Drummer Josh Freese has been in the band since 1996, long enough to feel like an old friend by now, and Josh Hager on guitar and keyboards joined in 2014 after the death of original member Bob Casale. Are We Not Men? A.Songs such as “Peek-a-Boo” and “That’s Good” followed, but very quickly the set shifted to numbers such as “Girl U Want” and the band’s biggest hit, “Whip It,” songs even the most casual fans recognize from the opening notes.ĭevo’s core remains singer-keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh, singer-bassist Gerald Casale, and guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh. Original video for “Jocko Homo” (slower than the album)įiled Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Devo, Jocko Homo, Q. “Jocko Homo” performed live in Paris, 1978 Imagine how much more we’ve devolved since then! Oh wait, you don’t have to imagine: we’re going to elect Donald Trump as President. In fact, he so caves into the inevitability of deevolution, instead of questioning his crew, he is now leading them, asking them to repeat the credo:Īnd that was 1978. By the end of the song, he’s getting desperat, and starts phrasing the question in every single possible way he can, hoping against hope for a different response.īut at every turn he gets the answer he assumed and dreaded. Mark Mothersbaugh asks the question over and over, always getting the same response. What gives “Jocko Homo” its power is that call-and-response. And almost instantly going directly to its classic question:

Three discordant notes played off against three discordant beats.

What it was, of course, was the sound of deevolution.

I’d read about Devo in CREEM, of course, I don’t think I’d actually heard them until they played SNL.

While it wasn’t as much of a mind-fuck as Elvis Costello’s legendary performance, I still have vivid memories of Devo performing on Saturday Night Live.įirst off, only a week after The Rolling Stones came on (and killed) as both host and musical guest, Devo did their utter de-construction of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (which almost made this list just for Mothersbaugh’s amazing “babybabybabymaybemaybembaybe” section) and later they did “Jocko Homo.”Įven now, “Jocko Homo” is a weird fucking song, so imagine how it hit me in 1978.

Devo songs