Interview with DEVO
(Anita Greenspan & Mark Mothersbaugh)
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Almost three decades later, Devo’s politico-pop release of Duty Now For the Future, became in many ways a visionary message of change in the current political climate. At Kent State University, Mark Mothersbaugh, along with Gerald Casale, founded a band whose aesthetic thrived on oddball sci-fi kitsch and surrealist humor. Rejecting the progress narrative to replace it with the “de-evolution” of American society, a theory that states society has not evolved, Devo made music guided by the premise that modern humans have regressed into what Aldous Huxley called “herd mentality”. The following year, they released their biggest hit single, “Whip It” (1980).  Written as a political nudge urging Jimmy Carter to tighten the slack on an enervated campaign against Ronald Regan; this song unexpectedly catapulted them into the stratosphere of the stars. And now these perennial post-punk prophets from the “Mongoloid era” have come to signify much more than a political/social moment during the height of their New Wave career.

It all began with a simple but profound conversation over lunch. Anita Greenspan, a mother of two children with husband, Mark Mothersbaugh, fretted over the tense political race between McCain and Obama—only a few months prior to the election. She was concerned that McCain might extend the eight years of the Bush Administration—i.e. de-intellectualizing our culture and muddling the political process for the American people. Already the very spirit of democracy had been slowly sucked out of society and supplanted by lifeless complacency, further entrenching the populace in a psychic inability inflicted by an ineffectual leader and a spiraling multi-trillion dollar deficit.

Anita, an immensely creative, passionate supporter of the arts in Los Angeles and founder of Greenspan Artist Management, primarily represents film composers, including her husband. She never considered herself a politically active person. Yet she became fiercely determined to reverse the devolutionary process of Carl Rovian fear tactics that came to signify the Republican Party and, by and large, a McCain/Palin ticket, who driven by desperation began to sling mud at Obama’s impeccable campaign. Her main impetus was her children. “I also think that now, having two children who were not here for the last election pulled a rack focus on my priorities–children have a way of doing that. I couldn’t stop thinking that we are leaving them in such an impossible world to live in if something doesn’t change and quickly.” Though it’d been many years since its release, her husband’s album Duty Now took on a new political significance in this rapidly changing social climate.

Thus, along with friend Gwen Riley, Anita hatched her plan. Although all four Devo members now reside in Los Angeles, they still maintain family ties in Northeastern Ohio. Strategically it made sense to move away from what she called the “Blue Bubble” of Los Angeles and drum up support in a place that would feel the political urgency; furthermore, they would need a staging site emotionally connected to the band. This ideal locale was their hometown of Akron, Ohio; a place rife with conservative ideals and prejudices, yet critical in its battleground status over the few weeks remaining in the presidential campaign. Anita held on to that pure ideal that there was still hope of swaying public opinion in the politically stolid state of Ohio that traditionally denied the Democrats an easy entrance to the White House.

Needless to say, Anita and Gwen did much more than lunch that day. They started locking down the necessary logistics of such a grand production. Their basic strategy was to pool their resources to send the band to Ohio. Gwen worked in the music industry, and her husband Chris was a lead attorney with Ticket Master. She ensured Anita her husband would handle matters with Ticket Master to get all concert proceeds to Ohio’s Summit County Democratic Party in support of Barack Obama.

From that point on, Anita herself was on fire. In a two-week logistical frenzy, she drummed up grassroots support from various artists, politicians, musicians; she managed to secure the beautiful and historic Akron Civic Theatre; she handled all press relations in the local area.

Their concert, aptly titled, “Duty Now For the Future”, a timely throwback to their sophomore album, witnessed a terrific turnout. The band was also supported by fellow Akron natives the Black Keys as well as a surprise performance by the iconic Chrissie Hynde, who took off time from preparing for the Pretenders’ imminent “Break Up the Concrete” tour to join the effort. Mark Mothersbaugh brought along with him a short video edited by LA’s seminal street artist, Shepherd Fairey, a piece containing various 30-second soundbites of different artists discussing their personal commitment to Obama and reminding everyone to get out the vote. The concert was doubly historic. Not only was it Devo’s first performance at home since 1978, it was the first time the group so passionately advocated a presidential candidate, and with so much success.

Looking back on the whole thing, Anita said, “The night turned out better than expected. I felt that the concert itself was on point with Obama’s message - if we all put egos and money aside for a moment, and single-mindedly focused on a common goal - we [would] create something important - we could change things. It was an exhilarating experience - it restored my confidence in people and our potential for great things.” This hope for great things captured the imagination of the American people and the cynicism that contributed to political paralysis in the past dropped out of the equation. In earlier elections, George W. Bush carried Ohio by 3.5 percent over Al Gore in 2000, and in 2004, by 1.9 percent over John Kerry. The historic presidential election of 2008 saw Obama carrying Devo’s home state by 4 percent and secured his place as the 44th president of the United States.

Mark Mothersbaugh explained his view on the expansion of musicians’ roles in the current political clime. “I think based on the content of most music and films coming out today, the majority of working actors and musicians do not have inspirational awareness of what is going on around them in the world today”.  However he then qualified this statement, adding, “There are sentient artists who have thoughts beyond the adolescent obsessions of love, sex, money, and life on planet earth that dominate pop culture. These people have an obligation to encourage others to think about what is happening in the world today and to reflect upon how each and every one of us are interconnected. Artists with something real to say need to remind their fans to become pro-active, that their votes and their actions do make a difference.”

What does this signify for us in the future? Well, for the first time after removing the “mongoloid” curtain of fear, the American people came out in record numbers and spoke with startling clarity, signaling in the dawn of a new political era. Obama’s victory not only dated the Carl Rove strategy of divisive campaigning, it successfully created a more progressive “multiracial coalition” that included urban and suburban Hispanics, Jews, African Americans, and young white voters. That said, the predicted racist tendency of even a place like Ohio turned out to be nothing more than a footnote, as the political system has finally awoken from its long evolutionary slumber and moves forward into an uncertain, but brighter future.

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For more on upcoming projects and shows, please visit: www.clubdevo.com

Published on 1 December 2008 | 14 |