{"id":31097,"date":"2026-06-05T05:30:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=31097"},"modified":"2026-06-05T07:39:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:39:54","slug":"devos-duty-now-for-the-future-mutate-dont-stagnate-part-4-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/devos-duty-now-for-the-future-mutate-dont-stagnate-part-4-of-4\/","title":{"rendered":"DEVO\u2019s Duty Now for the Future: Mutate, Don\u2019t Stagnate (Part 4 of 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Three<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"DEVO has its Theory of Devolution. The Residents have their Theory of Obscurity. Very different groups, but both are examples of radically unique artists building their work upon a philosophy. And that\u2019s something that most bands don\u2019t do. Do you think of the Residents and DEVO as kindred spirits?<\/b><\/p>\n

Mark Mothersbaugh:<\/b> Oh, yeah. There are a lot of bands out there that are even farther away from us that I think of that [way]. Some of them that are close, like Der Plan and other bands in Germany. But even people like the B-52s in the sense that they were artists, and then they created something with a concept. Fred and the girls don\u2019t sound like any other band when they sing; they always hit their mark.<\/p>\n

We toured with them last year, and it was delightful. DEVO is kind of crotchety and cynical; we\u2019ve got that darker thing going. They\u2019re lighter and more carefree; somehow it was really complimentary, and I think the audiences really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

Kids now, they research stuff. They don\u2019t have to go to the record store and go find the box with other stuff in it. They can just go online and find things. And in the last few years, I\u2019ve noticed that kids [at concerts] are singing along with me. And I\u2019m like, \u201cThese kids! Their parents<\/i> were babies when I was writing this stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s possible that this is a time where kids and adults are getting the DEVO message more than they did first time around. The first time around, Warner Brothers [Records] didn\u2019t get it. I remember going into a marketing meeting for our first album. We\u2019re sitting at a table, and they go, \u201cOkay, here\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do. We\u2019re going to print life-size cutouts of you guys and put them in all the important record stores.\u201d And we asked, \u201cHow much will that cost?\u201d They said, \u201c$5,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Jerry said, \u201cCould we have that money to make a film for one of the songs?\u201d They just looked at us like, \u201cWhat would we do with that?\u201d They had no idea why we thought that was a good idea.<\/p>\n

We touched on this briefly at the beginning of our conversation. For a long time, the Kent State killings seemed \u2013 for those of us who weren\u2019t there, though I know you were \u2013 like something that was \u201cin the past.\u201d Recent events [ICE agents killing two Americans] make it clear that\u2019s not the case. I know a concert experience is supposed to be about having fun. Does DEVO get its social commentary across in its live performances? <\/b><\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s some of both. We\u2019re not beating people over the heads. De-evolution? We\u2019re just bringing it up and telling people, because some people will never give a hoot. And then some of them, they want to know. I think it\u2019s there in the message; songs like \u201cJocko Homo\u201d and others, it\u2019s kind of like, \u201cWhat the heck is that about?\u201d if you don\u2019t know the song.<\/p>\n

And even in the live show, we added footage that inspired us. Some of it was from the \u201830s, some from the \u201850s, in the middle of Yokohama. We show footage of Island of Lost Souls<\/i>. There\u2019s the mad scientist who\u2019s trying to do surgery on jungle animals to evolve them, but it doesn\u2019t quite work. And as Bela Lugosi says at one point, \u201cWe\u2019re not humans, we\u2019re not animals. We\u2019re things<\/i>!\u201d And then when they start getting all upset, the scientist cracks a whip and says, \u201cWhat is the law? Not to spill blood.\u201d And they all come to attention: \u201cAre we not men?\u201d I remember hearing that, and then seeing shadows of the half-animals trudging past the House of Pain, which is what they called his laboratory. And I was like, \u201cThat looks like 5 o\u2019 clock when work\u2019s out at Goodyear!\u201d And that inspired me for \u201cJocko Homo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first time you ever see the word \u201cdevo\u201d is in 1954, in the movie Inherit the Wind<\/i>. It\u2019s about the Scopes monkey trial, this court case where they\u2019re trying this teacher for teaching children evolution instead of the Bible. There\u2019s a scene where it\u2019s turned into a carnival. You hear carnival music, and a guy is pointing: There\u2019s a chimpanzee sitting on a counter. And behind him [a sign reads] \u201cThe Devolution Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this guy\u2019s going, \u201cLadies and gentlemen, is this an ancestor of yours? Is this possibly a relation?\u201d And as he\u2019s making fun of evolution, the camera comes in close and you see the monkey sitting and playing with a cigarette. And on one side of him it reads, \u201cDevo.\u201d And \u201clution\u201d is blocked by his body, so it reads \u201cDevo Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we put that up on the screen. People may not know what the movies are, but they\u2019re going, \u201cThat\u2019s old stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n

There are those people who in the last few years came up with their attacks on the immigrants: \u201cThey\u2019re eating the dogs, they\u2019re eating the cats!\u201d The same people who are making up those lies, made up the de-evolution lies back then. So when we first heard about de-evolution, we said, \u201cInstead of making fun of it, what if we talked about it like it was a reality?\u201d And that\u2019s where it came from.<\/p>\n

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