Devo | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Proving that America's most engaging and original artists do not have to come from culture industry hubs like New York and Los Angeles, Ohio's Devo crawled out of the Midwest industrial city of Akron to become one of the most well-known conceptual-art-rock outfits of the late twentieth century. Formed in 1972 by a pair of offbeat art student brothers and their drummer friend, Devo began making soundtracks for short films such as The Truth About De-evolution. Over the course of the 1970s, the group went from being an obscure Midwest oddity to, for a brief moment, one of New Wave's most popular exports. While Devo did adopt a more accessible sound at their commercial peak, they never toned down the "weirdness factor," something that may have alienated mainstream audiences once they ran out of ultra-catchy songs.

Devo was formed by brothers Jerry and Bob Casale (bass and guitar, respectively) and Mark, Jim, and Bob Mothersbaugh (vocals,drums, and lead guitar, respectively—Alan Myers replaced Jim Mothersbaugh early in Devo's career). The name Devo is derived from their guiding conceptual principle, "de-evolution." As a concept, "de-evolution" is based on the notion that, rather than evolving, human beings are actually de-volving—and the proof is manifested in the myriad of social problems of the late twentieth century that, from Devo's point of view, are the result of a conformist American ideology that renders its population mindless clones. "De-evolution" was derived from a crackpot text the brothers found entitled The Beginning Was the End: Knowledge Can Be Eaten, which maintained that humans are the evolutionary result of a race of mutant brain-eating apes.

Part joke, part art project, part serious social commentary, Devo went on to make the short film, The Truth About De-evolution, which won a prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1976, garnering them significant—though small scale—attention. This helped push the band to move to Los Angeles, where Devo gained even more attention as a bizarre live act which, in turn, led to a hit British single on the Stiff label and, soon after, an American contract with Warner Brothers Records. Between the band's formation and its Brian Eno-produced debut album in 1978, the band recorded a number of tracks on a basement four track recording studio; many of these songs were documented on Rykodisc's two volume Hardcore Devo series. These unearthed songs showcase a band that, with the exception of the artyweirdos the Residents, created music without precedent. At a time dominated by prog-rock bands, disco acts, and straightforward pop/rock, Devo was crafting brief, intense bursts of proto-punk noise that fused electronic instruments, rock 'n' roll fervor, and ironic detachment.

The Brian Eno-produced Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! announced to the world their de-evolution philosophy, and sold respectfully, though not spectacularly. Sonically speaking, the group's second album, Duty Now for the Future, matched Devo's conceptual weirdness to the point that it was their most challenging album. Their breakthrough came with the ironically titled Freedom of Choice, where the group adopted a more New Wave synth-pop sound that did not reduce Devo's musical punch, it just made them more accessible to a wider audience. The success of "Whip It," the group's sole Top 40 hit, was in part due to their edgy video, making them one of the fewAmerican groups to embrace music videos during the early stages of MTV (Music Television).

Devo's popularity and artistic quality steadily dropped off with their release of New Traditionalists, Oh, No! It's Devo, and Shout, all of which replace the playful quirkiness of their earlier albums with a more heavy-handed rendering of their philosophy (which may have been a reaction to their brief popularity). During the mid-1980s when Devo was largely inactive, Mark Mothersbaugh made a name for himself as a soundtrack producer on the demented Pee-Wee Herman Saturday morning live action vehicle Pee-Wee's Playhouse, which led to numerous other scoring jobs. In 1988 Devo returned with Total Devo on the indie label Enigma, which did not restore anyone's faith in this band's relevance. They followed that album with an even less worthwhile effort, the live Now it Can Be Told. Still, they were able to produce a few decent songs, such as "Post-Post-Modern Man" from their 1990 album Smooth Noodle Maps. In 1996, Devo released a CDRom and soundtrack album, Adventures of the Smart Patrol, and played a few dates for the Alternative music festival, Lollapalooza.

Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the People in Music, Vol. 13.Detroit, Gale, 1995.

Heylin, Clinton. From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World. New York, Penguin, 1993.

This is the complete article, containing 762 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).