DEVO"greatest hits" (1990)Where to begin. These guys were way ahead of their time. Born in 1973 in Akron, Ohio. The group was the brainchild of brothers Gerald and Bob Casale and Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh. There first big break came from playing multiple gigs at Kent University and several members of the band witnessed the 1970 shootings there.
But what really gave them there in was the fact that they videotaped and filmed every gig they did. They put together a short film called "The Complete Truth about De-evolution". The film was seen by the likes of David Bowie and Neal Young, getting them in the door at Warner Bros.
The bills got paid due to the mainsteam song "Whip it", which was played to death on all the top 40 radio stations. However, they had many great songs that were just ignored cuz they were just too weird. I think their best stuff came later. Here are two that I really like.
One can see that it was hard for the mainstream music exec's to take them seriously. They never did make music for the masses and I think they were better off. It was more of a cult following for sure.
All founding members are still working on other projects but they still get together now and then to do a show or two. And I think that's cool. The most successful "post Devo" were the Mothersbaugh brothers. With Mark in the lead they now write and record music for TV shows and movies. They have done all the tunes heard on PeeWee's Playhouse and the very popular Nickelodeon Rugrats cartoon. When I watched "Rugrats" with my kids I thought I heard a little Devo riff snuck in by the brothers here and there.
Good stuff.
2 Wadaya Think?:
Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy!
Nice!
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