I was around 13 years old when these guys were collaborating with Brian Eno. It took me another 40 years to appreciate the genius of this group by listening to Henry Rollins' radio show on KCRW- thanks Henry!
I was 13 years old in 1980. DEVO was my favorite band. I had t-shirts. My school folders and book covers all had DEVO written all over them. Man did I have to take a lot of shit over that. But just watch this video and tell me if I didn’t know my shit back then. Fucking incredible performance. Today’s music doesn’t even come close. Thanks for posting it.
I was in the 6th grade when I saw the Freedom of Choice video! It compleatly blew me away! I was excited about Punk too but the punky New Wave of early Devo and B-52s I thought was over the top amazing!! So ya the Clash ruled as well! But DEVO is just incredible!!
I was 15 in 1980 and went to see Devo live, first ever concert for me, just like The Beav, seems like i knew my shit also, nearly 40 years later and still listerning to the music
I bought the house I grew up in after my Mom passed and to this day in the corner of garage on the wall it says Are we not men ? We are Devo. I think my younger brother scribbled that back in 1980 when he was 8 .
An outstanding performance that I've returned to many times through the years, although this is the best quality I've ever seen it in. The thing that astounds me the most is how Alan Myers keeps constant 8th notes going on the bass drum the entire time. The guy was a beast.
not so fast. When they were on the first LaLaPaLooza bill, I was taken back and not sure why they were in there with so many innovative 90's acts they seemed passed at the time. That was 30 years ago and they still are popular. I believe 90% because of those shows. What kind of guitar is that blue one?
Absolutely mind-blowing...DEVO were really, really special. The music was so good, but often got overshadowed by the image and visual aspects. This band epitomizes everything awesome about the 70's punk/new wave underground.
Devo stands outside those genres. There's something timeless that defies any one casual description. This song rocks and drives with a spellbinding energy 🎼🎶🎵🎸🥁🎤🎹
Probably the best live band ever. You couldn't get a razor in there that's how tight these guys were live. No one did it like DEVO before, and no one has since. Duty now for the future.
This was the same year I saw them at Newcastle city hall, I met them in their hotel lobby , hung with them a while and got autographs, my mates and I followed them to the venue and sneaked into the sound check, later at the concert I was 2 rows from the front, the concert was the most awesome thing I had ever seen.Devo will always have a huge place in my heart...Be stiff DEVO.
It's amazing that Devo got that techno-punk/New Wave sound using conventional instruments. Very cool. I didn't like them when they first came out because I was a young hard rock/metal fan, but as my musical tastes matured I learned to like and appreciate them.
I remember seing this when it aired. We were staying in a motel room in Wilcox, Arizona where my buddy's car had broken down during a camping trip. I recall that was the first time I saw their flower-pot hats on their heads.
When this aired, no-one had heard Whip It yet. I made a portable cassette tape of this and Girl-U-Want. I saw DEVO live in a Las Vegas nightclub around 1993. It was their second night show. There were about 50 of us all crammed up against the stage about 3 deep. When they played Jocko Homo, I remembered their FIRST appearance on SNL where Mark broke into: "I've got a rhyme that comes in a riddle" "O-HI-O!" "What's round on the ends and high in the middle?" "O-HI-O!" So when they're doing the song I'm making Os with my hand and waving "HI!" and when Bob1 saw me doing it, he just started grinning over someone remembering before dreadful Whip-It. Mark did the rhyme and elsewhere during the show, started pulling yellow silk ribbons and strips of lowrider dingle-balls out of his pants and throwing them into the audience. Best concert EVER! Worst? The Who's "last one" in Syracuse before they did farm aid. People left after The Clash opened for them in NYC. Pete didn't break any guitars, but hey, at least EVERYTHING had a Schlitz logo!
We miss Robert Edward "Bob" Casale, Jr. and Alan Myers. But three of the originals are still with us. And thankfully, still performing. I've seen them live twice. I am and born and will forever be a spud...
Incredibly innovative group and sound, and excellent musicians as well. Too bad the mainstream only played "Whip It", when they had so much more to offer, like this song.
I remember watching this as a kid during the original broadcast on the show Fridays, way back in the day. It changed the way that I approached rock music.
Are we not men first 33rpm I purchased . Blew my mind . Now I get to enjoy live clips years later that present dynamics and personality missing from a slab of vinyl . Thanks to whoever put this up.
I've seen many of the great bands. My favorite concert is Devo in Norman OK. Second row, center. When the guitarist did a knee slide off the stage into me and turned around and ripped the shirt off of one of the girls in front of us, that was pretty epic. She and her friend were given backstage passes...we didn't :(
I found this show on streaming, I watched it when it was on 1980-1983. Scrolling through the episodes, what pulled me in were their musical guests. It is so cool to see these music guests from the early 80s. I'm a total fan of Devo, I bought this CD (Freedom of Choice) over 20 years ago and ripped it. I don't even know where the CD is anymore but the MP3s live on. By the way, this show is where Michael Richards got his start. Yeah, I thought it was the movie UHF, too. Nope, this show right here.
Just an amazing "no-frills-just-RAWK" performance. I think this is even better than the album version -- there's a kind of deadening 'gloss' you always hear from stuff recorded in a production studio, and the raw heavy guitar sound here (however imperfect) just feels more natural. After all, a man's not made of steel. :)
@@markschroeder5559 Thanks for sharing the link. Easily the best song from the Learning to Crawl album and telling that comments have been disabled in 2021...
This is the song I want played at my funeral. Everything they say fits my world view and perspective perfectly. Saw them last month and Mark threw out energy domes just like in this video.
I've loved DEVO since the debut first came out. Great band. I remember in high school in 1981 or so, someone was going to see Willie Nelson and a classmate asked "Are you going to wear a cowboy hat?" To which he replied- "I don't know- when you go to see DEVO are you going to wear a flower pot?"
I kind of laugh when I read so and so was in art school and they met and with some others started "The Whatevers". Watching Devo is like watching a crack set of musicians and thinkers blow up art school. Yes, and they still have it and bring it in 2024!
![Devo - Gates of Steel (Live on Fridays 1980) [HQ]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
