Exploring ‘Spudland’: Meet the characters of the Devo extended universe
With their red plastic cone hats, yellow boiler suits and a style of punk rock that feels jerkier and jankier than anything else that had been heard at the time, it’s quite safe to say there were very few bands quite as bizarre as Devo to have made it into the mainstream. Formed in 1973 in Akron, Ohio, the group would begin to turn heads when they released their frenetic 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, and enjoyed minor success with songs like ‘Jocko Homo’, ‘Mongoloid’ and ‘Uncontrollable Urge’.
As strange as the band were, there was something captivating about the group for all of their dorkiness and awkwardness. They would go on to become something of a cult group, led in their classic lineup by two sets of brothers, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, and Gerald and Bob Casale, with drummer Alan Myers completing the circuit.
The name Devo was coined by Gerald Casale after a satirical social theory they invented called de-evolution, and lots of their early work and live performances were centred on this integral idea. However, alongside this, the group also created a number of characters, fictional organisations and other bands as part of their extended universe, also known as ‘Spudland’, and the lore behind the band is as rich and zany as one might expect.
The main character at the centre of things was Booji Boy, who first appeared in a promotional video, The Truth About De-Evolution, during the band’s cover of Johnny Thunders’ ‘Secret Agent Man’ and was portrayed by Mark Mothersbaugh. Depicted as an adult-sized baby, he was treated as the true spirit of Devo and their manifesto on de-evolution, seemingly holding down a job as a factory worker, but still under the thumb of his father.
Bob Mothersbaugh Sr portrayed General Boy, Booji’s father, and was the authoritarian figure who ruled over his son. Despite this slightly derogatory portrayal of their father, the elder Mothersbaugh was seemingly content with assisting his sons in their artistic endeavours. In addition to having the help of members of the family, they also managed to get other notable artists in on the act with Toni Basil portraying Soo Bawlz, who was a regular feature of early live shows and had her own eponymous song.
There were, of course, some more unusual and controversial figures, with Gerald Casale’s Chinaman character being a regular fixture that wouldn’t pass today (and shouldn’t have then), as well as music executive Rod Rooter, who shared a seemingly incestuous relationship with his daughter, Donut Rooter. These examples may expose a more unsavoury underbelly of Devo trying to be subversive, but then again, we are talking about Gerald Casale, a man who had a 9/11-themed wedding.
It’s all madness, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from Devo. Yes, some of these wacky ideas feel like the creations of a 14-year-old 4chan user’s fever dream but, at the same time, the band’s commitment to creating an entire fictionalised universe around their existence, while still managing to make some of the most boundary-pushing art of the late 1970s, is testament to just how confident they were in their mission to spread the word of de-evolution, and push their manifesto onto the masses.
