Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the first album by New Wave musicians Devo, (see 1978 in music). In 2003, the album was ranked number 447 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The album was produced by Brian Eno, working in Conny Plank’s studio in Cologne, Germany. Eno actually paid for the recordings himself, as the band had yet to conclude legal wranglings and sign contracts with Warner Brothers and Virgin Records. The band had come into contact with Eno when they managed to hand a demo tape to David Bowie when he played a show in Cleveland.
Bowie and Iggy Pop became fans of the band and Bowie went to see them perform at Max’s Kansas City in New York City after Mark Mothersbaugh stated in an interview that he would like either him or Brian Eno to produce their first record. Bowie announced to the crowd during the interval that he would be producing them that winter in Tokyo. The next day Bowie told them that he would have to postpone producing the album until the following Spring due to filming commitments. That evening the band visited Brian Eno and Robert Fripp at the latter’s home, where Eno expressed a wish to produce the band in Berlin, taking care of travel and accommodation for the band, who were without money to stay anywhere at the time.
Eno is on record as describing one of Devo’s New York shows in 1979 as "the most exciting live performance I have ever seen". However, the studio sessions did not proceed on such a positive note, with the band seemingly intent on replicating specific effects and arrangements from their demo recordings stretching back to 1974. Eno found this an obstacle to his famously intuitive and spontaneous way of working in the studio, and described the band as "anal". In Eno’s 1995 diary, A Year with Swollen Appendices, he states that he has never been paid by Virgin for producing the sessions.
The album title references Erle C. Kenton’s 1933 horror film Island of Lost Souls, which was based on H. G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr Moreau. In the 1933 film, a mad scientist performs operations on wild beasts in order to make them more human and able to undertake menial tasks. When the beasts acted in an inappropriate manner the scientist Dr. Moreau would crack his whip and challenge the beasts:
Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to eat meat, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): Are we not men?
Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to go on all fours, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): Are we not men?
Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to spill blood, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): Are we not men?Lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh felt as though these half-man, devolved beasts were not unlike his fellow Akron, Ohio residents, and decided to write about it.
"Come Back Jonee" alludes to the title character of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode (though the song is actually about John F. Kennedy).
"(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction" is a cover of the classic song by The Rolling Stones. Devo performed their cover on Saturday Night Live.
"Too Much Paranoias" lyrics incorporate the text from Burger King TV commercials of the 1970s: "Hold the pickles. Hold the lettuce. Special orders don’t upset us. All we ask is that you let us serve it your way."
The album’s cover features a piece of found art, originally depicting the head of golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez in his trademark Panama hat superimposed over a golf ball. However, Warner Music would not allow use of the found art due to copyright reasons even though the band had cleared it with the golfer already. A heavily modified version of the art, combining the Rodriguez picture with an artist’s conception of a combination of the facial features of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford was placed on the cover instead. When the album came out, a confused Rodriguez apparently commented "Hey, this doesn’t look like me."
Track listing
Side one
"Uncontrollable Urge" (Mark Mothersbaugh) – 3:09
"(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) – 2:40
"Praying Hands" (Gerald V. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh) – 2:47
"Space Junk" (G.V. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh) – 2:14
"Mongoloid" (G.V. Casale) – 3:44
"Jocko Homo" (M. Mothersbaugh) – 3:40Side two
"Too Much Paranoias" (M. Mothersbaugh) – 1:57
"Gut Feeling" (M. Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh) / "(Slap Your Mammy)" (G.V. Casale) – 4:54
"Come Back Jonee" (G.V. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh) – 3:47
"Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’)" (M. Mothersbaugh, B. Mothersbaugh, G.V. Casale, Gary Jackett) – 2:40
"Shrivel Up" (G.V. Casale, M. Mothersbaugh, B. Mothersbaugh) – 3:05Track listing notes:
The 1993 UK CD issue splits "Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy" into two separate tracks, and also includes the EP DEV-O Live and the additional bonus tracks: "Social Fools", "Penetration in the Centrefold" and "Soo Bawlz."
Personnel
Bob Casale – rhythm guitar, additional keyboards, occasional backing vocals
Gerald V. Casale – bass, additional keyboards, lead vocals
Bob Mothersbaugh – lead guitar, backing vocals
Mark Mothersbaugh – keyboards, occasional guitar, lead vocals
Alan Myers – drumsTechnical personnel
Brian Eno – producer
Patrick Gleeson – engineer