De-Evolution Is Real: The Restored Films of Devo with Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh at The Museum of Modern Art
On Saturday, January 27, 2024, The Museum of Modern Art screened restored videos from the Akron, OH band known as Devo as a part of their “To Save and Project: The 20th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation” series. The restoration and screening coincided with the 50th anniversary of the formation of the band.
I first discovered Devo many years after the group was founded. They had a hit song with a single, “Whip It,” that was released the year I was born. The song would play on the radio and when I was older, I finally saw the video on MTV (or VH1) and was struck by the visuals. It made me laugh and I decided to check out more. I ended up purchasing a two CD compilation released in 1990: one disc was their Greatest Hits and the second disc was titled Greatest Misses. Their sense of humor was right up my alley. So was their weirdness and politics. In college, I enrolled in a class at Fordham University called “Popular Music As a Form of Communication.” One day, my professor, Anahid Kassabian, played Devo’s cover of “(I Can’t Get Me No) Satisfaction” for the class and asked if anyone knew who the band was. I immediately knew but hesitated to answer. I looked around when I saw no other hands raised, I then put mine in the air and gave the answer, she smiled and seemed relieved that at least one young person knew the group’s music. Both of these aforementioned songs had their videos restored by Peter Conheim who was in conversation with Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale at MoMA last night.
Before the restored videos were screened, MoMA curator Josh Siegel talked about his connection with the band before introducing ex-Negativland member Conheim who worked on the restoration of these videos. The earlier ones that were shot on film were restored from the negative, but the later videos that were shot and edited on video were more difficult to upgrade, and some of these are still in progress. The item in the program that I was most excited to see was the live footage of the band’s first performance in New York City at Max’s Kansas City in 1977. They were introduced to the stage by David Bowie and wore extremely short shorts in this performance. It was definitely of those things that I truly wish I was alive to witness in person. When “Freedom of Choice” was shown, I realized that it was the second time in one day I saw a man on a leash (photos of the first instance are now available here). I also saw someone get spanked earlier in the day, just like in one of Devo’s videos, too.
After the videos were shown on the large screen of Theater 1, Conheim was joined by Mothersbaugh and Casale who spoke candidly about their band. Casale appreciated that the audience laughed when a baby was thrown in the air. We also clapped excitedly after each video was shown. Casale admitted that the record executive character in a couple of their videos was based on an amalgam of people and the things he said were direct quotes. One of the questions from the audience was regarding Mothersbaugh’s commercial work and he revealed that he did a Hawaiian Punch commercial and added in a subversive message of “sugar is bad for you.”
Devo were just at Sundance Festival for their documentary and hopefully that film, plus these restored videos become available commercially for fans to see at some point in the future. Images from the Q&A session appear in the above gallery, and many thanks to Peter Conheim for his efforts in restoring Devo’s videos and to Gerald and Mark for taking the time to make an appearance at MoMA last night.