Still whipping it good, Devo looks back on 50 years via a new Sundance documentary
With their yellow radiation suits, red “energy dome” hats and manic energy, part playful and part angry, the band Devo combined the futuristic glamour of new wave with atomic-age anxieties and post-’60s disillusionment. Its biggest hit, 1980’s “Whip It,” injected subversive satire straight into the heart of the American cultural mainstream.
A definitive new documentary about the group, “Devo,” had its world premiere at Sundance over the weekend. The film is directed by Chris Smith, whose prior work, including “American Movie,” “Tiger King” and “Sr.,” makes him no stranger to the worlds of eccentrics and oddballs.
Devo celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. The band first emerged from Ohio, formed by two sets of brothers — Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale and Bob Casale — plus eventual drummer Alan Myers. Their debut album, 1978’s “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” was produced by Brian Eno and featured a deconstructed cover version of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” From the very beginning (and presciently), they intertwined their music with film and video — much of it now restored and soon to be celebrated at the Museum of Modern Art.
Uniquely, the band developed a fully formed, intricate internal philosophy and mythology built around the idea that humans were
