In 1990, Devo had struck a deal with Rykodisc to release collections of Devo's early recordings and demos. The first of these collections was Hardcore Devo, Vol. 1: 74-77, chronicling the period before Devo's first recording contract. The recordings are raw, mostly recorded in basements and their bunker behind an Akron, Ohio car wash. They show a different side of Devo than the world saw on Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!. Devo is not afraid to get raw and raunchy. Volume 1, however, contains mostly more "normal" recordings.
Some of these tracks would later be re-recorded and become Devo staples. The version of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction that appears here is from Devo's second single. Jocko Homo appears in the incarnation from The Truth About De-Evolution short film. Mongoloid appears in the form recorded as the B-Side of Devo's first single. Also, both Social Fools and Soo Bawls would be re-recorded as B-Sides for later singles. Mechanical Man also appeared on the soundtrack to Devo's computer game Devo Presents: Adventures Of The Smart Patrol. Many of the tracks were unavaliable in a legit form, only as bootlegs.
Hardcore Devo Volume 1 was first released in France on A&M Records with an elaborate digipak case. The cover was a still image from The Truth About De-Evolution. This version combines the songs Auto Modown and Space Girl Blues into one track. The album was then released on Rykodisc in a standard jewel case. (Some pressings were distrubuted in a green Rykodisc jewel case.) The cover for the Rykodisc version is a photo of Devo as a quartet, wearing fake breasts and 3-D glasses, with a woman in a full body condom lies on the floor. Both versions of the album are now long out of print.
Tracklist:
- Mechanical Man
- Auto Modown
- Space Girl Blues
- Social Fools
- Soo Bawls
- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
- Jocko Homo
- Golden Energy
- Buttered Beauties
- Midget
- I'm A Potato
- Uglatto
- Stop, Look, and Listen
- Ono
- Mongoloid