3-Devo Speer Racer and Big Mess (screw up)

[GrantTarredus]

I just noticed for the first time the shot of John Lennon -- one more of Devo's countless Beatles references.

[neilioutube]

I saw this tour in East Lansing, MI circa 1983 ... no screw ups, perfectly done, AWESOME show, confirmed my Devo-tion. It pains me to see this, but also gives me more respect for them ... considering what they were working with technology-wise back then. I don't even know how many things they were "syncing" up. But they sure pulled it off when I saw them.

[MrKeyboarder100]

Do they had playback at that time?? in 1982-83?

[billyblastoff101]

Devo is wicked!! Q: are we not men A: We are devo!!!!!

[ohare100]

every time i look at this footage, it guts me coz devo r ace,still sounds good tho 4 its time ,WE R DEVO ,

[0igres]

Wow it really was a big mess...a really big mess.

[845DZ]

Problem with being pioneers. They were doing music and video live way before anyone else.

Funny though, he says "stop this or film is not in sync" and the screen shows BIG... MESS...

[theman4455245]

@845DZ I have to point to Pink Floyd and Mr. Screen dating back to at LEAST '77 if not '74... and of course, the Wall shows in '80 and '81. And even the Who played to backing tapes for their Quadraphenia tour around its release, which predates that (although it was disastrous, much like this, to my understanding). It wasn't pioneering, though it was highly unpopular.

[RevAndroid]

I do think that Devo would hate me for saying this, but they should attempt this again :)

[LeoKillian]

Somebody's fired! lol

[THESonicMMM]

OUCH!!!

[cachirulo666]

devo son los mejores papa!!! no puedo creer!! un despliegue de creatividad nunca antes visto, inclusive ahora, grandes artistas:)!!!

[NJPJMommaDJ]

Ahahahaha. Bob 2 @ 3:33. "I Quit!!"

[10pauin]

What is saying Mark at 3:56? Please answer!!

[soepil]

"The film is not in sync with us !", I think he's saying.

[899289]

Devo without Alan isn't Devo! He knew when it was time to bail!

[tacomadc]

I agree - the minute they started using drum machines the band lost it's sound and drive.

Alan is a great drummer - it's mind boggling that they would sit putzing around a Linn drum.

[RobertFuentes]

Well, they tried. No worse than getting into a fist fight with the Dead Boys.

[oiyabastard]

does not compute does not compute who cares i love better to see this them then them bloated now

[milkygear]

I find it hilarious that in this live video the lyrics are "ive got brains and I like to fuck" "shes got brains and she likes to fuck" rather then "she likes sex"

[theoriginal72]

I see what they mean by "fascist clowns".

[tacomadc]

VERY early days of sequencers onstage - the musicians probably couldn't hear the backing tracks, so they got off time.

[milkygear]

read the description:

""This specific show was an experiment that DEVO signed up for and, of course, went wrong. The sound man apparently thought he was correcting the sync on DEVO's backing track (the one on the film), when in reality, but the offset was supposed to be there to enable the band to keep sync. During "Speed Racer", the band begins to lose sync with the film"

[Arkhandroid]

lol that wasnt early days, there was like a decades worth of it already chief.

besides, who blames devo's musical talents for the screwups. Its the dippy sound guy to blame. :)

[tacomadc]

Early days of sequencers - they had just been invented - not ten years before Chief.

[Arkhandroid]

sorry they had sequencers in the early to mid 70s. Human League made use of some of that prior to the 3-devo concert.

either way it has nothing to do with the sequencers, if you knew how to read..... >_>

[Kohntarkosz]

Sequencers actually date back to the late 60's. Morton Subotnick used one on Silver Apples Of The Moon, and Tangerine Dream used them extensively during the 70's. I think Wendy Carlos was once asked what she used the sequencer on her big Moog modular for, and she said something like "Nothing, I did some TV stuff when Switched On Bach came out, and everyone thought the flashing lights would look good on TV, that's the only reason I have it".

[tacomadc]

Love the Atari computer graphics - lol! That was state of the art then!

Love both of these songs.

[silentblade121]

0:42 hes a big pirate who wants a blow job lol

[WoodRatGirl]

I hope that sound man was fired.

[WoodRatGirl]

Correct the spelling from Speer to Speed!

;)

[xyaqua]

The mark of a truly great bandis that they keep going and having fun even through the mistakes.

Mistakes are the best, they bring the band down to our levele, and the band still goes with it. DEVO were awesome.

[SamSometimes]

That's a really unfortunate misunderstanding.

[Rogasoukidan]

speer racer?

[ehav]

The band didn't screw up the production team did.

[WoodRatGirl]

Curses to that production team!

[VHShit]

Was glad to find some Devo...

Thanks for posting.

Praise Bob!

[Gjeorje]

I remember this. Later the giant pirate broke his tethers and killed a coolie. The whole thing was hushed up. Shocking.

[AngryBuddha88]

lol, most of the whiny pups on YT don't even know what a coolie is/was!

[WoodRatGirl]

I know what one is so stfu Buddha ;P

[AngryBuddha88]

what do you want, a FUCKIN' COOKIE!

It's LAME ASS WEAK SAUCE TO COMMENT ON A COMMENT THAT IS MORE THAN 1 WEEK OLD!

PISS OFF STUPID BITCH!!!

[Arkhandroid]

whiney pups? Please tell me your 88 at the end of your name has nothing to do with your age rofl.

trying to act like some informed spud from BITD, but being born post-everything, would be hella lame guy.

[mnb123clowngirl]

fuck the sound man.

[withasideofdanger]

It's really odd to hear a band so known for tight songs screw up.

[Arkhandroid]

they didnt screw up. some homo in the sound crew diddled around and messed it all up

[weirdal27]

Did you read the description where I explain what happened?

[ohare100]

where can i get the full dvd from m8..gaz

[cograilfan]

times like this, u have to apprieciate bob2

hes just awsome

well so is everyone else, but bob2 and alan were underlooked alot

[gogobionicgirl]

i kinda like the screw up

it still sounds cool just instrumental

[IndioFreak]

so do I... gimme yer phone number ;-P

[gogobionicgirl]

i ALWAYS get hit on on Devo youtube videos

it's really bizarre

[IndioFreak]

not serious... or you don't get hit anyplace else ;-P

[gogobionicgirl]

haha well that's a whole other topic

[cograilfan]

this is the fuck version

"lots of brains and i like to fuck"

that version, which were the original lyrics

[nukecat]

im truly not suprised anymore by how much miss directed animosity is generated over one band.

[Pitumisio]

Nor am I. Bush, Blair and lackey Aznar have made the world devolve at a faster rate indeed.

It's true, Devo may not be for the uninitiated, but this is not bad at all I reckon. At least I am practising my karaoke singalong.

[AnAnonymousStudent]

@Pitumisio Thanks to them, we have even worse politicians now who want to be petty tyrants. They were elected in reaction to Bush and Blair... so yes, I blame them for the political devolution.

[apollosrcool]

my ears hurt

[trenttuqiri]

still cool.

[devomusicvideos]

oh i see during speed racer later on the voice loses it an d has to cancel very odd but still coll video

[howabe]

"Aaaaaargh!"

"It's Hallowe'en!"

Shame, as I reckon Big Mess would be a beast live...

[gogobionicgirl]

my two favorite songs

[A7hena]

OH, The irony! :)

[genieinabattle]

Does anyone have Big Mess live on video?

[sswanso]

There used to be another live video floating around on YouTube. It was shot during a dress rehearsal and only had a small amount of the actual song, but it sounded great. Unfortunately, the video was removed a little while back

[devomusicvideos]

yeah spudboy had it

[weirdal27]

I've got it on some dvd around here.

[sswanso]

I had the DVD for a while, then I lost it. Alex should be sending me a new copy soon.

[Sylar962]

Wellll... What happened in Big Mess was a real big mess, but it could happen to best families. To sync all those sequencers is really complicated, and any mistake, the smallest it could can ruin everything. There is another video, Out of Sync, where Mark begins with no sound from the mike. It could be worse if the lights went out all of a sudden...

[kataidamashi]

How bad! That's a big mess indeed.

Still I think DEVO are one of the most innovative musical phenomenon in last decades.

[TheRebel2007]

What did big pirates, pornographic Barbie dolls and greedy doctors have to do with Speed Racer?

Mach-he-go-ho-mach-he-go-ho-Go­-Speed-racer-Go!!

[gogobionicgirl]

come on it's devo

who cares what they have in common!

[HypnoToad72]

How did grunge get into this conversation?! 

At any rate, the CD version is better - still rowdy but not direct. Not sure why I prefer the three letter "S-word" over the four letter "F-word", but oh well...

[aicdan1]

this is gggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy­yyy music

[izDEADone]

your a pretty gggggggaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy kid

[aicdan1]

haha i dont think im gay and im not attracted to guys so im NOT gay...and woah im not a kid so go suck a dick

[Jayguy95]

You wouldn't know good music if it bit you in the ass. Good luck devolving.

[aicdan1]

hey shut the fuck up duche bag, i dont like your tone,haha...i actually know good music, and by the way if you read on down the list i posted a comment saying that i watched some other devo vids and that they were not as bad as i thought they were...dont you feel stupid now

[Jayguy95]

Not really. Because of all the albums post 1979, this is the finest. And just saying you know good music doesn't mean you do. I don't go talking about what bands are bad there is no such thing as good music. Again, good luck devolving.

[CHarris360]

I went to the "Oh No It's Devo" show at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. It was AWESOME. And perfectly executed.

Mark Mothersbaugh was swinging from the rafters at one point!

[aicdan1]

hey guys listen to real music: alice in chains,soundgarden, nirvana, pearljam...this music sucks

[schwoogie78]

or perfect circle? who covered freedom of choice?....gosh the lead singer of tool must be a cunt huh?

[aicdan1]

hey man, the singer of tool is in a perfect circle...and he is a fucking genius...he plays a thing called, MUSIC...

[GriffinKid2021]

You must have nothing better to do if all you have to do is to make fun of other people's music. If you don't like it fine, but keep it to yourself.

[aicdan1]

actually i dont have anything to do sometimes so i do this...haha...but really, this music sucks

[Rogasoukidan]

grunge fanboy lulz

[aicdan1]

hey its better than this faggy techno shit...am i right???hahah

[GriffinKid2021]

No.

[aicdan1]

hahaha what do you mean...this is barely music...this is the kind of music that robots have sex to...this is like techno mixed with country...which is terrible

[mrgnloftin2]

True that bitch!

Hey get to work, why are yousitting next to me in class..

Yes i realize i sound like a fucking duche lol

[aicdan1]

hahahaha

[TheOnlyLMV]

Nirvana covered Devo, so shut the fuck up. This isn't techno.

[aicdan1]

o yea name the song then...if it isnt techno what is it

[TheOnlyLMV]

They covered Turnaround. They were New Wave by this point.

[aicdan1]

o yea yea yea that was a good cover actually i just looked it up...i looked at some other devo videos and they are not bad but they are not my favorite...il probably put their songs on my ipod though

[Jayguy95]

Techno..are you fucking...oh my fucking god.

[Mitsukara]

"I'm a barbie doll but I've got brains, I've got brains and I like to ____!" Awesome deviation from the album, there! XD Also, whooooops, hahaha! This is great stuff!

[portomonttino]

Lo que no han visto que para esa época los Devo estaban haciendo vanguardia en tecnología se refiere. Fieles a su estilo de usar "hi-tech" y de además tocar en "vivo", les jugó una mala pasda las bases pregrabadas que tenían. Algo muy comun en estos tiempos que hasta la Shakira lo utiliza o Ricki Martin. Pero los Devo hace 25 años atrás ya lo hacían.

[DreadfulRay]

Oh the horrible irony of "BIG MESS" flashing onscreen when Mark tries to abandon the song.

But seriously DEVO rocks. The drummer in our band is too busy to perform with us any more so we're just going to record his tracks for live performances, and I thought "Hey, now can have one of those projections behind us like DEVO!" But I'm sure it'll be way easier for us since we're spoiled with ipod videos and digital projectors.

[funkrkr]

fathered the blue man group

[aicdan1]

they are also gay

[izDEADone]

your also gay... random fuck i dont know

[aicdan1]

ha no im not, im very in touch with my sexuality to know im not gay...you however may be gay...the blue man group suck really bad and you people need to listen to some rock...whay kind of genre is the music even placed in?

[izDEADone]

so am i. i agree the blue man group does suck, these guys arent them. plus i do listen to "rock" but i also have an open mind about music

these guy dont suck they were very innovative and unique and true to themselves. what exactly do U think rock is?

[izDEADone]

your obviously a closed mined dickwad who thinks he knows everything about music... so im done with this argument

[aicdan1]

haha look your getting mad...correction, i know everything about grunge music...

[izDEADone]

haha grunge is pretty much dead buddy. nirvana and stone temple pilots were the best. besides pearl jam there arent really any grunge bands now.

[aicdan1]

thats okay because im the one who is starting the era over again in seattle...yea its ashme that grunge is dead because they were all like god, their music was deep and real ya know, it was just perfect, it saved my life

[AnAnonymousStudent]

@aicdan1 Grunge is lame. A bunch of whiners pissing themselves over their inability to be decent human beings and write music that is worth listening to, or even just grow a backbone and stand up for themselves.

[mcdeathsquad]

Wait...are you saying that Devo isn't innovative or creative? I'll admit that they aren't for everyone but to deny them the credit they deserve for making original music is insane. I think some of the bands you like would agree. After all, most of them have covered Devo at some point.

[TheRebel2007]

No...

[mcdeathsquad]

Wait...are you saying that Devo isn't innovative or creative? I'll admit that they aren't for everyone but to deny them the credit they deserve for making original music is insane. I think some of the bands you like would agree. After all, most of them have covered Devo at some point.

[Poplegend89]

Long live the Kings of Spud!!! I have almost all of their albums.

[Victheremin]

What they were doing with the performance/video/click track in this era was like riding to the moon with a rocket up your ass and trying to make lunar rendevous with the command module. They were basically forcing analog equipment to do what digital equipment does so easily now days. I'm surprised it worked as well as it did and as well as it did, MOST of the time. And Devo was an INCREDIBLE live band, technically and dynamcally, so I'm sure this just killed them...

[etrombley]

Wow. That is known in the music industry as a "train wreck"! Gerry's reaction at 2:30 is priceless. Thanks so much for posting this I would love to read a *detailed* account of exactly what went wrong.

[shawnmutant]

I remember trying to sync Big Mess lyrics to the song on my commodore 64...no video effects, but just text that would show up on the screen when they sang it...I used "basic" with some kind of delay loop (no idea what the code was actually anymore) to create the pauses between the lyrics...This clip is good stuff and shows how innovative they spuds really are.

[sickkiedoll]

right on sleeve51

XOXOX

[sleeve51]

A really big mess, but all is forgiven!

[IndioFreak]

I'm a Devo fan, and I can't stop listening to Big Mess as it is... it's a piece of history and... IT'S FUCKING WEIRD HA HA HA HA HAAAA

[sleeve51]

I hear ya. To me Devo can do no wrong. They could flush toilets, or trim trees with chainsaws and I'd listen.

[ericstefani]

Does anyone know how hard what it is what they are doing!?

[IndioFreak]

I do. I used to play in a band by then.

[devofrank]

Wee Iz De-VO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IndioFreak]

This is a priceless piece of footage for Devo fans (I also happen to like Big Mess as it is here). Thanks weirdal.

[1devo6587]

what does that have to do with this movie?

[volemaster7]

Speed Racer sounded awesome, much better than the album version, until they hit a little bump in the road, which was not DEVO's fault. I would like to have seen what Big Mess would have sounded like live. The little bit that they did play sounded great.

[mariobrosdelux]

devo loved to use bruce conners films look at big mess lol

[OnTheRazorsEdge]

Love the snippet of Peek-A-Boo! at the end. ^_^

[Jayguy95]

What the fuck do they expect? Bob 2 can't fix everything..

[nuwavegurl]

Damn. And 'Big Mess' my favorite Devo song too. But shit happens.

[maejunkmail]

Not a concert, but a performance. Depeche Mode uses a tape recorder. They do the vocals live and the solo synths on top of a sequenced beat. Fleetwood Mac even did that in the seventies. Eno, Fripp, and Bowie play on top of recordings. It's hard to stripe a video sync without a beat to match to. That's why no one else would dare try it, it requires the band to be tech savvy. Mothersbaugh's brother worked at Roland and they tried their stuff out with DEV-O

[PhilCommander2]

you do have to remember that devo were in the end an art project and they had the right to show their art anyway they want. if they wanna play along to a film thats fine. i was in a band and we use to set up a metronome next to our drummer so he didnt get caught up in the 'live' moment and start songs off WAY too fast. its all to give fans a good show.

[HumGuitar]

I was visiting Australia in the early 80's and met some people there that went to a DEVO concert and said that it was terrible because DEVO lip synced the entire show. I'm a huge fan, but it caused me to never attempt to go see them in concert. I'll bet this trainwreck really alienated some fans, too. I'd rather watch them struggle like this than to see a clearcut lip sync, though.

[weirdal27]

That's interesting, I've never heard of them lip-synching before. I've seen quite a few video bootlegs and have dozens of live shows archived and I've never noticed that. I wonder why they would do it when you saw them.

[byrthfood]

They don't lip synch. They had a backing track those first few songs to help them stay synced to the video and it wasn't their fault it fucked up.

[HumGuitar]

byrthfood, if you could read, you would know that I didn't say that they were lip synching on this clip.

First step: Learn how to read.

Second step: Re-read my first comment.

[byrthfood]

First step: Blow me.

Second step: Go fuck yourself.

[HumGuitar]

oooh, I must have struck a nerve. Hey, you must have learned how to read! Congratulations!

[kgreenig]

That was a big mess!

[lippshiteer]

Boy, they sure fucked that one up royally

[Jayguy95]

not their fault...it was the tech idiots and a bad idea to begin with..

[Armyfractal]

dammmnnn.. i've been there u__u it's not nice

[Lyght55]

So did it ever get fixed, or did it keep going through "Peek-A-Boo!"?

[weirdal27]

It was fixed when the next song started.

[don4060]

i like to steal and a like to kill

[capkrugers]

Thanks for the post! This was a fun watch. The video and new lyrics for Speed Racer were quite enjoyable.

[SirNerdlington]

Im a big pirate, too LOL awesome!

[QueenofMarigold2]

Love this song! ^^  * * =

[peterproscia]

Wow! Wow! WOW! Bless you for posting! I saw them at the Paladium in New York in 1982. This is off my favorite DEVO album! I remember the film portions from the concert, but I haven't seen them since for 25 years! Thanks!!!

[DEVOSpudess101]

Wow that's crazy.

[smb339]

The songs actually sound good even though it went wrong. I just hope this didn't happen in front of an audience.

[Artstar]

They are infront an audience.

[cberty]

I've only just discovered YouTube and I can't believe the wealth of New Wave wonderfulness out here. Thanks!!

[nukecat]

its amazing... isnt it!!!

[devo69]

many thx for posting this, thank god the same sound engineer wasnt working on the job when i saw them perform this live during the oh no, it's devo tour :)

[PLUGS33]

p.s.  even though speed racer is not my favorite song, I loved the sound of this song live!

[pootzie]

It really was a Big Mess when they went Out of Sync.