Devo

Since 1973 · United States

Devo formed in Kent and Akron, Ohio, in 1973, art students led by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, built around a joke that wasn't quite one… Their story

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Who they shaped

Behind them, left to right: Brian Eno.

In front, left to right: Tortoise, Guided by Voices, Parquet Courts, Pulp, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Nirvana.

The bigger the face, the stronger the proof: they said it themselvesreporteda critic, or widely accepted

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! cover

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Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978)

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Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! turns rock into a nervous machine: choppy guitars, stiff robotic rhythms and Mark Mothersbaugh yelping like a man being rewired. "Gut Feeling" builds slowly from a chiming riff into a frantic rush, the band's tightest piece of tension and release. Brian Eno produced it, but the oddness is all theirs, down to a jerky, de-tuned cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". It's the record that showed new wave could be smart, funny and unsettling at once.

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Devo

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! · 1978

Devo formed in Kent and Akron, Ohio, in 1973, art students led by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, built around a joke that wasn't quite one: de-evolution, the idea that humanity was going backwards. They played twitchy, robotic rock in matching jumpsuits, and their 1978 debut, produced by Brian Eno, made them leaders of new wave.

"Whip It" became a hit in 1980, but the early records are the ones other bands kept learning from: Pulp played "Gut Feeling" among their first songs. Mothersbaugh went on to score films and television.