Speed Racer (1982-10-30)

[Acoustic1234567]

Bob2 singing! ......a lot!

[pootzie]

I was lucky enough to see DEVO on this tour, the gear worked that night, and it was amazing. It was my first rock show ever, and most others have paled by comparison.

[spencerflorey16]

54th

[jidanni2]

The messed up ending _adds_ value!

[H71BCD]

What went on at the end was I believe that a set delay or offset started to go awry causing the backing track and visuals to go out of sync and the band having to improvise to this - the static type noise is a click track which somehow got amplified. A relative of mine saw a later show and they had problems then but ironically the one song that was perfect was ' out of sync ' and was by all accounts visually stunning to watch.

[shadowmanatee]

what was going on in the end? seriously, what

[SmokinStubs]

Un Fuckin Real Man

[LiteracyLabyrinth]

Hey that ending is priceless - the whole thing is out of snyc - works for me though - Devo were great in 1982. Glitches or no glitches.

[noluv2u]

Oh no its Devo was the best Devo album ever. Followed by Freedom of Choice.

[rafaelblock]

Sometimes that's what happens when you're pushing the envelope of technology as they were! This is [morbidly] fascinating! Their Seattle show didn't have these glitches....It's fun watching these YT vids and refreshing my recollections of shows past....I've seen DEVO every time they're played Seattle! Including March 2011, what a show! Go spud boyz!!!!!!!!!!

[zerobeat18]

I'm Harcourt Fenton Mudd and I like to steal.

[DJHuk]

I don't care what they say: Devo in 1982 were at the height (and/or depths) of their mutated power. This live concert era is definitely in my top five shows: the synch between the band playing live and the screen images was beyond anything I'd ever seen ... or will ever see. Thanks for posting this.

[brantly711]

"Oh, No! It's Devo" has remained my favorite Devo album for over 20 years. Great Post!

[Misterioso]

@airshotsphotoco You typed "ya" as if it's a word...

[sound0and0vision]

I dig the way the drums sound on this

[mattisprettycool]

gerry is built.

[dinosaurjr420]

i would have killed to see this tour. unfortunately I was born in 1990...

[mattisprettycool]

amazing. these guys are fucked cool.

[TEMPmichaelhansen]

where was this done at? shows an 80's videogame. the obnly live devo on netflix is from 1980. did someone videotape this show from tv and save the video for all these years??? also i have somewhere people magazine section "Where are they now" with a picture of the 4 member DEVO band re united.... THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING SONG.

[JohnnyLovelyOfficial]

they didn't break up? also i saw that magazine but i just took a picture of that page instead of buying it lol.

[Misterioso]

@TEMPmichaelhansen If I were to guess based on the amateur pro-shot quality of the footage this aired on a public access counter culture show and was recorded via beta and later transferred to VHS which in turn was transferred to DVDR. It's not an official release so therefore it is traded amongst fans like most audience or pro-shot concerts that have yet to receive official releases.

[integra4545]

love this jam!!!

[Chukkz2]

I so have sympathy for them in the end, knowing how bad it is when the technology fucks up during some live event.

[mattisprettycool]

@Chukkz2 they play it like pros though.

[anpnymous123]

A shame that DEVO doesn't perform this song (as well as a lot from Oh, No! It's DEVO) anymore. It was really a nice stage performance. I'd like to see them do it again. Maybe one day they will do a "Oh, No! It's DEVO" concert for old time sakes.

Yeah, I know it's not their greatest album in the eyes of critics, but really, it's underrated and I'd love to hear titles like "Big Mess", "Deep Sleep" and of course "Speed Racer", with modern synth and for-sure no technical difficulties.

[lhlover52]

i think it would be better if mark was on a treadmill actually running instead of acting like it.

[turnippooferman]

it might have been more appropriate, but i like his little running dance that he does.

i try to recreate it every time i listen to this song haha

[lhlover52]

haha the drummer looks zoned out in the beginning.

[mateoweston]

I think the barbie doll said something earlier than it suppost to

[1devo6587]

I HERD IT TOO!

[milkygear]

yeah the original lyrics are "lots of brains and I like sex" but here she says "lots of brains and I like to fuck"

[WoodRatGirl]

The issues with Big Mess I mean which they tried to play next.

[WoodRatGirl]

I feel so sorry for them having those issues on stage.

Awesome job still Devo!

[Wario7793]

Well, a little slow LOL but pretty good rendition...

[dvscorp]

How far ahead of their time were these guys? Genius.

[anpnymous123]

This.

[zsyed12345678]

@dvscorp Sorry, but they were a punk'ish offshoot of Kraftwerk. Yes they have some originality, but Kraftwerk was the group ahead of their time.

[Misterioso]

@zsyed12345678 This is odd considering DEVO formed and conceived their stage act in 1969 where as Kraftwerk formed in 1970. Both bands are equally great in my opinion.

[dragonsrightwing]

@zsyed12345678 Misterioso already pointed out that Devo started in '69, while Kraftwerk formed in '70 - in addition, the first two Kraftwerk albums have never been released in the US, and the third was not released in the US until 1975 - after Autobahn (their fourth album) was released in 1974.

...tbc ...

[dragonsrightwing]

@zsyed12345678 - continued...

In addition, the only musical similarity between the two is the heavy use of synthesizers - Kraftwerk is very minimalist and harmonically Western classical, while Devo is much more full and complex, and harmonically diverse. Devo used unusual and changing time signatures on numerous songs, while Kraftwerk were mechanistic in their use of 2/4 or 4/4 - in keeping with the "Mensch-Maschine" concept.

[zsyed12345678]

@dragonsrightwing Yes thanks, I looked up the time line on reading your reply. But I guess what I'm referring to is the slick hair, the one-color outfits resembling uniforms, and the robotic motion during performance. Kraftwerk was the first to start that kind of straight style. Sure the groups may have formed earlier on, but I believe Kraftwerk was the first to create that style in its entirety in The Man Machine 1978. Before that, Kraftwerk was wearing suits and ties instead of the uniform.

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678: By the way: why do you hide your channel ? Is real openness a problem for you? It reads here that your channel is not available !

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:"Listen to me clearly, Kraftwerk started the whole robot-like synthesizer movement."

Total bullshit,because music is not ONLY about synthesizers but also about structures,i could name you countless influences which were copied with little imaginative character by Kraftwerk....they had their time+some may have heard them TOO much."Tour de France"is a very imaginative track+there ARE even a FEW others,but on the whole their"work"is lack-lustre.Tangerine Dream were there before !

[MrSKINFLICK]

@dragonsrightwing: I would not wonder if zsyed12345678 would also say that WIRE had no merits,though they have almost nothing in common with Kraftwerk.

The whole Kraftwerk marketing"industry"(with a grave lack of real satire)leaves me even as a German speechless.

Go into the techno/electro/ambient scene+ask if they think that most of them were only influenced by Kraftwerk, they would entirely laugh at you.......

there were so many different influences including DEVO, XTC, DAF,Human League etc

[zsyed12345678]

@MrSKINFLICK I got two words for you that destroy everything you've said - "Pocket Calculator". The truth hurts doesn't it.

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678: No,the version of the Balasnescu quartet which i know by good old MTV night program(New Year´s night 1993)is much better+Kraftwerk also have them also on their You Tube channel.

I did NOT say that Kraftwerk are horrible,i only said that they are overrated in many respects in MY OPINION,so just accept this opinion+let´s stop the silly verbal fighting...this is leading nowhere.Even one of Kraftwerk told me in a personal mail that they know the manias of many of their fans !

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:There have been many allegations in the past who influenced who-you could also say that there is an enormous influence of the Beatles or the Kinks on XTC-but Andy Partidge was much more creative+surpassed the 60s genre in many aspects(the Go+ EP which is unfortunately not here on You Tube anticipated ambient&intelligent techno,also some tracks of DEVO did it.Many senior DJs of the 80s Chicago+Detroit+New York house/techno scene will confirm u Kraftwerk wasn´t their only influence!

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:I forgot one of the biggest in electronic music-producing: Brian Eno:Totally different style than Kraftwerk,huge influence on the electronic scene till today+HE produced the first DEVO LP,i would say that DEVO were influenced by his electronic pattern work(you´d have to listen to the"Taking Tiger Mountain"LP for that,his probably most important !).He also produced almost all talking Heads LPs+countless other artists,musical producers are often much more important than"influences"!

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678: And how would you define "punk"???

Punk is just a scene term or a clever marketing term, punk is no description of music. Much of punk was+is very fast played hard rock/better metal brought back to basic classic rock´n´roll style, even the Sex Pistols covered a few Chuck Berry classics. Terms often mean nothing else than just a vague description, okay - one has to use them to describe a certain period and its styles - i also do - but don´t confuse terms with the music itself !

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:Did you ever play+program a synthesizer like me?If not-then shut up about DEVO having something to do with Kraftwerk.Kraftwerk are mostly BORING+have no soul inside their tracks,speaking as a German i must know what i´m talking about.Synthesizers+Sequencers tend to sound alike on frequent occasions but that hasn´t anything to do with Kraftwerk.Did the Human League copy Kraftwerk?Total nonsense!

Kraftwerk fans tend to have a silly cult around Kraftwerk,as if they were the Beatles!

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:What DEVO do on stage is 80-90% LIVE,while Kraftwerk were"working"a lot with pre-recorded stuff.And yes - there is another difference - DEVO had the ingenious cheekiness to combine Rock´n´Roll with synthesizer programming+doing this almost perfectly.

The whole 70/80sNew Wave synthesizer/electronic scene worldwide was much much more inventive than Kraftwerk - alone a band like the Japanese"Yellow Magic Orchestra"were a thousand times more important than one track-minded Kraftwerk!

[zsyed12345678]

@MrSKINFLICK Yes, I've played and programmed synthesizers for two decades, so I guess I don't have to shut-up then right? :-) Listen to me clearly, Kraftwerk started the whole robot-like synthesizer movement. Devo just added punk-rock to their concept. Had Kraftwerk not existed, Devo would be just another underground punk-rock band. Their inclusion of the synthesizer is what popularized them. The performance at the end of Revenge of the Nerds is another example. You love Kraftwerk admit it!

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:Kraftwerk didn´t start anything+the synthesizer was already used extensively in the Sixties.The"concept"of Kraftwerk is nothing original,because-as i wrote-anyone-even on primtive levels- can reach similar results playing around with a synthesizer+sequencer.The problem of Kraftwerk+their"fans"is an ideological - almost religious - one:They want to convince the whole music world that Kraftwerk originated something which was already there before+everybody CAN DO! NOT VERY ORIGINAL!

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:Listen to some early British electronic stuff like Thomas Leer/Robert Rental,listen to Yellow Magic Orchestra,listen to early-mid period Human League,listen to Heaven17-none of them was influenced by Kraftwerk, this sound just comes naturally when you play around with discipline on electronic gear.

The problem of Kraftwerk+their fans is that they try to sell ideological marketing tricks,taking the piss out of the consumer.

DEVO -by the way-make parodies of such marketing tricks!

[MrSKINFLICK]

@zsyed12345678:And the worst about Kraftwerk is:They totally lack any erotic appeal,there are men+women who have sexual fantasies about Bob Casale(lead guitarist+engineer for DEVO)+the young Bob really was a hot spudboy+somehow even still is!

But yes,DEVO have a totally different concept+it is very silly of you even to compare DEVO+Kraftwerk,they live on different planets.

My influences are Can+Tangerine Dream e.g. - Kraftwerk had a few interesting ideas-that´s all!Cluster+Neu are much better!