NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 You know the band Devo, right? The guys with the funny red plastic hats and jumpsuits? The New Wave<\/a> musicians behind the silly \u201cWhip It\u201d video?<\/a> They had that odd, spiky ’80s vibe? Well, it turns out you may not know as much as you think.<\/p>\n The new Netflix documentary \u201cDevo\u201d is an eye-opening examination of an Ohio-born art-rock band that argues they were perhaps the most misunderstood band on the face of the planet. It debuts on the streaming service Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were trivialized and pigeonholed,\u201d co-founder Gerald Casale tells The Associated Press. \u201cThis documentary allows us to talk about what we were thinking and what we are motivated by to create what we created.\u201d<\/p>\n Directed by Chris Smith, \u201cDevo\u201d uses archival footage and interviews to trace the band’s beginnings, rise and fall, with cameos from fans like David Bowie,<\/a> Iggy Pop and Neil Young.<\/a><\/p>\n Devo introduced themselves to the world in 1977 by making a frenetic version of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cI Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction,\u201d which earned them a crucial slot on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/a> On stages, they would wriggle like worms or dress like the guys from \u201cGhostbusters.\u201d<\/p>\n They released their Brian Eno-produced debut, \u201cQ: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!,\u201d in 1978 and reached platinum status with 1980\u2019s \u201cFreedom of Choice,\u201d which featured \u201cWhip It,\u201d a hit just as their label was getting ready to drop them.<\/p>\n But behind the odd neck braces and knee pads were powerful art and literary ideas about where the country was going. They named themselves after the idea that modern society was entering a process of \u201cdevolution.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were seeing a world that was the antitheses of the idealized, promised future ginned up in the \u201950s and \u201960s.\u201d Casale says in the movie. \u201cWhat we saw was regression.\u201d<\/p>\n The nucleus of the band was formed from tragedy: Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh met at Kent State University, where they lived through the 1970 killing of four unarmed anti-war student protesters<\/a> by the National Guard.<\/p>\n That tragedy forged in the pair an antiestablishment, anti-capitalist protest, mixing lofty art history with pop culture. They admired Dadaism and Andy Warhol. The factories of Akron inspired their gray overalls and clear plastic face masks \u2014 portraying cogs in a machine like in the art movie \u201cMetropolis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a meta-approach,\u201d Casale tells the AP. \u201cIt was a multimedia, big idea approach. Music was an element, a layer, a dimension, but it was connected to this big worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of Devo’s strength was its visual component and their videos were drenched with political commentary. The upbeat \u201cBeautiful World\u201d<\/a> featured footage of police violence, the KKK and bombings, while \u201cFreedom of Choice\u201d warned against the dangers of conformity.<\/p>\n The song \u201cWhip It\u201d was written after reading Thomas Pynchon\u2019s 760-page postmodern sci-fi tome \u201cGravity\u2019s Rainbow.\u201d The video<\/a> \u2014 featuring cowboys drinking beer, dangerous gunplay and assault \u2014 was actually mocking President Ronald Reagan and his macho brand of conservatism.<\/p>\n Members of Devo \u2014 which also included Mark’s brother, Bob,<\/a> Gerald’s brother, Bob, and Alan Myers \u2014 performed on TV and chatted with talk show hosts like David Letterman<\/a> but their satire never seemed never to break through.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody wanted to hear us talking about the duality of human nature and the dangers of groupthink and the atrophication of people being able to think logically and think critically,\u201d Casale says. \u201cIt was like, \u2018That\u2019s a bummer. Just tell us about drugs and sex.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rock has always needed bands like Devo, a corrective to the corporate machine. You can see an echo of Devo when M.I.A. raised her middle finger<\/a> during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2012. The members of Devo cite such bands as Rage Against the Machine<\/a> and System of a Down<\/a> as keeping the flame alive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing you can hope is that it will create an awareness and get rid of complacency, but it doesn\u2019t seem to have done that in the past,\u201d Mothersbaugh tells the AP.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tried to be optimistic that devolution was something that was going to be corrected and that our message would be not necessary at this point, but unfortunately it\u2019s more real than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\u2018What we saw was regression\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Whip It\u2019 video<\/h2>\n
A counterculture legacy<\/h2>\n