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In Focus: Devo
Akron, 18.08.23
Focus on Devo
Formed in Akron, Ohio by friends Gerard Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh in the early 1970s, DEVO found commercial success in the 1980s, when contemporary American pop culture finally caught up to their shtick. Their "man-as-machine" collective identity was both rhetorical - a comment on the "devolution" of man due to the rise of technology – and physically evident in their obscenely tight live shows, where their timeless power pop music was performed with a knowing emotional stuntedness.
They rode the crest of the "new wave", a period when critics and fans alike were wondering what life after rock music would sound like. It would sound a lot like DEVO.
Selected and mixed by Brian Coney.
