{"id":7422,"date":"2025-08-18T15:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/7422\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T15:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:58:08","slug":"devo-discover-the-bands-misunderstood-genius-in-netflix-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/7422\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Devo’: Discover the band’s misunderstood genius in Netflix documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 You know the band Devo, right? The guys with the funny red plastic hats and jumpsuits? The New Wave<\/a> musicians behind the silly \u201cWhip It\u201d video?<\/a> They had that odd, spiky \u201880s vibe? Well, it turns out you may not know as much as you think.<\/p>\n

The new Netflix documentary \u201cDevo\u201d is an eye-opening examination of an Ohio-born art-rock band that argues they were perhaps the most misunderstood band on the face of the planet. It debuts on the streaming service Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trivialized and pigeonholed,\u201d co-founder Gerald Casale tells The Associated Press. \u201cThis documentary allows us to talk about what we were thinking and what we are motivated by to create what we created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directed by Chris Smith, \u201cDevo\u201d uses archival footage and interviews to trace the band\u2019s beginnings, rise and fall, with cameos from fans like David Bowie,<\/a> Iggy Pop and Neil Young.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018What we saw was regression\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

Bob Mothersbaugh, from left, Mark Mothersbaugh, Josh Hager, Gerald Casale from Devo attend the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP, File)<\/p>\n

Bob Mothersbaugh, from left, Mark Mothersbaugh, Josh Hager, Gerald Casale from Devo attend the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Devo introduced themselves to the world in 1977 by making a frenetic version of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cI Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction,\u201d which earned them a crucial slot on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/a> On stages, they would wriggle like worms or dress like the guys from \u201cGhostbusters.\u201d <\/p>\n

They released their Brian Eno-produced debut, \u201cQ: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!,\u201d in 1978 and reached platinum status with 1980\u2019s \u201cFreedom of Choice,\u201d which featured \u201cWhip It,\u201d a hit just as their label was getting ready to drop them. <\/p>\n

But behind the odd neck braces and knee pads were powerful art and literary ideas about where the country was going. They named themselves after the idea that modern society was entering a process of \u201cdevolution.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were seeing a world that was the antitheses of the idealized, promised future ginned up in the \u201950s and \u201960s.\u201d Casale says in the movie. \u201cWhat we saw was regression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nucleus of the band was formed from tragedy: Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh met at Kent State University, where they lived through the 1970 killing of four unarmed anti-war student protesters<\/a> by the National Guard.<\/p>\n

That tragedy forged in the pair an antiestablishment, anti-capitalist protest, mixing lofty art history with pop culture. They admired Dadaism and Andy Warhol. The factories of Akron inspired their gray overalls and clear plastic face masks \u2014 portraying cogs in a machine like in the art movie \u201cMetropolis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a meta-approach,\u201d Casale tells the AP. \u201cIt was a multimedia, big idea approach. Music was an element, a layer, a dimension, but it was connected to this big worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Whip It\u2019 video<\/p>\n

Part of Devo\u2019s strength was its visual component and their videos were drenched with political commentary. The upbeat \u201cBeautiful World\u201d<\/a> featured footage of police violence, the KKK and bombings, while \u201cFreedom of Choice\u201d warned against the dangers of conformity.<\/p>\n

The song \u201cWhip It\u201d was written after reading Thomas Pynchon\u2019s 760-page postmodern sci-fi tome \u201cGravity\u2019s Rainbow.\u201d The video<\/a> \u2014 featuring cowboys drinking beer, dangerous gunplay and assault \u2014 was actually mocking President Ronald Reagan and his macho brand of conservatism.<\/p>\n

Members of Devo \u2014 which also included Mark\u2019s brother, Bob,<\/a> Gerald\u2019s brother, Bob, and Alan Myers \u2014 performed on TV and chatted with talk show hosts like David Letterman<\/a> but their satire never seemed never to break through.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wanted to hear us talking about the duality of human nature and the dangers of groupthink and the atrophication of people being able to think logically and think critically,\u201d Casale says. \u201cIt was like, \u2018That\u2019s a bummer. Just tell us about drugs and sex.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A counterculture legacy<\/p>\n

Rock has always needed bands like Devo, a corrective to the corporate machine. You can see an echo of Devo when M.I.A. raised her middle finger<\/a> during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2012. The members of Devo cite such bands as Rage Against the Machine<\/a> and System of a Down<\/a> as keeping the flame alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing you can hope is that it will create an awareness and get rid of complacency, but it doesn\u2019t seem to have done that in the past,\u201d Mothersbaugh tells the AP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tried to be optimistic that devolution was something that was going to be corrected and that our message would be not necessary at this point, but unfortunately it\u2019s more real than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Devo, Casale directed music videos and commercials, while Mothersbaugh scored movies and TV shows such as \u201cPee-Wee\u2019s Playhouse,\u201d \u201cThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,\u201d \u201cRugrats\u201d and \u201cHello Tomorrow!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

There are signs of optimism when members of Devo play live these days. Mothersbaugh says he sees a lot of young people, who have used their smartphones to bypass media gatekeepers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a lot of people that look like us, with gray hair out there in the audience. But there\u2019s also, there\u2019s also a lot kids, which is kind of surprising to me, but I think it\u2019s only because they have this thing in their hand that they sometimes use to their advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devo are set to hit the road later this year in a co-headlining tour with the B-52\u2019s. The Cosmic De-Evolution Tour will kick off Sept. 24 in Toronto and wraps Nov. 2 in Houston.<\/p>\n

You may think of Devo as New Wave or early electronica or synth-pop. but they see themselves differently: \u201cWe were true punk, meaning we questioned illegitimate authority and we stayed in our own lane and did our thing, remaining true to our vision,\u201d says Casale. \u201cThat\u2019s punk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 You know the band Devo, right? The guys with the funny red plastic hats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[7559,7556,7555,7558,7557,7563,7562,7560,18,117,3334,7552,19,7553,17,7550,327,337,7551,7554,7008,7561,4077],"class_list":{"0":"post-7422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-alan-myers","9":"tag-andy-warhol","10":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","11":"tag-associated-press","12":"tag-brian-eno","13":"tag-chris-smith","14":"tag-david-bowie","15":"tag-david-letterman","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-gerald-casale","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-iggy-pop","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-mark-mothersbaugh","24":"tag-movies","25":"tag-music","26":"tag-neil-young","27":"tag-oh-state-wire","28":"tag-ohio","29":"tag-thomas-pynchon","30":"tag-u-s-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}