Robert Casale (Bob 2) born: July 14th, 1952 deceased: February 17th, 2014. He passed unexpectedly of heart failure. Bob is survived by his son, Alex, his daughter Samantha, and his wife Lisa.
I was saddened to here of Bob's passing. Other than benefit show or 2 it means that is also the end of Devo. I was introduced to Devo about a year after the release of the album Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo! and have been a fan ever since. They sounded different and looked different. I was immediately taken in by both. They found their biggest commercial success 2 years later with the release of the album Freedom of Choice that included the commercially success song Whip It.
Devo came together in 1972 when two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob) along with Alan Myers while they were all art students at Kent State University. The name Devo came from their concept of "de-evolution" - the idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind has actually begun to regress, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.
These guys were always ahead of their time with their combination of unique music and visual arts. In the early years they started experimenting with synthesizers that they made themselves and homemade electronic drums. They created reoccurring characters like "Booji Boy" pronounced "Boogie Boy" and The Chinaman. The early concerts often became so rowdy that they had the promoters unplugging their instruments and paying them to quit.
Here is one of their early videos for the song Come back Johnee (this is prior to MTV). Also keep in this was when the music charts were dominated by The Bee Gees, The Commodores and the soundtrack from the movie Grease.
The video from the same album (Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo!) covering the Rolling Stones song Satisfaction was the first music video I had seen of them and it was the first music video I had ever seen. Again this video was before MTV was even existed.
While in Junior High and High School Devo remained one of my favorite bands. As they evolved they went to electronic only with their instruments. The videos became very polished as the "New Wave" era of music was in full swing. They never reached the same level of success as the "Freedom of Choice" album. Their popularity slowly faded away. In 1990 they released "Smooth Noodle Maps" and it was least successful of their albums and they ended up breaking up in 1991. Below is a video from the "Oh, no! it's DEVO!" album.
After a 20 year hiatus Devo released a brand new album "Something for Everybody". I was skeptical at first that this was just a quick "cash grab" and the album would suck. Not the case at all. They managed to capture the same creative quirkiness that I have always enjoyed about them. They sounded older but very much still Devo. From the "Something for Everybody" was the last video made with the whole band.
Devo is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and likely won't be. They did not have enough "hit" songs. However, the volume of bands and musicians that cite Devo as a source of influence is huge. It is the end of an era but they have a strong following will continue to have an impact on the music and visual arts. Intersted in more Devo? Go to their website at http://clubdevo.com/index.php. Thanks for the music and the creativity guys. You will be missed.
Until next time.
Nano Nano,
-Brent
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