
1992: Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years
1996: The Adventures Of The Smart Patrol (Soundtrack)
2000: Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology
2000: Recombo DNA
Devo Videography:
Music Videos:
1975 - The Truth About De-Evolution
1978 - Satisfaction
1978 - Come Back Jonee
1979 - Devo Corporate Anthem
1979 - The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise
1979 - Worried Man (Part of the film Human Highway)
1980 - Girl U Want
1980 - Freedom Of Choice
1980 - Whip It
1981 - Through Being Cool
1981 - Love Without Anger
1981 - Beautiful World
1982 - Time Out For Fun
1982 - Peek-A-Boo
1982 - That's Good
1983 - Theme From Doctor Detroit
1984 - Are You Experienced?
1988 - Disco Dancer
1990 - Post Post-Modern Man
1990 - Post Post-Modern Man (Rocky Schenk Remix)
1996 - That's What He Said
2001 - Go Monkey Go
Home Video:
1979 - The Men Who Make The Music
1985 - We're All Devo!
1993 - The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (Laserdisc)
2003 - The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (DVD)
2004 - Devo Live