Devo

Devo is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio. Formed in 1973, it includes members from Kent and Akron. The classical formation includes two duos of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), accompanied by Alan Myers. The group reached the 14> Billboard spot with the cult single Whip It.

Formed in 1972, Devo's original inspiration is Oscar Kiss Maerth's The Strange Birth of the Human: a pseudo-scientific anthropological thesis that attributes the advent of man to an accident caused by cannibal and crazy sex monkeys who have developed tools to sexually exploit one another and feed each other's brains. This metaphor goes through Devo's work as an abstraction of modern society.

The core of the band is Mark Mothersbaugh, vocals and synthesizer, and Gerald V. (Gerry) Casale, band bassist and lead vocalist. The first 1972 band included Gerald Casale (bass), Mark Mothersbaugh (keyboards), Bob Lewis (lead guitar), Bob Casale (rhythm guitar), Rod Reisman (drums), and Fred Weber (vocals). Bob Mothersbaugh (lead guitar) and Jim Mothersbaugh (drums) were added to later versions of the band.

The advent of Devo comes in 1976 when their short film The Truth About De-Evolution wins an award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival; Iggy Pop and David Bowie see them there and support them to get a record deal with Warner Bros. Records. At that time, Alan Myers replaced Jim Mothersbaugh on drums. After Bowie's departure because of previous engagements, their first album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! whose title takes up the lyrics of the main track Jocko Homo, produced by Brian Eno, which includes a radical revival of (I Can not Get No) Satisfaction of the Rolling Stones and the controversial title Mongoloid. On December 17, 1978, they perform these songs dressed in yellow suits on the stage of the Empire theater in Paris, in the rock show Chorus of Antoine de Caunes>. The same year, Lewis won a lawsuit against the group for the theft of intellectual property.