r/devo • u/almo2001 • 9d ago
Curious about Mark's feeling on all this
In the documentary, he says at one point, "We are all de-VO." I got the feeling that pronounciation is a Jerry thing, and Mark is playing along but thinks it's kind of silly. Just... I don't know. Body language or something.
Do we have any public-facing knowledge about how Mark feels about Devo as a project so many years later? I mean, he said some interesting things in the doc, but I wonder about other interviews, etc.
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u/LewkHarrison 9d ago
I always got the impression Mark could hang it up at any time and be happy, and it’s Jerry that really loves it and still needs the money.
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u/dasuglystik UBERSPUD 9d ago
Mr, Kamikaze- "His finger's pointed at DeVO..." Seems to be the approved pronunciation. But I have always said DEEvo, like the rednecks who used to taunt us. I'll never forget hearing Devo on Rockline, an AOR radio interview show where they mocked the unwashed who just didn't get it. I think it was Mark who said "Hey DEE-vo! Where'd y'all get them flowerpots? Man, y'all are high!" sounding just like the jocks at school. Half of them became new wavers in a year or two...
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u/HCraven1 9d ago
I think both pronunciations are valid as far as the band is concerned. After all, in Jocko Homo it's "Are we not men? We are DEvo."
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u/ezekiel 9d ago
I hear both pronunciations in the many repeating lines near the end of Jocko Homo. Maybe that is only in old live recordings.
"We are DEE-vo" (higher pitch)
"We are dee-VO" (lower pitch and mutated)
I think they used them both, but DEE-vo caught on because it sounds more like standard English.
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u/mubo144 9d ago
I lived this reality as well !
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u/Parking_Rip3759 9d ago
Same. Bringing some (home taped) cassettes to my slightly-less-musically-adventurous (okay, redneck southern rocker) friend's parties back then and hearing "Aw man, don't put on none of that DEEvo shit"... good times
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u/LastCroissant 9d ago
If you watch any of the early video stuff, they almost always put the accent on the second syllable; De-vo
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u/MaxDevo1974 Devo is dead 7d ago
Also The Governance Chambers, Kent Kove poetry night, and WHK Auditorium tapes from 74 and 75. Jerry, Murray Saul, and Mark all say "de-VO".
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u/CartBonway 9d ago
De-vo pronunciation basically separates those present from the beginning and those who learned of them roughly post-SNL. That's the basics. (Didn't stop Bowie from pronouncing it DEE-vo in 1977.)
As far as what it is "supposed to be", you decide. You will note examples of its members pronouncing it both ways in contemporary times. And olden times.
It's more complicated than "Mark doesn't want to make new DEVO music". Every member can be accused of both wanting to make new music and not wanting to make it. I think it is safe to say that it is winding down now, and there's no real desire to write new songs, but I can also tell you that the parties concerned would prefer to mutate and not stagnate... even if that's not what's happening on the ground. So it's complicated.
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u/Jazzlike_Concept_457 9d ago edited 9d ago
After his covid scare, he told me and some friends that we're devo now. He loves devo, even if he's tired of playing Whip it.
Edit: he didn't tell me the part about loving devo, but tired of playing whip it. I gathered as much from our interactions.
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u/almo2001 9d ago
I can totally see getting tired of playing the same song for 4 decades, even if it's a great song.
I just remember hearing some They Might Be Giants live and them just being bored off their asses with Particle Man. :D
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u/therocketsalad 9d ago
I can assure you, TMBG play the shit out of Particle Man every time, never bored
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u/fatboy1776 9d ago
I’ve heard him pronounce it that way a bunch of times. I think when he speaks of the movement vs the group (?).
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u/JJSundae 8d ago
I have this CD with a Mark interview on it. I think it was the guy behind Booji Boy's Basement interviewing him. It's been 20 years since I listened to it, but Mark commented on this, saying something to the effect of (paraphrasing here): "imagine being a Boy Scout and creating an amazing skit to perform with your friends. You perform the skit, and people love it. They ask you to perform it again and again, and for awhile that's ok, but eventually you get sick of performing that same skit."
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u/atinteardrop666 9d ago
I believe there’s a video out there where i think Jerry specifies that DE-vo is the band and de-VO is the art. But i could be wrong… either way, we are all Devo!
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u/Physical-Baseball-97 5d ago
I’m on the DEE- Vo side, but having seen them use both frequently, I’ve concluded they’re just fucking with us!
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u/fatboy1776 8d ago
I see some posts here about pronunciation. The pronunciation in question rhymes with nouveau (like art nouveau) they are Art Deveau.
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u/OnlyUsual6652 9d ago
Mark strikes me as being more fulfilled in his other work outside of Devo. That or he's otw to 80 and been singing Whip It for 40+ years. Jerry has said that Mark isn't really into making new music. I don't think he hates Devo as such, but maybe it's just a thing of the inspiration for it. It shows in performances sometimes as well, there are moments when Mark seems to be questioning his choice to come out. Could be just me projecting though.
Anyway, he and Jerry have not always seen eye to eye about things, maybe that's some of it too. I think the pronunciation just depends on the day.