by Moe Zilla

Created on: January 28, 2008   Last Updated: January 29, 2008

Devo was a wonderfully strange band that began sharing dark visions about the future in the mid-1970s as one of the pioneers of "new wave" music.

In 1980 they released their most famous song, "Whip It," which even reached #14 on the singles chart. Ostensibly a pep talk about whipping problems, it's over-simple lyrics suggested the song hid a double meaning, though it also seems the band is just mocking motivational speeches. (One of its lyrics simply repeats the warning from a childhood playground rhyme: "Step on a crack, break your momma's back.") The song showcases the band's unique sound, since they used a relatively new "Minimoog" synthesizer (which even supplied electronic whip-cracking sounds) and an unusually fast percussion.

But everything about the band is unique, from the detachment of their vocals to the red flower pot-shaped "power dome" hats that they sometimes wear. Their big break had come in 1976 when they released an experimental film titled "In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution." It's based on a mock scientific theory which argues mankind had already reached its peak, and was now "devolving" back into apes. This theme has always allowed the band to highlight horrible things in the today's world that are accepted as part of the natural order.

Gerald Casale, one of the band's founders, had known two of the four students killed by America's national guard at a 1970 protest at Kent State University. In the decades to come the band would mockingly use slogans about loyalty and hard work as a way of expressing their cynical world view. (One of their albums is titled "Duty Now For The Future," and one of their more straightforward lyrics states that "It's a beautiful world. For you... But not for me.")

The band caught the attention of David Bowie, who'd been scheduled to producer their first album. (Though ultimately Bowie's place was taken by the legendary producer Brian Eno.) But throughout their career, they continued creating good music with provocative, cryptic lyrics. Part of the fun is the "mystique" in their songs, which hint at a dark and satirical worldview under it's oversimplified lyrics about hope and desire.

One of their strangest songs offered a ground-breaking and defining moment for the band on "Saturday Night Live." While playing mismatched chords and notes, the vocals bark out a series of short lines challenging the theory of evolution as "just wind in sails." It culminates by delivering the band's message of a dystopian future with a catchy but disturbing call-and-response.

"Are we not men?"

Instead of answering yes, the band chants back "We are Devo."

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.