Saw this a little while ago. It wowed me for reasons I have to explain a little.
Devo were one of the pivotal music video bands. They were doing film clips to go along with their songs about from when they started recording. And it was that generation of bands that convinced Viacom that a whole cable channel dedicated to music videos might be a viable enterprise.
The thing about videos is that it's easy to cheat. The band isn't really playing, the singer isn't really singing, and the whole thing can be edited for effect.
Their signature robotic moves would at first blush appear to be a product of this process. But the above clip is from live TV. They really are doing the whole stiff limb thing, which I can't imagine is very comfortable while playing guitar, say. Yet playing guitar etc. they are.
It's also worth remembering that in 1978 there was no "geek chic" as we know it, so this was just coming out of left field.
2 comments:
That was a real treat. Devo was an amazing band so it was neat to see their SNL performance again.
It may have been more than just a few years ago we got to see "The Complete Truth About De-Evolution", a collection of a number of their original videos up to the early 90s. It was gloriously silly. At least I'm pretty sure that was the one we saw but I'll have to check with the expert tomorrow. He did, btw, remind me to tell you about the wonderful Christmas album by Mark Mothersbaugh made in 2000 called "Joyeux Mutato".
You probably remember seeing the only piece of original artwork we own (by someone other than yours truly) is one of Mark Mothersbaugh's prints from his Beautiful Mutants collection - the baby holding a one eyed rabbit. I've told a couple of people it's Jer's baby picture and nobody has questioned it.
Before I forget again, I wanted to thank you for the link to the Matthew Crawford article about the corruption of science. It was an excellent essay.
I suspected both of you might enjoy it.
I do remember a little of their de-evolution quasi-documentary. It was obviously something of a low-budget affair, which I admire. Well really it's the vision and determination in making it that I admire. I like the Christmas music from Joyeux Mutato as well. "Bell Boy" (double meaning in title?) especially has me tapping my toes.
Thanks for reminding me of the Beautiful Mutants collection. Bit of manipulation there, obviously, but in the right light you could mistake them for pictures from an old Barmum show. The line about that being one of Jerry's baby pictures is pretty funny. Sometimes people don't question what you tell them, sometimes they don't want to.
The Crawford article is great because he has a feel for science and knows when something is wrong with it. A formulation I've heard a couple of times is, "When you mix science and politics, you get politics."
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