There has only ever been one Devo — and there will likely never be another. The new wave band best known for their 1980 megahit “Whip It” was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1973, when two sets of brothers — Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald and Bob Casale — met at Kent State University and decided to create an art collective.
The name came from the concept of “de-evolution,” a kind of reverse Darwinism that posited, tongue in cheek, that humankind was moving backwards. But then they bore witness to the infamous Kent State Massacre on May 4, 1970, in which Ohio National Guardsmen killed four unarmed student war protesters — pushing Devo into the realm of performances and protest art. Along the way, they created surrealist art videos to accompany their music, including 1976’s short film The Truth About De-Evolution, which became an underground phenomenon, drawing the attention of David Bowie and landing them a record deal at Warner.
The name came from the concept of “de-evolution,” a kind of reverse Darwinism that posited, tongue in cheek, that humankind was moving backwards. But then they bore witness to the infamous Kent State Massacre on May 4, 1970, in which Ohio National Guardsmen killed four unarmed student war protesters — pushing Devo into the realm of performances and protest art. Along the way, they created surrealist art videos to accompany their music, including 1976’s short film The Truth About De-Evolution, which became an underground phenomenon, drawing the attention of David Bowie and landing them a record deal at Warner.
- 1/19/2024
- by Seth Abramovitch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
If those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, the activists and budding revolutionaries of today would be wise to learn about the Weathermen, who later came to be known as The Weather Underground. Formed in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War and the tail end of the Civil Rights movement, the group of was comprised of white student radicals whose goal was the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Closely aligned with the Black Panthers in ideology and organizing, the Weather Underground is an early example of white antir-acism. In Sam Green and Bill Siegel’s Oscar-nominated 2003 documentary, “The Weather Underground,” a combination of archival footage from the 1970s and interviews from 2003 makes for fascinating and surreal...
If those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, the activists and budding revolutionaries of today would be wise to learn about the Weathermen, who later came to be known as The Weather Underground. Formed in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War and the tail end of the Civil Rights movement, the group of was comprised of white student radicals whose goal was the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Closely aligned with the Black Panthers in ideology and organizing, the Weather Underground is an early example of white antir-acism. In Sam Green and Bill Siegel’s Oscar-nominated 2003 documentary, “The Weather Underground,” a combination of archival footage from the 1970s and interviews from 2003 makes for fascinating and surreal...
- 7/15/2020
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
It was 50 years ago today that the Ohio National Guard opened fire at a protest on the Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio, killing four students, wounding nine others and leaving one paralyzed for life. The massacre was the culmination of fiery protests all across America in response to President Nixon going public with his plan to expand the Vietnam War into Cambodia.
The politically active students at Kent State had an uneasy relationship with the conservative townspeople of Kent, and they clashed many times in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
The politically active students at Kent State had an uneasy relationship with the conservative townspeople of Kent, and they clashed many times in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
- 5/4/2020
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
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