DEVO

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Henry D @Henry_Domke Aug 19, 2026 A good, upbeat look at how Devo came together, briefly flourished, and then declined. The fast pacing and frequent music worked well, but I wish the filmmakers had played some of the songs, especially their best-known hits, all the way through rather than limiting them to short snippets. See more chris P @RT24403110 May 3, 2026 Interesting, though super self-indulgent. It started off as a pretty interesting story, but devolved into a haranguing, bitter diatribe on society. The message is basically that they thought they were smarter than their fans. The constant fixating on "people didn't get us" and "we were too deep for regular people to understand" got tiring. They made a video for Whip It, their biggest hit, where cowboys are whipping the clothes off a woman, and they're perturbed that "dumb Americans" loved it. They wore shiny slick black hair wigs in the 80s, but were annoyed that people thought it was a nod to Reagan and not JFK. How tormented they are. Mothersbaugh brags about how later doing TV work, he'd slip political messages into kids programming. He seems like a pathetic and sad soul. After a couple hours of hearing how smart they thought they were, and how much they resent their own country and especially, American Christians, I wondered why I ever bought their stupid schtick. See more stephen b @RT02381805 Jan 19, 2026 It's a beautiful documentary. See more Brent H @BrentMHinson Oct 29, 2025 Like many people my age, I discovered DEVO through their early MTV videos, including "Whip It" and their cover of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction". Being a young kid, I think I was drawn into their offbeat and unconventional style. Beyond that, I think I've always seen DEVO as this quirky novelty band. As director Chris Smith's documentary illustrates, DEVO was a band well ahead of its time. As students attending Kent State University during the time when four students were shot dead by Ohio National Guardsmen, it was fascinating to discover how much that event influenced the overall mindset of the group, not just as musicians but as artists with a calculated vision. As bleak and horrific as the Kent State massacre was, it became the catalyst that would spark the devolution movement in the mind of Jerry Casale, who was a student at the University at the time. The idea that society as a whole was somehow regressing resonated with two other Kent students, Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Lewis. It was fascinating to see how the members originally started as an avant-garde art project that eventually morphed into a band. DEVO's music highlighted the absurdities of humanity with grim lyrics that were, more often than not, completely misunderstood. The sad fact is that when DEVO became successful, their message was lost on the masses, who saw them as five quirky guys in weird outfits. I'll be the first to admit that I thought the idea of devolution was a comical novelty. The older I get, the more I recognize that the idea is more real than conceptual. One of the best segments revolves around DEVO's relationship with MTV. The band started making videos for their music long before MTV hit the air in 1981. As a 24/7 music channel, MTV needed content to fill its schedule, so it used a lot of those early videos DEVO made after initially forming. However, as MTV increased in popularity, it no longer had a place for the music the band was producing, thereby providing further evidence behind the devolution idea. A somewhat fitting irony. I turned on this documentary not expecting to walk away with a greater appreciation for DEVO as musicians, artists, and intellectuals, but that's precisely what happened. See more Steven t @SST609 Oct 24, 2025 Fun and very entertaining. See more Chris H @RT60525826 Sep 16, 2025 Endlessly interesting and the members of the band are engaging and articulate. I considered myself a fan and have owned several records, but I was mortified to learn from this documentary that they meant it all - I thought the de-evolution thing was a joke. I'd never seen any of their videos, never seen them interviewed and didn't know they had been triggered by the Kent State shootings. This really shed new light on everything. Guys, I apologise. The band themselves mention that they became part of what they were satirising; maybe they still are, as Mark Mothersbaugh is writing music for big budget films. Do we care though? In a word, no; it was inevitable. See more Read all reviews

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