In Devo's music videos, early concerts, literature, and short films, the band created a pastiche and parody of the real world via the idea of "Spudland". Many characters and concepts reoccur in different media.
Played by Mark Mothersbaugh, Booji is considered the infantile spirit of Devolution. He first appeared in The Truth About De-Evolution as a member of the performing band during the "Secret Agent Man" segment. He is the son of General Boy.
General Boy, played by Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr., father of Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, serves as a representation and parody of authority figures, though General Boy is on the side of Devo. He made his first appearance in The Truth About De-Evolution.
Chinaman
The Chinaman, played by Gerald Casale, is an embodiment of the stereotypical wise Asian master. He does not appear in music videos, except a brief shot in "Secret Agent Man". He wrote the introduction to Booji Boy's book My Struggle. Chinaman speaks the lyrics to "Social Fools" in the studio / demo version of "Somewhere With Devo".
Soo Bawlz
Played by Toni Basil. She is the girlfriend of Chinaman. Her only appearances were in a handful of early live performances. She also had her own song "Soo Bawlz", which appears on the B-Side of the Devo single release of "Secret Agent Man".
Rodney Ethan Rooter (a.k.a. "Rod The Man")
A parody of music executives, Rod Rooter, played by Michael W. Schwartz, serves as a higher-up in Big Entertainment, the entertainment conglomerate that owns Devo. His relationship with the band is extremely antagonistic. He sees Devo as a tool for marketing, and is dismissive of their artistic goals. We're All Devo implies that there is an incestual relationship between him and his daughter Donut Rooter.
Floyd & Boyd Kalimba
From the Mac/PC game Adventures of the Smart Patrol. Floyd and Boyd are Rod Rooter's trendy twin henchmen. They are also featured in My Struggle.
Donut Rooter
Daughter of Rod Rooter. Seemingly obsessed with keeping within ever-changing fashion trends. Played in We're All Devo by Laraine Newman. Played by Deborah Driggs in the promotional music video for Post-Post Modern Man.
Daddy Know-It-All
The embodiment of all that is corporate evil. He is Rod Rooter's boss, and Rod can be seen ingratiating himself to him in the film The Men Who Make the Music. He doesn't care about who Devo are, as long as they make him more money and are kept in line by Rod.
Pliney the Pinhead
First appears in the book My Struggle by Booji Boy (Mark Mothersbaugh).
Mongo the Mongoloid
First appears in My Struggle by Booji Boy.
Dr. Byrthfood
Dr. Byrthfood, played by Timothy Leary, works for Lifeforms Unlimited and makes sure that Devo are kept in tip top working conditions. He shows nothing but loathing for Rod Rooter.
Organizations
Big Entertainment
A satire of the entertainment industry. This monopoly corporation is Devo's employer.
Lifeforms Unlimited
Lifeforms Unlimited is a bio-engineering company that tries to improve humanity through science. Among their employees are: Dr. Byrthfood (Devo's personal aide) and scientists Sun Wang Pin and Yoni Wang Pin. Lifeforms Unlimited inadvertently creates the horror known as "Turkey Monkey", which spreads the disease osso bucco myelitis.
The Pilgrims
The Pilgrims are a group of religious zealots led by Reverend Vince Gassale (portrayed by Gerald Casale in the home video game Adventures of the Smart Patrol). The Pilgrims wear business suits topped with pilgrim-style hats. They practice televangelism and believe that disease is God's way of punishing those that are morally unsuitable.
The Smart Patrol
From the Mac/PC game Adventures of the Smart Patrol. The Smart Patrol consist of Jamie Rega, Jeremy Welt, Tanya Olszewski, Max Leidermann, and Grady Sain. (Their music is played by Devo themselves.) The Smart Patrol are the equivalent of a police force in Spudland.
Fake bands
Devo impersonated a number of fake bands in their videos and performances to satire the music business.
Parcheesi
Named after the "oldest game", Parcheesi performed the song "Midget", heard in the tour film Roll Out The Barrel, included in The Men Who Make the Music. Parcheesi are never shown. The full performance of "Midget" appears on Hardcore Devo: Volume One (1990), the first album of a two-volume collection of 1970s demos.
The Cumberbuns
A Latin lounge music group, the Cumberbuns made the song "Softcore Mutations" (an early version of "Going Under" from the 1981 album New Traditionalists). A recording of this song was played on the Dr. Demento show, introduced by Booji Boy.
DOVE, The Band of Love
Devo's Christian rock alter-egos, and the only fake Devo band to actually perform live. Dove performs in leisure suits with green accountants visors. They perform Christian versions of Devo songs. Dove appears in the film Pray TV, performing the Devo song "Shrivel Up" (actually miming to the album version), and footage of a Dove performance from the 1979 M-80 Festival appears on both The Complete Truth About De-Evolution, and as a bonus feature on Devo Live 1980.
The Evil Clowns
Referenced in We're All Devo, The Evil Clowns are Big Entertainment's "mega-metal group". Pictures of the lead singer, Numero Uno, allegedly consist of Mark Mothersbaugh's head pasted on the body of David Lee Roth.
The Big Dirty Farmers
The Big Dirty Farmers appeared in the only "Club Devo" animation for shockwave.com, performing the song "It's All Good".
Skunk Man Fly
Skunk Man Fly, featured in the Devo song "Chango," were proposed for a later, unfinished installment of "Club Devo", but no material was recorded.
The Sex Dolls
The Sex Dolls were proposed for an unrealized installment of "Club Devo", with a song and animation, but no material was recorded.[1]
In June 2000, Club DEVO appeared online as an "animated lounge" at Shockwave.com, with one animated song by The Big Dirty Farmers. "Currently scheduled to appear are The Big Dirty Farmers, Booji Boy, Skunkman Fly, The Smart Patrol, The Sex Dolls, and Parcheezi. General Boy will introduce the bands."
Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales, along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", the song that gave the band mainstream popularity.
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose "Whip It" was a top 20 single in the US in 1980, peaking at No. 14, and which has since maintained a cult following. Mothersbaugh is one of the main composers of Devo's music.
Freedom of Choice is the third studio album by the American new wave band Devo, released in May 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. The album contained their biggest hit, "Whip It", which hit No. 8 and No. 14 on the Billboard Club Play Singles and Pop Singles charts, respectively. Freedom of Choice peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
Oh, No! It's Devo is the fifth studio album by American new wave band Devo, released in 1982 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded over a period of four months, between May and September 1982, at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles and was produced by Roy Thomas Baker.
New Traditionalists is the fourth studio album by the American new wave band Devo, released in 1981 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded over a period of four months between December 1980 and April 1981 at the Power Station in Manhattan, New York City. It features the minor hits "Through Being Cool" and "Beautiful World".
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut studio album by the American new wave band Devo. It was originally released in August 1978 on Warner Bros. in the North America and Virgin Records in Europe. Produced by Brian Eno, the album was recorded between October 1977 and February 1978, primarily in Cologne, West Germany.
Duty Now for the Future is the second studio album by American rock band Devo, released in 1979 by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Ken Scott, the album was recorded between September 1978 and early 1979 at Chateau Recorders in Hollywood. The majority of the songs on the album had been performed in Devo's live set as early as 1976.
Booji Boy is a character created in the early 1970s by the American new wave band Devo. The name is pronounced "Boogie Boy"—the strange spelling "Booji" resulted when the band was using Letraset to produce captions for a film, and ran out of the letter "g". When the "i" was added but before the "e", Devo's lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh reportedly remarked that the odd spelling "looked right".
General Boy is a character created around 1975 by new wave band Devo. He is usually seen portrayed by Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr., the father of Devo's lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh, former drummer Jim Mothersbaugh, and lead guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh.
"Jocko Homo" is the B-side to Devo's first single, "Mongoloid", released in 1977 on Devo's own label, Booji Boy Records and later released in the UK on Stiff Records. The song was re-recorded as the feature song for Devo's first album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! on Warner Bros. Records in 1978. The original version peaked at No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart.
Smooth Noodle Maps is the eighth studio album by the American new wave band Devo. It was originally released in June 1990 and would be their last album released through Enigma. The album was recorded over a period of three months between October 1989 and January 1990, at Master Control Studios, in Burbank, California. Smooth Noodle Maps was Devo's last full-length studio album until the release of Something for Everybody in 2010, as well as the last Devo studio album to feature David Kendrick on drums. The album includes a cover version of Bonnie Dobson's song "Morning Dew," transformed into a dance song.
Devo 2.0 was a pop group quintet, created for Walt Disney Records, of child actors who sing, dance, and mime playing instruments along to songs re-recorded by some of the original members of Devo. Jerry Casale directed all nine of the videos. Actress Jacqueline Emerson, who later appeared in The Hunger Games, was a member. The band split up in 2007 when lead singer Nicole Stoehr and lead guitarist Nathan Norman quit.
Human Highway is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a collaborative performance of "Hey Hey, My My " by Devo and Young with Booji Boy singing lead vocals and Young playing lead guitar.
"Dare to Be Stupid" is an original song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a musical pastiche of the band Devo. Released as the B-side to The Touch, the song was included in the Transformers Movie Soundtrack and is his most popular original song.
The Men Who Make the Music was the first home video released by the American new wave band Devo. Finished in 1979, the film was set to be the first Video LP under the title "DevoVision", but was shelved by Time Life due to concerns about its anti-music industry content. It was released in 1981. A DVD of this film was announced in 2000, due to be released by Rhino Records, but this never came to pass. In January 2014, Michael Pilmer, webmaster of the official Devo website, indicated a DVD release by MVD later in the year. The DVD was released the following August, including a bonus feature of Devo's 1996 reunion show at the Sundance Film Festival.
DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years is a live album consisting of recordings from three early performances by American new wave band Devo, released by Rykodisc in 1992.
The Truth About De-Evolution is a 9-minute short film written by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, for the band Devo, and directed by Chuck Statler. Filmed in May 1976, it contains two separate songs: "Secret Agent Man" and "Jocko Homo". It won First Prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1977, and was routinely screened before Devo live concerts. It is included as an extra on the Criterion Collection's release of Island of Lost Souls (1932). Stills from the film were used for the front and back cover of European releases and the inner sleeve of American releases of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978).
Adventures of the Smart Patrol is a compilation album featuring tracks from the 1996 Inscape CD-ROM computer game of the same name created by American new wave band Devo. It was released in 1996 by Discovery Records.
Hardcore Devo Live! is a concert film and live album, showcasing Devo's June 28, 2014, performance at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California on the 2014 Hardcore Devo Live tour. The tour commemorates the 40th anniversary of the band and pays tribute to former band member Bob Casale, who died February 17, 2014. The set list exclusively focuses on songs written between 1974 and 1977, before Devo had a recording contract. Many of the songs had not been performed by the band since 1977. While the music is largely performed as a quartet, the band is augmented offstage by Brian Applegate on additional keyboards and bass guitar.
Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol is a CD-ROM video game developed and published by Inscape and co-created by American new wave band Devo. It was released in 1996.
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