DEVO + CHURCH OF THE SUBGENIUS

Mark:  We used to be very misinterpreted twenty years ago. If you said something about de-evolution back in the '70s, those were fighting words. People would go, "You guys are cynical assholes!" Now, you talk about de-evolution and people go, "Yeah, it's true, isn't it?" (laughs). If anything has happened, it's that Devo's theories have been proven correct. 

JereC7: The media bombards us with it every day. It's evidence of that downward spiral you mentioned earlier. 

Mark: You've just got to learn to not be uptight about it. Learn how to celebrate it. 

JereC7: Is that where the Church of the Sub-Genius comes in?

Mark: I really like the Church of the Sub-Genius because we're kind of kindred spirits. Except that "Bob" Dobbs is a mischievous god. First, he tricked Devo into becoming followers. Then he talked us into leaving Warner Brothers, which was really a dumb idea. Then "Bob" thought we should sign with Enigma. He thought Enigma was a really cool label. So we signed with Enigma. But "Bob" was lying. "Bob" was playing a dirty trick on Devo. 

JereC7: (waits in amused silence) 

Mark: He's a slippery godhead. But that's kinda the beauty of it. 

JereC7: What's your personal involvement in the Church of the Sub-Genius? 

Mark: Well, I turned over everything I own -- both psychically, sexually, spiritually, and anthropomorphically -- to "Bob" Dobbs. It's like he took everything I gave him, and he slowly turned around, after heaping together everything that I'd given him -- and the rest of Devo, too -- he heaped them in a stack, turned around in the opposite direction, looking over his shoulder, and he dropped his pants, bent over, lit a match, and blew a big flame and melted all of our red hats, melted all of our equipment, melted all of our homes, melted our cars, our wives, our girlfriends, our children...he melted everything. Then he just let out a little laugh, lifted his pants back up, and said, "See ya later." 

 

Like many other dorky boys, Devo was drawn to the conspiracy theorist, mock secrets-to-success kookiness of the SubGenius easily seen in their Americana 1950's salesman-style pamplets. The Church's focus aimed to specifically ridicule the "traditional" American society, though at times still a bit cerebral for an entertaining underground pseudo-cult. The SubGenius pamphlets of course appealed to snarky, nihilistic counterculture nerds with imagination. Retro ads to "grow stronger overnight" & "HAVE INTERCOURSE W/ A LIVE BEAUTIFUL GIRL" touch on the puniness and unlaidness of nerd life via mail order X-ray googs in the back of old school comic books.

"Now you, too, can speak to benevolent aliens at the Alter of X-ist Contact. Learn Frame Straightening, Body Repair, Gripe Elaboration, FunKQu, Frenzy Techniques, Excremeditation, the Essentials of Survival and TIME CONTROL. Attettd End O' The World Drills andChance Labs. Learn to 'Tenlike. Evaluate the so-called "accidents" and "coincidences" in your timestream. Perform long, complicated rites of initiation and rituals of Communionication. Accullate yourself to the Church, where you will be isolated, given a new diet, a new set of habits, and an altered label and appearance. The new void in your bran-pan will be refilled with corrected info and subconsciously implanted ritual experiences. Follow your FOLLIES and COMPULSIONS and become rich like us. Explore the "Zen" of stupidity! Channel chronic procrastination into life-saving paranoia and precise analtity MAKE WASTE!!Find out who your Personal Saviors may be and who are the False Prophets in your life!"

 

In brief:  the first SubGenius pamphlet was published around 1980, prime time for the Mothersbaugh brothers to get their baseball mitts on it, get excited and incorporate some Slack into their musical tomes. The Church of the SubGenius ridicules humanity's political bullshit, adhering to the "this way or that way" idea and emphasizes not giving a fuck and how learning to laugh it off will help your sanity more than subscribing to society's charades, etc. Read the SubGenius Manifesto here. 

Most of my exposure to the Church of the SubGenius was through weird AM radio in the middle of the night. The mention of "Bob" was prominent, over and over again. "Bob" is the Jesus of the SubGenius. Is it a weird coincidence that the guy on the cover of Are We Not Men? We Are Devo looks similar to (fake person) "Bob" Dobbs, the "founder" of Church of the SubGenius? "Bob" is super polished, white, American 1950's and the obvious mascot of the Church, and his image is used across the board in their pamphlets and merchandise. Devo has used "Bob"'s image again and again. 

Devo also collaborated with filmmaker and member of the SubGenius "Rev." Ivan Stang in Devo's "Love Without Anger" music video. The video is super dark in many ways, a disheartening display of humanity's petty charades played out within a traditional relationship gone traditionally wrong (cheating, yelling, fighting, the baseness of courtship) all resulting in discontent from both parties. The cliches of what romantic parties "want" and how the other is an excuse for a person's unfulfillment is not typical pop song subject matter but Devo always goes above and beyond, questioning if not calling humanity out on their human shit. This song/video is from the New Traditionalists record, a prime time for Devo's involvement with the Church. Not my favorite record but it has "Beautiful World" on it, one of Devo's best songs whose video is also highly effective at proving that humanity is totally fucked and the modern world just hides our inherent bullshit under a plastic wrapped candy coat.

Also related to this time frame is a super awesome poster I found in the New Traditionalists record. In small print it says the artwork is by The Church of the SubGenius (and this was my first realization of their involvement!!). The drawing includes the dudes of Devo in their New Traditionalist "Utopian Boy Scout Uniforms" protecting 3 babies of different races from an angry mob including a preacher, a housewife, a punk, a hippie, a pirate and a cowboy. Protect the Future from the shitty ideals of the Past it seems to say, but what the "new" traditions are, no one seems to know.