The Truth About De-Evolution

This article is about the Devo music video. For the home video release by Devo, see The Complete Truth About De-Evolution.

The Truth About De-Evolution (full title: In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution) is a 9-minute^[1][2] short film written by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh,^[3] for the band Devo, and directed by Chuck Statler.^[4] 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.^[5] It is included as an extra on the Criterion Collection's release of Island of Lost Souls (1932).^[6] 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).

Synopsis

The film begins with an extreme close-up of a television, switching between channels while odd gibberish noises play in the background. The film title is superimposed over the television screen.

The scene fades to a shot of a factory (filmed at the Goodyear World of Rubber in Akron, Ohio). Members of Devo in its quartet stage are seen in blue workmen's suits, operating machinery, until one notices it is time to go. All the band members wear clear face masks, except for Mark Mothersbaugh, who appears in his Booji Boy mask. The members leave work and get into a car. They pull up in front of the burned out Kent bar The Water Street Saloon which was two buildings down from JB's in Kent, Ohio. The next clip shows them entering the front door of JB's, carrying instruments. A sign on the door reads "Tonight: 15-60-75", a reference to the Numbers Band, which Gerald Casale played bass for at one point. The "Secret Agent Man" performance begins, featuring Bob Mothersbaugh on guitar, Gerald Casale on bass, Jim Mothersbaugh on electric bongos, and Mark Mothersbaugh/Booji Boy on synthesizers. The performance routinely cuts away to bizarre visuals, such as two men in monkey masks spanking a woman with ping-pong paddles, or a punk playing a double-neck guitar plugged into a space heater. The segment ends with a fadeout of Mark Mothersbaugh in a John F. Kennedy mask with a painted on bullet wound.

The "Jocko Homo" segment begins with Booji Boy running through a parking lot off of Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls. He enters a building through the fire escape to meet with General Boy. They exchange papers, and General Boy makes a statement: "In the past this information has been suppressed, but now it can be told. Every man, woman, and mutant on this planet shall know the truth about de-evolution." Booji replies with "Oh, dad, we're all devo!"

A series of rapid-fire cuts of the letters in "DEVO" appears (with the music of "Mechanical Man" found on Hardcore Devo: Volume One), and then we cut to Mark Mothersbaugh in a Kent State University classroom (actually the Governance Chambers), delivering a lecture. As Mothersbaugh delivers the lyrics to "Jocko Homo" (this version can also be found on Hardcore Devo: Volume One), the classroom enters a frenzy of excitement, ending in a near riot.

The film ends with a scene of Booji Boy being stabbed and his mask removed. Then the credits play in a style similarly to the title with an extremely distorted cover of "Because" by the Beatles playing. The film ends with a shot of the word "DEVO" in neon flashing off.

In popular culture

The Truth About De-Evolution was included in a collection of film shorts that toured the country. On the west coast, Slash magazine and Search & Destroy reprinted photos that they took off theater screens, and television stations were provided copies for broadcast as publicity.^[3][7] Devo began sending videotapes to Saturday Night Live, after Truth About De-Evolution, until their new manager, Elliott Roberts, who was also Neil Young's manager, arranged a musical performance and a broadcast of a clip from The Truth About De-Evolution.^[8]

References

1. "The Philosophy & Music of Devo, the Avant-Garde Art Project Dedicated to Revealing the Truth About De-Evolution". Open Culture. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
2. Pyro, Howie (21 October 2014). "Q: Are We Not Men? The origins of DEVO's theory of De-Evolution!". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
3. Salant, Shelley (September 28, 2016). "Mutate, don't stagnate: Mark Mothersbaugh in conversation". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
4. Liner notes to Devo, "Mongoloid" b/w "Jocko Homo". Booji Boy Records, 1977, which say "'Jocko Homo' - from the soundtrack of 'In the Beginning Was the End...(the truth about DE-EVOLUTION)' a film by Chuck Statler." (emphasis added)
5. DEVO - live in Dallas, TX, USA 1979-08-03, retrieved 2022-05-02
6. "Island of Lost Souls". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
7. "A Conversation with Artist & Musician Mark Mothersbaugh". Computer History Museum. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
8. "Neil Young News: How Neil Young* Got DEVO on 'Saturday Night Live' in 1978". Thrasher's Wheat. Retrieved 11 August 2022.