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Excellent unedited DEVO interview from ‘Night Flight,’ 1981
12.14.2016
10:33 am
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Dangerous Minds has written a bunch about the USA cable network’s transcendentally great Night Flight, an weekend overnight programming block that aired in the ‘80s, and which can justly claim credit for warping a lot of young minds and giving budding mutants a lot of places to start looking for suitably outré cultural produce. In the 21st Century, that show has morphed into a streaming video channel and a website not terribly unlike…Dangerous Minds. (Hardly a surprise, that, as our pooh-bah Richard Metzger once told The New Yorker that DM was partly inspired by Night Flight. And the log keeps rolling…) The programming was completely freeform and anarchic, and strongly bent towards the celebration of creativity and strangeness, especially via underground music and film—television had never been like that before, and never was again.

A highlight of every Night Flight broadcast was its “Take Off” segments—collections of music videos organized by a unifying theme, and supplemented with interviews and other informational content to flesh out the subject. I’m unable to find the “Take Off” segment that included this DEVO footage—it appears to have been scrubbed from YouTube by Warner Bros on copyright grounds—but I kind of don’t care, because what follows is the entire unedited interview. It’s dated 1981, and the plastic JFK pompadours the band members are wearing support that date. That was the headgear that replaced their famous Energy Domes on their 1981 album New Traditionalists. The provenance of the footage doesn’t lead directly to Night Flight. For the first two years that show aired, the “Take Off” features were made by a production company called Videowest, and bits of the interview turned up in a few places, including this clip about commercialization and merchandising in rock, which may have even been a part of the “lost” segment in question—“Take Off to Merchandising” featuring DEVO sounds plausibly like it could have happened.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Ron Kretsch
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12.14.2016
10:33 am
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Christmas ornaments featuring Morrissey, Bowie, Adam Ant, Nick Cave, Siouxsie and more
11.30.2016
09:56 am
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This charming set of Christmas ornaments does a wonderful job of letting everyone in your circle know that you love St. Nick—and that the “Nick” in question is Nick Cave. Matthew Lineham designed them, and he’s done a wonderful job of working in “obscure Christmas memories and puns,” as he put it.

Many of his “obscure” references involve network Christmas programming from many decades ago. Siouxsie Sioux is transformed into Cindy Lou Who, the little girl from Whoville in Dr. Seuss’ classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Morrissey plays the part of “Snow Mozzer” and “Heat Mozzer,” the memorable characters from the 1974 stop-motion animated Christmas TV special from Rankin/Bass, The Year Without a Santa Claus. Former Oingo Boingo frontman and soundtrack maestro Danny Elfman appears as “Elfman on the Shelfman,” a reference to the 2004 children’s book The Elf on the Shelf. Robert Smith is perched atop Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and DEVO‘s familiar energy dome is cleverly done up as a Christmas tree.

Lineham calls the set “A Very New Wave Christmas” but he has sensibly gone where the name-puns and name recognition will take him rather than obey strict genre definitions. Bowie and Cave might not be your idea of “new wave” icons but they were active in the early 1980s, at least.

You can buy the rubber die cut bendable ornaments for $10 a pop (“Mozzer” pair $15), or $50 for the entire set, a significant discount. However, due to the unexpectedly high demand, Lineham wants purchasers to be aware that any ornaments ordered today will be shipped “sometime between Dec 21st & 31st,” so don’t bank on them being available for this year’s tree—however, there’s always 2017, 2018, 2019, and beyond to think of. These seem unlikely to go out of style anytime soon.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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11.30.2016
09:56 am
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When DEVO met the Stranglers
10.28.2016
09:20 am
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The Stranglers took a short break in between Black and White and The Raven. While JJ Burnel worked on Euroman Cometh, Hugh Cornwell went to LA to record Nosferatu with Captain Beefheart’s drummer, Robert Williams. Cornwell writes that the album got its name from a series of late nights:

I was buying a lot of cocaine at the time and we were constantly leaving the studios at five in the morning and going to sleep as day was breaking. I think that had suggested the vampire connection to me, hence the album’s eventual title, Nosferatu.

There are famous guests all over Nosferatu: Ian Underwood of the Mothers plays synth on a few tracks, the Clash (credited as “various people”) sing backing vocals on “Puppets,” and Ian Dury turns up as “Duncan Poundcake” on “Wrong Way Round.” Cornwell and Williams co-wrote one song, “Rhythmic Itch,” with their brothersbaughs from other Mothersbaughs, DEVO’s Mark and Bob 1.

For the next two minutes, you’ll be listening to a song recorded in late ‘78 or early ‘79 by Mark Mothersbaugh (lead vocals and Prophet synthesizer), Bob Mothersbaugh (guitar and backing vocals), Hugh Cornwell (guitar), and Robert Williams (drums and bass marimba). Have fun in punk/new wave heaven, or hell, as the case may be.
 

Posted by Oliver Hall
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10.28.2016
09:20 am
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DEVO shills for Pioneer’s futuristic new LaserDisc format, 1984
10.10.2016
02:16 pm
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The early 1980s were such a heady time for personal entertainment technology. The Sony Walkman was introduced in the U.S. in 1980, the same time that VHS and Betamax found themselves embroiled in the canonical “format war” to determine control of the videotape market. Meanwhile, CDs were giving a geneation of Boomers a reason to buy Electric Ladyland a second time, and laserdiscs represented that slightly unwieldy and expensive format that was a “cut above” to signal the affluence and distinction of the serious cinephile.

Pioneer Electronics, having purchased a majority stake in the format, had ample reason to push the devices as well as the brand name LaserDisc. To that end, in 1984 Pioneer hired Ohio’s staunchest believers in “devolution,” known to all of course as DEVO, to appear in a 12-minute in-store demo disc touting the innumerable advantages of the laserdisc format.

The band appears wearing tuxedos in a variety of colors and matching fright wigs, each creatively adorned with a single large googly eye and painted eyebrows guaranteeing a quizzical expression. (Surely DEVO is in the Fright Wig Hall of Fame by now?) After introducing themselves, DEVO quickly cedes the floor to Ray Charles, who testifies that the format certainly sounds good and (so he is assured) looks good as well. Blind pianist George Shearing joins him to double down on the gag.
 

Ray Charles, video entertainment expert
 
It’s a little depressing to hear, after Ray Charles delivers his spiel, Mark Mothersbaugh (of all people) intone the following copy: “Was that just advertising hype? Listen a minute, and let your own ears decide.” Sigh. Let’s hope they were all paid well for this.

The rest of the video consists mainly of clips pimping Pioneer’s laserdisc catalogue of that moment, including WarGames, Tootsie, Flashdance, Sophie’s Choice, The Wiz, Carlin at Carnegie, and so forth. Pioneer was proud of laserdisc’s improved audio playback, so popular music artists were a big part of the pitch—it’s a little funny to hear DEVO touting the virtues of Duran Duran and Sheena Easton, but am I imagining it or does Mothersbaugh give the phrase “the heat of Fleetwood Mac” extra ironic oomph?

More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Martin Schneider
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10.10.2016
02:16 pm
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One-of-a-kind Bowie-fied DEVO ‘Booji Boy’ mask being auctioned for charity
08.15.2016
03:27 pm
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Mark Mothersbaugh’s sister, Amy, recently posted an item to her Facebook page that may be of some interest to Dangerous Minds’ readers: a one-of-a-kind “Booji Stardust” mask, produced by SikRik Masks.

The mask is currently up for auction, with the bidding ending on Sunday, August 21st at 5:00 pm EDT.

The posting, originally put up by Rick Fisher of SikRik indicates that all proceeds from the sale of the mask will be donated to the Akron Children’s Hospital Free Care Fund. You can view the mask in person at the Studio 2091 Pop Art Show

The mask itself is more than just a “novelty mashup”—it pays homage to the close personal relationship between David Bowie and DEVO. Bowie was critical to the band getting their first record made and getting signed. Bowie came to one of DEVO’s early NYC shows, went on stage to introduce the band, and made the “outrageous claim” that he was going to produce DEVO in Tokyo. Bowie ended up hooking DEVO up with Brian Eno to produce their first album in Germany. According to Mark Mothersbaugh, Bowie and Eno paid for the band to get to Berlin and record the album, which was then shopped to labels.

Mothersbaugh also credits Bowie with introducing the band to sushi!
 

 
If you are interested in bidding on the one-of-a-kind “Booji Stardust” mask, you should be able to contact Amy Mothersbaugh or Rick Fisher at one of the above links.

Posted by Christopher Bickel
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08.15.2016
03:27 pm
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Debbie Harry dominates DEVO in the funny pages of Punk Magazine, 1978
06.08.2016
04:56 pm
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At the start of 1978 Blondie had released its self-titled debut album and was about to put out its sophomore follow-up Plastic Letters; the band’s masterpiece, Parallel Lines, would be recorded in the summer and released in the autumn. Meanwhile, Akron’s DEVO had been bouncing around with sublime creativity for several years, but their mind-blowing debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was still several months off.

Still, the two staples of smart American pop music were apparently well known enough even at that moment, such that PUNK magazine could feel it worthwhile to commission a silly comic strip involving the two bands, featuring photographs as the panels, as in the fumetti form often seen in Italy and also, as it happens, in frequent use by National Lampoon right around this time. 

The title of the strip was “Disposable DEVO,” and the plot was rife with the “devolutionary” concepts that DEVO’s own name made so famous.
 

 
The comic appeared in issue #12 of Punk Magazine, which came out in January 1978. Chris Stein took the photographs. In the strip “a malfunctioning android cleaning lady” played by Debbie Harry attempts to sweep away a pile of humanoid debris (i.e., DEVO) only to find, against all expectation, that the five identically outfitted “zeroids” are actually capable of feeling sensations (pain).

You can actually buy this issue for a mere $75 (it’s also available on Amazon for a bit less)—or read “Disposable DEVO below. (You can do both, too.)
 

 
via Post Punk Industrial
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
New Wave: Debbie Harry wanted to remake Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Alphaville’ with Robert Fripp
The Great DEVO Cat Listening Party of 2010

Posted by Martin Schneider
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06.08.2016
04:56 pm
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Admit it, you want to hear what stoner metal masters Fu Manchu did with DEVO’s ‘Freedom of Choice’
05.25.2016
01:30 pm
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Orange County isn’t known for exporting cultural phenomena that DM readers love—or should love—but damned if stoner rock band Fu Manchu doesn’t belong on at the top of that short list.

Fu Manchu has been plugging away since the early 1990s, having churned out 11 memorable albums from 1994 onward. Their best album is probably 1997’s The Action Is Go—it clocked in at #26 on Metal Storm’s list of the “Top 100 Stoner Metal Albums”—but it’s the band’s 2000 release King of the Road that catches our interest today.
 

 
As Ned Raggett pointed out in his complimentary Allmusic review of the album, King of the Road may have seemed like just another stoner rock effort, but the album does cohere as an homage to van culture and the devil-may-care freedoms that are (by this time) practically synonymous with the advent of the automobile:
 

In as much as there’s a theme to King of the Road beyond the basics of driving, drugs, and that demon rock & roll, it’s driving—there’s a reason why the cover and internal art features a slew of great ‘70s-era photos from a massive van rally. The one shot of the fully leather-covered interior of one mobile love nest, complete with black curtains, about says it all. Then there’s the megachugging title track (“King of the road says you move too slow!”), “Hell on Wheels,” “Boogie Van,” and so forth—call it a concept album that doesn’t waste time with elves and yogis.

 
As the capper to the album, Fu Manchu reached back two decades for a particularly infectious anthem celebrating—if indeed it does—liberty American-style, to wit DEVO’s hit “Freedom of Choice,” which came off the Akron band’s terrific 1980 album of the same name.

The selection is all the more fitting when you realize that DEVO’s video for that song was every bit as much a tribute to skateboard culture as the cover of Fu Manchu’s The Action Is Go......
 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
DEVO ‘busking’ on French TV, 1980

Posted by Martin Schneider
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05.25.2016
01:30 pm
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Classic DEVO guitars recreated
05.09.2016
09:16 am
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The Eastwood guitar company and its subsidiary brand Airline Guitars have distinguished themselves in recent years by offering modernized re-creations of classic off-the-wall 60s instruments originally made by companies like Vox, Mosrite and National. A lot of them are extremely cool, and a lot of them are very, very easy to picture on fat middle-aged guys in panel shirts and department store fedoras. Your mileage may vary.

Lately, they’ve updated their design ethos to ideas from the late ’70, by exploring the weird guitars used by DEVO. They started the project last year by resurrecting the extremely rare La Baye 2X4 guitar famously used by the band in the video for their version of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” and the project continues with the “Be Stiff” bass and the “Whip It” guitar.

The original “Whip It” guitar was simply a regular Gibson Les Paul with its lower cutaway horn inverted by guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh, and is so named because it can be spotted in the video for “Whip It,” the band’s best-selling single and the song by which civilians still most readily identify them. The “Be Stiff” bass, seen prominently in DEVO’s segment of Urgh! A Music War, is harder to figure out, but it looks like a custom built body with a Gibson EB-3 neck (non-musicians: sorry for the full frontal nerdity here, we’ll get to a DEVO video soon enough, I swear), and it will be made available in a left-handed configuration to honor DEVO’s lefty bassist Jerry Casale. Both guitars’ production are contingent upon completing crowdfunding efforts, and the “Whip It” guitar has already surpassed its goal. The bass, as of this posting, is already 94% of the way there with almost a month left to go, so it seems likely to become a reality as well. And we can hope that Eastwood has plans to re-make Bob Mothersbaugh’s “Blue Potato” guitar.

Something for everybody after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Ron Kretsch
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05.09.2016
09:16 am
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Watch DEVO’s first-ever live performance at Kent State University, 1973
04.29.2016
09:10 am
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This clip of DEVO’s very first performance—so early in their career it predates the demo recordings that make up the Hardcore DEVO collections—surfaced on the laserdisc of The Complete Truth about De-Evolution 23 years ago. I assume it’s on the DVD, too, but I’ve only seen the laserdisc.
 

 
While the sleeve of The Complete Truth says this show happened in 1972, I’m convinced by the detailed notes at DEVO Live Guide, which date it to the Kent State University Creative Arts Festival on April 18, 1973. Billed as “Sextet DEVO,” founders Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, Bob Casale (RIP) and Bob Lewis were joined by short-term spuds Rod Reisman and Chas. Frederick Weber III. Jerry says the group performed at the invitation of poet Robert Bertholf:

It was not really a band. We just called it Sextet DEVO because I had been doing de-evolutionary art… Bob Lewis’ connection to Bertholf sealed our position in the lineup, and then he demanded that Fred [Weber] sing because Fred was a beautiful singer and none of us could sing right.

Without further ado, here’s D-E-V-O from O-H-I-O playing “Private Secretary.”
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy!’ The Residents’ first show as The Residents, 1976

Posted by Oliver Hall
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04.29.2016
09:10 am
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Amazing Venom, Motörhead, and DEVO masks!
04.18.2016
09:23 am
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SikRik Masks recently released a new full-head latex mask of the demon from the cover of Venom’sBlack Metal LP.

Black Metal was named the “68th best British album of all time” by Kerrang! readers, but, more importantly, was one of the primary influences on what was to become the infamous Norwegian Black Metal music scene. For me personally, when I was a young punk purist, Venom were one of the few metal bands that appealed to my “punk rock sensibilities”—probably because they were a bit more sloppy than virtuosic. And I’ve always been a sucker for fun cartoonish satanism. Anyway, Black Metal remains one of my favorite metal records to this day, and the latex representation of it’s cover done by SikRik is dead-on.
 

 

 
Motörhead and DEVO masks after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Christopher Bickel
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04.18.2016
09:23 am
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IT’S ALL DEVO! New video from devolution’s mutant mastermind Gerald Casale—a DM premiere
04.07.2016
09:19 am
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Gerald Casale famously began conceiving the “Theory of Devolution” after surviving the infamous May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings. Basically a misanthropic philosophy leavened with deadpan absurdist humor, the theory held that despite or because of (it probably doesn’t matter) the march of civilization and advances in technology, humanity was not evolving per the Darwin model, but was in fact collectively getting dumber, more primitive, and ultimately less fit for long-term survival, and that principle (and some very strange books) laid the foundation for Casale’s and his KSU partner-in-crime Mark Mothersbaugh’s band DEVO, who by the late ‘70s became emblematic of the New Wave.

Though DEVO have been only very intermittently active as a touring and releasing entity since 1990, Casale remains a steadfast believer in and promoter of the reality of devolution—and what sentient being possessing a modicum of attentiveness could look at this world and possibly disagree with him? While Mothersbaugh has enjoyed a long career scoring films, Casale has directed dozens of music videos and remained an off-the-map provocateur, spinning social commentary with brilliant conceits like DEVO 2.0 (and, sometimes, bafflingly tone-deaf outfits like Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers).
 

 
At last year’s annual “DEVOtional” fan convention, Casale expressed a wish for DEVO to reactivate—though the band has never officially broken up, it hasn’t done anything since a brief ten-date tour two years ago. He seems to have taken the reins on his own, though, as he’ll be releasing the single “It’s All DEVO” on April 16th. The physical release is a Record Store Day Exclusive, but the digital release will be available on the same day, without throngs of eBay flippers crowding you out of the bins. The song seems to be Casale’s way of underscoring his sustained belief in and critique of our infuriating march toward our own ruin via our embrace of idiot demagogues (guess who makes an appearance?) and our all-consuming consumerism.

The song and video are both collaborations with Italian artists—a musical assist was provided by the prolific Neapolitan duo The Phunk Investigation, and the video is credited to the wonderfully bonkers collage artist Max Papeschi (think Winston Smith with a brighter palette) and director Maurizio Temporin. Asked for comment, Casale offered this:

The video for “Its All DEVO” distills the current state of the world as we know it to be down to 3 plus minutes of a cartoon, technicolor nightmare. The transgressive juxtaposition of G-rated Americana, corporate malfeasance and totalitarian horror is as sweet as Kool Aid - thus easy on the Millennial mind and body. Working with the infamous Italian artist Max Papeschi was an exciting collaboration as satisfying as my early DEVO days.

The video is indeed a vivid brainfuck of DEVO references, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sight gags, and slams on consumer culture’s sacred cows, and it’s Dangerous Minds’ pleasure to debut that video for you today, after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Ron Kretsch
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04.07.2016
09:19 am
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Muzak to get Mutated to: E-Z Listening with DEVO
04.05.2016
04:33 pm
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Booji Boy, crooner?

There are fewer musical sub-genres considered so across the board lame as muzak. Even other questionable genres and sub-genres, like Christian rock or vanity albums (IE. a record made by Bruce Willis or Solo Cup heiress Dora Hall), have a fan base. Muzak, or as it was more quaintly known “elevator music”, were the instrumental nuggets associated with portals of American consumerist Hell. Elevators, waiting rooms, the dentist’s office, assorted department stores your parents or grandparents would shop at and being put on hold were just a few of the key places that one would be assaulted by the tepid, non-threatening notes of muzak. Whether it was something originally created to be as inoffensive as possible or golden hits and oldies watered down to a level of being barely recognizable pre-chewed, pre-digested musical pablum, it was a format that was inescapable by the mid to late 1970s. So who better to subvert arguably the most hated form of music in America and make it not only great, but mind-blowingly brilliant than the pioneers who got scalped themselves, than DEVO?

In 1981, the band behind the energy domes released two cassette tapes via their official fan club, the still-thriving and operating Club DEVO, featuring “muzak” versions of some of their better (and lesser) known songs. Whether you were a member or smart enough to purchase their then current New Traditionalists album which included an order form. The original description read as “Muzak versions of your favorite DEVO tunes performed by DEVO at a rare casual moment. Mutated versions of DEVO classics, “Whip It,” “Mongoloid,” and many others round out this limited edition collectors item.”
 
Original Cover Art for the Cassette release of E-Z Listening
 
These tracks were enough of a hot commodity among both DEVO fans and the curious alike to warrant bootlegs available both via vinyl (some of which are still warranting figures up to $200 online) and even apparently an 8-track tape. It was released to the general public in 1987 via a CD from Rykodisc, which combined both tapes. For a band that has built a legacy of coloring outside the lines and mixing commentary on the fallacies and foibles of American culture with sounds and images that are often surreal, this album is a strange artifact, even for the most hardcore spud.

More muzak from DEVO, after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Heather Drain
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04.05.2016
04:33 pm
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‘Shit happens: True Stories of People Shitting Their Pants’: This week it’s DEVO’s Jerry Casale
03.19.2016
12:11 pm
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Captain’s Log: In the latest installment of Shit Happens: A Webseries About Shitting Your Pants, DEVO’s Gerald Casale tells a charming tale of having an “uncontrollable urge” hit him at a rather inopportune time while he was touring with the group in their early days and when a water closet was just not handy.

I don’t want to spoil the fun, so you’ll just have to see for yourself if Jerry won that $100 prize.

I’ll sheepishly admit that this had me laughing—really hard—pretty much from the start. Shitting one’s pants… pinching a loaf.... negotiating the release of some Tootsie Roll hostages.... abandoning New Jersey.... taking one’s talents to South Beach... it’s a juvenile subject, sure, but still one that makes for a big steaming pile o’ laughs.

Directed & edited by Ryan Worsley. Produced by Emma Jones, Ryan Worsley & Peter Conheim
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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03.19.2016
12:11 pm
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How gumption, stick-to-itiveness, and Neil Young got DEVO on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1978
10.14.2015
08:57 am
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Today marks the anniversary of DEVO’s 1978 appearance on Saturday Night Live, which really put the band on the mainstream’s radar and set them on the road to becoming, for better or worse, actual rock stars. The few years immediately after punk were an indulgent period in which to be trailblazers, and DEVO certainly benefitted from that audience shift towards openness to new ideas, but while SNL was known for taking some artistic chances with their musical bookings, DEVO were not initially of any interest at all to the show’s producer Lorne Michaels, and it took some maneuvering to get them on.
 

 

Ad found on DevoObsesso

Last summer, at a DEVO public art unveiling in the band’s hometown of Akron, OH, bassist Jerry Casale spoke frankly about the behind-the-scenes machinations that finally got them the slot on SNL that they had so coveted:

We had been sending videotapes to Saturday Night Live since 1976, after we did the Truth About De-Evolution ten minute movie, and we thought “Dan Aykroyd will get us on the show, John Belushi’ll get us on the show!” And we kept sending it with letters, and I’m sure it just went in a trash bin. These people were big time, and I’m sure they were thinking “Who ARE these weirdos?” So it was me not wanting to take no for an answer, and I just kept it up.

When we were interviewing managers, and we met Elliott Roberts, who was Neil Young’s manager, he said two good things—“I don’t want a piece of your publishing,” and “I don’t want you to sign a deal, we’ll shake hands and you give me 30 days notice when you say it’s over and I’ll give you the same.” I said “That’s great, but there’s one thing you gotta do! You have to get us on Saturday Night Live, and you have to make them let us show a piece of our movie.” And he goes “Oh my GOD.”

And he did it, because he dangled Neil Young as bait, saying “You’ll take these guys, Lorne—Lorne did NOT care about DEVO—and we’ll get you Neil Young. And then he dropped the bomb about the film, and that was almost a deal breaker. But it all worked out, and we went from playing in from 200-300 people a night to 3,000-5,000 people a night. We had to stop the tour and re-book it after Saturday Night Live.

The band’s association with Neil Young continued to bear fruit, notably in the form of the 1982 film Human Highway. But here’s that SNL appearance, introduced by the episode’s host, Fred Willard, and shared by PB user jwdoom.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
DEVO becomes public art, streets of Akron, Ohio are overrun with Booji Boys
DEVO, Blondie, Talking Heads, Klaus Nomi on ‘20/20’ segment on New Wave, 1979
‘Satisfaction’ shootout: DEVO VS the Residents VS the Rolling Stones (spoiler: the Stones don’t win)

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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10.14.2015
08:57 am
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Sweet old-school pins featuring PiL, DEVO, Iggy Pop (and MORE!) from 70s and 80s
10.02.2015
10:56 am
Topics:
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Vintage 70s Devo flicker/flasher pin
Vintage 70s DEVO flicker/flasher pin
 
Of the many random things I remember about my youth, one of them was the excitement of visiting the merch table at a live show. Honestly, I’ve never really grown out of that pursuit, and seldom leave a gig empty-handed.

Like a lot of 70s and 80s kids, I was a HUGE fan of covering my trashy Levis or Baracuta jacket with badges, pins and patches. So I nearly lost my mind when I happened upon the vintage 70s DEVO “Flicker” pin (sometimes called a ” flasher” pin), above.
 
Nixon campaign flicker/flasher pin, late 1960s
Nixon campaign flicker/flasher pin, late 1960s
 
Flicker pins were big during the 60s - for instance, politicians running for office used flicker pins (see our pal, Tricky Dick above) to display not only an image of themselves, but also their message. Because when you tilt the pin, the image changes. So naturally, curiosity got the better of me and off I went in search of pins and badges from 40 years ago. Because, why not? And my search unearthed some pretty cool and fairly rare old-school swag.
 
Elvis Costello vintage mirror badge, 70s
Elvis Costello mirror badge, late 70s, early 80s
 
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop New Values  mirror badge style tour pin, 1979
 
In addition to the flicker pins, mirror badges were sort of like the crowning jewel when it came to pins (much like the enamel “clubman” style pins you probably remember ogling at Tower Records, or Spencer’s Gifts at the mall that put a giant hole in your clothes). Mirror badges were usually large and actually had a piece of glass placed on top of the image which made them rather heavy.

Vintage mirror badges are really hard to come by these days and believe it or not, sell for a good bit of cash. As do any vintage flicker pins or promotional buttons/badges/pins that were sold at live shows. Would you pay $54 bucks for a vintage 70s promotional flicker pin that was sold at a performance Alice Cooper did in Las Vegas at the Aladdin Hotel when he recorded his 1977 live album The Alice Cooper Show?
 
Alice Cooper 1977 promotional flicker/flasher pin
Alice Cooper 1977 promotional flicker/flasher pin
 
I know I’m not alone when I say, yes. Yes, I probably would. In case that seventeen-year-old kid inside you just said yes, too, pretty much everything in this post is out there somewhere for sale. Tons of images follow. I also included some vintage enamel clubman pins because I couldn’t help myself.
 
Public Image mirror badge, early 80s
Public Image mirror badge, late 70s, early 80s
 
Lene Lovich mirror badge, 80s
Lene Lovich mirror badge, 80s
 
More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.02.2015
10:56 am
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